Business Innovation Grant (BIG)

Visit Business Innovation Grant (BIG) Website

The Business Innovation Grant (BIG) is reopening to help Northern Ireland businesses develop and bring innovative products, services, processes or business models to market.

Delivered by Invest Northern Ireland in partnership with Innovate NI, the scheme offers grants of between £5,000 and £20,000, covering 70% of eligible project costs.

Businesses must therefore provide the remaining 30% of eligible costs and initially fund the project expenditure themselves before claiming the grant retrospectively.

What can the funding support?

Eligible activities can include:

• Market research and validation
• Product or service testing
• Minimum viable product (MVP) development
• Process design and validation
• Market-entry planning
• New market development
• Trade fairs and exhibitions outside Northern Ireland
• Consultancy and subcontracted product development

Who can apply?

The scheme is primarily aimed at start-ups, micro-businesses and SMEs based in Northern Ireland. Applicants must have fewer than 250 employees and meet the scheme’s financial criteria.

Importantly, the scheme is aimed at businesses that are not currently Invest NI clients and which generally have not received Invest NI grant support within the previous five years, although certain previous support programmes are excluded from this restriction.

Applicants must demonstrate that their project is genuinely innovative and creates value through a new or significantly improved product, service, process or business model.

To apply and find more details please click here: Business Innovation Grant (BIG) – Invest NI

Funding at a glance