This article is for CTOs and Technical Directors of innovation-led businesses. R&D grant funding can accelerate technical projects, from software platforms to hardware devices. Grant funding will cover some of the costs of your technical team, software subscriptions, hardware, subcontractors, partners and IP advice.
In this piece we’ll share 6 points CTOs and Technical Directors should consider about R&D grant funding at the application stage to make your life simpler if the grant application is successful.
1: Funding Existing Staff with R&D Grants
Can our business get grant funding to pay for our existing R&D team? What percentage of my R&D team’s time can I get funded by this R&D grant?
R&D grants will fund staff time. Specially, R&D grants will fund technical staff time. Check how many staff you can include in the budget for an R&D grant, what is a reasonable salary and what proportion of their time you can get covered.
2: Hiring New Staff through R&D Grants
It would be very helpful to recruit for new members of my R&D team to deliver parts of this R&D grant, is that possible? How can we present that convincingly in a grant application?
Grant funders are generally comfortable with recruiting new team members based on a successful application for funding. Include the new roles in the budget for grant funding. Give a profile of the team members you are looking to recruit (their skillset and experience). Explain how you will approach the recruitment process when the grant is approved so that the project can start on time.
3: Broad Range of Technical Tasks Funded by Grants
What kind of activities does an R&D grant fund cover? Can I get funding for training? Can I get funding for testing with customers?
R&D grants are quite flexible in what activities you can draw down funding for – ask your grant writer for clarity. Apart from the obvious technical development tasks, you can include tasks such as:
- User Reseach Workshops
- UI/UX Design
- Market Research
- ISO Certification Preparation
- Regulatory Compliance Report
- And much more besides…
4: Deliverables in Grant Funding
When do we need to report progress to the funder and what does the funder expect to see in a project report for an R&D grant?
Generally, you will need to report every quarter in an online meeting with your Project Monitoring Officer and a Technical Report. Therefore, if you set deliverables for 1 month after the quarter, you will not have to present them until the next quarter meeting. For example, setting a deliverable in Month 3 means presenting it in the Q1 report, but setting a deliverable in Month 4 means presenting it in the Q2 report. This is where grant project management can save a lot of headaches.
5: Flexibility in R&D Grant Funding
If we win this grant, what flexibility do we have to change the project plan, staff allocations, budget and deliverables?
There is a period between receiving the “congratulations, your project has been selected for funding” email and the official start date of the project (from 1 to 3 months). During this period, you might be able to update various aspects of your project. After the project start, it is still possible to make changes, but generally it requires more admin. Extending the overall length or budget of a grant-funded project is not normally possible.
6: Keeping Track on Multiple Grant-funded Projects
How can you help keep on top of deliverables, staff time allocations, budgets and reporting for multiple live grant projects?
Experienced grant writers will also offer project management services. This service becomes particularly useful when your business wins 2 or 3 grant in relatively quick succession. Keeping track of the various projects and reporting can be time consuming. Outsource!
Summing up
R&D grants are debt-free, non-dilutive and stackable. Understanding the nuances will help you make the most of the funding you win. We offer grant writing and grant project management services for UK and EU R&D grants. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss an R&D project or grant funding opportunity.
Alex Chalkley
I have over 20 years experience in founding and scaling businesses, mainly focused on the non-dilutive funding sector. Since 2008, I have built, trained and mentored teams to successfully draw down over €100m in non-dilutive funding from the UK and EU for clients spanning multiple sectors.
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