Innovate UK Funding

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Jane Lambert

The start of a new year is when many new businesses and projects within existing businesses are launched. Such initiatives usually need funding and an important source of funds is Innovate UK.  Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation ("UKRI") which was established by s.91 (1) of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. Its website states that it "convenes, catalyses and invests in close collaboration with others to build a thriving, inclusive research and innovation system." 

Innovate UK connects businesses to partners, customers and investors that can help them turn ideas into commercially successful products and services and business growth.  Since its establishment, it has invested £2.5 billion in 8,500 organizations which investment is estimated to have created 70,000 jobs and added £18 billion of value to the British economy (see the "About Us" page of the Innovate UK website). A spreadsheet listing all Innovate UK's funded projects and some typical case studies can also be accessed through that site.

A good starting point for anyone seeking funding is Innovate UK's Guidance for Applicants page of UKRI's website.  The General Guidance page contains an overview and provides links to the following information:

• Funding opportunities
• Before you start an application
• Your application
• What happens after you have submitted your application
• What happens if you are successful
• Funding rules
• Categories of research and development
• Other funding opportunities, and
• Updates to general guidance.

The best way to learn about current funding opportunities is to sign up for Innovate UK's newsletter.   This month's edition contains news on the Made smarter innovation: sustainable smart factory, Automotive Transformation Fund expression of interest: round 17. Innovate UK smart grants: October 2021, NATEP helping SMEs innovate in aerospace and Early ideas to improve the delivery of nucleic acid therapeutics. There is also information on Small Business Research Initiative projects.

Established businesses can access assistance through their trade associations, local chambers of commerce, local enterprise partnerships in England, Business Wales in Wales and similar organizations in Scotland and Northern Ireland.  Individuals who are not yet in business should approach the British Library's Business and Intellectual Property Centre or its national network of local partners.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on 020 7404 5252 during normal office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

Taking your Ideas to Market in Wales

The Atrium of the Menai Science Park

© 2019 Jane Lambert: all rights reserved

 

Jane Lambert

Yesterday I chaired a webinar organized by the Menai Science Park entitled IP and SME, Taking your Ideas to Market in Wales (see Menai Science Park's Contribution to World IP Day 2021 25 April 2021 NIPC Wales).  I have been taking part in events like that for some 20 years but yesterday's was the best ever.  The seminar covered a lot of topics in 100 minutes but there are two important takeaways.  One is that Wales provides support to new businesses that is no longer available in England.  The other is that Inngot Limited provides a range of tools for valuing intellectual assets even when those assets are at an early stage of development.

One of the big differences between business support in Wales and England is that the Welsh government continues to support business centrally through an agency called Business Wales.   Business Wales describes itself as

"a free service that provides impartial, independent support and advice to people starting, running and growing a business in Wales. With regional centres across Wales, we offer a mixture of online and face-to-face support, as well as training workshops and individual advice."

To English eyes, that seems to be very much the sort of thing that the regional development agencies and Business Link did before their abolition and replacement by local enterprise partnerships.  

Yesterday we heard a presentation by David Wooldridge who is the Intellectual Property Manager of the Welsh Goverbment['s Innovation Team in Swansea.  According to Business Wales's Funding page, 

"Funding is available for all phases of a research and development, from initial feasibility to market exploitation:

• Technical and Commercial Feasibility - help to assess whether your idea is technically and commercially viable.
• Industrial Research - help for practical research and to develop basic working models.
• Experimental Development - use the results of the industrial research to produce a pre-production prototype.
• Exploitation - help with the costs of launching your new product/process on the market."

These include innovation vouchers to

• "fund capital equipment that supports a technology step-change
• bring in technical consultancy expertise from the private sector
• work with universities and colleges to help solve technical problems
• improve processes in design and manufacturing
• access expertise services for intellectual property (IP) registration."

A service that appears to support new businesses is Expertise Wales which describes itself as 

"The online resource for driving collaboration and innovation in Wales."

One of Expertise Wales's services is SMARTCymru.  Another is the Small Business Research Initiative.  There appear to be many more.   I am indebted to Richard Fraser-Williams, Growth Relationship Manager at Business Wales for putting me in touch with David Wooldridge.

Richard also told me that many entrepreneurs require a guide to navigate the various funding schemes and he referred me to BIC Innovation.   It is a company that I have known for many years and with which I have collaborated.    Mark McGowan of BIC Innovation explained how he and his colleagues assisted businesses to seek funding not only from the Welsh government but also from business angels and venture capitalists.  Businesses that are not already in Wales would be very well advised to consult someone like Mark before opening up there.

Like the Welsh Government's Innovation Team. Inngot is based in Swansea.  One of its founders is Iwan Davies who held the Sir Julian Hodge Chair of Law at Swansea University and is now Vice-Chancellor at Bangor.  He is a distinguished academic lawyer with expertise in both asset finance and intellectual property.  For several years, Swansea law school hosted the IP Wales/ED Cymru website which was an excellent resource on intellectual property law.  Yesterday's presentation on IP valuation was given by Alison Orr who is Inngot's Business Development Manager.   According to Inngot's website

"Alison leads many of Inngot’s IP audits and technology evaluations, and provides her expertise to clients requiring training and coaching on IP, assistance with technology scouting, and help exploiting their IP in international markets. She has also helped shape Inngot’s intangible asset identification tools."

 Alison introduced her audience to Inngot'ss services and focused on the valuation of intellectual assets of startups and other small companies.  Obtaining such a valuation right at the start could avid a lot of the personal tragedies that I have witnessed in my career at the bar.   It could also assist a business to obtain the right sort of funding and thus secure its future.   It goes without saying that Inngot offers its services to entrepreneurs, business owners and investors everywhere and not just in Wales.  

Any business not already in Wales that is contemplating a move or expansion there would do well to consider the Menai Science Park or at least the immediate area because the park already hosts a lot of experts.  BIC Innovation is there as is Andrea Knox of Knox Commercial Solicitors and Steve Livingston of IP Tax Solutions.  Both gave excellent presentations yesterday.   Like Alison and Mark, they can be consulted by anyone anywhere and they are also first-class professional advisors.

Anyone thinking of doing business in Wales should find useful material on my IP Wales website at www.nipcwales.co.uk.  Contact me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 or through my contact page if you want to discuss this article or any of the matters mentioned in it

http://www.nipcwales.co.uk

How to make Money from your Invention - Starting your own Business

Jane Lambert

On 13 Sept 2017, I introduced readers to the Inventors Handbook on the European Patent Office's website which suggests four ways of exploiting an invention in its Exploitation Routes page:

• "A licensing agreement with a company
• Business start-up: get your idea to market yourself
• A joint venture 
• Outright sale of your idea."

I discussed the first way in How to Make Money from your Invention: Licensing on 14 Sept 2017. This article discusses the second option, namely a business start-up.

Before starting on this route inventors should satisfy themselves that they have the right personal qualities. Wherever they live in the UK, a good place to start is Business Wales's Starting up and Business Planning page.  In particular, they should read Is self-employment for you? and complete the Assess Your Personal Qualities questionnaire. There may be options even for those who score badly on that assessment such as employment or a consultancy with a business to be set up by others who are of the right temperament and possess the right skills and experience.  Considerably caution should be exercised by both sides in those circumstances.  Any agreement should be properly documented with both sides taking legal and accounting advice.

The next question for inventors is whether they have the right skills.   Some of these can be taught.  The Business and IP Centre at the British Library and its national network of city centre libraries host free or inexpensive courses and workshops on all sorts of topics from accounting to writing business plans. Other good places to learn include Tech Nation's Digital Academy and the Google Campus.  Another option is to build a team.  Again, that requires caution. professional advice for all concerned and full documentation.  Ideally, there should be a professionally drafted shareholders' or other agreement between the promoters with robust dispute resolution procedures in case things go wrong.

Such an agreement should incorporate or at least refer to a business plan and it goes without saying that the business plan should take account of intellectual property (see Jane Lambert Why Every Business Plan Should Take Account of Intellectual Property 3 April 2016 NIPC News). The business plan should be more than something to impress the bank manager.  It should be the company's road map.  The business plan should coordinate every aspect of the company's activities and policy including research and development, marketing and of course intellectual property (see An IP Strategy for Private Inventors  13 Jan 2019).

The business plan will be relied upon by the company's investors and lenders.  Long term investment to enable the company to buy or hire premises, equipment, vehicles and the like will be exchanged for shares in the company.  That is called "equity investment" and it is usually provided by inventors' friends and family, business angels and private equity or venture capital investors.  Working capital to cover components or raw materials, professional service and other short term costs may be provided by the company's bankers or, increasingly frequently, peer-to-peer lenders.  This is often referred to as "debt".  Lenders may require security over the company's assets but they are unlikely to wish to interfere in its management. Equity investors 0ften want representation on the board. Again, both sides should take professional advice and document any agreement that they may reach in a shareholders' agreement or some other instrument.

Inventors should be aware that very few fortunes are made from a single invention.  It may give their business an advantage for a time but that advantage will usually be eroded as competitors' launching their own new products or services. Research and development and innovation should continue.  Inventors should always be looking for the next gap in the market or other business opportunity.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article or inventions generally should call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact page.

Resources for Inventors and other Startups in Northwest Wales

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Source Wikipedia 

Jane Lambert

The area coloured bright green on the map may not be the everybody's first choice for setting up a new business but it has a lot going for it:

1. It is a very pleasant place in which to live.  I have travelled the world but never have I found a more attractive combination of coastal, mountain and pastoral scenery than in the Lleyn Peninsula. 
2. It is close to four major conurbations, namely Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South and West  Yorkshire and Dubiln. 
3. It is part of the Northern Powerhouse and on the freight routes between Dublin and London and Dublin and the ports on the Humber.
4. It has a fine research university at Bangor which has developed the Menai Science Park in Anglesey (see M-SParc - Anglesey's Science Park 29 Aug 2018  NIPC News) and the Pontio Centre with its FabLab (see The Pontio Centre: A Resource for Inventors, Designers and Makers in North Wales 14 Dec 2018).

Unlike England, there are no local enterprise partnerships in Wales.  Instead, Business Wales offers the same sort of advice and support that used to be provided in England by Business Link under the strategic oversight of the Welsh government.  There are therefore no Business and IP Libraries though Llandudno junction was once part of the PatLib network (see A New Patlib has opened at Llandudno Junction North Wales 15 April 2011 Patlib UK).  The nearest English Business and IP Centre is at Liverpool Central Library. 

As there are no Business and IP Centres in Wales Liverpool Central Library hosts the nearest CIPA patent clinic. Advice on contracts, copyrights and trade marks is also available through specialist clinics at the library.  The only IP clinic in Wales takes place at the Intellectual Property Office in Newport.  A search of the CIPA and CITMA databases suggests that all the patent and trade mark attorneys in Wales practise in the south and mainly in and around Cardiff.

Business funding in Wales is offered by the National Development Bank of Wales which trades under the Banc trade mark.  The Bank has four offices in Wales the nearest being at St Asaph and Wrexham.  According to the "About Us" page of its website, it offers both loan and equity finance.  A list of the funds it manages also appears on its website,   There is also a business angel network known as Angels Invest Wales 

Anyone wishing to discuss this article or any matter arising from it should call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact page.