Some tips of the trade from the UK’s fastest-growing grant writing agency
Applying for an Innovate UK Innovation Loan or Smart Grant is a fantastic opportunity for businesses to secure public funding for innovative projects. However, despite strong ideas and commercially viable projects, many applications fail. Why? Because they don’t fully answer the questions, fail to present risks properly or focus too much on positives without justification.
With years of experience assessing applications for organisations like Innovate UK, Horizon Europe, and Angel Investment Competitions, our team understands what a winning application looks like. Here’s how to approach your application strategically to increase your chances of success.
In this blog, we’ll point out some things to be aware of and some common mistakes. In future blogs we can look at specific questions and add some context to the answers you need to produce.
The Common Mistakes That Cause Applications to Fail
1. Not Answering All the Questions in Full
One of the simplest yet most damaging mistakes is incomplete answers. Many applicants think they have answered the questions but miss key aspects. Innovate UK assessors have strict scoring criteria, and if your response lacks detail or doesn’t address every requirement, your score will be lower. Even a strong project with a solid business case can fail due to incomplete responses.
2. Overly Positive and Sales-Driven Applications
Many applications fail because they sound too optimistic without acknowledging risk. Some applicants use AI tools like ChatGPT to generate responses that remove all negative aspects, or they rely on their natural enthusiasm to create a persuasive pitch instead of a well-reasoned application. Positive attitude does not replace genuine need, and assessors want to see that risks and challenges have been considered. If your application makes it sound like success is guaranteed, it undermines the rationale for public funding.
3. Ignoring Risk and Challenges
Public funding exists precisely because innovation is risky. If your application does not clearly explain why the project is risky, what challenges you face, and how you will mitigate them, it will fail to justify the need for support. A successful application recognises potential obstacles and demonstrates a clear strategy to overcome them.
4. Unrealistic Market Expectations
Assessors often see applications claiming that a pre-revenue startup will be turning over £100 million in three years. While ambition is good, inflated expectations raise red flags. You must show realistic, data-backed projections for market adoption, revenue growth, and business sustainability.
5. Failing to Present a Structured, Evidence-Based Argument
A strong Innovate UK Smart Grant or Innovation Loan application needs more than enthusiasm—it must be logically structured, backed by evidence, and answer all assessment criteria. Assessors read applications dispassionately and critically, so your response needs to provide:
- A clear problem statement and why existing solutions are inadequate
- A detailed risk assessment
- A well-structured commercialisation strategy
- Realistic market data to justify the business opportunity
- A complete, well-supported application that answers all required questions
Let’s be honest about this. If you are asking the government (or anyone else for that matter) for a million pounds to develop your innovation, then you’re going have to ask nicely. And this means submitting a complete and well presented application.
The High Attrition Rate: Innovate Uk Smart Grants – Why Most Applications Don’t Make It
Innovate UK Smart Grants and Innovation Loans have a low success rate because so many applications are poorly prepared or submitted without meeting key criteria. Many applicants think, “It’s free to apply, so why not?”—leading to a flood of weak applications.
Among these, however, are genuinely strong businesses with innovative ideas that should win funding. The difference between winning and failing often comes down to the quality of the application, not the innovation itself. A well-structured application with solid supporting evidence has a much higher than 4% chance of success.
How Professional Grant Writers Add Value
1. Complete and Structured Responses
A specialist grant writer ensures that every question is fully addressed and that responses are structured in a way that maximises scoring potential. Instead of persuasion, applications need clarity, completeness, and relevance to the assessment criteria.
2. Balancing Risks and Opportunities
Professional grant writers don’t remove risks—they highlight them strategically. They ensure that the application presents a balanced view, acknowledging challenges while demonstrating how the team will mitigate them.
3. Turning Technical Detail into Grant-Friendly Language
Many technical experts struggle to translate their cutting-edge innovations into clear, grant-friendly responses. Specialist writers help bridge this gap, making complex ideas accessible to non-specialist assessors while keeping the application evidence-based.
4. Scoring and Review Services
Before submission, having a professional assess the application like an Innovate UK assessor can be the difference between a score of 70 and a score of 85+. This small difference is what separates eligible applications from successful ones.
How Much Should You Pay for an Innovate UK Smart Grant Application?
There are many companies that offer AI-generated responses or generic template-driven applications at high costs. If you are a large business or university with in-house expertise, these may work. However, most SMEs benefit more from personalised support, where an expert works with them to shape their responses effectively.
A well-prepared application for an Innovate UK Smart Grant should not cost more than £5,000. Horizon Europe applications tend to be more complex and may cost slightly more. If you are being charged significantly more than this, it’s worth questioning whether the service is offering genuine added value.
Anyone can apply for an Innovate UK Smart Grant or Innovation Loan, but only well-prepared applications win. A strong innovation with a clear market opportunity, a structured and complete application, realistic expectations, and a balanced assessment of risks and rewards has a significantly higher chance of success.
Many applications fail not because the innovation is weak, but because the submission is incomplete or poorly structured. With professional grant writing support, businesses can improve their chances, ensuring that their applications answer all the questions, present risks appropriately, and provide clear, compelling responses.
If you’re considering applying for innovation funding, ensure that your application is strategic, complete, and aligned with Innovate UK’s scoring criteria—because great ideas deserve the best possible chance of success.
How Novigo Grant Funding Can Help you win an Innovate UK Smart Grant or Innovation Loan
At Novigo Grant Funding, we specialise in helping businesses secure Innovate UK Smart Grants and Innovation Loans by offering tailored application support. Whether you need a full application preparation and writing service to save you 40 – 60 hours of your valuable time, or a draft assessment and improving service. or you simply want to have a detailed assessment and scoring with ideas for improvement of an application before you submit it so that you have the opportunity to make critical adjustments that could be the difference between the success or failure of your bid, we can help with low cost, highly effective services. We can review your application and give you pur assessment and score in just 24 hours. And with a grant or loan of a million pounds at stake, who wouldn’t want to get an independent detailed assessment of the application while there was time to improve it?
📞 Contact us today:
- Phone: 07868 748856
- Email: ggibbons@novigogrants.co.uk
- Website: https://novigogrants.co.uk/
We help businesses navigate the complex application process, improve scoring potential, and maximise their chances of winning funding. Let’s work together to secure the financial support your innovation deserves.