The Rural Community Energy Fund (RCEF) is a £15 million programme, jointly funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (DBEIS). It supports rural communities in England to develop renewable energy projects which provide economic and social benefits to the community. Up to £20K grant and £130 unsecured loan for feasibility and pre-planning is available.
Category: funding
BBSRC Industrial Partnership Awards (IPAs)
These encourage and support collaboration between academic research groups and industry. IPAs are academic-led, responsive mode grants that have significant industrial involvement and industry partner(s) contributes in cash at least equivalent to 10% of the full project costs. For example with a £550,000 award, industry would contribute £50,000.
See: www.bbsrc.ac.uk/innovation/collaboration/industrial-partnership-awards/ .
Application deadline: 4th Oct 2017
Funding for Mid-Range Capital Equipment over £200K
This supports the purchase of research equipment through the 17ALERT call for investigators that seeks to pioneer the use of emerging advanced technology and seek to utilise equipment in novel applications.
The principal investigator must be resident in the UK and an academic employee at the lecturer or equivalent level at an eligible organisation. Instrumentation should be deployed on a multi-project or multi-use basis and must enhance the capability of the UK research base in areas of science in BBSRC remit.
The capital equipment budget is £10 million. Applicants can seek capital funding for equipment over £200,000 including VAT, including limited installation and maintenance costs
Closing Date: 14th Sept 2017.
See: www.bbsrc.ac.uk/funding/filter/2017-alert-mid-range-equipment-initiative/ .
Funding available: EPSRC “Engineering for a Prosperous Nation”
Unique to this funding call is the double blind peer review process. This type of initiative should benefit early career academics in particular.
This initiative will look to support a portfolio of exceptional and potentially transformative engineering research projects that have the potential to contribute to each of the prosperity outcomes. This could be a pioneering first step to the broader outcome or a contribution to one or more of the ambitions within each outcome. A high degree of risk in these applications is expected and welcomed to encourage speculative ideas or new ways of thinking.
- Up to £6 million from theEngineering Theme will be available for this Call, subject to research quality.
- Bright IDEAS Awards are intended to support genuinely novel and potentially transformative research activities.
- Proposals will be assessed over a two-stage process: Outline proposals assessed anonymously, followed by a Big Pitch.
- Applicants can apply for up to £250K (80% value of the full costing) in total
Applications submitted to this Call should be up to 24 months in duration.
See: https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/calls/engineeringprosperousnation/ .
Deadline for intention to submit: 8th August 2017
Funding Roundup
Here are the latest details of funding opportunities within the NIBBs and elsewhere.
Business Interaction Vouchers (BIVs)
AD Network have a number of BIVs still available. Deadlines: 30 June, 30 September, 31st December. See http://www.anaerobicdigestionnet.com/funding
Metals in Biology have an open call for applications for £10k BIVs which will enable them to use any residual vouchers not awarded in the final (16th) round. Please get in touch ASAP if you have an idea for a project relevant to the aims of the Metals in Biology Network/industrial biotechnology and bioenergy and we will let you know if there are any vouchers available. The vouchers will be for up to 2 months duration and work must be completed by 31 December 2017.
NProNet – BIV Deadline: 2nd Friday of every month
Biocatnet – See: http://biocatnet.com/funding/biv/ .
HVCfP still has ~£75,000 BIV funding to award before January 2018.
The Catalysis Hub also has £10K BIVs available. See: www.ukcatalysishub.co.uk/interaction/Business_Interaction_Vouchers_BIV .
Proof of Concept Funding
HVCfP – £80,000 POC. Call deadline: 30th August 2017 on “Industrial biotechnology processes to develop high-value products from plants: utilising open-access scale-up and biorefining centres”. Full details and the application form are available at https://hvcfp.net/funding/.
C1 Net – C4 x £50,000 for ‘Advancing the Exploitation of C1 gas Fermentation’. Deadline: 30th June 2017. See their website.
Metals in Biology – One £10k PoC award relevant to the aims of the Metals in Biology Network and industrial biotechnology and bioenergy. The PoC award will be for up to 2 months duration and work must be completed by 31 December 2017. There must be an industry partner and all applicants must join the Network. See website.
IBCarb – Projects should be £20,000 at 100% FEC (i.e. £16,000 at 80% FEC) maximum value. See: http://ibcarb.com/funding/ Deadline: 30th June 2017
NPRONET – 4th Call now open. Application form is now accessible via the members area of the NPRONET website. Deadline: 1st September, 2017.
Also…
Future Fuels for Flight and Freight Competition (F4C)
The F4C was launched on the 27 April 2017 by the Department for Transport (DfT) to promote the development of an advanced low carbon fuels industry within the UK, including supplier capabilities and skills in relevant technologies, while maximising value for money for the taxpayer. Register by 30th June 2017.
For more information visit:
http://ee.ricardo.com/en/transport/case-studies/f4c
Royal Society Translation awards
The Royal Society Translation Awards are for scientists who wish to investigate the potential to commercialise an aspect of their research. See: https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/grants/royal-society-translation-award/
Maximum Award: Up to a maximum of £50,000
Closing Date: 6 July 2017
Bringing knowledge to your business: Apply for a Knowledge Transfer Partnership
The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme helps businesses to innovate and grow. It does this by linking them with a university and a graduate to work on a specific project.
Each KTP is a three-way partnership between a business, an academic institution and a graduate. The academic institution employs the recently-qualified graduate who works at the company. The graduate, known as the ‘associate’, brings new skills and knowledge to the business.
A KTP can last between 12 and 36 months depending on the project and the needs of the business. It is part-funded by a grant. The amount businesses need to contribute is different for SMEs and larger companies. For example, the average annual contribution to a project for an SME is around £23,000.
2017/18 close dates for submission are aligned with Innovate UK’s sector and open competitions:
Manufacturing and materials round 3 – 12 July 2017
The benefits of taking part in a KTP
- businesses achieve an average increase in annual profit of more than £1 million after taking part. They also create around 2 new jobs
- academic partners produce on average more than 3 new research projects and 2 research papers for each project
- around 60% of associates are offered a permanent job in the company when the project ends.
See: www.gov.uk/guidance/knowledge-transfer-partnerships-what-they-are-and-how-to-apply .
Future Fuels for Flight and Freight Competition (F4C)
The F4C was launched on the 27 April 2017 by the Department for Transport (DfT) to promote the development of an advanced low carbon fuels industry within the UK, including supplier capabilities and skills in relevant technologies, while maximising value for money for the taxpayer.
There is a prospective bidders’ event – 24th May, London. Register for a place at the event by 19th May 2017.
See: http://ee.ricardo.com/en/transport/case-studies/f4c for more information.
BBSRC Responsive Mode Funding: Bioenergy strategic priority update
The BBSRC has recently updated its Bioenergy Responsive Mode strategic priority, the updated information can be found on the BBSRC website.
If you would like to hold a meeting to plan a bid please get in touch –the AD Network has funds available to support this.
EC Horizon 2020 call: greening the economy. Apply now, closes 7 Mar 17.
The European Commission invites proposals for its H2020-SC5-2017 Greening the economy – single stage call which closes 7 Mar 17.
Proposals may address the following topics:
- climate services, including SC5-01-2017 exploiting the added value of climate services, SC5-02-2017 integrated European regional modelling and climate prediction system and SC5-04-2017 towards a robust and comprehensive greenhouse gas verification system
- towards a low-carbon Europe, including SC5-06-2016 pathways towards the decarbonisation and resilience of the European economy in the timeframe 2030-2015 and beyond
- raw materials, including SC5-13-2017 new solutions for sustainable production of raw materials
- earth observation, including SC5-18-2017 novel in-sit observation systems
- nature-based solutions for territorial resilience, including SC5-32-2017 biodiversity scenarios
- water, including SC5-33-2017 closing the water gap
The indicative budget for this call is €124 million. See the H2020 Participant Portal: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/index.html, under the ‘Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials’ work programme (Societal Challenges Pillar).
Want to hold a meeting to put a bid together – contact us! We have funds to assist.
EPSRC call for feasibility studies in energy – closes 5 Jan 17
Up to £3m is available for this call, with a cap of £200k for each proposal. Proposals should examine a topic within EPSRC’s Energy remit (e.g. Bioenergy), review past and current activity, and identify key research challenges that need to be addressed. The proposed research must be novel, innovative, have the potential to lead to high impact outcomes and strengthen the UK’s position in within the international energy community. Submissions towards this call must also demonstrate collaborations with established energy groups/organisations (academia, industry, non-governmental organisations, Government etc.) who are willing to support the research proposal and provide a potential route for exploitation. More information can be found on their website.