Application Deadline: Wednesday 12 January 2022 11:00am
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is working with the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
A NATEP competition is held approximately every 6 months. This is call 4 of 6 and for each call there is up to £2.5m funding available.
The aim of this competition is to provide help for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to develop innovative aerospace technologies. These will enhance your capabilities and increase your ability to win new business.
Your proposal must align with the priorities stated in the UK Aerospace technology strategy, Accelerating Ambition. Your proposal will be subject to:
- independent assessment by Innovate UK
- strategic review by the Aerospace Technology Institute
You will need to pass both assessments for your application to be recommended for funding. BEIS has the final funding decision.
If you are successful, Innovate UK will perform financial viability and eligibility checks. Final approvals are issued by BEIS. You will be contracted by Innovate UK.In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. The competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated.
Eligibility
Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £150,000 and £300,000.
Your project must:
- end by 31 March 2024
- last between 12 and 18 months
- carry out all of its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
You can start your project from 1 June 2022
If your organisation is a UK registered business, or a research and technology organisation (RTO) participating as a business, you must show in your answer you can provide match funding from entirely private sector sources, across all projects you are involved in.
Lead organisation
To lead a project your organisation must:
- be a UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
- collaborate with other UK registered businesses, research organisations, research technology organisations (RTO), public sector organisations, charities or Academic Institutions
- plan to carry out its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
- sign up to the Aerospace Technology Institute framework agreement
We primarily expect to fund businesses that are new to research and development (R&D) or are restarting R&D activity.
Academic institutions, charities, public sector organisations, large businesses and RTOs cannot lead.
Project team
To collaborate with the lead your organisation must:
- be a UK registered business, research organisation, academic institution, charity, public sector organisation or RTO
- be invited to take part by the lead applicant
- sign up to the Aerospace Technology Institute framework agreement
The lead and at least one other organisation must claim funding and enter their costs into the Innovation Funding Service as part of the application.
Each partner must be invited into the service by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once accepted, partners will be asked to login or to create an account. All partners claiming funding must enter their own eligible project costs.
Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example non-UK businesses or an end user. Their costs will not count towards the total eligible project costs.
The costs for partners not claiming funding, must be listed in your answer to the question on costs, not the finance section.
If you are a UK registered RTO participating as a business (undertaking economic activities), you must also show how you will exploit the results of the project to grow the wider sector.
Subcontractors
Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.
Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.
You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in the question on costs for why you could not use suppliers from the UK.
You must also provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you.
We expect all subcontractor costs to be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.
Number of applications
Any eligible UK registered business can lead on one application and collaborate in a further 2 applications.
Any non-leading UK business can collaborate in up to 3 applications.All other organisations can collaborate on any number of applications.
Benefits
Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £150,000 and £300,000.
Application Procedure
You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.
What we ask you
The application is split into 3 sections:
- Project details.
- Application questions.
- Finances.
1. Project details
This section provides background for the assessors and is not scored.
Application team
Decide which organisations will work with you on the project. Invite people from those organisations to help complete the application.
Application details
The lead applicant must complete this section. Give your project’s title, start date and duration.
Research category
Select the type of research you will undertake.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
We collect and report on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) data to address under-representation in business innovation and ensure equality, diversity and inclusion across all our activities.
All participants must complete this EDI survey and the lead applicant must then select yes in the application question. The survey will ask you questions on your gender, age, ethnicity and disability status. You will always have the option to ‘prefer not to say’ if you do not feel comfortable sharing this information.
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.
Please note we may share your application with other government departments with an interest in research on dual-use aerospace technologies. We will ask you for your consent before doing so.
Official Website: NATEP helping SMEs innovate in Aerospace – United Kingdom
