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Grant for R&D Eligibility
Grant for R&D is only available to SMEs. Grants can only be awarded in the South East Region, which excludes London. If you are not located in the South East, please contact the Regional Development Agency (RDA) in your region.
The Quick Look guide below provides information on the size of company which can apply for each grant type.
Grant for R&D Quick Look Guide
In determining whether your business meets the various SME ceilings, you will need to consider whether the enterprise is Autonomous, or is either a 'Partner Enterprise' or a 'Linked Enterprise' (i.e. part of a group). To do this, you must take account of any relationships you have with other enterprises. Depending on the category in which your enterprise fits you may then need to add some, or all, of the headcount, turnover or balance sheet data from those enterprises to your own. The SME definition document contains further details.
There are five types of project that can be awarded a Grant for R&D; Proof of Market, Research, Micro Development, Development and Exceptional:
1. Proof of Market
- Potential awards of £5,000 to £20,000 covering up to 60% of eligible project costs
- Available to all SMEs
- Project duration is up to 9 months
- Purpose of support is to test the commercial potential of an innovative idea for a new technology
- Note that this Grant is only available prior to research and development work being carried out on the underlying technology
- More on Proof of Market
2. Research
- Potential awards of £20,000 to £100,000 covering up to 60% of eligible project costs
- Available to companies with fewer than 50 group employees and a turnover or balance sheet total of not more than €10m
- Project duration is 6 to 18 months
- Purpose of support is to investigate the technical and commercial feasibility of innovative technologies
- More on Research
3. Micro Development
- Potential awards of £5,000 to £20,000 covering up to 45% of eligible project costs
- Available to companies with fewer than 10 group employees and a turnover or balance sheet total of not more than €2m
- Purpose of support is to develop a simple low-cost prototype of an innovative technological product or process
- More on Micro Development
4. Development
- Potential awards of £20,000 to £250,000 covering up to 35% of eligible project costs for Medium sized businesses and up to 40% of eligible project costs for Small businesses
- Available to companies with fewer than 250 group employees and a turnover of not more than €50m or a balance sheet total of not more than €43m
- Project duration is 6 to 36 months
- Purpose of support is to develop a pre-production prototype of a new product or process that involves a significant technological advance
- More on Development
5. Exceptional Projects
- For Research grants of up to £250,000 covering up to 60% of eligible project costs, and for Development grants of up to £500,000 covering up to 35% or 40% of eligible project costs (dependent on whether it is a small or medium sized business).
- Available to companies with fewer than 250 group employees and a turnover of not more than €50m or a balance sheet total of not more than €43m
- Project duration is 6 to 36 months
- Purpose of support is to develop new technologies that are of strategic importance to an industrial sector and national competitiveness
- More on Exceptional Project
Projects must involve Technological Innovation
Your project must be technologically innovative and match the project criteria specific to each grant (see the Quick Look guide above for information on each grant type).
Please note that software projects must involve significant technical development (engineering) that produces at least a step change impact on how computers are programmed or used. More information is available in the Guidance Notes for Applicants (below).
Which costs are eligible?
Please note that the majority of the R&D work should be carried out internally by the applicant. Consultancy costs, sub-contracting costs and fees for trials and testing may be included for specialist skills or technical elements of the project, however external costs should not normally exceed 25% of the total project costs.
Please read the Guidance Notes for Applicants for advice on other areas of eligibility including a list of eligible and in-eligible costs.
