Product Development Grants: 5 Ways to Improve Your Success Rate

Grant funding has always been competitive, but in recent years it has become significantly harder to secure. 

Across the UK and Europe, applications for product development grants have surged, whilst success rates have declined. In some cases, application volumes have doubled, yet success rates have fallen from 10-20% to as low as 3%.

Crucially, this does not mean funding opportunities have disappeared. Innovate UK, the British national innovation agency, continues to run sector-specific competitions aligned to national priorities, such as life sciences, clean energy and advanced manufacturing. Meanwhile, Horizon Europe, the EU’s flagship research and innovation programme, remains a major source of funding for collaborative R&D across Europe, including offering support for UK-based innovators following re-association in January 2024.

With demand for grant funding at an all-time high, here are five practical tips that will improve your chances of a successful application.

1. Build a strong business case

As grant funding becomes more competitive across the UK and Europe, funders value applications that demonstrate high-impact, commercially credible opportunities. Guidance from bodies such as Innovate UK highlights that a strong business case must demonstrate the market need and customer demand, showing why the proposed initiative is a good investment in the short- and long-term.

Fundamentally, funders are prioritising new or novel ideas that address an unmet need and create real-world impact. Assessors want to understand the problem being addressed, why it exists, and whether it represents a credible commercial opportunity. Applications should therefore be market-led, rather than technology-led, and grounded in a credible plan to bring the product to market.

The most successful applications outline the market size, competitive landscape and barriers to entry, before introducing where the product or solution fits. It is then key to demonstrate a clear and practical route to market, setting out how the product will be developed, sold and brought to market.

A strong business case brings together a credible opportunity, realistic market data, and clear evidence that the team can deliver real-world impact beyond the grant.

2. Develop a credible go-to-market plan

Although product development grants place an emphasis on the technical progress, assessors are also looking at the bigger picture and want to understand whether the project will solve a real problem and deliver significant impact beyond the programme of work. Strong applications demonstrate not only the potential of the technology, but that it is being developed with a defined and credible purpose.

As Innovate UK say in their grant application guidance, “people don’t buy technology – they buy solutions to their problems.” It is therefore key that product development is anchored in a real and identifiable context, rather than driven purely by technical possibility.

A well-considered plan should balance ambition with deliverability. It should be ambitious enough to justify the funding but grounded enough to feel achievable within the time and budget available. Plans that are ambiguous or try to cover too much can make it harder for assessors to understand what will actually be delivered.

Innovators should build in enough time ahead of submission and engage potential partners as soon as possible.  Early input from the right collaborators can significantly strengthen credibility and help to address any gaps to improve the chances of a successful grant application.

3. Identify the TRL and fundamental next steps

A strong development plan only works if it starts from a clear and honest understanding of where you are today. Without that foundation, even well-structured projects can be difficult for assessors to evaluate.

Funders are not just assessing what you propose to do; they are assessing whether that progression makes sense from your current position. That means being able to articulate the maturity of your product development, what the proposed work will actually deliver by the end of the project, and what still needs to be de-risked. A strong application acknowledges the risks remaining once the grant ends and sets out a credible plan for how those will be addressed in subsequent stages of development.

Frameworks such as Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), widely adopted across UK and European funding programmes, can bring useful structure to that process, helping teams assess product or technology maturity and identify priority activities to reach the next milestone. eg technology’s free self-assessment TRL tool, developed in line with Horizon Europe definitions, is one of the resources available to innovators, integrating clinical, commercial and development considerations alongside the standard TRL scale. For many teams, this provides a clearer picture of where they stand and how they can progress, both for internal planning and for building a fundable case.

Since grant assessors are working through an increasing number of applications, those that clearly define their TRL and outline achievable milestones, explaining why each one matters to the overall development journey, can reassure both assessors and internal stakeholders that their product development strategy is realistic and well-thought out.

4. Demonstrate how you will deliver and de-risk the work

Even with a strong idea, a well-defined development plan and a credible pathway to market, funding decisions ultimately come down to confidence in delivery. Funders are not just assessing what you intend to do; they are assessing whether your team can realistically deliver it; particularly at mid-stage TRLs where technical complexity increases and the gap to real-world application begins to close.

At this stage, the focus shifts to how effectively the work will be de-risked. What are the key technical challenges, and how will they be addressed in a structured and meaningful way?

Funders are not expecting all risk to be eliminated. They are expecting a clear and honest account of where that risk sits and how it will be managed. The strongest applications identify the most critical uncertainties and connect them directly to the proposed work, creating a coherent line between the challenges and how they will be resolved.

This is where technical due diligence becomes particularly important. A well-considered development programme reflects a deeper understanding of how a product will behave in practice, from system-level integration through to manufacturing considerations and regulatory requirements. Where that thinking is evident, it gives assessors greater confidence that the work has been properly scoped and the risks thoroughly considered.

For many teams, that level of insight comes from combining internal expertise with external support. Engaging early with specialist development partners, such as eg technology, can help to stress-test assumptions, surface risks that may not yet be visible, and ensure the programme is structured in a way that will withstand scrutiny.

5. View grants as a stepping stone

Grant funding plays a valuable role in supporting product development, particularly as a non-dilutive way to de-risk technology at key stages. Bringing a product to market, however, typically extends far beyond the scope of a single grant and requires additional investment alongside a coordinated development strategy.

Used well, a grant should demonstrate clear progress against the de-risking priorities identified at the outset – validating key assumptions, resolving critical technical uncertainties, and leaving the project in a stronger position for the next stage of investment. Equally important is being clear about what will not yet be fully de-risked by the end of the grant, and how that remaining risk will be managed as development continues.

Funders are increasingly thinking like investors and want to understand how product development will continue once the grant concludes. For example, match funding requirements and blended funding models are becoming more common, reflecting a move towards shared risk. In practice, this means grant funding is often used to validate key development milestones and build confidence for further investment, rather than to support isolated pieces of work.

Although grant applications should be framed within a longer-term plan, the grant itself should be seen as an enabler for a specific phase of development – not a means to fund the entire journey. The most successful innovators treat it as one step in a coordinated strategy, using each phase of funding to build the evidence base and confidence needed to unlock the next milestone.

Key takeaways

Funding bodies are placing greater emphasis on commercialisation strategy, backing teams that can demonstrate clear commercial viability and traction, appropriately de-risked product development, and a credible route to market.

Grant funding remains highly competitive, but the principles behind a strong application are consistent. The most successful submissions are not just well written, they reflect clear thinking about how a product will be developed to solve a real problem, address an unmet need and deliver return on investment.

Crucially, successful applications should:

Taken together, these points reflect a shift in how grants are assessed: from standalone projects to credible development pathways.

For many teams, the starting point is understanding where their product sits today and what the next step should be.

Download eg technology’s TRL self-assessment tool to assess your product maturity and define your next development milestone.

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