Executive summary
3
things an assessor looks for: a business problem, a scoped project and a measurable outcome
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named projects on this site that won grant funding on those three points
Key conclusions
- A grant assessor looks for a business problem, a scoped project and a measurable outcome. A good scoping document already contains all three.
- The technology is only the means. An application that leads with it has usually not yet stated the problem.
- If the scoping stage was done properly, writing the application is a matter of reformatting. If it was not, better writing cannot fix the application.
An SME owner who has decided to automate usually approaches the grant application in the wrong order. The equipment has been chosen, a quote is in hand, and the application is the paperwork between the owner and the co-funding. An application written in that order leads with the machine, and the assessor has to work out what problem it solves.
Consider who reads the application. The assessor judges whether public money spent on the project will make the business measurably stronger. The assessor also judges whether the applicant has thought about the project clearly enough to be trusted with the money. Three things answer those questions.
Applications often lead with the equipment, while assessors look for the problem
| What the application usually leads with | What the assessor is reading for |
|---|---|
| The equipment: model, vendor, capability | The business problem: what is going wrong now, measured how, costing what |
| The technology's benefits, in general | The scope: what exactly will be built, what it replaces, and what it will not do |
| An improvement, as a percentage | The outcome: the quantity that will change, its baseline now, and when it will be measured again |
| A quote | A plan: who does what, in what order, and what happens if a stage fails |
The Raymang Eggs application set out all three parts
The application opened with the problem. Weekly import shipments arrived as pallets of boxed eggs. Unboxing them by hand was repetitive work that made it harder to retain local staff, under tight limits on hiring foreign workers. The resulting bottleneck increased chilled storage needs and led to write-offs because of short expiry windows. This is a business problem with a cost attached.
The scope was a line that replaced the manual process from end to end. A six-axis arm transferred cartons from pallet to conveyor. A mechanical cutter made precision cuts on all four sides. The robotic system lifted the top and staged the trays for inspection, and a third arm cleared the cut cartons. Each stage was named and had a clear boundary.
The outcome was a quantity: unboxing that took 24 hours by hand now takes one hour for the same stock. The business can be reassessed against this measurement.
The scoping stage produces the same document the assessor needs
This does not require special grant-writing skill. A site assessment maps what is actually running. A preliminary design fixes the scope. A baseline is recorded before anything is built. Together these form the consulting stage of a normal engagement, and they produce the same three things the assessor looks for. The PestBusters programme, the first project under the Lead Enterprise Development Scheme, followed the same structure: a defined transformation, delivered in two scoped phases, against outcomes stated in advance.
In practice, if the scoping has been done, writing the application is a matter of reformatting. If it has not, the application will show the gaps, and an assessor who finds them is right to question them.
Complete four steps before you apply
- Write the problem in one paragraph that includes a number, before you name any equipment.
- Fix the scope: what will be built, what it replaces, and what it explicitly does not cover.
- Record the baseline now, in the unit the outcome will be measured in, signed by the people who run the current process.
- Name who will own the outcome twelve months after commissioning. The assessor will ask, and the owner should not be the integrator.
The grant funds the change the machine is meant to make. An application that states that change as a number is most of the way to success before it mentions the equipment.
