Funds Available

RGN Capital Grants are now open. For further information click here.

The latest round of grant funding from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) for the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area has been announced, with grant funding totalling £9.7m available to businesses in the food processing, tourism and rural business development sectors.

The RDPE provides funding for projects in England which create jobs and growth in the rural economy.

They are looking for projects that will grow a business, create jobs or bring more money in to the rural economy. Grant funding can help pay for constructing or improving buildings, and buying new equipment and machinery.

These capital grants will fund up to 40% of your project cost. The minimum grant is £35,000. This means that the overall project cost will need to be over £87,500 to be eligible for the funding. Businesses must be located in the eligible rural areas of County Durham, Northumberland and Gateshead and within the North East Rural Growth Network boundary, see map  (Note – some areas of Gateshead are not within the eligible area and you are advised to check).

Three grant funds are available for:-

• Food Processing
• Tourism infrastructure, including tourism accommodation
• Rural Business Development grants for small and micro businesses. Priority sectors are manufacturing and engineering, pharmaceuticals, food and drink, and knowledge intensive business services and creative businesses. Activities include diversification of a farm business into non-agricultural activities. 

Full details of the calls and guidance notes can be found here.

Applicants are invited to submit expressions of interest via email to [email protected] 

The grants are funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), which is part of the European Structural Investment Funds (ESIF).

The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) supports European policy on rural development. To this end, it finances rural development programmes across the Member States and the regions of the Union. Programmes are designed in cooperation between the European Commission and the Member States, taking into account the strategic guidelines for rural development policy adopted by the Council and the priorities laid down by national strategy plans.

The new scheme from NBSL allows businesses to access up to 35% funding towards projects costing between £3,000 and £8,000, with a maximum grant of £2,800.

Geographically, any business in the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (NELEP) area of County Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear can bid for the funding.

The fund can be used for most forms of external expertise from business growth planning, marketing, strategy development, change management, expansion planning, developing quality management systems, product development, accessing new markets and design costs. Capital purchases, printing and advertising costs cannot be funded.

For further information please visit here.

Support for North East Manufacturers – Open for applications

The Manufacturing Growth Programme is available to manufacturing businesses throughout Durham, Tyne and Wear and Northumberland to help them grow. It offers expert advice on how to improve productivity, efficiency and competitiveness in order to:

• Access new markets
• Create jobs
• Improve productivity
• Apply innovations

The programme runs for 12 months until July 2017.

For more information visit here, email [email protected] or call 0191 389 8434.

To express an interest and begin the application process visit here.

Apply for innovation funding. If you’re a UK-based business or research organisation, you may be able to compete for government-backed funding to:

• research and develop a process, product or service
• test your innovation ideas
• collaborate with other organisations

You can find all of the current open opportunities here.

Find out more about the funding application process here.

Connect to experts and support here.

What are the big issues facing large corporates, the public sector and society at large? Does your business have the technology, talent or services to provide solutions?

Every week the Innovation SuperNetwrok releases challenges that could be turned into commercial opportunities for your business. Example challenges include: Innovative solutions to map a drains and sewer network and GP practices of the future - the NHS is seeking innovative ways to deal with increasing demands on GP surgeries.

If you think your business has the technology, talent or services to provide solutions to the Innovation Challenges visit the Innovation SuperNetwork to find the next challenge here.

The Green Business Fund from the Carbon Trust is now offering up to 30% of the total project cost for energy efficient equipment upgrades and refurbishments, up to a maximum of £10,000.*

This offer is open to qualifying SMEs in England, Scotland and Wales and is time limited. As well as the non-repayable Capital Contribution, qualifying businesses are also entitled to receive the following support at no cost.

Energy survey for business

Energy saving equipment implementation advice

Implementation support is only available for companies with up to 1,000 employees, and is available until March 2018 on a first-come, first-served basis.

For further infomration visit here.

If you are interested in making an application to the Green Business Fund for any of the services above please contact Alex Sykes on 020 7832 4773 or email [email protected]

*Key terms apply.