SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION

Supporting you to drive our zero carbon future

Sustainable Innovation is now closed and no longer accepting applications.
However, you can still explore the programme's goals and it's innovative achievements.
Solar panels

Sustainable Innovation connected London SMEs with University academics and expert consultants to bring new clean tech products, processes, and services to market. The cohort structure provided sustainable businesses access to the expertise, facilities and support required to succeed.

As part of the application process, we asked SMEs to identify the key technical challenges they were facing, and their goals for the coming 6-12 months. Each successful applicant was assigned a team of experts from the schools of Engineering and the Built Environment. Together, we developed a bespoke project for every businesses.

Our Cohort

Build Momentum

Our support was delivered via a five month cohort structure. Participants were given a bespoke pathway that offered regular one-to-one meetings with expert consultants, personal development opportunities, and support with product development.

We were here to help businesses to:

Develop, test and improve a product
Evaluate concepts
Build a sustainable business model
Secure investment
And more

Innovation Support

Product Development

As part of the application process, businesses could propose projects to experts from the schools of Engineering and the Built Environment. The project helped them to further develop their product, conduct an independent evaluation, and support their progress towards launching to market.

Develop an MVP
Refine an existing idea or product
User Testing

Holistic support

Your development

A good leader is as valuable to a business as a good product or idea. Throughout participation, businesses had regular face-to-face meetings with experts to provide them with feedback and the benefit of their experience.

Support & Guidance - Throughout the programme businesses met with the SI Team to discuss their progress.
Peer Network – Members were able to join the cohort Slack Channel, providing them the opportunity to connect with each other and seek out collaboration and feedback where appropriate.

Grant funding

Subsidised Staff

We offered a wage subsidy for a new R&D hire to help accelerate the businesses product/process development goals.

We provided 40% of the salary + employers contributions of pension + NI.
Maximum salary was £45,000
Maximum grant length was one year
The recruit had to be new to the business for research or development of a low carbon product or process
Female engineer with blueprints

Product Development Expertise

Academic Consultancy

Theoretical Investigation, Modelling & Simulation
Life-cycle Assessment - Assess costs, energy balance and emissions for materials, products, and processes
Literature and Technology Reviews
Product Strategy – Market analysis, business development, and commercialisation strategy

Technical Product Development

Academic Consultancy – Expertise from the schools of Engineering and the Built  Environment
Experimentation – Well equipped laboratories to support a variety of experimental activities
Prototype  Development - Capability to fabricate in-house to provide proof of concept
Prototype Testing –  Evaluation of usability and performance
Materials Development and Analysis

Without your support we would not have been able to progress as rapidly as we did and we would not have secured our IP.

The latest content and events

Case Study
November 8, 2022

Other Way launch UK's first app to calculate your car's real impact on climate

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Case Study
September 22, 2022

Helping Dubs develop planet-friendly kids sneakers

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Case Study
January 24, 2022

SBI Member Treeconomy Secure Rewilding Britain Incubator Funding

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Case Study
September 15, 2021

Getting a new energy storage solution off to a flying start

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Case Study
August 2, 2021

Reducing Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Refrigerant Leakage

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We currently have no scheduled events. Check back soon.

Frequently asked questions

At what stage of product development did companies have to be to apply?

Companies could have been at a variety of stages in product development to benefit from the wide range of expertise and support available through the programme.

Companies that had a well-defined product or solution, i.e. MVP, and were ready to start user testing or building their evidence base were likely to benefit the most from collaborative research and development with LSBU academics as part of the programme.

What happens if a company wasn't accepted?

Businesses unsuccessful in joining the cohort were will provided feedback to support them in future application, as well as signposted to potential areas of support to help them develop.

What was expected of the companies?

We expected participants to actively engage with all of the support available through the cohort. This typically equated to around six hours per month and applicants were required to dedicate additional time to work on any actions set to them via one-to-one support.

How was this free?

A2i and LCLDN were part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and London South Bank University (LSBU). All support was provided under Article 28 Innovation Aid to SMEs, and did not affect their de minimis allowance.

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