Local business wins innovation grant to make sustainability reporting affordable for SMEs
Worthing-based company Brace For Impact has been awarded funding from Innovate UK, the UK’s national innovation agency, to solve the problem of how small businesses can talk about their sustainability activities in a way that wins business.
The funding will be used to develop ImpactIO: an AI-powered tool that simplifies sustainability reporting for small and medium-sized businesses. ImpactIO uses artificial intelligence to streamline and automate the time-consuming process of gathering sustainability data, significantly cutting the cost of creating professional reports.
Brace For Impact specialises in producing commercially useful sustainability communications, such as Sustainability Reports, Carbon Reduction Plans, and grant and tender responses, all compliant with relevant anti-greenwashing guidance and legislation. These can be used to spotlight a company’s projects and products alongside their sustainability progress, to attract new clients, investors and employees.
The six-month development project, part of the DCMS Create Growth Programme, will see Brace For Impact collaborate with Brighton software developers DabApps to build the platform locally.
Brace for Impact is calling for local businesses to join the project. No sustainability knowledge is required to be involved, as the project is designed to help SMEs that want to talk more about sustainability or are feeling under pressure to demonstrate sustainability commitment. More details can be found here: www.braceforimpactgroup.com.
The innovation will initially support organisations in the Culture, Heritage and Tourism sectors, which often need to show sustainability credentials to access public funding. Brace for Impact aims to pilot the tool with local creative businesses in 2026 before expanding nationally.
Brace for Impact Co-founder, Susi Weaser, comments: “Pressure is growing from clients and regulators for businesses to make green commitments, so we know smaller businesses need our support in confidently communicating their sustainability credentials. SMEs account for up to 60% of global business emissions, yet they’re woefully under-resourced when it comes to reducing their environmental impact. We want to help businesses work out where they are, communicate confidently, and then move forward. It’s all about progress, not perfection.
“We like to think of ImpactIO as “documents in/magic out”. A client uploads a range of everyday business documents, and our tool will gather everything we need to know. Using ImpactIO we can draw out information from a range of materials like energy bills, employee policies, supplier communications or social media posts. We then turn that into content that wins our clients more work.”
Ed Hickey, Commercial Lead at DabApps, comments: “We’re really excited to be working with Brace For Impact on such an inspiring project. ImpactIO is a brilliant example of how AI can be used for good - helping small businesses tell their sustainability story in a credible, practical way. As a Brighton-based team, we’re proud to be contributing our technical expertise to an innovation that supports local SMEs and drives positive environmental change.”
Brace for Impact Co-founder, Richard Trenholm, continues: “Based on the South Coast, we see the effects of climate change first-hand. This project will help us to drive down the cost of our services, so effective sustainability communication is accessible to those that need it most. AI helps to make the process more efficient so we can use our years of human expertise to make sustainability reporting more accessible and commercially useful to smaller businesses.”
This project is supported by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), through the DCMS Create Growth Programme – Competition 4 (Small Projects). The programme supports creative businesses across England to develop innovative ideas that drive economic growth, job creation and sustainability within the UK’s creative industries.