Grant funding available to help Stoke-On-Trent and Staffordshire SMEs in the aerospace supply chain unlock their innovation potential

Aerospace Unlocking Potential (Aerospace UP) is a £20 million three-year project (2020 to 2023) delivered by the University of Nottingham and the Midlands Aerospace Alliance which aims to support the aerospace supply chain in the Midlands by helping to unlock its innovation potential.

The programme is supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which helps businesses to access funding and expertise to improve their performance through innovation in all aspects of their enterprise. As a pan-Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) project, Aerospace UP is available to SMEs in 8 Midlands LEP areas including the Stoke-On-Trent and Staffordshire LEP.

What support is available?

The programme can support eligible SMEs through cash grants, workshops, expert support, internships, and/or industrial placements.

In the Stoke-On-Trent and Staffordshire LEP area, grant funding is still available and local businesses can apply for a 52.9% grant to contribute towards projects with a cost between £1,890 and approximately £189,035.

While it is not essential to have any particular project in mind prior to engaging with the Aerospace UP delivery team, it may be useful to think beforehand about the areas where the Innovation Grant might be able to provide assistance.

To date Aerospace UP has funded 70 innovation projects, with a broad range of activity taking place: from manufacturing, tooling and digitisation through to development of greener aircraft components and innovations in our growing space sector.

Aerospace UP has also supported an additional 120 SMEs with a broad range of non-financial support ranging including peer networking, digitisation workshops, sustainability workshops, introductions to Advanced Air Mobility and much more.

More information about the programme and the support currently on offer is available on the Aerospace UP website.

Interested SMEs can also register to attend a free 1-hour drop-in session on Thursday 27th July at 1pm, via Microsoft Teams to learn more. If you would like to engage with the team sooner, you can e-mail them on: AerospaceUP@nottingham.ac.uk.