So, you have gone through the whole grant proposal development, you have your consortium built and ready, finances and budget done, and are ready to press the “Submit” button. Or are you?
Many grants, especially in the innovation and R&D field, are complex and require a whole brain-storming process before that magic button can be pressed. Hence, I thought it may be useful to outline some useful tips and guidance that you can follow in the pre-submission process. It is worth taking the time to go over these guidelines to avoid any potential pitfalls of the submissions process. When it comes to grant applications for transformational projects and innovative technology, patience really can be a virtue!
Here are some key phases and milestones for this process:
• Initial plan and scope; Partner ID and identifying and approaching potential project partners
• Initial outline plan complete; share with partners
• Feedback meeting with partners
• Deadline for approaching new partners and securing their commitment
• Begin content drafting and partner finance forms
• Draft out to partners
• Deadline for comments from partners
• Final review and online form check
• Bid submission
Let’s look at these pointers in more detail below.
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Initial plan and scope
All applicants to the project need to draft an initial plan and mind-map all potential partners for the proposal. This can be done by digging into existing partner channels as far as possible by networking in your ecosystem of clients and partners. Applicants can explain the project plan to potential stakeholders, define the project aims and obtain initial project buy-in. Part of the process will involve holding partner calls and meetings to discuss the application and ways a project might be built together for the benefit of all stakeholders.
A project scope document can be drafted and form the bedrock of the project start phase, and initial timetabling and scheduling can be written in based on the grant and funding timelines.
Sharing initial outline plan with partners and obtaining feedback
The key to success in any project is effective and efficient collaboration between all stakeholders, and a grant project is no exception to this basic rule. Once the plan has been defined, refined and thoroughly reviewed, it can then be shared with partners expected to be part of the consortium for initial feedback and thoughts. All project participants will join meetings to discuss feedback and a realistic deadline should be set for approaching other partners and assessing their commitment to the project. Any deadlines set during the pre-submission process should always bear in mind the grant deadline and overall time frame.
All comments and suggestions should be integrated as much as possible into the proposal structure, and agreement reached on the kick-off process with partners.
Building and sharing content with partners and integrating feedback
The process then moves into the nuts-and-bolts phase of the proposal: the content build and drafting. The content is what will make or break the project in terms of funding or no funding and in the eyes of the grant assessors. Regular collaboration meetings and feedback sessions will help in ensuring all project participants can jointly build content to match the grant requirement and objectives. The use of collaboration tools such as Zoom, WebEx, and Microsoft Teams will help all project participants have a say in building the content to obtain funding success.
Another key aspect of this collaboration process is agreement on partner finances and budget outlines; in other words, partners need to agree on which partner will receive how much funding based on their status and overall project contribution (SME, university or higher education institute). As always, this phase of work needs to respect the grant application deadline.
Reviewing the application and budget items, risk register
Applications need to be reviewed thoroughly by all project team members. Essential project components should be ticked off one by one, including the following:
• Compiling a risk register of all potential risks and the project team’s contingency for mitigating and addressing said risks;
• Budget allocations to each partner in the consortium; an example is that universities and higher education institutions can receive a maximum of 30% of eligible project costs for an Innovate UK grant, and if there are 2 universities, they share this maximum. SMEs typically qualify for higher funding levels than larger enterprise.
• Ensuring each project partner has internal sign-off on the budget and overall application proposal to avoid any last-minute delays.
Most importantly, all consortium partners need to meet ahead of the submission to go over the whole proposal and address any last-minute concerns.
Final review and online portal registration
The application should undergo one last final review both internally with all stakeholders and if possible, externally with neutral stakeholders who may identify potential issues given their lack of active involvement in the project. Reviews can include checks for thematic, grammatical, and technical inconsistencies before submission, and ensure each part or question of the grant application is addressed correctly and mirrored in the content. Also bear in mind the required number of words per question cannot be exceeded; for example, there is a 400 words maximum word count for an Innovate UK Smart Grant application.
This is the time to attach and verify any appendixes required, budget outlines, risk registers, CVs and bio information for the various consortium stakeholders. Lastly but by no means least, all consortium partners need to be socialized with the application portal and ensure they are already registered ahead of the
submission date.
Now, the moment has arrived! The applicants submit the application via an online portal and then the waiting begins, although it is still useful to hold further strategy calls while waiting to prepare. No matter what stage you are at currently, whether it is thinking of applying for a grant, an application in progress, or an application that has just been submitted, I would like to wish you good luck with your applications and grant projects.
For additional strategies on the grant writing process, check out our webcasts and FUNDED magazines.
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