The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has made available £35,000 to fund four research projects to improve our understanding of domestic business investment. DBT will also provide a new survey dataset acquired from the Bank of England on business finance and investment decision-making. Grants for four projects (up to £10.9k per project at 100% FEC, funded at 80% FEC) will be awarded. The Enterprise Research Centre (ERC) is administering this call on behalf of DBT. Note that applications will not be accepted from anyone supported through current ERC grant funding.
The aim of this research proposal is to call for innovative proposals – interdisciplinary approaches are welcomed – for research that will bring new ideas and new approaches to improve our understanding of the UK’s underperformance on business investment. The research will feed into the wider evidence base government is using to progress its Industrial Strategy and Growth Mission objectives.

Applications for funding should be submitted to ERC by 10th January 2025.  Successful bids will be announced week commencing  27th January 2025. Funded activity should be completed by end-March 2025.

More details of the data and funding available and application process are available here: ERC call on business investment Final