"Free" Money for Bright Ideas

Everyone knows that these are difficult times for both established and start-up businesses, especially in the engineering sector. What people may be less aware of is that there is still money available to fund bright ideas, if you are prepared to go through the system to get it.

For example, say you have a potentially lucrative invention, but no money to test whether it really works. You're stuck, right? Wrong. Most West Midlands universities run an Innovation Voucher scheme, where they will carry out work up to a value of £3000, and you contribute absolutely nothing. There are certain restrictions; you must be an SME (less than 250, less than £50M turnover) and there are preferred industries (medical, energy, materials, digital media, transport) but the interpretation is quite broad. And yes, even individuals can access it.

This is just the first step of an "innovation escalator" that can lead to grants of up to £30,000, to bring technologies and products to the market, although in this case there must be a 25% contribution from the company. In other words, three quarters of the costs will be paid for!

But what if the expertise in your field is abroad? Well, the UK government, through UK Trade & Investment will help you access it, even identifying partners, locations and helping with travel costs.

These aren't loans. They're grants. No interest payments. No "dragons" owning your equity. No downside, other than the applications to get them - and there are actually helpful people to walk you through that.

That's just two examples of the help that's out there. The information about it can be tricky to get hold of; Fintelis is willing to point people in the right direction to access it. This is a free service, because we believe that successful companies will return to us as customers.

So what's holding back your latest invention? Do you still think it's money?