Funding for Innovation, Dr David Bott, WMG

1. Money makes the world go around
– but how do you get it?
David Bott
Principal Fellow at WMG
(recovering Director of Innovation Programmes at
the Technology Strategy Board)

2. Types of Money
• Payment
– from customers
• Debt
– from banks
• Equity
– from Angels and Venture Capitalists
• Grants
– from Government and Agencies
• “Soft Loans”
– from Government

3. The rules of successful fundraising
1. Know your potential funder
2. Try not to ask for money cold
3. Understand their processes
4. Tell a story – clearly
5. Listen to the feedback

4. Applying these guidelines to
Banks

5. The 5 Steps
• Check what sort of company they tend to fund
– they often publish their intentions, or you can listen to
other companies at events
• Schmooze them beforehand
– Most banks have active business groups with people
paid to find good investments – talk to them
• Read their literature
– And ask if you don’t understand
• Make sure they understand your business plan
– write it in plain language
• A rejected application may not be the end!

6. Applying these guidelines to
Angels and Venture Capitalists

7. The (first 3 of) 5 Steps
• Look at their track record
– Use BBAA and BVCA to identify targets
– See who they have they funded in the past
– See where they are in their fund cycle
• Build a relationship with them
– Check if they can help you grow
• Talk to others who have been funded by them
– Each of them use variations of process

8. The (other) 5 steps
• As well as making sure they understand your
product and business plan, make sure they
know how they will get their money back!
• The deal is a negotiation, the happier they are
the better the deal you get!

9. Applying these guidelines to
or

10. Step 1

11. Driving Innovation
A brief history…
• The original DTI Innovation Unit and advisory
“Technology Strategy Board” was set up in 2004
• It was spun out of government as a “non-
departmental public body” in July 2007,
relocated to Swindon and staffed with people
from business
• Since then it’s budget has increased from £250m
to £440m a year – and it’s going up more in
2015/16

12. Driving Innovation
What is the problem they are addressing?
• Business investment is too low and too late
• Technical and financial risks need to be mitigated
• The time for financial return is too long for many players
• Innovation disrupts value chains and business models
• New partnerships are required to build new supply chains
• Investment and innovation is required at multiple points
• Longer term trends are not visible to all players
• Impact and opportunities from emerging technologies & policies
• Innovation infrastructure is complex and inefficient
• Fragmented and difficult to navigate
• Government does not make best use of its levers
• Procurement, regulation, standardisation, fiscal incentives

13. Driving Innovation
What are they doing about it?
• Accelerating the journey between concept and
commercialisation
– Understand the business journey and accelerate it
– Provide a coherent package of support – matched to needs
– Specific SME package – but recognise role of larger companies
– Promote knowledge exchange
• Connecting the innovation landscape
• Turning government action into business opportunity
• Investing in priority areas based on potential
• Continuously improving our capability

14. Driving Innovation
What are their Criteria?
• Market
– What is the current and projected size, how fast is it growing, who are
the competition?
• Capability
– Does the UK have a strong research base in the area, the skills, the
business capacity?
• Timing
– Is the cost curve balanced by the value curve?
• Additionality
– Why should the taxpayer support this project?

15. Driving Innovation

16. Driving Innovation
Concept Commercialisation
Mentoring
Networks
Connections
£
DevelopmentEvaluation Validation

17. Driving Innovation
Concept Commercialisation
Mentoring
Networks
Connections
£

18. Driving Innovation
Where the money goes

19. Driving Innovation
• They do not have enough money to satisfy the needs of all
companies
• Their processes are thought by some to be too bureaucratic – but
they need to be accountable for their use of taxpayers money
• They need to make the process take companies on a
developmental journey
• Assessment, even with 5 assessors, tends to be more subjective
that anyone would like
• Feedback on why proposals are not successful needs to be more
coordinated and useful
• Not everyone knows they are here to help them
What have they learned?

20. Step 2

21. Before the competitions
• Within the broad areas, Technologists consult
widely and publish a “strategy” – a roadmap
for the area
• This determines which competitions are run!
• The strategies are brought together in the
annual Delivery Plan, published at the
beginning of the financial year

23. Preparation is important
• Participate in the strategy development, help
build the roadmaps and make sure your
understanding of needs and capabilities is
incorporated
• Engage with the relevant Technologist(s)
• Join _connect, the relevant part(s) of the
Knowledge Transfer Network and go to
Innovate

24. Step 3

25. How the process works
• Single stage competitions (Smart, Feasibility)
– Answer 10 questions (that cover the criteria and capability
to deliver)
• Two stage competitions (Collaborative Research and
Development)
– Expression of Interest triages ideas down to twice funding
– Main stage uses same 10 questions
• Focussed Area competitions (LaunchPads, Missions)
– 2 minute video
– Normal second stage

26. Assessment
• There are normally 3-5 assessors, drawn from
pool
– Responsive mode competitions can suffer from
assessors who may not fully understand area, so
get judged “blind”
– Thematic competitions use assessors who know
about area – because they are involved – so there
is possible of gaming
– Not all feedback is useful

27. Answer the questions!
1. What is the business opportunity that this
project addresses?
2. What is the size and nature of the market
opportunity that this project might open up?
6. What is innovative about this project
8. Does the applicant have the right skills and
experience and access to facilities to deliver the
identified benefits?
10.How does financial support from the Technology
Strategy Board add value?

28. All the questions!
3. How will the results of the project be exploited?
4. What economic opportunities will this project help
bring about to those outside of the business and over
what timescale? What about social and
environmental benefits?
5. How will the project be managed and what technical
approach will be adopted?
7. What are the risks (technical, commercial and
environmental) to project success? What is the
project’s risk management strategy?
9. Please explain the financial commitment required for
the project.

29. Step 4

30. Tell a story
• The questions are meant to build a case for
support, so make sure the answers do!
• Make it clear and keep it simple
• Check consistency of numbers
• Make it flow – keep the assessor interested
• Don’t use jargon or area specific acronyms –
anything that might cause the assessor to stop
and think loses you points

31. Step 5

32. Feedback
• “There is no evidence this project will work”
– For a Feasibility Studies proposal!
• “The market data presented are at a level which is not
really relevant to the project”
• “The description of the market is very clear and well-
supported”
– For the same project!
• “The application does not present a sufficiently detailed
explanation of the financial situation which makes it unable
to tackle the project using its own funds”
• “This is a clear and convincing explanation of why TSB
support is needed for this project to go ahead”
– For the same project!

33. Picking up the pieces
• The overall funding rate is about 30% on
Thematic and 20% on Responsive – so there
are a lot of disappointed people out there
• I used to meet a lot of the people who had
been unsuccessful – but who had good stories
to tell
• When we looked, it was usually because they
hadn’t explained their ideas clearly enough
and/or answered the questions!

34. Getting a grant from Innovate UK
• If you’re an academic – recognise that
Innovate UK is not a research council and is
not there to fund “research” ideas
• If you're a business with an early stage idea –
start with the market and how the idea
addresses a need
• If you're a business with a late stage idea –
make the point that the idea will not progress
without support

35. For everyone
• Make sure your plan will work for everyone involved
– You get the money you need and they get what they want!
• Realise they are all interconnected
– Often getting a government grant will make it easier to get
Angel or Bank funding
• Tell the story of your plan, start with the customers
and their needs, explain how you will satisfy them
and end with how the money comes back to your
funder!!

36. The other valley of death!

37. The rules of successful fundraising
1. Know your potential funder
2. Try not to ask for money cold
3. Understand their processes
4. Tell a story – clearly
5. Listen to the feedback

38. e: d.c.bott@warwick.ac.uk
m: +44 7802 788435
tw: @david_bott
li: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/david-bott/29/77/65a
sk: davidbott3
w: http://www.davidbott.com