How To Form and Finance Innovation

Entrepreneurs are motivated to begin the company formation process, by their passion for an innovative business concept. While investors – who tend to be more conservative – are persuaded to part with their money by the promise of return on investment. These two minds do not always meet. Companies Made Simple investigate the alternative finance options available to companies in sectors such as product development, where there is sometimes no guarantee of ROI.

In a relentlessly evolving market, there is a constant pressure on sectors, such as technology and software, to respond to the ever increasing demands of the consumer. To do this, they must invest heavily in research and product development to ensure they are at the cutting edge. However, while inventing the next ‘big thing’ is potentially extremely profitable, the development process of doing so is extremely costly and comes with no guarantee of success.

Product development is a major part of Technology Company Mitchell Solutions business development strategy. “Making sure we are at the forefront of technological innovation is vital to the progress of our company and crucial to maintaining market share,’ comments Andrew Wise head of research and development at MS.

What help is available?

On the positive side, one of the Governments main priorities at the moment is to innovate our economy by investing in research and development. Therefore, from Research Project Grants to EU finance, there is help and support available. It’s just working through all the bureaucracy to get it, that’s the problem.

According to Wise, gaining any sort of government funding requires time and patience. “ When we initially decided to go through the application process, we thought is would go through quickly and efficiently once they had seen the proposal, but the application was only the beginning – the whole process took two and a half years from start to finish.”

Similar to pitching for investment, it is vital that you know what the funding body is looking for and that your proposal provides them with it.