Innovate UK

Innovate UK is the UK’s innovation agency. They drive productivity and growth by helping businesses realise the potential of developing new technologies, ideas and making them a success.

Innovate UK aim to invest around £500 million in the financial year 2017/18 both in competitions and in innovation infrastructure that allows business to access leading-edge expertise, equipment and facilities.

Innovate UK offers sector-based competitions that run throughout the year. There are also funding competitions and programmes open to all innovative businesses, regardless of the technology and sector in which they are working. These open competitions run bi-monthly.

In general, the further away from commercialisation your project is, the more funding you can receive from Innovate UK. Award-winning projects will have global opportunities that draw on unique strengths from the UK.

If you are a UK-based business, you can apply for funding. All kinds of business are eligible, from startups to large multi-national corporations.

If you are a UK-based business, you can apply for funding to:

• test the feasibility of your idea and make sure it will work
• create a new product, process, or service, or improve an existing one, through research and development
• work with other business or research organisations on collaborative projects.

In 2018-2019, Innovate UK has funding competitions across four industry sectors:

• AI & Data Economy – technologies and capabilities that will put the UK at the forefront of the AI and data revolution
• Clean Growth – maximising the advantages for UK Industry through the development, manufacture and use of low carbon technologies, systems and services
• Future of Mobility– changing how people, goods and services move around the UK
• Ageing Society – technologies, products and services that harness the power of innovation and help meet the needs of an ageing society

The open programme accepts applications from any company in any sector of the UK economy.

Preparation of an Innovate UK application takes between 150 to 300 hours of work.

You will need the right combination of people to cover the applications’s key aspects: the technology, market knowledge, commercialisation plan, and financial details.

Only applications that meet the funding competition’s eligibility criteria and scope are sent for assessment. You will be notified if your application is out of scope, with full reasons why.

Applications are assessed by up to five independent assessors, who judge the applications against the same set of scoring criteria. The assessors provide written feedback for each scored question.

All applications are judged on individual merit, with the Innovate UK funder’s panel making the final decision regarding funding.

Some competitions are subject to a ‘portfolio’ approach, to ensure that funds are allocated across the strategic areas in the competition’s scope. All successful applications must meet a quality threshold.

As Innovate UK has recently changed the way that they work and has introduced a new grant funding competition structure for 2016-2017, there is not currently any information available about the success rate of applications.

Your Innovate UK application is more likely to succeed if it:

• Shows how the project results in a real innovation and doesn’t replicate products currently on the market
• Provides a convincing company description which explains why you are more likely to succeed than a competitor
• Includes a clear and thorough description of the business opportunity, not just a description of the project
• Demonstrates a clear understanding of the target market, including commercialisation and competitor information

An Innovate UK applications are scored by up to five external assessors who are experts in the area of innovation identified in the application. These experts represent both business and research sectors.

Innovate UK aims to inform you whether or not your project will be funded around 3 months after the submission deadline.

Assessor feedback is provided on all applications. This usually 4 weeks after you are notified of a decision.

For Innovate UK, project costs are only eligible if they are incurred and paid between the project start date and project end date. These claims may be subject to an independent audit. Grants are claimed quarterly, in arrears, and are paid once the required audits and reports are complete.