Made Smarter - Manufacturing grants and funding

Made Smarter South East is a government-funded programme to drive growth amongst the South East's manufacturing SMEs and makers. It launched in April 2025 and the pilot runs to 31 March 2026 and has a budget of £1.55m.

The programme has been developed to help makers boost productivity and increase their competitive edge through the adoption of new industrial technologies and tools.

Made Smarter has been running successfully in selected areas of the UK for a number of years, before being rolled out nationally, including in Surrey and the South East in April 2025.

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What's on offer
Who can apply
What technologies are eligible
How to apply
What to expect, what happens next
Who are the Made Smarter South East partners?

What's on offer?

Made Smarter South East will provide funding, advice and support to manufacturers and makers to help them switch to advanced and automated technologies.

Support & technical advice

The Made Smarter team will help you identify the right technologies and tools and how to use them to make everyday improvements to your business.

Our experts will provide advice, guidance and support to ensure you have the right technology to help improve efficiency, reduce downtime and boost competitiveness

Grants

Match-funding of up to £20,000 and up to 50% is available to help fund the new technologies you’ll need.

Training

Leadership and workforce training is also available to help ensure that your business reaps the benefits of the new technologies.

Intern

It's also possible to bring on board digital native talent with a student internship, funded up to 300 hours.

Who can apply

The programme is open to Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), who are manufacturers and makers, based in the South East. This covers the following areas: Berkshire, Brighton & Hove, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, Kent, Medway, Oxfordshire, Solent, Surrey.

To be eligible your business must have:

Fewer than 250 employees
An annual turnover equal or below £44m
An annual balance sheet equal or less than £38m
Received less than £315,000 over the last three years in subsidy or state aid
Fit the above criteria as a group if part of a wider group,
And not be funded by Private Equity.

What technologies are eligible?

The following industrial digital technologies are eligible for support and funding through the scheme, but this is not an exhaustive list – other technologies may also qualify:

Robotics and Automation
Augmented & Virtual Reality / Simulation
Industrial Cyber Security
Data & Systems Integration
Cognitive Computing & Artificial Intelligence
Big Data & Analytics
Mobile Devices & Wearable Technology
Computer Aided Design (CAD) / Emulation/ Simulation
Cognitive Computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning
Internet of Things/ Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) such as sensors, Barcode, QRCode, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Near Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth and Connectivity - 5G, Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN)
Additive manufacturing, 3D printing

How to apply

What to expect? What happens next?

From registration to specialist support

Once you have completed your full registration on the Made Smarter website, you will be emailed the details of your Technology Adoption Specialist (TAS).

Business Assessment

Your TAS will get in touch and offer you time for a quick business assessment. This will likely be a conversation on Microsoft Teams and should take around half an hour.

Diagnostic Workshop

Following the business assessment, your TAS will book a diagnostic workshop. This is a 2-hour workshop to define your business challenges, discuss potential technical solutions, understand barriers including culture shift and training needs. It will be attended by your TAS and your Organisation Workforce Development Advisor (OWDA) and up to five people from your business.

Roadmap

Following the diagnostic workshop, your TAS and OWDA will build a roadmap. This will contain your business vision, document your challenges and list and prioritise technology solutions you could investigate and apply for.

Training and courses

Your TAS and OWDA may recommend some of the free courses, which we have on offer.

Leading Digital Transformation Programme

The course has been designed in collaboration with the University of Salford and the Centre for Sustainable Innovation to enable you to become a digitally informed, empowered leader. It is aimed at senior executives, leaders, company directors, directors of operations, production directors, manufacturing directors.

The focus is on strategy and how to identify critical priorities for taking your business forward, as well as highlighting where digital tools can help. It’s a programme of 14 sessions – a mix of in person workshops in London and online sessions.

Digital Champion Workshops

The Digital Champions Workshop is for people who work in manufacturing businesses, are looking to develop professionally, want to be part of driving digital transformation and are in roles which can help facilitate the adoption of digital technologies .

It’s two face-to face workshops, with site visits, online coaching, and a rare opportunity to see the latest digital technologies at an Amazon Fulfilment Centre.

Grant application

Once your TAS has presented the roadmap and you’ve accepted the recommendations, you may apply for grant funding. Your TAS will then make the grant application form available to you. They will help you complete it and get it ready for submission.

With your grant application, you will also need to submit:

3 quotes for each item you are applying for,
your business accounts for the last 3 years,
your latest bank statement(s)
and your business insurance

Applications are evaluated and put forward to a grant panel who makes the decision on funding attribution.

If successful, you will receive an Offer Letter detailing the grant value and project approved for funding.

Internship

Once your TAS and OWDA have presented the roadmap and you’ve accepted the recommendations, you may apply for a funded intern. Your OWDA will then make the internship project brief available to you. They will help you complete it and get it ready for submission.

Your OWDA will help you find a student to fulfil your brief. You will be responsible for contracting the student and adding them to your payroll. You will need to have employer’s and public liability insurance and business insurance.

Claim

Once the grant or internship are completed and before 30 March 2026, you can make a claim for the value of the grant, or portion of the costs incurred if lower, by completing the claim form and submitting with evidence of invoices/payroll and payments (bank account statements).

Who are the partners involved in Made Smarter South East?

Made Smarter is a programme funded by Department for Business and Trade (DBT).

Surrey County Council is acting as the accountable body to coordinate and manage the Made Smarter Adoption programme in the South East.

Regional partners

Made Smarter South East will be delivered across: Berkshire, Brighton & Hove, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Kent, Medway, Oxfordshire, Solent, Surrey and West Sussex in partnership with: Surrey County Council, Hampshire County Council; West Sussex County Council; East Sussex County Council; Kent County Council; Brighton & Hove City Council; The Skills and Business Hub; Buckinghamshire Business First; Medway Council; Enterprise Oxfordshire; and Solent Growth Partnership (representing Isle of Wight Council, Portsmouth City Council and Southampton City Council).