Funding

Funding Round-Up

Take a look at the latest funding competitions of relevance to organisations and academics working within the field of plastics.

ISCF: Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging

Part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Wave 3, this Challenge will develop a new generation of advanced and sustainable plastic packaging to reduce single-use plastics, increase recyclability and the amount of plastic packaging that is recycled and ultimately reduce the amount of plastic waste entering the environment. Government is prepared to invest up to £60 million in this Challenge from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, with additional funding of up to £149 million from industry. The Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Challenge aims to establish the UK as a leading innovator in sustainable plastic packaging for consumer products, delivering cleaner growth across the supply chain, with a dramatic reduction in plastic waste entering the environment by 2025.

Your project must aim to:

help make the plastics packaging supply chain more circular
deliver the targets of the UK Plastics Pact
improve on current state-of-the-art plastic packaging, while still demonstrating practical and close-to-market solutions

Projects are welcomed across the following areas: materials; design; technology or process; business model or behaviour change. Your project must showcase close-to-market solutions that go beyond the current state-of-the-art and deliver a more circular economy for plastic packaging.

ISCF smart sustainable plastic packaging: feasibility studies for demonstrators

Competition closes: 19.02.20

UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £700,000 to develop proposals for practical demonstrator projects in smart and sustainable plastic packaging.

Innovate UK are funding feasibility studies for demonstrators, which will create a proposal to enter into a later, invitation-only demonstrator projects competition. This competition is to help applicants develop proposals for later rounds under this programme.

ISCF smart sustainable plastic packaging: demonstrator projects, round 1

Competition closes: 19.02.20

UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £12 million for practical demonstrator projects in smart and sustainable plastic packaging. This competition aims to invest in up to 3 practical demonstrators. These are for projects that are ready to start work.

Enabling Research in Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging

Competition Closes: 01.04.20

it aims to promote academic research that can support the aims of the overall SSPP challenge, welcoming significant industry participation and co-investment. You can find out more about this challenge here.

ISCF smart sustainable plastic packaging: feasibility studies and industrial research

Competition Closes: 01.04.20

This competition is for early-stage business led projects, requiring academics and businesses to submit detailed information on the ways a new project would fulfil the aims of the SSPP challenge. In particular, applicants will have to demonstrate that they have adopted a lifecycle approach to plastics packaging, examining the use of a material from its raw state, through to its transport, usage by consumers to end of life. Find out more about this competition here.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships

Current KTP period: Open date: 12.12.19 (after this the next round will be available immediately, so don’t rush your application unnecessarily)

A Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) links your organisation with one of the UK’s world-class knowledge bases (a university or research organisation) to power strategic innovation projects, embed expertise and drive commercial growth. needed to develop it, a Knowledge Transfer Partnership may be the answer. It creates a dynamic three-way collaboration – between a business or not for profit organisation, a UK university or research organisation, and a suitably qualified graduate – to help realise a strategic innovation project, bring about transformative change and embed new capability.

Understanding the Impact of Plastic Pollution on Marine Ecosystems in South East Asia (South East Asia Plastics)

Closing date for notification of intent to submit: 16:00 (UK time) on 5 March 2020

Closing date for full proposals: 16:00 (UK time) on 7 May 2020

Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF) and the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) invite proposals for collaborative research projects under the Understanding the Impact of Plastic Pollution on Marine Ecosystems in South East Asia (South East Asia Plastics (SEAP)) programme. The UK funding for this programme is supported by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) through the International Climate Finance (ICF) programme, a UK government commitment to support developing countries to respond to the challenges and opportunities of climate change.

Innovate UK Smart Grants

Competition Closes: 22.04.20

Smart is the new name for Innovate UK’s ‘Open grant funding’ programme. Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £25 million in the best game-changing, innovative or disruptive ideas with a view to commercialisation. All proposals must be business focused. Applications can come from any area of technology (including arts, design, media or creative industries), science or engineering and be applied to any part of the economy.

Reducing the Impacts of Plastic Waste in Developing Countries

Closing date for notification of intent to submit: 16:00 GMT on 20 January 2020

Closing date for full proposals: 16:00 GMT on 17 March 2020

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), invites proposals for international, interdisciplinary, collaborative research projects under the Reducing the Impacts of Plastic Waste in Developing Countries call. This programme is funded through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). The aim of this programme is to support the interdisciplinary research needed to understand the risks plastic pollution poses in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) and to explore which interventions, policies and regulations can mitigate these risks.

This call aims to support up to five international, interdisciplinary, collaborative research projects with a value of up to £3.5m (cost to UKRI); UK institutions are eligible for 80% full economic costs (FEC) and overseas organisations are eligible for 100% direct project costs. The total available budget for this call is £20m. It is expected that projects will start in July 2020 and have a maximum duration of four years.

Circular Economy Fund for Manufacturers in Wales

This £6.5m Circular Economy Fund is a Welsh Government initiative, delivered by WRAP Cymru. It provides the opportunity for manufacturers to apply for capital grants to introduce or increase recycled content (plastic, paper / card or textiles) in products, components or packaging produced in Wales.

Eligible businesses of any size may either apply for a ‘small scale’ grant from £25,000 up to €200,000 (the maximum De Minimis threshold) or a ‘large scale’ grant from €200,000 up to c. £750,000.

Funding

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