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Understanding LYVA Labs R&D Partner Grant Journey

Written by LYVA Labs | Mon, Jul 7, 2025

 

At LYVA Labs, we understand that taking an early-stage innovation from concept to commercial impact can be a challenging journey, especially when research and development are involved.

This is why, with the support and funding of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, we're offering R&D Partner Grant Funding to help businesses in the Liverpool City Region. The grants support businesses across any sector, such as net zero, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, and digital technologies, to foster new expert partnerships, access funding, and benefit from tailored consultancy support that de-risks and kick-starts their innovation projects. If you’ve been considering whether this opportunity is right for you, this blog breaks down the process from start to finish, so you know exactly what to expect, how we work, and how this opportunity is designed to meet your needs at every stage.

Submit an Expression of Interest (EOI)

We know your time is valuable, so we’ve designed a simple first step to gather the key information we need to understand your project and how we can help.

Here we ask you about:

  • The new product or service you’re developing
  • The challenge you’re solving and why now is the right time
  • Your target market and customer segment
  • What would success look like for your project
  • Your development gaps and resource needs
  • A rough budget and timeline

You don’t need to have all the answers at this stage, we just want to understand your goals, the big picture of your innovation idea, and where support might be needed.

Introductory call with our Innovation Consultant

If your idea fits our criteria, you’ll hear from one of our in-house innovation consultants. This call is an opportunity to discuss the project in more detail and for us to understand how we can support. We’ll explore how well it aligns with the R&D Partner Grant, confirm eligibility, and make sure we’re in a position to move forward to the next stage of the project.

We want to understand your goals and make sure our support is genuinely valuable to your business.

A free-of-charge, tailored innovation workshop

If we're aligned, we'll provide a detailed proposal, setting out the plan for our support. This usually starts with a fully funded, one-day innovation workshop, designed and delivered by our consultancy team, where we dig deeper into the scope and requirements of your project.

Together, we’ll define:

  • The purpose of your innovation
  • Who it’s for and the problem it solves
  • Your customer segments and route to market
  • The value proposition
  • Your risky assumptions
  • Your development gaps and priorities

We’ll also identify who in our eco-system of expertise is best placed to be your R&D partner - whether that’s a university, manufacturer, or technical specialist. The result is a clear, actionable project scope and brief to take forward.

Formal match funding grant offer to kick-start your R&D project

Once your project is scoped and a partner is identified, we’ll issue a formal grant offer to kick-start the collaboration.

We will match your investment pound for pound, covering up to 50% of eligible project costs - up to £15,000 in funding. That’s a 50% discount on your early-stage R&D activity, support that’s designed to de-risk your innovation and move you forward with confidence.

Ongoing support as your project progresses

Once the project begins, our involvement is flexible. Some businesses prefer regular check-ins or project management support, while others simply keep us in the loop. Either way, we maintain the collaboration and stay on hand to help as needed.

 

Thinking about what’s next?

Struggling to move forward with a research or tech challenge? You're not alone - and you don’t have to tackle it on your own. With LYVA Labs’ support, you’ll get matched funding, expert guidance, and a way to reduce the risks that often come with early-stage R&D, so you can focus on building what’s next for your business.

Submit your Expression of Interest today and start the conversation: LYVA Labs R&D Partner Fund EOI

Or learn more about the grant here: LYVA Labs - R&D Partnership Fund