Funding competition EUREKA: micro and nano-electronics enabled systems and applications

UK businesses and research organisations can apply for a share of up to £2 million. This is to support projects along the electronic components and systems (ECS) value chain, in partnership with organisations from EUREKA countries.

This competition is now closed.

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Competition sections

Description

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £2 million in innovation projects. This is to fund collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects within the EUREKA PENTA Cluster competition 4 (2019).

These projects will catalyse research, development and innovation in micro and nano-electronics enabled systems and applications, with the specific objective of:

  • supporting projects along the electronic components and systems (ECS) value chain
  • helping the formation of innovation ’ecosystems’ that can be rapidly exploited commercially

Your project must help achieve these aims. To claim UK funding your organisation must be from the UK electronics sensors and photonics (ESP) sector.

Your project must focus on at least one of the following:

  • electronic components and systems
  • power electronics
  • large area electronics
  • sensors and sensor systems
  • photonics

This is an invitation only competition. You must be invited by Innovate UK.

This competition closes at midday 12pm UK time on the date of the deadline.

Funding type

Grant

Project size

There is no specific limit for total UK eligible project costs, however all costs must be appropriate for the size of the project.

Who can apply

State aid

Any UK business claiming funding must be eligible to receive state aid at the time we confirm you will be awarded funding. If you are unsure please take legal advice. For further information see our general guidance.

Your project

Your project can last up to 36 months and is expected to start between 1 January 2020 and 30 June 2020. The start date is dependent on the national funding procedures of the countries involved in the selected projects. The UK funded part of your project must end by 31 Dec 2022.

There is no specific limit for total UK eligible project costs, however all costs must be appropriate for the size of the project.

We encourage your project to work towards international collaboration and take full advantage of all the benefits this brings.

Funding is provided by the national funding bodies from each partner’s home country in the PENTA cluster:

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Canada
  • Czech Republic
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Ireland
  • Malta
  • Portugal
  • Spain
  • Netherlands
  • Turkey
  • United Kingdom

Applications are encouraged from the following types of organisations:

  • end users
  • testing and verification service providers
  • system integrators
  • subsystem manufacturers
  • component manufacturers

If your project’s duration falls outside of our eligibility criteria, you must provide justification by email to support@innovateuk.ukri.org at least 10 days before the competition closes. We will decide whether to approve your request.

Projects requiring UK funding must:

Such projects can also involve:

  • UK based businesses of any size
  • UK based universities
  • UK based research and technology organisations (RTOs)

UK lead applicants

To apply for this competition you must have received an invitation from Innovate UK and have completed and submitted a project proposal through the EUREKA PENTA Cluster process.

To lead a project as a UK based organisation you must be a business of any size.

If a UK organisation is leading the PENTA project, this organisation is also the UK point of contact. If the project is led by a partner outside the UK then a UK organisation must be nominated as the UK point of contact, and will co-ordinate the UK competition entry.

Partners

Research organisations must be able to show how they will exploit the results of the project to grow the wider electronics, sensor and photonics sector in the UK. Research organisations cannot lead on an application.

The organisations from EUREKA PENTA countries must meet the funding and eligibility conditions of their respective countries. Each partner must carry out at least 80 percent of their funded work within the country from which they receive funding, for example the UK for Innovate UK funding.

Projects should have a balanced contribution of the total eligible project costs among the partners from the participating countries. No more than 75% can be claimed by any single partner or by all partners from a single participating country collectively.

If the lead organisation is from one of the EUREKA countries in the PENTA cluster, UK based partners can still claim funding from Innovate UK. However, these collaborations must include at least one UK based SME. The UK partners in the project must work together to submit a single application to Innovate UK.

Subcontractors

Your project can include subcontractors but they must not account for more than 20% of the total eligible project costs of the UK partners.

Partners with no funding

Projects can include UK partners that do not receive any funding. Their costs will count towards the total UK eligible project costs but they will not count as collaborators.

Previous applications

Resubmissions

If Innovate UK decides not to fund your proposal, you will be able to use it to apply once more for a different Innovate UK competition.

Your resubmission can take into account the feedback received from the UK assessors.

Failure to exploit

If you applied to a previous competition as the lead or sole company and were awarded funding by Innovate UK or UK Research and Innovation, but did not make a substantial effort to exploit that award, we will award no more funding to you, in this or any other competition. You will not be able to contest our decision. We will:

  • assess your efforts in the previous competition against your exploitation plan for that project
  • review the monitoring officers’ reports and any other relevant sources for evidence
  • document our decision, which will be made by 3 team members, and communicate it to you in writing

Previous projects

Under the terms of Innovate UK funding, you are required to submit an independent accountant’s report (IAR) with your final claim. If you or any organisation in your consortium failed to submit an IAR on a previous project, we will not award funding to you in this or any other competition until we have received the documents.

Funding

We have allocated up to £2 million to fund innovation projects in this competition.

For industrial research projects, you could get funding for your total UK eligible project costs of:

  • up to 70% if you are a micro or small business
  • up to 60% if you are a medium-sized business
  • up to 50% if you are a large business

For experimental development projects which are nearer to market, you could get funding for your total UK eligible project costs of:

  • up to 45% if you are a micro or small business
  • up to 35% if you are a medium-sized business
  • up to 25% if you are a large business

The research organisations in your consortium can share up to 30% of the total UK eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation, this maximum is shared between them.

This competition provides state aid funding under article 25 of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER). It is your responsibility to make sure that your organisation is eligible to receive state aid.

Your proposal

The overall focus of your project must align with the PENTA objectives and the competition objectives which are to:

  • catalyse research, development and innovation in micro and nano-electronic enabled systems and applications
  • help form innovative ’ecosystems’ that can be rapidly exploited commercially

We particularly welcome applications from companies across the UK electronics sensors and photonics (ESP) sector.

Your project must focus on innovative technology that will enable solutions across the scope of the UK ESP community, from at least one of the following:

  • electronic components and systems
  • power electronics
  • large area electronics
  • sensors and sensor systems
  • photonics

We are looking to fund a portfolio of projects, across a variety of technologies, markets, technological maturities and research categories. This is aimed at achieving a balance across a range of:

  • scope areas
  • categories of research and development
  • project costs, including demonstrating value for money

Research categories

We will fund feasibility projects, industrial research projects and experimental development projects. Please see the general guidance to help you decide which category your project fits in.

Projects we will not fund

We will not consider projects where the primary innovation is software.

7 May 2019
Competition opens
9 May 2019
Online briefing event
19 June 2019 12:00pm
Competition closes
19 September 2019 2:14pm
Applicants notified

Before you start

You must have submitted your EUREKA PENTA project outline and have been invited to apply for this competition.

Please read the general guidance for applicants. It will help your chances of submitting a quality application.

When you start your Innovate UK application you will be prompted to create an account as the lead applicant or sign in as a representative of your organisation. You will need an account to track the progress of your application.

As the lead applicant you will be responsible for:

  • collecting the information for your application
  • representing your organisation in leading the project if your application is successful

You will be able to invite:

  • colleagues to make contributions
  • other organisations to collaborate with you

What we will ask you

The application is split into 3 sections:

  1. Project details.
  2. Application questions.
  3. Finances.

1. Project details

Explain your project. This section is not scored, but we will use it to decide whether the project fits with the scope of the competition. If it does not, it will be immediately rejected.

Application team

Invite colleagues to contribute to your application and other organisations to collaborate on your project.

Application details

The lead applicant must complete this section. Give your project’s title, start date and duration. Is the application a resubmission?

Research category

Select the type of research you will undertake.

Project summary

Describe your project briefly, and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign experts to assess your application.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Public description

Describe your project in detail, and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This could happen before you start your project.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Scope

Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition. Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

2. Application questions

The assessors will score your answers to these questions. You will receive feedback from them for each question.

Your answer to each question can be up to 400 words long. Do not include any URLs in your answers unless we have explicitly requested a link to a video.

You can copy and paste your answers from your EUREKA PENTA proposal.

Question 1. Need or challenge

What is the business need, technological challenge or market opportunity behind your innovation?

Describe or explain:

  • the main motivation for the EUREKA project
  • the business need, technological challenge or market opportunity; explain why international collaboration is necessary to address the need, challenge or opportunity
  • the nearest current state-of-the-art, including those near market or in development, and its limitations
  • any work you, the UK partners and/or the partners of the EUREKA consortium as a whole have already done to respond to this need, for example if the project is focused on developing an existing capability or building a new one
  • the wider economic, social, environmental, cultural or political challenges which are influential in creating the opportunity, such as incoming regulations, using our Horizons tool if appropriate

Question 2. Approach and innovation

What approach will you take and where will the focus of the innovation be?

Describe or explain:

  • how the EUREKA project proposes to respond to the need, challenge or opportunity identified
  • how it will improve on the nearest current state-of-the-art identified
  • whether the innovation will focus on the application of existing technologies in new areas, the development of new technologies for existing areas or a totally disruptive approach, and the freedom you have to operate
  • how this project fits with the UK partners’ current product, service lines or offerings
  • how it will make the UK partners more competitive
  • the nature of the outputs you expect from the project (for example, report, demonstrator, know-how, new process, product or service design) and how these will help you to target the need, challenge or opportunity identified

You can submit one appendix named ‘Appendix Q2(application number)’ to support your answer. It must be a PDF and can be up to 2 A4 pages long. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 3. Team and resources

Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Describe or explain:

  • the roles, skills and experience of all of the UK partners in relation to the approach the EUREKA project will be taking
  • the resources, equipment and facilities needed for the project and how you will access them
  • the details of any vital external parties, including sub-contractors, who you will need to work with to successfully carry out the project
  • the current relationships between the UK and the EUREKA partners and how these will change as a result of the project
  • any gaps in the team you will need to fill
  • why any partners from countries outside the EUREKA PENTA Cluster need to be included and how they will finance their part

You can submit one appendix named ‘Appendix Q3(application number)’ to support your answer. It must be a PDF and can be up to 4 A4 pages long. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 4. Market awareness

What does the market you are targeting look like?

Describe or explain:

  • the markets (domestic, international or both) you will be targeting in the EUREKA project as a whole and any other potential markets
  • the size of the target markets for the project outcomes, backed up by references where available
  • the structure and dynamics of the target markets, including customer segmentation, together with predicted growth rates within clear timeframes
  • the target markets’ main supply or value chains and business models, and any barriers to entry that exist
  • the current UK position in targeting these markets

If your project is highly innovative, where the market may be unexplored, describe or explain:

  • what the route to market could or might be
  • what the market’s size might be
  • how the EUREKA project will try to explore the market potential

Question 5. Outcomes and route to market

How do you propose to grow your business and increase your productivity into the long term as a result of the project? The main focus should be on UK participation.

Describe or explain:

  • your current position in the markets and supply or value chains outlined, and whether you will be extending or establishing your market position
  • your target customers or end users, and the value proposition to them, for example, why they would use or buy your product
  • your route to market, including any joined-up exploitation amongst the EUREKA consortium, and the associated relationship between the UK and the EUREKA partners
  • how you are going to profit from the innovation, including increased revenues or cost reduction
  • how the innovation will affect your productivity and growth, in both the short and the long term
  • how you will protect and exploit the outputs of the project, for example through know-how, patenting, designs or changes to your business model
  • your strategy for targeting the other markets you have identified during or after the project

If there is any research organisation activity in the project, describe:

  • your plans to spread the project’s research outputs over a reasonable timescale
  • how you expect to use the results generated from the project in further research activities
  • if you are an RTO describe how you plan to exploit the project results to grow the electronics, sensor and photonics sector in the UK

You can submit one appendix named ‘Appendix Q5(application number)’ to support your answer. It must be a PDF and can be up to 2 A4 pages long. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 6. Wider impacts

What impact might this project have outside the EUREKA project consortium?

Describe, and where possible measure:

  • the economic benefits from the project to external parties, including customers, others in the supply chain, broader industry and the UK economy. Benefits may include productivity increases and import substitution
  • any expected environmental impacts, either positive or negative
  • any expected global, regional or national impacts of the project

Describe any expected social impacts, either positive or negative on, for example:

  • quality of life
  • social inclusion or exclusion
  • jobs, such as safeguarding, creating, changing or displacing them
  • education
  • public empowerment
  • health and safety
  • regulations
  • diversity
  • any expected impact on government priorities

Question 7. Project management

How will you manage the project effectively?

Describe or explain:

  • the main work packages of the EUREKA project as a whole, the relevant research category and the partners assigned to each, and the allocated resources and total cost for each work package
  • what parts of the work the UK partners will do
  • the EUREKA collaboration’s approach to project management, identifying any major tools and mechanisms that will be used to ensure a successful project outcome
  • your approach to managing the most innovative aspects of the project
  • the management reporting lines amongst the partners in the EUREKA collaboration
  • your project plan in sufficient detail to identify any links or dependencies between work packages, deliverables, milestones and EUREKA collaboration partners

You must submit one appendix named ‘Appendix Q7(application number)’ to support your answer. It must be in PDF format and contain a work breakdown structure, project plan and/or Gantt chart up to 4 A4 pages long as one document. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 8. Risks

What are the main risks for this project?

Describe or explain:

  • the main risks and uncertainties of the EUREKA project as a whole as well as of the UK participation, including the technical, commercial, managerial and environmental risks, highlighting the most significant ones
  • how will these risks be mitigated
  • any project inputs that are critical to completion, such as resources, expertise, data sets
  • any output likely to be subject to regulatory requirements, certification, ethical issues and so on, and how will you manage this?

You must submit a risk register as an appendix to support your answer. It must be named ‘Appendix Q8(application number)’, be in PDF format and can be up to 2 A4 pages long. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 9. Added value

What impact would an injection of public funding have on the businesses involved?

Describe or explain:

  • if this project could go ahead in any form without public funding and if so, the difference the public funding would make, such as a faster route to market, more partners or reduced risk
  • the likely impact of the project on the businesses of the UK partners involved
  • why you are not able to wholly fund the project from your own resources or other forms of private-sector funding, and what would happen if the application is unsuccessful
  • how this project would change the nature of R&D activity the partners would undertake, and the related spend

Question 10. Costs and value for money

How much will the project cost and how does it represent value for money for the UK partner or partners and the taxpayer?

Describe or explain:

  • the total eligible UK project costs and the grant requested, in terms of the project goals, and justify these
  • how the UK partners will finance their contributions to the project
  • how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer
  • how it compares to what you would spend your money on otherwise
  • the balance of costs and grant across the UK project partners, and justify these
  • any sub-contractor costs and why they are critical to the project

3. Finances

Each organisation in your project must complete their own project costs, organisational details and funding details. Academics will need to complete and upload a Je-S form. For full details on what costs you can claim please see our project costs guidance.

Background and further information

For the purpose of the PENTA competition, Innovate UK aligns with the application areas in the Strategic Research Agenda, including the 2019 draft update’s extension of the definition of digital industry to include digital farming.

The Strategic Research Agenda covers 5 main sectors:

  1. Transport and smart mobility
  2. Health and wellbeing
  3. Energy
  4. Digital industry
  5. Digital life

Extra help

If you want help to find a project collaborator, contact the Knowledge Transfer Network.

For more information about the PENTA competition call Julian Heaton on 07552 267765.

If you need more information, email us at support@innovateuk.ukri.org or call the competition helpline on 0300 321 4357.

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