Support to solve a business challenge using IoT

Evolving your business through the use of IoT

This strand offers SMEs in any part of the HIE region the opportunity to secure a business and/or engineering support package worth up to £15K to use IoT to address one of our ‘4P’ challenges:

Products – the quality, value or delivery of a product (or a service)
Processes – using IoT to generate efficiencies, increase effectiveness, or save time
People – Improving the wellbeing of employees, e.g., by reducing stress or strain; or using IoT to generate new jobs, particularly real living wage and/or ‘green’ jobs
Planet – meeting net zero targets and reducing business carbon footprint

While applications are critically assessed, this is not a competition. Funding is available on a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis while it exists.

What does support look like?

The package offered could include a combination of services including:

Technical and business advice: we can help you fully understand your challenge, desired outcomes, and overall business case based on use cases and ROI.
System design and prototyping: from the sensor to the display dashboard, let us guide you through what you’ll need in terms of hardware, software and systems design
Proof of concept: building and testing your solution to ensure it will work as expected – and can scale too
Deployment: getting your idea to work ‘in the wild’, including troubleshooting and future development

What we’re looking for

In assessing your application, we’ll be looking to see if your idea:

Has the potential to scale across your business
Is achievable and cost effective for your company
Might benefit other SMEs/similar markets
Might benefit from further discussion with experts from the University of the Highlands and Islands
Could lead to a reduction in your company’s carbon footprint.

How to apply

Simply complete the IoT Evolve application form to get started.

If you have any questions beforehand, please feel free to contact CENSIS Business Development Manager Ally Longmuir for an informal discussion.

The small print

To be eligible, companies must have their main operational base in the HIE region (Shetland, Orkney, Outer Hebrides, Caithness and Sutherland, Inner Moray Firth, Inverness, Moray, Lochaber, Skye and Wester Ross and Argyll and the Islands).

You must be an SME. The UK government’s definition of SMEs:

micro (<10 employees/annual turnover <€2 million)
small (<50 employees/annual turnover <€10 million)
medium-sized (<250 employees/an annual turnover <€50 million)

Applications are critically assessed, but this is not a competition. Project funding is available on a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis while funding exists.

You will need to contribute in some way to the project – either in cash or in-kind. We’ll discuss that with when you apply.

When the support package ends, we’ll produce a case study for our website that will be shared with Highlands and Islands Enterprise.