Innovate UK Business Growth FAQs

Typically they have witnessed, or are expecting, strong growth but they can be an early stage, growth stage or scaling business with up to 250 employees. As such, they can be pre-revenue or already earning millions. They can come from any sector but in every case their leaders are ambitious to grow further and scale.

They may or may not have been in receipt of Innovate UK funding: Whilst we provide specialist ‘wrap-around’ activities to businesses in receipt of Innovate UK funding to maximise the value and impact of a grant or loan, other innovative high growth potential and scaling businesses that may not need our funding can benefit from Innovate UK Business Growth support.

Our innovation and growth specialists are located in every region of the UK, bringing a wealth of domain knowledge and regional and national connections to client engagements.

Our innovation and growth specialists are at the heart of our offer, alongside tools, events, peer-to-peer networks and programmes that foster the connectivity and knowledge that drive innovative businesses forward.

Our specialists offer one-to-one, bespoke and intensive support and coaching. They provide an external perspective and a structured approach to help senior management teams identify and address critical issues and achieve growth and scaling. They also catalyse business partnerships and enable new market entry. We deploy hundreds of such specialists with backgrounds in a number of sectors, so you can be sure of dedicated support that is local to you, with access to an extensive pool of domain experts.

Secondly, we can bring an array of resources to bear to help our clients unlock global business partnering opportunities.  We can connect innovative businesses across borders through our partnerships tool and our connections to an expansive network of specialist advisers overseas, whilst we arrange intensive programmes supported by our specialists such as the Global Business Innovation Programme and highly focused and productive brokerage events.

No, our advisory support is funded by the UK Government, although some aspects of the offer such as IP Audits attract a grant from us, with a minority contribution from the client.

Our innovation and growth specialists and scaleup directors can spend a number of days supporting each of our clients over a shorter or longer period, according to need and potential, typically between 5-15 days.

Until 30 December 2020, you would have had support from an EEN innovation and growth specialist. After that date, your support is provided by an Innovate UK Business Growth innovation and growth specialist.

The change reflects the fact that Innovate UK has placed growth and scaling support at the centre of its strategy for business innovation in the UK. From jointly funding the services provided under EEN with the EU, it completed a transition to become the sole funder of these services from January 2022.

Innovate UK Business Growth aims to support business development services. We may provide financial and non-financial business development support to enterprises at a 100% for up to £315,000.