Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation Award is a grant funding competition currently open to female founders in the UK, awarding successful applicants £50,000 in non-repayable, non-dilutive funding!
This afternoon, we sat down with our partners at GrantEd to bring our members a webinar detailing the competition’s eligibility criteria, how businesses can apply, and importantly, what founders can do to ensure their application stands out.
To all those that attended – thank you!
If you missed out on this event, don’t worry. We’ve uploaded a full recording of the webinar below, so you can watch it back on-demand.
We’ve also outlined the main takeaways highlighted by our Grant Specialist host, Arunabh.
Grant funding is a method of fundraising allocated to promising, commercially viable businesses. Distributed by several grant funding bodies, such as Innovate UK, grants are totally free, 100% guaranteed on approval, and not as risk of diluting your equity.
These characteristics mean that grants are arguably the most desirable form of funding a business can access, which in turn, makes grant funding competitions extremely competitive.
The Competition: Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation Award
Innovate UK is the UK’s innovation agency, which provides funding and support to organisations developing new products and services. It’s a non-departmental public body operating at arm's length from the Government as part of the United Kingdom Research and Innovation organisation.
Under the Women in Innovation Award, Innovate UK is allocating up to 50 grants to female entrepreneurs across the nation. Successful applicants will receive a £50,000 grant, as well as a bespoke mentoring package, made up of expert coaching and business support.
Key Dates:
Competition opens – 22nd August 2022
Competition closes – 19th October 2022, 11:00am
Applicants notified – 21st December
Who is eligible?
Women innovators from across the UK who are working on a wide range of business ideas, types, sectors, products, processes, and services.
To be eligible for an award you must:
Be a female founder, co-founder, or senior decision maker.
Be operating a commercially viable business project.
Be using your project to benefit the UK and wider society.
How do I apply?
The application process for Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation Awards is split into 3 sections:
🔎 Project Details
In this first section, the application asks for background information such as a subsidy basis, project summary, public description, and scope.
📑 Application Process
The application process requires a video pitch, description of a societal need or challenge, your idea (and how it serves this need or challenge), how you’ll use the grant, and your future roadmap for the business.
💰 Finances
This last section requires a detailed presentation of how you’ll allocate each section of the £50,000 fund.
Build your application with GrantEd and stand the best chance of success!
Aside from lending their expertise as our trusted Grant Writing partners, where do GrantEd fit in to all this?
Well, in partnership with Vantage, GrantEd, are offering a discounted Grant Application service for Vantage members looking to apply for this round of the Women In Innovation Award.
For a highly reduced rate, members of the Vantage community can benefit from:
💡 Successful grant templates and model answers
💡 A 1-hour workshop walking you through each section of the grant application (+ video
recording for future reference)
💡 1 comprehensive Grant Application review
💡 1-to-1 Written & Verbal Application Feedback to action prior to submission
For Vantage members, GrantEd are reducing their standard fee for the service down from £1,000 + VAT + 10% success fee to £750 + VAT + 5% success fee.
If you’re a female founder, co-founder, or senior decision maker that’s developing a cutting-edge product or service – you could be the perfect candidate for the Women In Innovation Award.
To take your application to a highly competitive level with this Grant Application service, express your interest to our Head of Programmes, Sophie, by emailing sophie@joinvantage.co.uk.
To access this exclusive offer, you must reach out by Friday 9th September.
Don’t wait! This benefit is limited to 10 female founders in the Vantage community.
We look forward to hearing of your progress within the Women In Innovation Grant Competition!