Fund process

Submit challenges that you are facing that you need to address to maintain and grow your organisation or business during and after the Covid19 crisis. Challenges should focus on areas where you need support to help you innovate and which you would like to discuss with our researchers. We will identify the most relevant experts to help find solutions to your innovation challenges and aim to respond within 10 working days. If we do not have suitable expertise, we will let you know within this timeframe.

We will set up an online meeting involving you and the relevant academic(s) to discuss your challenges in more detail and to explore how we can support you. The meeting will be facilitated by one of our Business Development Managers who will help to streamline your interactions with the University.  

After the initial discussion online, we will identify the next steps. If a suitable project is identified, we will work with you to source any additional academic experts needed to deliver the project and help you submit project plans to fast-track access to the Business Resilience Fund. Projects may involve collaborative research and innovation to support development of a new product or service in response to Covid-19, or may address in-house knowledge gaps by providing expertise to support future planning and resilience as a result of Covid-19.

BRF awards will generally be in the range £5k - £10k.  We will also encourage organisations to co-invest resources to strengthen partnership dimensions. BRF awards will be managed by the lead academic on the project and will be used solely for the benefit of the project approved in the BRF application to cover costs of staff, materials and travel.  No funds will be directly transferred to the BRF awardee organisation. As the allocated budget is limited and we are expecting a significant response, we will monitor the total funding allocated and publish regular updates on the website. 

An interim report is required for projects of over four months duration at the half way period and a final report within two weeks of completion. The report is expected to cover the following (not more than 1.5-2 pages): what are the major activities undertaken using the BRF funding and the progress made against the objectives set out in the application; what has been the impact of the award on your organisation towards building resilience for post-Covid19 recovery and future growth;  what are the next steps next for the project and the collaboration with Brunel ?  We may also ask the project team to make a presentation on the outcomes of the award during the project implementation phase.