Innovate UK Grant – a funding option from the UK government

Who is eligible for an Innovate UK grant?

Without innovation, where would we be? New ideas and experiments have enabled us to develop our economy, our planet and the human race. But we’re not just going to stop innovating. There are always new ways of doing things, new problems to solve and new ideas out there. Imagine what you could do with funding of up to £10 million. That’s where the Innovate UK grant scheme comes in!

An Innovate UK grant enables UK-based businesses to contribute to developing our society and economy. Whether you’re a big fish, little fish or a tadpole, you could be eligible for funding through Innovate UK of up to £10 million.

What is Innovate UK?

Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation, and funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK Government.

If you’re a UK-based business or research organisation, you can apply for funding in order to:

• research and develop a process, product or service,
• test your innovation ideas or
• collaborate with other organisations.

Eligible projects for Innovate UK funding

Innovate UK runs numerous competitions at any one time offering funding across a range of industries. Competitions include biomedical sciences, cyber security, clean energy and many more.

Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund – Some of the funding opportunities fall under the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. These UK grants cover four Grand Challenges, which aim to ensure that the UK takes advantage of major global changes, improving people’s lives and the country’s productivity.

The first Grand Challenges are:

• Artificial Intelligence and data
• Ageing society
• Clean growth
• Future of mobility

With these four areas in mind, options such as driverless vehicles, low-carbon technologies, innovative savings for retirement, and speech recognition software, are all possibilities. Ideas are submitted for each competition and winning applicants will receive the grants.

Innovative UK Smart Grants – If you’ve ever thought that there must be a better way of doing something, then you’re probably right. Innovate UK is looking for these game-changing and disruptive ideas from business, no matter what sector they’re from.

The idea should be something that people will want to use and be willing to pay for. Successful business ideas have included a business that is working on energy efficiency with the National Grid, and a business that designed and tested a new, more effective wheel for bikes and wheelchairs.

There really are lots of opportunities and possibilities out there. The main thing is to understand the different funding and grant options and how to apply for them.

How do I apply?

You can see all of the current funding opportunities via the Innovate UK website. Each one will outline the eligibility criteria and the closing date for submissions.

You will need to collate financial information as part of your submission, so if you are thinking of applying, do let us know. We’ve already helped other businesses with their funding requests and we can help you with the necessary procedures such as the mandatory Audit that will be needed before the funds can be released. Please review the details of how that process works by visiting our Grant Audits webpage.

We’ll create the report within two working days of receiving your signed acceptance and the necessary information. All you have to do is submit it and make your claim.

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