SFIS eligibility checker
Find out how likely SMART Flexible Innovation Support Level 1 is to fund your project and exactly what to change. Then answer four questions in your own words and get your description rewritten, scored again so you can see the difference.
Am I eligible for SMART Flexible Innovation Support?
You are eligible for SMART Flexible Innovation Support Level 1 if your organisation is registered or trading in Wales, the activity has not yet started, and you can fund the total project cost up front and reclaim the subsidy in arrears once costs have been defrayed. The activity itself must be feasibility work: investigation that fills gaps in your knowledge so you can develop a detailed Innovation Plan, rather than the research and development work that follows it. Businesses must hold a business plan, and you should already have a draft Innovation Plan for the study to build on. Support is normally granted as Minimal Financial Assistance of approximately £330,000 across the current and previous two fiscal years, so any public funding you have been offered or received in that window reduces what is available. Funding is discretionary, and applying does not guarantee an offer.
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Check it
Describe the feasibility work and tick what is true today. Your description is scored the way an assessor reads it: on what it actually says, not on what it implies.
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Answer four questions
One question for each of the most serious things to fix, one answer each, no follow-ups. Plain English, rough answers are fine.
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Take the rewrite
Your description comes back rewritten around your answers, then scored again so you can see the difference. Nothing invented, nothing left blank.
Criteria taken from the Welsh Government Level 1 application form and guidance for applicants. Read the official guidance. This tool is not affiliated with Welsh Government and does not make funding decisions.
What assessors are actually looking for
Feasibility, not delivery
Level 1 funds work that closes knowledge gaps and produces a detailed Innovation Plan. Describing the full build is the fastest route to a no.
Paid in arrears
You fund the total project cost first and claim the subsidy back against evidence that costs have been defrayed.
Benefit to Wales
Assessors look for wider impact: employment, wellbeing, environmental improvement, or technology that connects communities.
Costs within caps
Salaries over £60k and day rates over £600 are capped without robust evidence. Overheads are a flat 45% of gross salary.
SFIS questions, answered
What is SMART Flexible Innovation Support (SFIS)?
SMART Flexible Innovation Support is a Welsh Government scheme that helps organisations in Wales develop innovative products, processes and services. Level 1 specifically funds feasibility work: the investigation you need to carry out to fill gaps in your knowledge so that you can produce a detailed Innovation Plan. It is not funding for the research and development itself, which is the most common reason applications are directed elsewhere. Applications are made on a Level 1 form and submitted to SMART.FIS@gov.wales with supporting documents, including a business plan if you are a business.
Who is eligible for SFIS Level 1 funding?
You need a registered or trading presence in Wales, an activity that has not yet started, and the ability to pay the full project cost up front, because the subsidy is paid in arrears once you submit a valid claim evidencing that costs have been defrayed. Support is normally awarded as Minimal Financial Assistance, which allows approximately £330,000 to a single organisation across the current and previous two fiscal years, so prior public funding counts against you. Businesses must also hold a business plan, and you need a draft Innovation Plan for the feasibility work to build on.
What costs can SFIS Level 1 cover?
Eligible costs are direct gross staff salaries, staff travel and subsistence, overheads, materials and consumables, sub-contract and consultancy, and other directly related expenditure. Overheads are calculated as a flat rate of 45% of direct gross staff salary costs, and that flat rate is what covers employer National Insurance and pension contributions, which are not eligible as staff costs in their own right. Salaries above £60,000 are capped, as are consultancy day rates above £600, unless you supply robust evidence such as three comparable quotes. Travel is eligible at 45p per mile or standard class public transport, and foreign travel needs prior approval.
Will this write my SFIS application for me?
It rewrites your description of the project, which you then own and check. After the eligibility check returns its feedback, you answer up to four questions, one for each of the most serious things to fix, in plain English. Your description then comes back rewritten around those answers as a single piece of prose you can paste straight into your application, and it is scored again using the same check as before so you can see exactly what the rewrite moved. It will never invent a figure, a name, a date, a partner or a standard on your behalf, and it never leaves a placeholder or a blank for you to fill: anything you did not tell it simply is not claimed. The words are yours to check before they go anywhere, because the signature on the application is yours.
How accurate is this eligibility checker?
The eligibility verdict is deterministic: it is calculated directly from the qualifying criteria you tick, each of which comes from the published Welsh Government Level 1 application form and guidance for applicants. The funding likelihood score and the improvement list are generated by AI reading your description against the assessment criteria for each section of the form. It scores what your description actually says, the way an assessor has to read it: they never meet you and cannot ask a follow-up question, so nothing counts unless it is on the page. First attempts usually score low, and that is a judgement on the writing rather than on the business behind it. It is an informed indication to help you strengthen a draft, not a decision. Funding is discretionary, and completing the real form does not guarantee that Welsh Government will offer support.
Applying for funding outside Wales? See the wider UK innovation funding landscape.