The Made Smarter Innovation | Smart Manufacturing Data Hub is a £50 million programme with a vision to transform UK manufacturing through unlocking the value of manufacturing data and de-risking innovation.

The rapid demonstrator projects will involve SMEs who operate in the manufacturing industry working with domain experts and technology providers to build digital solutions that deliver on their business goals with regards to productivity and growth.

The UK has one of the world’s most dynamic and well-funded technology communities but falls behind when it comes to the wider availability and adoption of manufacturing technology solutions. The Digital Innovation Fund will support a range of projects that will play a significant role in changing that.

These projects will focus on manufacturing productivity, efficiency, sustainability, resilience, and collaboration in order to:

•   gather, create, communicate, and deliver new knowledge
•   validate existing products, services and processes
•   facilitate professional development
•   deliver business impact in real-life contexts

We anticipate that each project will require up to £200,000 investment over a six month period, to enable fast utilisation by SMEs. The Made Smarter Innovation | Smart Manufacturing Data Hub will provide a Concept Development grant of up to £50,000 with additional co-investment by participants, partners and customers, delivered during the implementation phase, detailed in an accompanying co-investment schedule. Guidelines on DIF Grant Funding and Co-Investment can be accessed here. 

1.2 – Background

Ulster University

Ulster University is Northern Ireland’s largest university and our multi-campus dynamic means that although we are international in our outlook, we have our roots firmly embedded in the local community. We are a university where student aspiration and market demand meet.

Ulster University is one of the most popular universities in the UK and attracts students, researchers and staff from all around the world. They are drawn here not only for our renowned teaching excellence, exceptional learning experience and pioneering research, but also for the friendly and thriving environment that Northern Ireland has to offer.

Ulster is a university in the top 3% globally, with a £200m turnover that plays a central role in Northern Ireland’s future. Ranked as one of the world’s top 150 young universities, our student-centred approach to learning and teaching combined with our modern and engaging learning environment supports the intellectual and personal ambitions of each and every student. We inspire and equip our graduates to be adaptable and to thrive in their chosen fields.

UKRI/Innovate UK

Launched in April 2018, UKRI is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). UKRI’s vision is for an outstanding research and innovation system in the UK that gives everyone the opportunity to contribute and to benefit, enriching lives locally, nationally and internationally. Its mission is to convene, catalyse and invest in close collaboration with others to build a thriving, inclusive research and innovation system that connects discovery to prosperity and public good.

Innovate UK is the UK’s national innovation agency. UKRI supports business-led innovation in all sectors, technologies and UK regions. It helps businesses grow through the development and commercialisation of new products, processes, and services, supported by an outstanding innovation ecosystem that is agile, inclusive, and easy to navigate.

Made Smarter

Made Smarter is a national movement to empower the growth of UK makers and advance the UK economy. With the support of Made Smarter, Britain can achieve its aim of becoming a global leader in the creation, adoption and exportation of emerging technologies.

The programme is backed by both world-renowned businesses and the UK government. It will help to improve the process for developing and adopting the tools, as well as make a real, everyday difference to people working within manufacturing – from the boardroom to the factory floor.

To find out more about Made Smarter, head over to ‘What is Made Smarter?’ [https://www.madesmarter.uk/about/what-is-made-smarter/]

1.3 – The Assessment Panel

During the application stage, the assessment panel will be responsible for scoring the applications according to the process and criteria set out in these Competition Terms. The panellists are chosen based on (i) their experience and expertise, and (ii) ability to exercise independent judgement.

Panellists fall into two categories:

Internal panellists: Ulster University staff with expertise in relevant areas of smart manufacturing.

External panellists: Experts from outside Ulster University with expertise relevant to the nature of the project being applied for.

For rapid demonstrator applications, each review panel shall be made up of two or more members.

1.4 – The Programme Partners

Programme Funder

Ulster University is working as Innovate UK’s delivery partner on this UKRI funded programme. Innovate UK is the UK’s innovation agency and is part of UK Research and Innovation.

1.5 – Applicants & Participants

You are considered an “Applicant” if you apply to this competition. You are considered a “Participant” if you are successful with your application and complete all pre-Programme activities.

If applying on behalf of a consortium:

Applicant shall mean each of the members of the applying consortium, for which the Lead Applicant (the party submitting the application) is responsible for each “Applicant”.

Participant shall mean each of the members of the successful consortium, for which the Lead Participant (the party submitting the application) will be responsible for each “Participant”.

2. Programme Benefits

The projects are established to create the environment within which high quality technology solutions capabilities and processes can be developed to deliver business improvements across a range of manufacturing sectors. This means that organisations will be able to benefit in the following ways:

Grant funding of up to £50,000

Become part of the Made Smarter Innovation | Smart Manufacturing Data Hub, leveraging £50 million investment to unlock the value of manufacturing data and de-risk innovation with a grant of up to £50,000 to realise a defined digital concept.

Technical support and guidance

Support from SMDH to design and develop an environment providing access to processes, data and systems.

3. Programme Obligations

Participants on the Programme must commit to the following obligations:

Build, develop and run a project in any area of manufacturing that will benefit manufacturing SMEs in their digitisation journey and can demonstrate market demand. In the case of a consortium, the consortium lead is responsible for ensuring that any other project partners also work with the projects. All successful projects must sign up to a funding agreement with Ulster University before funding can be provided. This funding agreement will be emailed to all successful applicants and include details of the monitoring and evaluation activity the SMDH expects to undertake.

Where an application submitted by a consortium is successful, the lead applicant or lead representative party will normally submit a collaboration agreement signed by all parties before any claim can be made to Ulster. The collaboration agreement should cover the following as a minimum:

• the grant being provided to each Participant,
• the activities undertaken by each Participant,
• IP rights (access, ownership and exploitation post project)
• Programme management

The signed collaboration agreement should be submitted within three months of offer acceptance.

The lead participant is responsible for submitting evidence of project delivery and completion. Payment of evidenced expenditure will be released to the respective participant(s) upon confirmation by the SMDH Appointed Person that concept development and implementation (co-investment) plans have been completed to a satisfactory standard.

Intellectual property – Ulster University does not take any interest (ownership or licence) of your Intellectual Property developed on the Programme. Ulster does however reserve the right to utilise any created IP for teaching and research purposes.

All participants agree to be associated with the Programme which may include the use of the organisation(s) name and logo, whilst on the Programme and afterwards as a former participant and beneficiary. This includes marketing collateral, such as website, print and digital materials. Ulster University may also ask you to present the project at showcase events.

Projects must complete all grant funded and co-investment activities within the project term. Non-grant funded activities may continue beyond this date.

All data resulting from the project will be hosted on the SMDH MDEP platform until at least 31 March 2025.

Post project obligations

For a maximum period of five years following the project end date, a Participant shall use all reasonable endeavours to answer specific questions from Ulster University relating to its growth and progress to assist SMDH to demonstrate the impact of its activities. This shall include: (i) participation in an annual telephone conversation of one hour maximum, and (ii) participation in a survey issued by Ulster University.

For a maximum period of five (5) years, project participants will use reasonable endeavours to exploit the results in the UK.

4. Requirements and eligibility

4.1 – What we’re looking for

The programme seeks applications from parties (either individual organisations or consortia) interested in undertaking a rapid demonstrator project within the Smart Manufacturing Data Hub in any area related to manufacturing.

4.2 – Minimum Requirements

• Only UK-based organisations are eligible to receive funding from Ulster University;
• The majority of the work must be carried out in the UK;
• The project must be hosted in the UK;
• Lead applicant must be an SME within the manufacturing industry;
• All applications must comply with relevant subsidy control requirements (see section “Competition Terms – paragraph 8.2 “State Assistance” for further details).

Organisations that are funded as part of the SMDH consortium are not eligible to apply.

Signatories to the Funding Agreement (Participants) are expected to operate with the following open innovation principles:

• Collecting and sharing knowledge regarding their activities and experiences, including lessons learned, case studies and other knowledge gained in the projects;
• Sharing data on the Manufacturing Data Exchange Platform (within the confines of the User Agreement) to support SMDH.
• Supporting the development of interoperable solutions and processes
• Monitoring and evaluating the progress and success of their projects and sharing non-confidential information with other projects within SMDH.

Ideal projects should be able to demonstrate and deliver co-investment to a value of at least three times the size of the Concept Development Grant received.

Other Requirements

Applicants must ensure that they can deliver the programme obligations (see section 3 Programme Obligations) in the timeframe of the programme.

All projects should demonstrate a market need among SMEs.

Non-UK organisations may participate but will not receive grant funding.

Where an application is made by a consortium, the following applies:

Organisation role

Consortium lead* (= lead applicant/participant). There must be a lead organisation, who acts as the consortium lead. The consortium lead will be the principal contact with Ulster University and will be responsible for the management and successful achievement of project milestones, and co-ordination of claims evidence to Ulster University which will trigger the payment to the respective partner(s), subject to Ulster University’s review.

The proposal should make it clear why the consortium lead is the most appropriate organisation to lead the project.

All other partners involved must be named and their contribution to the project defined. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes non-funded as well as funded partners.

Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of the lead organisation to arrange a collaboration agreement or subcontracts as necessary and to comply with the competition Terms and Conditions.

Ulster University will carry out due diligence on the consortium lead and all project partners. Partners may be required to submit documentation upon request (including but not limited to bank account statements for the business and personal references) to qualify as eligible for funding.

5. Key Dates

Please refer to the SMDH website Funding pages for details of relevant Call launch and application deadline dates.

6. Application Process

6.1 – What information should an application contain?

The application will contain details of your organisation, your partners, your Concept Development Plan for which a grant is being sought and your Co-investment schedule outlining how you intend to deliver your implementation phase. Applicants who have completed an Expression of Interest form will the Application form via email.

6.2 – Who will be able to see applications?

Ulster University Representatives

Relevant Ulster University representatives will see your application in order to assess the application, and otherwise in the administration of your application and participation on the Programme.

Programme Funders

Relevant IUK representatives (and other Government representatives) may have access to your application for the administration of your application and, if successful, participation on the Programme, including its statutory duties.

Assessment Panel

The assessment panel will see the complete application.

6.3 – Key contact information

The applicant will appoint a main contact for the Programme (“Key Contact”). This person will be Ulster University’s main point of contact for the competition and, if successful, Applicant’s Project activities, including workshop and event commitments, team members’ availability, ongoing activities, and assessment of progress during and after the Project.

Ulster University will use this personal information for the purpose of carrying out due diligence on Applicants prior to the point of selection onto the Programme and to notify successful and unsuccessful Applicants over their submissions. The personal data we collect may be shared with and processed by Programme Partners for the purpose of assessing the Applications and providing benefits to the Participants on the Programme, as set out in these T&Cs.

The Programme Funder will additionally use the personal and confidential information for grant administration purposes, programme evaluation, and to perform its statutory duties.

6.4 – Submitting your application

7. Selection

7.1 – Qualification

Ulster University will undertake an initial assessment of the application against the Programme Requirements.

7.2 – Selection process

Stage 1: Review Stage

The reviewers will assess and score the application. The scoring criteria is based on statements in the areas below. Each criterion will be scored on a range from 0 to 5; 0 being an “Unacceptable or No submission” score and 5 being an “Excellent” score. This scoring will be applied to all applications and will be weighted as follows:

Selection Criteria       

30%       This should include a clear description of the project stating its manufacturing application area, use cases, aims and how it meets the SMDH programme objectives. The panel will also be looking for projects demonstrating high levels of novelty and innovation. The description should also outline the consortium roles (if any), along with key members.

20%       Solutions must be readily useable by SMEs and be designed to stimulate the transition from legacy manufacturing solutions towards Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 solutions. All projects must demonstrate a commitment to deposit data in an open format to the SMDH Manufacturing Data Exchange Platform. The description should also outline the roles of individual members assigned to manage and deliver the project. 

We determine a file format as open if the mode of presentation of its data is transparent and/or its specification is publicly available. An open format can either be coded in a transparent way (readable in any text editor: this is the case of markup languages) or in a binary mode (unreadable in a text editor but thoroughly decodable once the format specifications are known).

25%       Applications must demonstrate a market need for the project and indicate methods for monitoring project success and impact.  Applicants must further demonstrate how their strategy and actions will assist them to grow and to improve sustainability.

25%       Applications must provide clear explanations of the costs of the project concept/build for which grant is applied. Both the project concept/build and co-investment schedule of costs required to deploy and disseminate the concept as a fully functioning demonstrator must be feasible and proportionate to the programme of work to be delivered. The panel will be seeking confidence that financial management and control of the project will deliver good value for money, is achievable within the timeframe, and has considered appropriate risk mitigation plans.

A score of 0 (zero) in any category will result in application failure.

Stage 2: Decision Stage

The Digital Innovation Fund panel will rank applications in order of highest to lowest average score. The panel will consider each application in turn, starting with the highest ranked. The chair invites panel members to comment on each application and review the scoring of the applications before any decision on a final grade is agreed.

At the end, the panel will be asked to agree the ordering of the applications, including prioritising those with the same grade, considering portfolio balance and identifying the cut-off point on the list below which it believes funding would not be appropriate.

7.3 – Successful applicants

Successful applicants will be notified and provided with an Open Call Grant Agreement for execution (“OCGA”).

The OCGA is not negotiable.

In order to be accepted onto the Programme, successful applicants must return a signed copy of the OCGA.

8. Competition Terms – Specific

8.1 – Benefits

Any support provided by Programme Funder(s) either as direct cash grant or otherwise used for the operation of the Programme are subject these T&Cs.

All the benefits provided under the Programme by third-party organisations (“Suppliers”) are subject to the Supplier’s terms and conditions.

Any optional benefits provided by third party organisations whose terms and conditions are not contained in these T&Cs will be agreed between the Participant and the Supplier directly.

Ulster University reserves the right to amend the list of benefits at its sole discretion.

8.2 – State Aid

Participants shall receive the grant as Minimal Financial Assistance (“MFA”), or to the extent applicable under the Northern Ireland Protocol, the de minimis aid regulations (COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 2023/2831), collectively referred to herein as “State Assistance”.

The total State Assistance received or due to be received by an individual Participant (including any associated companies e.g. subsidiaries), originating from a United Kingdom source, must not exceed £315,000 for companies based in England, Scotland and Wales, each in aggregate across the Participant’s current fiscal year (as at the Agreement Date) and the previous two fiscal years. For companies based in Northern Ireland or any company subject to the Windsor Framework, the total state assistance must not exceed €300,000 in aggregate across the three rolling years from the date of application. 

Applicants will be asked to detail State Assistance received and sign a declaration confirming eligibility to receive the State Assistance as part of the application process.

8.3 – Key Dates

Ulster University reserves the right to change the Key Dates at its sole discretion. No extension to deadlines will usually be granted, with very limited exceptions where the Applicant requests an extension due to reasonable extenuating circumstances, beyond the Applicant’s control and unforeseen to them, subject to the Applicant providing evidence that proves the extenuating circumstance; and the applicant informing Ulster University as soon as reasonably practicable following the extenuating circumstance becoming apparent. Ulster University reserves the right to consider the factors and decide whether such circumstances are extenuating and whether granting an extension is fair to other applicants.

8.4 – Applications

All information and documents requested must be submitted. Failure to submit all requested information and documents may result in the application being rejected. Ulster University will not use outside information in respect of your application unless otherwise indicated, other than to undertake due diligence. Ulster University reserves the right to not work with people or an organisation which could impact its reputation.

8.5 – Previous Applications

Ulster University reserves the right to either (i) reassess an application from a previous competition (together with information gained from an update meeting), or (ii) accept as a successful applicant, an application that was deferred to a later Programme.

8.6 – Personal Data

Ulster University and IUK (each, a party) are partnering on this programme, and each is individually (not jointly) a Controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 2018. Each party is individually responsible to you for how that party respectively stores, uses and processes your personal data in accordance with its own privacy policy. Each party is not responsible to you for the other party’s storage, use or processing of your data. Actions taken by one party (e.g. deleting personal data) will be independent of the other party. If you need to make a data request, please make such request directly to the relevant party. Use of personal data includes each Controller using a sub-processor for the purposes of impact assessment.

In submitting the Application, the Applicant confirms that it has made the Key Contact and any other person whose personal data has been submitted, aware of, and has the lawful grounds to enable Ulster University (including its processors) to, process the personal information of the Key Contact (and any other person) as set out in these Competition Terms and Ulster University’s privacy policy (https://www.ulster.ac.uk/about/governance/compliance/gdpr/privacy). Information processed by IUK will be processed in accordance with its privacy policy (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/privacy-notice-and-information-management-policy-innovate-uk/privacy-notice-and-information-management-policy).

8.7 – Funding Agreement

Ulster University reserves the right to make amendments to the Funding Agreement up until the point of execution by both parties.

9. Competition Terms – General

9.1 – Personal Data Collection, Storage and Use

Ulster University will store unsuccessful application forms and the scoring they received for one year after notification that the application was unsuccessful. Successful application forms will be stored for the duration of the project and for six (6) years afterwards. For administration purposes, records and reports documenting the management of the project may be stored for up to six (6) years after the completion of the project and contracts may be stored for up to twelve (12) years.

9.2 – Confidentiality

9.2.1. The information provided in your Application will be kept confidential and only used and disclosed as reasonably necessary for the purpose of assessing Applications, and, if admitted onto the Programme, for working with you on the Programme. This may include with our Programme Partners as indicated above.

9.2.2. For practical reasons, NDAs will not be signed by Ulster University as part of this Programme Competition. The activities we provide can only be achieved through trust. It is therefore not in our interest to release your sensitive information. Mutual confidentiality provisions are included in the Funding Agreement and User Agreement.

9.2.3. All information submitted may be subject to the Freedom of Information Act and will be handled in accordance with IUK’s FOI procedures.

9.2.4. The scoring of your Application will also be treated as confidential information.

9.2.5. As your Application will be transmitted over the Internet, ultimately Ulster University cannot guarantee its security.

9.3 – Intellectual Property

9.3.1. We respect the intellectual property of others and we ask our Applicants to do the same.

9.3.2. In submitting the Application, you promise that you have and continue to have all necessary rights, licenses, permissions and consent to provide the content in your application to us, and for Ulster University to use the Application as we have set out.

9.3.3. We will not remove from Applications any proprietary labels or copyright assertions.

9.4 – Disclaimers

9.4.1. We accept no liability for any consequences, whether direct or indirect, that may arise from your participation in the Competition, your reliance on any statements we may have made about the Programme, or its suspension or withdrawal.

9.4.2. In any case, to the extent permitted under law, Ulster University’s liability shall be limited to one (£1) pound.

9.5 – Jurisdiction

9.5.1. The Programme Competition is governed by the law of Northern Ireland and the Applicant agrees that any dispute shall be exclusively resolved in the Northern Irish courts.