Collaborate for success at Inverness Campus

Inverness Campus is a world class business location with a vibrant life sciences community. It brings together businesses, researchers, academic organisations and the wider community, providing an ideal place to collaborate and innovate.

The aim of the fund is to increase the amount and quality of collaborative engagement on the Inverness Campus between academic institutions, the NHS, and commercial and 3rd sectors with lasting impact.

To help encourage new collaboration activities, we are offering grants to cover up to 50% of eligible costs (up to a maximum of £15,000).

Find out more about Inverness Campus.

What is it?

The fund is designed to:

• Encourage innovation - to seed more innovative activity on the Campus.
• Stimulate Entrepreneurship - to encourage the academic sector to engage positively with businesses, adopting an entrepreneurial approach with a view to generating commercial outcomes.
• Increase Internationalisation - to use the academic sector’s knowledge and networks to engage internationally.

Applications will be assessed for lasting impacts. The activity should deliver demonstrable tangible outcomes including legacy assets, new commercial opportunities or enable additional future funding to be secured.

The fund is open to all sectors, with an anticipated bias towards Life Sciences in line with the Inverness Campus Development Strategy.

What can the funding be used for?

• The funding can be used for any collaborative activity lasting up to 12 months

• Submissions demonstrating strong leverage in terms of match funding or “in kind” resource will be favoured, with a minimum 50% match being sought in each case.

• Submissions involving commercial partners and outcomes will be favoured.

Please note: The programme cannot support activities that have already started at the time of submitting an expression of interest. Any costs which have been invoiced to the applicant or paid by the applicant prior to full project approval will not be eligible for funding.

How much can I apply for?

• Partners can apply to cover up to 50% of their eligible project costs for a collaborative project up to a maximum of £15,000 grant funding in total.
• The lead applicant will need to demonstrate how the remainder of the project funding will be sourced.
• The amount awarded will be dependent on factors such as the size or your organisation, where you are based and the project being proposed.

If you have further questions, contact us via email enquiries@hient.co.uk and note that your enquiry is about the ICCF 2024 – Inverness Campus Collaboration Fund 2024.

Who is eligible to apply?

• Two or more partners working on a project lasting less than 12 months.
• The lead applicant can be from an SME (including Social Enterprises), charity, third sector or academic partner.
• Unincorporated forms of business ownership e.g. sole trader, partnership, limited partnership, as well as incorporated legal forms of business ownership e.g. limited companies, companies limited by guarantee, community interest companies, limited liability partnership etc. are eligible to apply.
• Applicants must comply with HIE’s fair work conditions for grant support. For more information, please visit our fair work page. If you would like to speak to someone about the fair work requirement or need more information, please email enquiries@hient.co.uk and we will get a member of staff to contact you.
• Bid proposals and partners can be drawn from any sector, although those from the Life Sciences sector will be preferred.
• Geographic location of partners is unimportant but submissions must in all cases demonstrate the potential to have positive impact on Inverness Campus.

Who is not eligible to apply?

Public sector organisations such as the NHS cannot apply for this fund however the fund can be used to fund the activity of a partner working collaboratively with the public sector organisation.

How do I apply?

The application process follows a two-stage process. The first stage is to complete the online Expression of Interest Form (EOI) available right.

Your EOI will be reviewed and if your application meets the basic criteria, you will be allocated a development manager who will advise you on what you need to provide to make a stage-two application.

How long does it take?

Stage 1, the Lead Applicant should submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) by Monday 11 December 2023. Selection will take place within 1 month and applicants notified by 12 January 2024.

Stage 2, the project appraisal process is required and a legal agreement will need to be signed by the lead applicant. Work cannot commence until this process is complete. This process will take between one and three months.

The proposed collaborative activity must be completed within 12 months from initiation and all claims paid by end March 2025.

The small print – this is important

• All HIE grant assistance is discretionary.
• Grant awards are subject to due diligence and budget availability. Due diligence includes: making an assessment on the need for public funding; the viability of the business going forward; the ability of the applicant to deliver the project; the impact of the development on the economy, and the strength of the business case presented to HIE.
• Making an application to the fund does not guarantee that your application will be successful. If you are not successful in your application or you are only partially successful e.g. you receive funding of a lesser amount than you applied for, we will arrange a call with you to let you know why you have been unsuccessful and point you in the direction of other possible sources of funding.
• There is NO appeals process. We are unable to consider a complaint purely relating to dissatisfaction as to the outcome of a funding decision. However, if you have identified a specific process failure relating to your application, then you may wish to make a formal complaint. See our formal complaints process for more information.

Need to speak to us?

If you would like to talk to someone about your enquiry, please email enquiries@hient.co.uk and we will get back to you.