Business Innovation Grant

BIG helps support sole traders, micro-businesses and SMEs in Northern Ireland to develop and bring their innovation activities to market with a grant of up to £20,000.

BIG is delivered by Invest Northern Ireland in partnership with Innovate NI on behalf of the Department for the Economy.

BIG offers grant support ranging from £5,000 to £20,000 to help your business advance its innovative projects. You can use the financial support to develop, commercialise, and implement new or improved products, services, or processes.

Funding should be used for activities such as:

• In market research (problem solving or opportunity validation)
• In market research (product, service or process idea validation)
• ISO 56000 series Innovation Management Audit, including report production
• Product or service market validation and testing
• Minimal viable product (MVP) development with industry, including market testing
• Process design and validation
• Market entry planning (including analysis of costs for full product or service development and distribution or implementation)
• Design of market entry strategy
• Identification and establishing of manufacturing and supply chains outside Northern Ireland
• New market development visits outside Northern Ireland
• Attendance at trade fairs and exhibitions outside Northern Ireland
• Product launches and demonstrations
• Consultancy or sub-contracting to support further product development

In addition to receiving financial support, successful applicants will enter the Innovate NI programme where they can benefit from advice and guidance to progress along the innovation framework. Businesses will also receive recognition of their innovation achievement with an Innovation Recognition Certificate issued by Innovate NI on behalf of the Department for the Economy.

To be eligible for BIG, businesses must meet the following criteria:

• Be based in Northern Ireland
• Operate in any sector except for primary agriculture, forestry, logging, fisheries, or aquaculture
• Not be an Invest NI client or have received grant support from Invest NI in the last 5 years (excluding specific programmes such as Covid-19 emergency support, ERIG, Innovation Vouchers, or Access to Finance)
• Have an innovative project that aligns with Innovate NI’s definition of innovation: “The development and implementation of a new or improved product, service, model, or process which is novel, significantly different, and has or will be either introduced to the market or implemented within the business to create value.”

BIG is open for applications from 12:00 noon Thursday 14 November to 12:00 noon Friday 13 December 2024.

To find out if you are eligible to apply, please complete our eligibility checker. If you are eligible, you will receive instructions on how to begin your application.

Check your eligibility 

For more information, see the following:

• Eligibility checker
• Guidance notes 
• FAQs 
• Innovation Framework 
• Core questions for Innovation Assessment
• Sample assessment