Innovate UK

Each year Innovate UK is responsible for distributing more than £1 billion in research and innovation grants. Grants are distributed via funding calls promoted through the UKRI ‘funding finder’ portal.

Each call has a limited funding ‘pot’ and defined scope that projects must align with to be eligible, including limits on project size, duration, and grant funding reimbursement rates. All information needed to understand the grant funding opportunity and make a submission is available via the funding call.

Most Innovate UK calls are open to all types of organisations, including SMEs, large enterprises, research and technology organisations (RTOs), universities, and not-for-profits; although some calls may target or require participation of a specific organisation type, such as SMEs.

All details required to prepare a submission are available via the Innovate UK funding call. Proposals are submitted via the Innovate UK online portal. 

Following the call deadline, each proposal is evaluated by 3 to 5 assessors, who individually score each proposal section using a defined scoring matrix. Scores from the assessors are averaged to give a total proposal score.

Following the independent assessment stage, some calls may require an interview stage with an expert panel to refine the final proposal scores.

Proposals are then rank in order of score with funding allocated to the top proposals until the funding pot has been depleted. 

Innovate UK grants are competitive, and only the top few % of proposals are awarded funding. To maximise your chances of success, you must ensure that your project aligns fully with the call scope and that your proposal addresses all evaluation criteria.