Introduction to SBRI Funding
For those who aren’t aware, SBRI is an acronym for Small Business Research Initiative. It’s a scheme backed by the UK government that provides funding to small and medium-sized businesses to develop innovative solutions to public sector challenges.
What is SBRI Funding?
At its essence, SBRI funding is an opportunity provided by the UK government to bolster innovative small businesses. It’s a competitive grant that focuses on specific public sector needs, inviting businesses to propose innovative solutions to these challenges.
The charm of this scheme lies in its inclusivity. Whether you’re a start-up or an established business, as long as you’re UK-based and can demonstrate your potential for innovation, you’re welcome to apply.
How SBRI funding works
The SBRI funding process is a two-phased approach. In the first phase, businesses explore the feasibility of the proposed solution with a grant of up to £100,000. This phase typically lasts six months.
The second phase is the development and testing phase, where businesses can receive up to £1 million in funding for a period of up to two years. The best part? The funding is 100% grant funded, meaning companies retain their intellectual property rights.
Our Journey with SBRI Funding
Our journey with SBRI funding has been nothing short of transformative. We applied for SBRI Funding as part of Delivering a Net Zero NHS back in 2021. After a written and video application, we were eligible for a grant, which helped us to innovate on our platform and improve services for our clients in the NHS.
How SBRI Funding helped us Deliver Real Impact
For the NHS to achieve net zero, its 1.4 million staff must make changes to the way they work. We estimate that, of all emission reductions that need to happen on the NHS Net Zero pathway, 19.7% are directly influenced by staff behaviour.
In response to our ‘behaviour change in action’ survey in 2022, 85% of respondents agreed that they understood more about the impact of their actions on the environment, 84% are more conscious about their energy usage and how to take action to reduce it, and 97% said they had implemented new sustainability habits into their daily and weekly routine.
In 2022 we recorded 3.6 million+ positive actions through our programmes. Projections suggest that these actions have helped avoid over 5.0 million kg CO2 emissions, save over 1.8 million kWhs of energy, and enable over 3.3 million miles of sustainable travel.
The New Features we Introduced Thanks to SBRI Funding
Thanks to SBRI funding, we’ve been able to introduce a plethora of new features. These features include personalisation of actions based on the employee’s role, a carbon calculator allowing staff to calculate their carbon footprint at work and at home, and impact reporting, providing NHS Trusts with measurable data for the employee actions.
These new features have not only made our services more efficient but also more tailored to our customers’ needs, providing them with a more personalised experience. You can read a full outline of our new features here.
Case Study: The Impact of SBRI Funding on our Client Experience
One of our major clients, The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, has already received a full roll-out of the new SBRI features, and they have some great things to say.
Since the update, it is even easier to log your actions. The weekly reminder means there’s no excuse for forgetting. It is also much easier to get a feel for what impact my changes are making which encourages me to make even more.
Matt Greenhill
Sustainability Manager at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
This case study is a testament to how SBRI funding can empower businesses like ours to innovate and enhance client experiences, creating a win-win situation for all parties involved.
The Future of our Business with SBRI Funding
With the successful implementation and positive feedback from our clients, we’re more excited than ever about the future of our business. The SBRI funding has set us on a path of continuous innovation and growth.
While our current round of SBRI funding is now coming to an end, we intend to apply for more funding opportunities in the future to continue enhancing our offerings and providing our clients with the best possible experience.
How to Apply for SBRI Funding
If you’re an innovative UK-based business looking for funding, we highly recommend considering SBRI. The application process is straightforward. You need to write a proposal addressing a specific public sector challenge and how your solution can solve it.
SBRI Healthcare regularly open new competitions for new applicants, and you can see when there are new competitions via their website.
Before we sign off, we’d like to invite you to experience the improvements we’ve made first-hand. Book a Demo call with our team and let us show you how we’re making a difference with SBRI funding.
