The UFI VocTech Trust is a registered charity and grant-making Trust that awards to UK organisations is support of the following objectives:
1. The advancement of the education of the public, and
2. The promotion of industry and commerce for the public benefit.
The Trust is currently offering early-stage Seed Fund grants, which are expected to be between £15,000 and £50,000 with no matched funding requirement, for organisations across all sectors to undertake projects that use digital technology in novel and imaginative ways to develop new services or improve access and delivery of adult vocational learning in the UK. The programme is intended to help support ventures to develop their ideas into robust digital products or services. Projects should last for between 3 to 12 months.
Although there is not formal matched funding requirement, applicants that can demonstrate other financial contributions towards their project proposal are more likely to be prioritised for grant support.
Grants can fund the design, development and early stage testing of novel approaches to digital vocational learning; helping to take those ideas through basic prototyping to the next stage of 'seeding the market' by delivering a first proof of concept prototype and planning a route to market. Examples of eligible projects include (please note that this is not an exclusive list):
o Design, development and prototyping.
o Evidencing impact.
o Project management, and
o Small scale testing with users and plotting a route to markets.
Further information and guidance is available on the Trust’s website. All applications must be made via the Trust’s website, where an example application form (which is not eligible as a means of applying to the fund) can be downloaded to guide applicants.
The VocTech Seed Fund application deadlines for 2022 are:
o Wednesday 9 February at 5pm, and
o Wednesday 13 July at 5pm (the programme will open to applications on Wednesday 15 June).
The Trust is running a number of workshops for potential applicants, and has stated that "applicants who attend one of our workshops are much more likely to be successful". The dates of the remaining workshops are available on the Trust's website (scroll down the page).
