Introducing Innovation Loans – London
Innovate UK is holding a series of events around the UK to introduce a new pilot programme for innovation loans.
Innovation loans will offer affordable, patient, flexible funding for later-stage research & development projects with a clear route to commercial success. Loans will be offered, through future competitions to be announced, to growth-oriented SMEs that are able to demonstrate that they have a high quality innovation project, that they will be able to afford the interest payments and subsequent repayments associated with a loan and that they need public sector support as they are unable to access finance for their project on standard commercial terms.
The objective of the workshops will be:
- To set out the rationale for introducing innovation loans
- To explain where innovation loans fit in the funding landscape, particularly in relation to grant funding, equity investment and commercial debt
- To highlight the key features of the innovation loans and how these will support innovative SMEs in their growth journey
- To explain the obligations associated with loans, particularly highlighting how they differ from grant funding
- To walk through the ‘customer journey’ that SMEs can expect to experience as innovation loans are delivered through a series of competitions with defined scopes
- To enable businesses to form a judgement (based on whether innovation loans are likely to meet their growth needs and whether they are likely to fit Innovate UK’s selection criteria) about applying for future innovation loan competitions
Who should attend?
- Senior decision-makers (CEO / CFO / CTO) in innovative SMEs (businesses with fewer than 250 employees / turnover of less than c£50m / balance sheet total of less than c£43m)
- Key intermediaries in professional services firms and the public sector support landscape
Innovate UK will also run specific and detailed competition briefing events as each of our planned competitions are launched in the coming months.
Agenda
13:30 Registration
14:00 Introduction to Innovate UK
14:15 Innovation loans in the funding landscape
14:30 Innovation loans key features
15:00 The innovation loan customer journey
15:30 Expected innovation loan pilot programme roll-out
15:45 Q&A
16:30 Networking and close
Presentations will be given by key members of Innovate UK’s Innovation Loans team including:
Tim Sawyer, Chief Investment Officer
Nigel Walker, Head of Innovation Lending
Scott O’Brien, Head of Lending Operations and Risk
Clare Lindsay, Senior Project Manager
More information can be found here.
Cannot attend in Person? – View the live webcast online
The London event on 30 October will be live streamed online for those unable to attend in person, to register for the online webcast click here.
