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Project development grants to champion innovation

Innovative projects could be given help to achieve success with business development funding.

The North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is inviting bids for up to £200,000 worth of project development funding for strategic innovation projects.

The grants aim to support the preparation of a business plan, feasibility studies and funding applications for large-scale, strategic capital projects that improve the innovation infrastructure of the North East.

The North East LEP is looking for projects that are in the initial stages and need support with the preparation costs to produce a HM Treasury-compliant five-point business case for the Industrial Strategy Fund. The LEP is specifically looking for applications from projects that can demonstrate clear links to the goals set out in its Strategic Economic Plan (SEP), and which are anticipated to be of significant scale with at least a £5m capital build cost.

North East LEP programme manager, James Davies, said: “Our Strategic Economic Plan includes a focus on achieving innovation-led growth, as this is essential to our region’s long-term prosperity.

“This funding is part of our approach to supporting the development of a strong pipeline of capital projects and infrastructure to support the growth of our innovation ecosystem by providing capital project development grants within the North East LEP area.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for businesses. We are inviting applications for up to £200,000 worth of project development funding for strategic innovation projects. This will hopefully help the projects to progress to achieve full funding routes.”

Projects will be required to be seeking external funding from a public, private or other source with a project value of over £5m and to be deliverable within the next five years.

The closing date for applicants is 30 March 2018.

For further information can be found here.