The Great South West has been chosen as the UK’s Marine and Maritime Launchpad and is set to receive up to £7.5m of investment to drive innovation and business growth.
The investment, from Innovate UK, is for the area covering Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and the Isles of Scilly, and UK registered organisations can now apply for funding for business-led projects that grow activities in the marine and maritime cluster.
The Launchpad programme recognises industry clusters with the potential to deliver jobs, growth, and productivity, and unlocks funding from £15,000 to £1m, to support SMEs driving innovation in their area.
SMEs working in the region’s marine and maritime sectors are invited to enter a competition to secure funding from the programme.
World-class ocean economy
“The innovation funding announced in the Great South West Marine and Maritime Launchpad is a fantastic opportunity to boost levels of innovation, exploiting what is already a world-class ocean economy cluster to create commercial solutions to the challenges facing our sector,” said Kevin Forshaw, chair of Maritime UK South West and director of Industrial and Strategic Partnerships at University of Plymouth.
The Marine and Maritime Launchpad has been developed jointly by the Great South West and Maritime UK South West alongside regional partners in its role as the programme board for the Great South West and Innovate UK.
How to apply
Maritime UK South West are organising a free Marine and Maritime Launchpad briefing and networking event at Plymouth Marine Laboratory on 3 November. The event will provide briefings on how to apply with case studies from SW businesses and ample opportunity for Q&A and networking plus an option to join online. The event will also look at opportunities for the sector in decarbonisation and working across the region together to alleviate talent shortages.
The competition for funding closes on 6 December 2023.
Find out more about the Launchpads programme and the Innovate UK briefing event at https://iuk.ktn-uk.org/programme/launchpads/
