The closing date for all four calls is Friday 23 November 2018.
The following activity is included but you can get access to each of the call specifications here.
PROMOTING RESEARCH AND INNOVATION – PRIORITY AXIS 1 - £4.8m
The call states that the focus is on revenue support, particularly the provision of intensive support leading to an increase in innovative capacity for new and established businesses innovating in smart specialisation areas. Consideration will be given to limited capital investment that addresses the key priorities identified within the Tees Valley Innovation Strategy. Capital investment should provide improved innovation facilities/business space to enable research, development and innovation where robust evidence of market failure is provided, and where this investment is fundamentally linked to the provision of intensive support to new and established innovating businesses.
Capital investment must demonstrate clear and explicit linkages to the provision of intensive support to innovating businesses and capital works must be supported by high quality and relevant revenue support.
ENHANCING ACCESS TO, AND USE AND QUALITY OF ICT – PRIORITY AXIS 2 - £1.1m
Projects under this call should look to enhance the access to, and use and quality of, Information and Communications Technology including:
- extend broadband deployment and the roll-out of high-speed networks and support the adoption of emerging technologies and networks for the digital economy
- develop Information and Communications Technology products and services,
- e-commerce, and enhancing demand for Information and Communications Technology
SME COMPETITIVENESS – PRIORITY AXIS 3 - £28m
This call looks to enhance the competitiveness of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and specifically:
- Supporting the creation and the extension of advanced capacities for products, services and development
- Supporting the capacity of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises to grow in regional, national and international markets and to engage in innovation processes,
Local priorities will be increasing productivity
Activities should support businesses to improve their productivity, help them grow and create jobs. Tees Valley experiences a comparatively low growth rate amongst businesses. Although the enterprise rate is expanding, it hasn’t translated into more jobs or increased productivity. Productivity of Tees Valley business is around 90% of the UK average.
Scale up
Support should develop the entrepreneurial skills and internal capacity to grow significantly and rapidly. Tees Valley enterprise stock is dominated by a prevalence of firms with annual turnover between £50k and £200k. The proportion of Tees Valley firms with £200k+ turnover falls below national averages.
Supply Chain Development
Support for the development of supply chains to help businesses export, innovate, to become more productive, access finance and e-commerce opportunities. Changes to business ownership in Tees Valley have resulted in significant reductions in process integration within the region. The result of this has been long term erosion of developed supply chains and a loss to supply chain efficiency.
Applicants will need to demonstrate activity is complementary to the existing Business Compass model.
The call states that the focus is on revenue support but that limited capital investment may be considered where it clearly addresses Tees Valley LEP area priorities in infrastructure linked to key employment sites and enterprise zones.
LOW CARBON – PRIORITY AXIS 4 - £5.9m
This call is looking to support the shift towards a low carbon economy in all sectors and in particular
- promote the production and distribution of energy derived from renewable resources
- promote energy efficiency and renewable energy use in enterprises
- support energy efficiency, smart energy management and renewable energy use in public infrastructure, including in public buildings, and in the housing sector
- promote low-carbon strategies for all types of territories, in particular for urban areas, including the promotion of sustainable multimodal urban mobility and mitigation-relevant adaptation measures
- promote research and innovation in, and adoption of, low-carbon technologies
You can find further information here.