Launchpad: marine and maritime in the Great South West – R2 CR&D
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £3m for business led innovation in the marine and maritime cluster in the Great South West.
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with Cornwall Council, Plymouth City Council and Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership to invest up to £3 million in innovation projects.
The funding will support projects across two Launchpad competition strands that target the marine and maritime cluster in the Great South West. The projects will contribute to the Great South West’s ambitions for net zero targets and support for key regional strategic marine and maritime markets. The businesses will use the funding to grow their innovation activities in the cluster, both during and after the project.
For this competition, the Great South West consists of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Devon, Somerset and Dorset.
Your project must focus on marine autonomy, clean maritime, and/or digital ocean technologies.
This competition is split into two strands:
- Launchpad: marine and maritime, Great South West – Round 2 Collaborative Research and Development (CR&D) (this strand) – grant funding of £150k-£750k per project, projects must be collaborative
- An online briefing event for both strands will be held on Wednesday 4 September at 1pm: register to attend
- Launchpad: marine and maritime, Great South West – Round 2 Minimal Financial Assistance (MFA) – grant funding of £25k-£100k project, single applicants only
It is your responsibility to ensure you submit your application to the correct strand for your project. You will not be able to transfer your application and it will not be sent for assessment if it is out of scope. If you are unsure which strand is more appropriate for you, contact Innovate UK Business Connect.
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To lead a project in the CR&D strand your organisation must:
- be a UK registered business of any size
- be or involve at least one micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
- collaborate with other UK registered organisations
- be growing your innovation activities in the marine and maritime cluster in the Great South West
- have a demonstrable ambition for business growth
To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:
- business of any size
- academic institution
- charity
- not for profit
- public sector organisation
- research and technology organisation (RTO)
The contribution of project partners must add to the innovation led growth of the cluster.
A business can only lead on one CR&D application but can be included as a collaborator in any number of applications. If an organisation is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications.
You are not eligible to apply to this Round 2 CR&D competition if you led a successful application to the Great South West Launchpad Round 1 CR&D competition.
If you apply to the Minimal Financial Assistance strand of this competition, as well as this CR&D strand, each project must be clearly distinctive and separate. We will monitor closely for this separation if you are awarded funding in both competition strands.
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Your project must:
- have a grant funding request of between £150,000 and £750,000
- last between 6 and 18 months
- carry out all of its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
- not start before 1 April 2025
- end by 30 December 2026
The grant funding above can cover up to 70% of project costs, depending on business size and project type.
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The aim of this competition is to support outstanding innovation projects led by businesses. Your business must be growing innovation activities in the marine and maritime cluster in the Great South West.
For this competition, the Great South West consists of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Devon, Somerset and Dorset.
Your project must focus on one or more of the following:
- marine autonomy
- clean maritime
- digital ocean technologies
Your project must contribute to growing your innovation activities in the cluster, both during and after the project.
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Your project can focus on one or more of the following theme areas:
Monitoring and Autonomy
Developing or using disruptive technologies to replace traditional ship-based alternatives for equipment inspection and other marine monitoring operations and enhance safety of the seas, such as in the offshore renewable energy industry.
Clean Maritime
Transitioning to alternative fuel powered vessels using energy from low or zero emission sources or highly efficient batteries, also integrating ports into a decarbonised energy network and supplying the fuels of the future.
Digital Ocean Technology
Advancing sensor and communication technology and their connectedness and interoperability, to enhance our understanding of the ocean and the impacts from offshore operations, including in aquaculture and the emerging ocean economy.
This list is not exhaustive. Where you can show your proposal fits within the scope of this competition you can focus on other themes.
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We are not funding projects that:
- do not contribute to innovation activity in the marine and maritime cluster in the Great South West
- require approval from the Marine and Coastguard Agency (MCA) for testing in an operational marine environment within the duration of the project
- are led by a business that led a successful application to the Great South West Launchpad Round 1 CR&D competition
- request grant funding of less than £150,000 or more than £750,000
- do not meet the competition eligibility or scope requirements
- request funding for primary production in fisheries, aquaculture or agriculture
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An online briefing event will be held on Wednesday 4 September at 1pm: register to attend.
(Briefing slides will be available to download from Supporting Information after the event).
If you would like help to find a collaboration partner or decide which strand to apply to, contact Innovate UK Business Connect.