Join the SME network
The SME network is a community of high-potential innovative businesses dedicated to solving challenges in the transport, construction and infrastructure. We empower SMEs to develop and scale transformative products by providing the unique insights, guidance, and personalised support needed to navigate complex markets and drive local growth.
Benefits of membership
Joining the SME Network connects you directly to Connected Places Catapult’s specialised support ecosystem and helps you to scale your business.
- Targeted opportunities: We use your profile to match you with relevant grant funding, accelerators, testbeds, and international trade missions from our extensive partner network.
- Expert guidance: Access one-to-one support from our team of experts with deep experience in founding, funding, and scaling companies, as well as navigating UK and European innovation agencies.
- Strategic matchmaking: Leverage our services for SME/Academia co-innovation, consortia building for large-scale grants, and access to our physical testbeds and demonstrator network.
- Peer collaboration: Our dedicated platform allows you to network in real-time with fellow leaders and consultants to share experiences, build joint ventures, and generate referrals.
- Exclusive insights: Receive a monthly curated newsletter featuring the latest industry shifts and opportunities.
How to join the SME Network
Membership is via application. To ensure we provide high-impact, relevant support, we collect specific data about your company and leadership.
This allows us to:
- Match you with the most appropriate growth opportunities.
- Minimise irrelevant communication by tailoring our outreach.
- Optimise the support services we offer as your business scales.
Once accepted, you’ll be invited to build and maintain a profile on our community platform to keep your information current.
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI)
We ask data regarding both protected and unprotected characteristics, as well as regional location. This information is strictly confidential and accessible only to the SME Network team.
Why we collect this: It allows us to intentionally target outreach for funding and opportunities specifically designed to support underrepresented groups and promote regional entrepreneurship.
Data Privacy: We retain identifiable data only as long as necessary for opportunity matching (up to 24 months). Following this, data is either deleted or fully anonymised.
“Connected Places Catapult has opened the door for us to speak to the right contacts, shined a light on us as a business to make us visible to the market, and given us space to trial blue sky thinking.”
Anna Jordan, Chief Executive
“The speed and proficiency with which key personnel from Connected Places Catapult answered questions and helped us to engage with the wider market made sure we were doing things the right way, and not accidentally designing ourselves into a corner and doing something that couldn’t be exploited fully.”
Dr Euan McTurk, Co-founder
“Clean Futures was a catalyst for the business, and undoubtedly helped to increase the credibility of the technology and interest in our products.”
Steve Barbour, Managing Director
“The Freight Innovation Fund helped lead us into new areas and provided us with a change of focus. Engagement with the Catapult allowed us to identify problems we didn’t know, and better understand client demand, so we could create solutions appropriate for the people we met.”
Eugene Bari, Chief Executive
“It can be very difficult to get technology such as ours to be trialled on a proving ground, so it was very helpful for us that Connected Places Catapult was able to arrange a pilot project, funded by National Highways.”
Jack Cornes, Co-founder
