November 2021

17 Nov

Posted at 17:20h in Hillingdon

Hillingdon Council, using funds available via the Government’s Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) is launching the Hillingdon Enterprise Programme.

After a successful commitment of over £8 million of ARG funding on sustaining and meeting the immediate needs of Hillingdon business during the covid crisis, the council is now looking to target a further and significant amount element of funding to a smaller select number of Hillingdon based businesses, potentially bringing long term benefits in terms of growth and job creation.

The council has set aside £1.75 million of ARG funding to support the Hillingdon Enterprise scheme, these would be flexible in the region of £50k to £200k for exception applications and the the Council aim to support a minimum of 10 to fifteen Hillingdon based businesses. West London Business will offer services in the management of the grants on behalf of the council.

While the target sectors have been kept as flexible as possible to avoid any exclusion of business ideas that could deliver future growth or employment potential, the priority of the scheme would be for the following sectors:

  • Green Economy

The targeted use of the ARG funding could serve to encourage businesses to engage and potentially support a range of ‘green initiatives, which create business growth and employment

  • Innovation

Due to the high concentration of aviation sector support companies, supply chain sector is a major employer in Hillingdon. As the aviation sector slowly recovers from the covid crisis, the sector could potentially be a source of growth and employment opportunities.

  • Creative/media

This category reflects the increasing growth and future economic impact of the film and associated creative production sectors in Hillingdon.

  • High growth

The category, aims at supporting businesses that do not fit into any other target sectors, but are worthy of support.

The eligibility to apply for the grant include:

The eligibility criteria for businesses to apply for the grant include:

  • Must be based in Hillingdon Borough
  • SMEs, defined as companies that have not more than 250 employees, an annual turnover of not more than £25.9 million and a balance sheet of no more than £12.9 million in total.
  • Collaborative applications are engaged. This could be with a client or a supplier, an academic organisation, charity, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation (RTO).
  • Projects can last from 12 months up to a maximum of 18 months.
  • Projects must demonstrate a potential economic and/or employment benefit for Hillingdon.

The application process is in two stages, with the first one comprising of providing a brief outline of the project. Once West London Business has reviewed the application, you will be notified in order to proceed to the second round. Lear more about the application process and apply today!

 

15 Nov

Posted at 13:07h in Ealing

Ealing Council has announced the launch of the Pioneer’s fund, to provide innovation grants to local Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs). This exciting opportunity is designed to deliver targeted innovation grants to businesses in Ealing that are able to demonstrate a good prospect of accelerated growth and job creation with the support.

The grants, which will be supported in delivery and management by West London Business, are available from £50,000 to £200,000 and Ealing Council expects to pay six to nine grants. The fund is open to applications from Wednesday 10 November 2021. Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, cabinet member for decent living incomes said,

“The project team is particularly keen to hear from smaller businesses who would benefit from the financial support and partnering opportunities afforded by innovation funding … all proposals will be carefully considered and the team will try to provide feedback to all parties submitting a full application. In addition, any ideas submitted will be treated as commercially confidential and we will respect fully any intellectual property of the originator, regardless of whether we choose to award a grant.”

Ealing Pioneer’s Fund, aimed at boosting growth and job creation in the area will be focused on the following strategically significant sectors.

  • Aviation/Logistics
  • Food
  • Creative/media
  • Retrofit/ Construction tech

Among the sectors, there will be priority for low carbon and/or circular economy innovations. The eligibility criteria for businesses to apply for the grant include:

  • Must be based in Ealing Borough
  • SMEs, defined as companies that have not more than 250 employees, an annual turnover of not more than £25.9 million and a balance sheet of no more than £12.9 million in total.
  • Collaborative applications are engaged. This could be with a client or a supplier, an academic organisation, charity, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation (RTO).
  • Projects can last from 12 months up to a maximum of 18 months.
  • Projects must demonstrate a potential economic and/or employment benefit for Ealing.

The application process consists of two stages, the first stage consists of submission of information of your innovative idea, the sector you want to target, estimate of a the timeline and the cost of the project and outline of potential project benefits, estimates of business turnovers etc. Once successful, you will be invited to proceed to the second stage within 72 hours of application.

The call for proposals will close at 4 pm on 31 December 2021. The grants will be approved by the end of January 2022, with payments made to the recipients by 31 March 2022. Learn more about the fund and apply today!