Overview
Innovate UK, in partnership with Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE), is investing up to £2.4 million in collaborative research and development projects between UK and German businesses.
This competition supports UK SMEs working with German partners to develop innovative products, processes and services across three priority sectors: clean energy, life sciences and engineering biology.
Funding will support industrial research projects that demonstrate strong commercial potential, meaningful technological collaboration and clear benefits to the UK economy.
UK registered SMEs must collaborate with at least one independent German registered SME applying through Germany's ZIM funding programme. UK partners will receive funding from Innovate UK, while German partners will be funded separately through AiF Projekt GmbH under the German programme.
Projects must demonstrate a credible route to market within two to three years of completion, with clear plans to commercialise their innovations and deliver economic growth.
Funding decisions are made independently by Innovate UK and the German funding body, and projects must be selected by both organisations to receive support.
Scope
The aim of this competition is to fund business-led collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects focused on industrial research.
Projects must focus on one of the following sectors:
- Clean Energy
- Life Sciences
- Engineering Biology
Collaborative R&D proposals must demonstrate:
- A clear, game-changing or disruptive innovative idea leading to new products, processes or services
- A strong and deliverable business plan that addresses and documents market potential and needs
- Sound, practical financial plans and timelines
- Good value for money, which will always be a consideration in Innovate UK funding decisions
- A clear, evidence-based plan to deliver significant economic impact, return on investment (ROI) and growth through commercialisation, as soon as possible after project completion
- Clear, considerable potential to significantly benefit the UK economy or national productivity
- The benefits of participants from both countries working together and how this adds value
- A clear definition of where intellectual property (IP) can be used and shared between participants and countries
- A clear route to market within two to three years of project completion
Innovate UK aims to fund a variety of projects across different sectors through a portfolio approach.
Key themes and topics
Projects must focus on one or more of the following:
- Clean Energy
- Life Sciences
- Engineering Biology
Research categories
This competition will fund industrial research projects only.
Industrial research involves planned research or critical investigation to develop new knowledge and skills that support the development of new or improved products, processes or services.
Projects that will not be funded
Projects will not be funded if they:
- Do not meet Innovate UK's eligibility criteria
- Do not submit all mandatory documentation
- Request grants of less than £100,000 from Innovate UK
- Request grants of more than £350,000 from Innovate UK
- Do not have an eligible German partner
- Pose a risk to the UK's national security, economic security or strategic interests
Innovate UK reserves the right to withhold funding from such projects, regardless of assessment scores or ranking.
Funding is also unavailable for projects that are:
- Dependent on export performance, where a subsidy is conditional on an organisation exporting a specified quantity of products to another country
- Dependent on domestic inputs usage, where a subsidy is conditional on using a specified percentage of UK components in a product
Project duration
12 to 24 months
Must start on 1 August 2027
End by 30 June 2029
Award value
Grant funding request between £100,000 and £350,000
Funding rates
For industrial research projects, purposeful research that builds new knowledge and skills to improve or develop products, processes or services, often through prototypes or system components that validate ideas in realistic settings, organisations can receive funding for eligible project costs of:
- Up to 70% for micro or small organisations
- Up to 60% for medium-sized organisations
- Up to 50% for large organisations
Research organisations undertaking non-economic activity can share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs.
Of this 30%, funding is available for:
- Up to 100% of eligible project costs for research and technology organisations (RTOs) or research organisations
- Up to 80% of full economic costs (FEC) for academic institutions
Eligibility criteria
- Projects must be collaborative and led by a UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
- Projects must include at least one German registered SME applying under the German ZIM programme, which must be a separate legal entity and not linked to the UK partners
- Collaborators can be a UK registered business of any size, an academic institution or a research and technology organisation (RTO)
- Subcontractors must be UK-based, with fully justified and appropriate costs, limited to no more than 20% of the total eligible costs of UK participation
- The majority of project work must be undertaken in the UK and Germany, with UK partners carrying out the majority of their work in the UK
- UK partners must intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
- Subsidy control and state aid rules apply where applicable under the Subsidy Control Act 2022
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