Unlock Your
Innovation Potential
Welcome to the Innovation Grant Mentoring Programme – a dedicated support service for micro, small and medium-sized businesses across Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, helping transform bold ideas into successfully funded innovation.
If you’re developing a new product or service for the UK market and aspire to secure funding from organisations such as Innovate UK, we can guide you confidently through every step of the process.
Expert Support, Fully Funded
We offer free business mentoring and bid coaching to strengthen and enhance your innovation plans and funding applications for greater success.
Personal Connection
Our friendly team gets to know you, your business and your ambitions. We focus on building a relationship that understands your unique challenges.
Specialist Matching
From there, we'll match you with one of our Innovation Mentors or Bid Coaches – specialists who have supported enterprises for many years.
Enhanced Success
Strengthen your innovation plans and funding applications with expert guidance designed to maximize your chances of success.
Your Pathway to Bid Success
Dedicated, personalised support. Working closely with your Innovation Mentor or Bid Coach, you’ll shape and strengthen your innovation proposal, so your business is ready to submit a compelling, competitive funding application.
Shape Your Proposition
Refine your project proposal for Innovation Funding.
Identify Funding
Navigate the landscape to find the right funding calls for your specific innovation.
Build Application
Construct a compelling, evidence-based application that stands out to assessors.
Our Track Record
We pride ourselves on tangible results. Our support has helped businesses secure significant funding to drive their growth.
100+
Businesses Supported
£24m+
Innovation Bids Supported
Unlock Your Innovation Potential Today
Are you ready to explore your innovation journey?
Register today and discover how far your ideas can go!
Eligibility Checker
Businesses must meet the following criteria before applying:
- Innovation project: In a position to test a feasible idea or concept, or create and improve a product, process or service, via research and development
- Location: Your business must be based in Norfolk, Suffolk or Essex
- Business size: Micro, small or medium
- Employees: Under 250
- Annual Turnover: Less than £44m
If you are unsure about your company’s eligibility for the Innovation Grant Mentoring Programme, email your query to: info@innovationmentoring.co.uk
20% complete
- 1. Eligibility
- 2. Business Details
- 3. Support Requirements
- 4. Innovation/Idea
- 5. Feedback
Frequently Asked Questions
The programme is run by Norfolk County Council, Suffolk County Council and Essex County Council.
Our expert project steering group includes representatives from:
- Connected Innovation
- Hethel Innovation
- Innovate UK Business Connect
- Innovate UK Business Growth
- MENTA
- New Anglia Growth Hub
- University of East Anglia
- University of Suffolk
We want to help inspire and raise awareness of innovation funding opportunities for innovators in Norfolk, Suffolk & Essex. Statistically, the number of companies applying for and receiving innovation funding is significantly less than companies based in the rest of the East of England. However, millions of pounds are available nationally and internationally for innovation funding.
As part of the project, we have received funding to pay for professional mentors from a wide range of industries and sectors. Together they have huge amounts of expertise in writing grant applications and teaching business owners how to develop the skills needed. They’re friendly, knowledgeable, helpful, business people. Many continue to run their own businesses.
Completing grant forms is a specialist skill. It’s not always obvious how to write a strong application or which funding stream to aim for. And if you’ve been unsuccessful, sometimes it’s hard to understand the feedback explaining why.
This project will give you bespoke, flexible, tailored support to re-work your application or start from scratch. Project mentors will also help you work out who the best grant giving body is for your project.
The council, its partners and contractors will respect any rights asserted by the author/creator of work in respect of their work. We’ll use non disclosure agreements (NDAs) to protect both business beneficiaries and the project’s mentors, bid writing coaches and project partners. We will ask all parties to sign an NDA before bespoke mentoring or bid writing starts.
Read the Innovation Grant Mentoring privacy notice for information about how we will use your personal information.