Invest Northern Ireland's Business Innovation Grant (BIG) is enabling 160 micro and SME businesses across Northern Ireland to invest £3.6m in innovation and productivity.

Developed and delivered with Innovate NI, BIG was launched in November 2024 to help micro-businesses, sole traders and SMEs create and bring new products, services or processes to market. The latest update was shared during a visit to Ballynahinch-based parent-teacher engagement platform company Equipple.

"BIG is making innovation more accessible for businesses by helping to remove financial barriers and supporting them to develop and bring new products, services, or processes to market," said Alison Currie, Chief Development Officer at Invest NI.

"Since launching, the grant has supported 160 companies across Northern Ireland. These businesses are planning to invest a total of £3.6m to drive innovation, increase productivity and strengthen the growth ambitions of their businesses.

"The programme has also enabled us to reach a wider range of businesses, and to help more to take their first step on the innovation journey.”

Invest NI has offered £2.3m of financial support to the 160 companies through BIG.

Equipple, a software platform that automates parent-teacher meeting scheduling and pupil data management, successfully applied to BIG in 2024. Stuart Henry, co-founder of Equipple, said: "BIG has been instrumental in helping us commercialise our platform for market. As a small business, it can be challenging to dedicate the time and resources needed to do this. The funding has enabled us to gather customer feedback and develop new features that our customers desire. We have also been able to build relationships with schools by attending EdTech events to gain valuable insights directly from educators and parents.” said Stuart Henry, co-founder of Equipple.

"By commercialising our platform, we have now secured our first sales in England and the UAE, marking an important milestone for the business. The grant has given us the confidence and capability to move from being a promising start-up to a sustainable, growth-focused company, giving us a strong foundation for future opportunities across the UK and other international markets."

BIG is supporting firms across sectors including digital and creative technologies, advanced manufacturing, and life and health sciences. Recent beneficiaries include Derry-based education tech company Pebble, which secured its first customer and accelerated expansion after applying in 2024; North Down's MENTupLEADup, which used the grant to create video, audio and digital content to broaden its online offering and subsequently received the Department for the Economy Platinum Award for Innovation; and Mid-Ulster health technology company MemoryTell, which has integrated AI and speech-capturing software into its platform.

Applications for the next BIG cohort are open until Friday 4 September at 12 noon.