ISCF SMART SUSTAINABLE PLASTIC PACKAGING: BUSINESS-LED R&D – FUNDING

1. Title: ISCF SMART SUSTAINABLE PLASTIC PACKAGING: BUSINESS-LED R&D – FUNDING2. Awarding Authority: Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, GB Tel: 03003214357.. Email: support@innovateuk.ukri.org.3. Contract type: Service contract4. Description: THe Awarding Authority, will invest up to £7 million from the Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Programme in innovation projects.These projects must have the potential to significantly impact the 2025 UK Plastics Pact targets in the long term, and address widely known problems related to plastic packaging for consumer products.Your proposal must:improve the sustainability of the plastic packaging supply chainmake a significant contribution towards delivering the targets of the UK Plastics Pactutilise at-scale innovation in design, technology, processes, business models, supply chains or data for plastic packagingembed a whole systems approach to plastic packaging sustainability, considering environmental, economic, and social factorsIn applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated.This competition will fund ambitious R&D projects with the potential to significantly impact the 2025 UK Plastic Pact targets and address widely known problems related to plastic packaging for consumer products.Your project must primarily address one or more of the UK Plastics Pact targets.The benefits of your new approach must be quantified in terms of the Pact targets and by comparison to the current system or dominant solutions.Any environmental impacts must be described and justified.We want to fund a portfolio of projects, addressing the four UK Plastics Pact targets, across a variety of technologies and markets.This competition is funded by the ISCF Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging Fund (SSPP), the Challenge Director reserves the right to make the final decision on whether a project will receive funding.Specific themesYour project can focus on one or more of the following:the minimising or reduction of plastic packagingpackaging suitable for reuse, refill and online deliverysustainable solutions for film and flexiblesfood grade recycled polypropylene and polyethylenebehaviour change leading to less packaging waste or higher recycling ratessolutions which address the UK Plastics Pact target for problematic or unnecessary single use plastic packaging itemsThis list is not intended to be exhaustive; we are particularly interested in ambitious projects.Research categoriesWe will fund industrial research projects and experimental development projects, as defined in the guidance on categories of research.Projects we will not fundWe are not funding projects which:are detrimental to the environment compared with existing solutionsencourage or facilitate the export of plastic packaging whilst still classified as wasteare primarily concerned with the production of any kind of fuel or direct energy generation from plastic wastedevelop materials or packaging which will not have commercially available and viable UK recycling (or appropriate organic waste treatment) infrastructure in place by 2025relate to the recycling of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polystyrene, including expanded polystyrene (EPS) and high impact polystyrene (HIPS)do not focus on packaging for consumer productsare dependent on export performance – for example giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that they export a certain quantity of bread to another countryare dependent on domestic inputs usage – for example if we insisted that a baker use 50% UK flour in their productFunding type5. CPV Code(s): 73000000, 73200000, 731100006. NUTS code(s): UKK, UKK1, UKK147. Main site or location of works, main place of delivery or main place of performance: South West (England), Gloucestershire, Wiltshire And Bristol/Bath Area, Swindon.8. Reference attributed by awarding authority: Not provided.9. Estimated value of requirement: Project sizeThis competition will award grants from £200,000 to £4 million per project.10. Competition closes: 8.9.2021 (11:00:00).11. Address to which they must be sent: For further information regarding the above contract notice please visit: 12. Other information: Who can applyYour projectYour project must:claim a grant between £200,000 and £4 millionstart in early 2022end by 31 March 2025last between 12 and 36 monthsIf your project’s total eligible costs or duration falls outside of our eligibility criteria, you must provide justification by email to support@innovateuk.ukri.org at least 10 working days before the competition closes. We will decide whether to approve your request.Lead organisationTo lead a project or work alone your organisation must:be a UK registered business of any sizecarry out its project work in the UKintend to exploit the results from or in the UKFor more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance. This is a change from the EU definition unless you are applying under State aid.Project teamTo collaborate with the lead, your organisation must:be a UK registered business, academic institution, charity, not-for-profit,public sector organisation, research organisation, or research and technology organisation (RTO)carry out its project work in the UKintend to exploit the results from or in the UKIf a collaboration, the lead and at least one other organisation must claim funding by entering their costs during the application.Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once accepted, partners will be asked to login or to create an account and enter their own project costs into the Innovation Funding Service.Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example non-UK businesses. Their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs.SubcontractorsSubcontractors are allowed in this competition.Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in question 5 for why you could not use suppliers from the UK.You must also provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with youWe expect all subcontractor costs to be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.Number of applicationsA business can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in a further 2 applications.If a business is not leading any application, it can collaborate in up to 3 applications.An academic institution, charity, not-for-profit, public sector organisation, research organisation, or RTO can collaborate on any number of applications.Previous applicationsYou can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.We will not award you funding if you have:failed to exploit a previously funded projectan overdue independent accountant’s reportfailed to comply with grant terms and conditionsSubsidy control (and State aid where applicable)This competition provides funding in line with the UK’s obligations and commitments to Subsidy Control. Further information about the UK Subsidy Control requirements can be found within the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation agreement and the subsequent guidance from the department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).Innovate UK is unable to award organisations that are considered to be in financial difficulty. We will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage.EU State aid rules now only apply in limited circumstances. Please see our general guidance to check if these rules apply to your organisation.Further InformationIf you are unsure about your obligations under the UK Subsidy Control regime or the State aid rules, you should take independent legal advice. We are unable to advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations.You must make sure at all times that the funding awarded to you is compliant with all current Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom.This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to or actually distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries.If there are any changes to the above requirements that mean we need to change the terms of this competition, we will tell you as soon as possible.FundingWe have allocated up to £7 million to fund innovation projects in this competition. The competition will award grants from £200,000 to £4 million per project.If your organisation’s work on the project is mostly commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically.This competition awards funding up to the grant limit.To ensure the granted limit is not exceeded by your application, you may need to reduce the amount you request to below the usual limits.For industrial research projects, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisationup to 60% if you are a medium-sized organisationup to 50% if you are a large organisationFor experimental development projects which are nearer to market, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisationup to 35% if you are a medium-sized organisationup to 25% if you are a large organisationFor more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance. This is a change from the EU definition unless you are applying under State aid.If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them.Capital equipment costsThe purchase of capital equipment is not an eligible project cost for projects undertaking Industrial Research.However, applications for Experimental Development projects undertaking a large-scale commercial demonstration of an idea can include the purchase of capital equipment costs as an eligible project cost.The inclusion of capital equipment costs is optional, not a requirement. Applications that include capital costs will be assessed in the same way as those that do not.You must include a breakdown of any capital equipment costs for your project, in your response to Question 11 of your application form.Projects must be able to demonstrate that their innovative concept will lead to improved packaging recycling or re-use, compared to existing re-use and recycling concepts of the same capacity. These include types which may otherwise be constructed without the grant, should an existing competitive concept exist.Applications can include capital usage as an eligible project cost for capital equipment that you already own or new equipment where you do not wish to claim capital purchase.Your total grant funding for capital equipment costs must not exceed:45% if you are a micro or small organisation35% if you are a medium-sized organisation25% if you are a large organisationAny capital equipment funded by the grant disposed of during the project term, must be reported to Innovate UK. Any revenue generated by the disposal will be offset against the project costs.If you have questions about the eligibility of your capital costs, please contact Innovate UK Customer Support Service at least 10 days before the competition close. We may also contact applicants for further information related to your capital costs after your application has been submitted18 May 2021 Competition opens7 June 2021 Online briefing event8 September 2021 11:00am Competition closes1 October 2021 Invite to interview18 October 2021 Interviews start22 October 2021 Interviews end25 October 2021 Applicants notifiedBefore you startYou must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.TKR-2021521-EX-1617171# funding opportunity