Whether you are wanting to apply for grant funding or secure equity investment, preparation is a key component to success. However, even for experienced innovators, finding the recipe for investment success is extremely challenging.
At Neon, we understand the complex blend of technical, organisational, and market factors that make a business ‘funding-ready’. Our team of innovation specialists will ensure you have a robust data and research-based foundation to your innovation strategy, including a developed and validated concept, a thoroughly researched market opportunity and State of the Art review, a compelling business plan and pitch deck, and so much more.
Neon Innovation helps organisations of all sizes throughout the UK, Europe, and beyond to harness the power of innovation.
We work with:
We understand that innovation looks different for every organisation, so we tailor our support packages to meet each client’s individual needs and ambitions.
Our funding readiness services are provided across three core strategic areas: Innovation, Impact, and Communication.
For more information on custom support packages and pricing, get in touch with our innovation specialists today.
We start every funding journey with an innovation workshop, or ‘kick-off’.
Our funding experts will assess your project’s eligibility and your team’s ambitions to match you with the most suitable funding opportunity.
An Innovation Workshop (a single 6-hour face-to-face session, or three separate 2-hour online sessions) with our innovation specialists that includes:
Neon’s innovation specialists will work with you to analyse your current situation and identify the best opportunities for growth. It may be that you have a technical problem to solve, a technology in need of a market, or a customer searching for a solution to their problem. Whatever the challenge, Neon can support you to move forward.
A Concept Development Workshop (a single 6-hour face-to-face session, or three separate 2-hour online sessions) with our innovation specialists that includes:
Our team will work with you to analyse the problem to be solved, the market need, the opportunity this creates, and your proposed solution, to validate the opportunity and help you overcome potential barriers.
A Validation Workshop (a single 6-hour face-to-face session, or three separate 2-hour online sessions) with our innovation specialists that includes:
For companies which have identified an opportunity and an innovative solution through which to seize it, our desk-based State of the Art Review will provide a detailed assessment of the competitive landscape to ensure they can differentiate themselves.
Our innovation specialists will conduct a detailed, desk-based review of:
Our Desk-Based Feasibility offering provides you with a high-level viability assessment before you commit to a detailed technical review and subsequent research and development.
Our innovation specialists will conduct a high-level holistic review of:
Following these reviews, our innovation specialists will provide a detailed report with advice and recommendations on the next steps to ensure market and technology feasibility.
It is a truth universally acknowledged in business that if you’re both different and better than the competition, you won’t be different for very long! Whether you are in the process of developing new intellectual property (IP), or you have a close-to-market product, robust protection is essential.
With the support of our partners at Potter Clarkson we can point you in the right direction for expert guidance with patentability checks and Freedom to Operate (FTO) analyses.
For companies wanting to understand and validate the market opportunity for their technological innovation, our team will undertake a detailed review of the target market and adjacent opportunities.
Our innovation specialists will conduct a detailed review of:
Following our Market Review, we will provide a detailed report with advice and recommendations on the next steps to ensure product market fit.
You have a market opportunity for a technological innovation – now you need to develop or validate a strategy to enter that market. Our team of innovation experts can help. We will undertake a detailed review of your business strategy and your state of readiness to enter the market.
Our innovation specialists will conduct a detailed review of:
We will provide you with a detailed report of our review, including advice and recommendations on the next steps to maximise your chances of market entry success.
An effective business plan encapsulates all of the major elements of a business and their overall vision. It builds on your innovation, impact, and implementation stratagem, bringing everything together in a single, compelling narrative.
Our team will work with you to capture the key elements of your business in a long-form, funding-ready business plan, with the option to create a corresponding short-form ‘pitch deck’ for specific applications.
Our innovation specialists will create a compelling business plan that will cover:
Perhaps you are looking to pitch to investors or funding bodies who need a concise and impactful pitch deck? Our team will work with you to turn your business plan into a strong slide deck.
Pitch deck support from our innovation experts includes:
Our Storytelling support is designed for companies that are looking to communicate their innovation more effectively. Designed by our Chief Innovation Officer, Peter Frederick, who is also a published author in persuasive writing, this service will show you how to use the engaging power of storytelling in your business communications to enable them to become more memorable and effective.
Storytelling support is tailored on a case-by-case basis, but typically it includes:
Some funding programmes are collaborative and have varying eligibility criteria based on organisation size, type, and location. Finding and negotiating suitable partnerships can feel like a daunting challenge, so allow our team to help! We have over a decade of experience helping organisations to find partners that add real value to their projects.
Our innovation specialists will help to:
Our team has spent the last 25 years helping businesses to innovate, and we have a deep understanding of what makes an enterprise an attractive investment opportunity.
We will guide you and your business through a simple, four-step programme that analyses and perfects your investment strategy across over 50 key parameters considered by investors. Where we identify areas for improvement, we will develop a bespoke action plan to help you address these issues.
For many funding programmes, such as the EIC Accelerator, you will need to submit a video pitch as part of your application. Funding programmes are highly competitive, so even a component as seemingly minor as a 3-minute video could ultimately determine the success or failure of your proposal.
With the support of our specialist video production partners at Noisegate Studios, we have already helped a broad range of companies create perfectly polished video pitches in preparation for their funding journey.