Businesses in the North West have increased their share of Innovate UK grant funding in the past year, but risk being overlooked by large research grants shared with universities.
A study by innovation funding specialist Catax shows that, of all innovation grant funding that went to business projects started in the North West this year, the proportion awarded to SMEs rose to 94.2% — up 31.1 percentage points from 63.1% in 2021.
For projects begun in 2022, North West SMEs were awarded £22.4 million while larger companies in the region were awarded £1.4 million.
For 2021, SMEs in the North West secured £33 million, while larger firms were awarded £19.3 million.
Laura O’Neill, grants manager at innovation funding specialist Catax, said: “These results show very clearly how smaller companies are fundamentally important to the drive for innovation taking place in the UK. The vast majority of innovation grant money awarded to businesses is won not by large corporations but by SMEs.
“Yet the contribution SMEs make to the UK economy is at serious risk of being overlooked. Many of them are the larger companies of tomorrow, whose journey to success and growth is often obscured by the inevitable interest of other companies and subsequent acquisition.”
Innovate UK is the main innovation agency and part of UK Research and Investment, launched in April 2018 as a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Innovation research is all the more important since Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in the Autumn Statement that the amount of tax relief SMEs receive on research and development would be reduced for expenditure incurred from 1st April 2023.
SMEs are currently allowed to deduct an extra 130% of qualifying costs from their profits but this will reduce to 86% (plus the normal 100% deduction). For loss-making companies, SMEs will be entitled to a tax credit worth up to 10% of the total surrenderable loss, instead of the current 14.5%. Conversely, the Research & Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) scheme for larger companies was made more generous.
Innovate UK also awards grants to charities, public sector organisations, academic institutions, Public Sector Research Establishments (PSREs), Research & Technology Organisations (RTOs) and catapults.