Important Notice

Following the General Election, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) instructed all RDAs to cease issuing further funding commitments that would continue to be active beyond March 2011. This has included new R&D grant applications.

No further allocation was made to the Regional Development Agencies in the recent Spending Review, and therefore the above restriction continues to apply.  As a consequence the Large Company Research and Development Grant scheme is closed to new applications.

One North East has been trialling a £2.4m pilot scheme to encourage and assist large companies in the North East of England to carry out Collaborative R&D with real commercial potential. This pilot is now closed but roll out of a full scale scheme is currently under consideration and news will shortly be released.  Interested applicants with potential projects are advised to contact the team to discuss projects and to keep updated on potential funding.

Aims of the scheme:

• to provide targeted financial support to enterprises wishing to carry out R&D but who can not bear the full risks associated with the work themselves
• to promote the take up of applied and commercially driven R&D (targeted at new product/process developments) in order to stimulate growth, and strengthen business global competitiveness
• to enable NE companies to accelerate their R&D innovation activities
• to up skill the NE workforce in latest technologies and innovations
• to stimulate R&D inactive companies to become R&D active in the region
• to provide a strong incentive for global companies to invest in the NE
• to highlight regional R&D capabilities to promote the region as a place to innovate and carry out R&D, and
• to create and safeguard jobs in the technology sector in the region – assisting graduate retention and attraction of skilled workers to the NE.. 

The scheme provides grants to support industrial research and pre-competitive development projects. Applicants need to consider how their project fits within the definitions of industrial research and pre-competitive development as different levels of grant support apply to each. Definitions of the research type are covered in the download Guidelines document below.

Grants are based on a percentage of eligible project expenditure, with grants paid in instalments in arrears of project spend, normally quarterly. Eligible costs are the revenue based costs of carrying out the R&D project, including labour costs and overheads, materials, subcontract/consultancy, equipment.

The Maximum grant intervention rate is up to 30% for Research projects, 20% for Development, but actual rates will be negotiated during the appraisal process.

Eligibility:

To receive support under this scheme projects must:

• Be business-led, with the main applicant being a large company with a base in the North East (large companies that plan to move to the North East may also apply, but funding offers will not be confirmed until they have a base in the region)
• Involve collaboration, this needs to be with at least one other independent third party and may include the knowledge base,  SME, or another large company. Collaboration partners will hopefully be in the region but where this is not practical partners outside the region, but still in the UK, will be accepted

In addition:

• There must be a regional benefit for the North East
• All sectors are eligible though added weighting may be given to projects in the Agency key priority areas of Energy, Process Industries, Life Sciences
• Project duration up to 3 years

Selection Criteria:

• Potential impact to business, including job safeguarding/creation aspects, business growth opportunities
• Levels of innovation and technical risk. We are aiming to support new innovation so routine or core R&D or customer-driven R&D is unlikely to gain support
• Project organisation and management, i.e. ability to deliver project and commercial results
• Regional benefit, e.g. supporting regional economy, raising GVA, improving regional job market
• Incentive effect of the grant, i.e. the company must demonstrate that the grant acts as an incentive to the project proceeding, or influences the scope, extent or timing of the R&D activity.

Application will be a two stage process, and will involve review by independent technical and commercial experts in the project field, this will be carried out under full confidentiality. A list of experts is given in the “Experts” document below. Note if an expert can not be found on this list to match to the project technology, additional experts may be procured on an ad hoc basis.

The flow process for the application and review is:

The scheme will aim for a rapid decision making process, with expected timescales for decisions once a full application is made to be around 30 – 90 days.

Press Releases

Successful awards are announced in press releases. The following gives a selection of press releases previously issued:

Launch of Scheme, Feb 2009: Awards unveil more help for North East business

Awards

Proctor & Gamble Technical Centres Ltd., £1.25m Award, Oct 2009: Consumer giant stays cool with new R&D support

GT Precision Products Ltd., £620k Award, Dec 2009: Major jobs boost at Peterlee firm GT Group

Cummins Ltd., £612k Award, Dec 2009: Grant helps Tees Valley company fire on all cylinders

Senergy Econnect Ltd., £173k Award, Feb 2010: Senergy Econnect's drive to reduce energy bills receives major grant

Guidelines and Further  Information

This scheme is for projects lead by large companies. SMEs with R&D projects should apply under the SME Grant for Research and Development. Exceptionally though large SME collaborations may be able to apply for collaborative R&D support, contact the R&D team to discuss further.

Note, substantial wider support is available through existing targeted national and international schemes as shown in the process flowchart above. If alternative schemes and calls exist which can support the project, the company will be encouraged to apply to that scheme first. Please discuss with the R&D team if unsure.

For further information or to discuss a project, contact: Will Adams on 0191 2296927, will.adams@onenortheast.co.uk.

If this is not for you, Business Link is the main gateway to all business support both publicly and privately funded. Business Link advisers provide independent advice and guidance on the type of business support that will best fit the individual needs of your business.

Visit your local Business Link or alternatively give them a call on 0845 600 9006.

NOTE: Re: HMRC R&D Tax Credits

Expenditure on projects that are supported by this Grant qualify for tax relief, according to Inland Revenue rules on the R&D Tax Credit system related to the Large Company element of the Tax Credit Scheme. For further information discuss with your tax advisor or refer to the following website: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/randd/