After a competition deadline submitted, grant funding application assessment begins as applications are sifted against the eligibility criteria of the competition. For themed competitions, this will include an initial assessment as to whether the application meets the scope of the competition.
The applications which pass eligibility are then sent to technical assessment.
Applications are assessed by up to 5 independent assessors. The assessors are experts from both business and academia and are allocated based on the skills and expertise in the area relevant to your project. The assessment process is conducted in a secure and confidential manner.
Typically, questions are marked out of 10 and assessors have the option to provide detailed feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of your application.
Some competitions have an interview stage. This will be specified in the competition application information. Following technical assessment, the top-rated applications will receive a request to respond to the assessor feedback along with an invite to interview. For the interview, you will need to submit a presentation, generally up to 10 slides to support your pitch, as well as an attendee list for the interview. There will be several key dates for response to feedback, email of presentation and attendee list, and the interview itself. As an applicant it is important you can meet these timelines or you risk losing the chance at funding.
The Innovate UK SMART competition does not include an interview stage.
Once the technical assessment phase, and interview phase if applicable, is complete the funding body will meet to finalise which applications to make offers to. Quality of application, interview panel comments (if applicable), and cost will inform the final decision. For themed competitions, the funding body may take a portfolio approach to make sure all targeted competition themes are represented. This will be made clear in the competition application information. For the Innovate UK SMART programme they will offer funding to the highest scoring proposals, within the defined budget of the competition.
At TBAT we are vastly experienced in putting together high-scoring applications. Our in-depth knowledge of the assessment process and appreciation of what assessors are looking for in a proposal means we can provide clients with insights and nuances to maximise the scoring potential of an application. We have ex-Innovate UK assessors on staff and all our proposals complete a peer review process and a quality check to provide clients with the best possible service. We also provide support to clients for interview stages, including compiling responses to feedback, templating presentations, and supporting interview preparations. Contact us here to discuss this further.
Call 
Back
