General guidance for grant applicants: Innovate UK
An overview of applying for a business innovation grant, including funding rules, categories and participation levels.
Overview
Innovate UK runs 2 types of application process for innovation grants. These are:
- an online application process via our digital Innovation Funding Service
- a document-based application process
The following sections outline the differences in the 2 processes.
Applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service
The Innovation Funding Service is an online application process. You need to create an account in the service to start an application.
Applications are separated into sections, which all need to be completed in order to apply. You cannot submit an application unless you have correctly completed each section. Full guidance for completing each section can be found within the service.
Collaborating in the Innovation Funding Service
Many Innovate UK competitions require organisations to work with others on collaborative research and development projects.
Collaboration rules are stated in the eligibility section for each competition. This section outlines the different roles of organisations who intend to work collaboratively in completing an application on the service.
Lead applicants
The lead applicant represents the lead organisation for the application. As the lead applicant you will be responsible for:
- starting an application
- adding and removing collaborators to the application
- assigning questions to collaborators
- answering questions relevant to you
- reviewing content entered by collaborators
- submitting the application before the deadline
You should only add people who are directly involved in the project.
Collaborators
Collaborators for applications can be:
- members from each of the consortium partner organisations (if more than one)
- members of the lead organisation (for example, financial directors)
Collaborators are invited to join an application by the lead applicant. You will receive an email invitation from the Innovation Funding Service. You will need to accept the invitation to create an account.
As a collaborator you are responsible for:
- completing project costs and finance details for your organisation
- inviting other collaborators from your organisation to the application
- answering questions assigned to you by the lead applicant
Collaborators can see:
- all application questions and answers
- their own organisation’s finance details
- the application finance summary
Neither the lead applicant nor collaborators can view the financial details of any of the other organisations involved in the application. They can only view their own.
Collaborators are not able to:
- start an application
- invite people from other organisations
- assign questions to other collaborators
Applying for a document-based competition
If you are not applying through this new service, but using our normal document-based format, then follow the process below.
Competitions using the document based application process will prompt you to register to apply online. If you are the lead or sole applicant, you will need to register.
Registration closes at midday one week before the application deadline. Registrations are not accepted after this time. A link inviting you to register for a competition is available on each competition web page.
Your username and password
When you register you will receive an email from us containing:
- your secure username
- password
- unique application form
- a secure URL to access the competition
As applications may contain sensitive information they must be submitted using the above.
When you click on the URL (or copy and paste it into your address bar) you will be taken to the secure competition website. The website will include downloadable documents for the competition. Log into the website with your username and password. You may need to zoom out in order to view the login tab. You can do this by holding down the ctrl key and the minus key on your keyboard.
Enter your username and password manually as cutting and pasting will not work.
Your files and their formats
File names and formats must follow these rules:
- appendices should be named Appendix and include the question number and application number as stated in the specific competition guidance. For example: AppendixQ7(application number)
- file names should only include letters or numbers and no special characters
- Innovate UK application or finance forms should not be converted, encrypted or zipped
- applications should be saved as word documents only
- finance forms should be saved as excel documents only
- appendices should be saved as pdf documents only
Please note: if your submitted appendices do not follow the specific competition guidance, your application will be ineligible and not sent for assessment.
Uploading your documents
To upload and submit your application documents, follow these steps:
- log into the competition website (the URL link that has been emailed to you)
- you will see an online folder for your documents
- click on the ‘upload’ tab and select files to show the file browser
- select the file you want to upload and click ‘open’
- your file status will be shown as ‘pending’, click on ‘start upload’
- when the upload is complete you will see the file name, size, type and date which should match those of your original document. You will not be able to open uploaded documents so it is important that you check that the name and size match
- you will not receive an email notification so it is important that you check your uploaded files are showing in your folder
If you have any difficulties registering or applying for a competition, you can telephone the customer support services on 0300 321 4357 or email [email protected].
What happens after you have submitted your application
Applications must be submitted before midday on the day of the submission deadline. Late submissions will not be considered.
How your application is assessed
After the deadline, valid applications will be sent for assessment. Only applications that meet the eligibility criteria and scope of the competition will be sent for assessment. You will be notified if your application is out of scope with full reasons as to why. Innovate UK reserves the right to declare applications as out of scope.
Applications are assessed by up to 5 independent assessors. The assessors are experts from both business and academia.
Applications are assessed against the same set of scoring criteria. Assessors will provide written feedback for each scored question in the application. All applications are assessed on individual merit. The Innovate UK funder’s panel makes the final decision regarding funding.
Innovate UK reserves the right to apply a ‘portfolio’ approach in certain competitions. The portfolio will be spread across a range of:
- scope areas
- categories of research and development
- project durations
- project costs, including demonstrating value for money
This is to fit the spend profile of the competition. It will make sure that funds are allocated across the strategic areas identified in the scope of the competition. Successful applications are all required to meet a quality threshold.
You will be notified of the decision
Once all applications have been assessed, you will be informed of the final decision by email. If you are the lead applicant you need to let the other collaborators and partners know the decision.
Assessor feedback will be provided on applications. This is usually 4 weeks after you have been notified of the decision. You will receive an email which will let you know when feedback will be ready to view.
What happens if you are successful
If you have made an application via the Innovation Funding Service process
If you have made an application via the Innovation Funding Service process and are successful you will be prompted to submit the necessary information required for project setup. You will not require a conditional offer letter.
You will need to complete the following steps in your online project setup:
Project details
- the target start date
- the project location
- the name of the project manager
Finance contact
You must provide a finance contact. This contact is responsible for supplying any additional information we may require to complete our finance checks on your organisation. This is also the person who will submit the grant claims once your project is live.
Bank details
You must supply your organisation’s bank details so that we can validate them.
Finance checks
We will perform viability checks on your organisation and check the eligibility of your project costs. If we have any queries around your finances we can use this section to contact you.
Spend profile
Once we have confirmed your project is eligible, we will ask you to profile your costs across the duration of the project.
If you have made an application via the document-based application process
If you have applied to a competition that uses a document-based application process you will be sent a conditional grant offer letter that you must sign and return before the project can start.
Any additional documentation that you are asked for will need to be completed and returned within stated timelines.
Once you’ve submitted all documentation
We will review your project costs to check that they meet our funding rules. You may be asked to provide further information on the detail in your finance forms.
Financial viability checks will be made on all industry partner organisations.
If your project is a collaboration you will be asked to provide a collaboration agreement. An example of this is found in the Lambert toolkit.
We may choose to promote your project as part of our competition communications. If you have any queries about public relations or media coverage email [email protected].
Monitoring Officer
You will be assigned a Monitoring Officer who will work with you on the project start-up. They will help to make sure your project complies with our terms and conditions. They are not responsible for project management.
Claims and auditing
Costs are only eligible if they are incurred and paid between the project start and end dates. Claims may be subject to an independent audit.
Grants should be claimed quarterly in arrears. Once audits and reports are complete, the grants will be paid to each participant.
If you require further information please contact customer support service on 0300 321 4357 or email [email protected].
State aid
Innovate UK supports UK businesses to invest in research, development and innovation. Some of the support we provide operates under European Commission state aid rules. An example of this is support offered by collaborative research and development (R&D) competitions.
What is state aid?
State aid is a term used by the European Commission. It describes assistance given by a public body or publicly-funded body to organisations on a selective basis that take part in commercial activity which could distort competition and trade within the European Union.
The state aid rules are designed to prevent unfair subsidies.
Further information on state aid
The state aid branch of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has lead responsibility within the UK for coordination and development of state aid policy. The BEIS state aid guidance has further information. You can also visit the European Commission’s information on state aid.
The General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) covers a range of types of state aid that, provided certain conditions are met, do not require individual approval from the European Commission in advance of being granted. Examples include aid for:
- small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
- research and development
- innovation
- regional development
- training
- employment for disadvantaged and disabled workers
- risk capital
- environmental protection
Member states are encouraged to focus on aid that will benefit job creation and competitiveness. The GBER also reduces the administrative burden for the public sector, the beneficiaries and the European Commission.
Innovate UK state aid coverage
The majority of support Innovate UK provides via its research, development and innovation scheme is designed to fall within the ‘safe harbour’ of GBER.
You should note that Innovate UK is unable to grant funding to organisations meeting the condition known as ‘undertakings in difficulty’ as defined in the General Block Exemption regulations (page 6 section 14)
Before submitting an application for funding with Innovate UK, you should accept the terms and conditions of the grant. You might find it useful to seek independent advice in relation to your eligibility. If the European Commission consider a business to have been ineligible for receipt of state aid or an exemption under GBER, your business might need to repay any aid received to the value of the gross grant equivalent.
This website provides guidance on state aid issues but should not be regarded as a substitute for taking legal advice.
Funding rules
Innovate UK provides funding to support and stimulate innovation in the UK economy. We do this by encouraging businesses to work with other commercial and research organisations. We largely require that projects are led by businesses. Other types of organisation can apply in collaboration with a business partner.
Innovation is never easy, especially if it involves multiple organisations or is in the early stages of taking a new idea to market. Sometimes numerous businesses might need to be brought together with the help of a Research and Technology Organisation (RTO) leading the project. This can happen if:
- no business in the consortium has the capacity to lead the project
- collaborative research is to be undertaken by businesses who are at the same point in the value chain. In this instance the work must be essential to lay the foundations for the growth of an early stage industry. This type of project might lead to the development of new industry procedures or measurement standards
Innovate UK recognises the opportunity for innovation projects to be led by RTOs. This is subject to them being in collaboration with 2 or more companies. They need to have been developed to make sure that those with the right skills are doing the right work at the right time. This means that those in the consortium that are best placed to lead and deliver the overall project can do so. This will allow businesses (and especially SMEs) to focus on their contribution, route-to-market and exploitation.
For a trial period for sector foundation competitions opening between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2018, Innovate UK will allow project proposals to be led by an RTO. This is subject to defined criteria which aim to encourage the conditions above. Criteria will be defined in the eligibility rules for the competition.
The funding rates you can receive will depend on the size and type of your organisation and your role in the project. Organisations fall into 3 categories:
- businesses
- research organisations
- public sector organisations or charities undertaking research activity
Business
A business is defined as an organisation undertaking commercial activities. Businesses can have their eligible costs funded at the following rates:
| Applicant Business Size | Fundamental Research | Feasibility Studies | Industrial Research | Experimental Development |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Micro/Small | 100% | 70% | 70% | 45% |
| Medium | 100% | 60% | 60% | 35% |
| Large | 100% | 50% | 50% | 25% |
The definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) used by Innovate UK is set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.
A large business in this context means any enterprise which is not an SME.
Research organisations
When referring to research organisations, Innovate UK uses the definition from the Framework for State aid for Research and Development and Innovation which states:
research and knowledge dissemination organisation’ or ‘research organisation’ means an entity (such as universities or research institutes, technology transfer agencies, innovation intermediaries, research-oriented physical or virtual collaborative entities), irrespective of its legal status (organised under public or private law) or way of financing, whose primary goal is to independently conduct fundamental research, industrial research or experimental development or to widely disseminate the results of such activities by way of teaching, publication or knowledge transfer. Where such entity also pursues economic activities, the financing, the costs and the revenues of those economic activities must be accounted for separately. Undertakings that can exert a decisive influence upon such an entity, for example in the quality of shareholders or members, may not enjoy a preferential access to the results generated by it.
Within Innovate UK competitions, this means:
- universities (higher education institutions)
- non-profit research and technology organisations (RTOs) including catapults
- public sector research establishments (PSRE)
- research council institutes
Research organisations undertaking non-economic activity will be funded as follows:
- universities: 80% of full economic costs (as set out by the Je-S application system described below)
- all other research organisations: 100% of eligible costs
Research organisations should be non-profit distributing to qualify. They should explain how they will disseminate the output of their project research as outlined in the application.
Research organisations which are engaged in economic activity as part of the project, will be treated as business enterprises for the purposes of funding.
Full economic cost (FEC) and Je-S system
Universities, higher education institutions (HEIs) and other research organisations which are registered on the Je-S system should submit their costs through this. Submitted and approved costs should then be added onto the specific application. These will then be submitted into the competition.
Only 80% of the FEC is allowable as eligible costs for Je-S applicants. The remaining 20% should not be shown on the finance table or forms. Research costs submitted through Je-S must be in line with business and participation rules.
Public sector organisation or charity
Public sector organisations and charities can work with businesses to achieve innovation through knowledge, skills and resources. These organisations must not take part in any economic activity or gain economic benefit from a project. They can apply for 100% of grant funding for their eligible costs under the following conditions:
- they are undertaking research (this may be experimental, theoretical or critical investigation work to gain knowledge, skills or understanding vital to the project)
- they meet requirements for dissemination of their project results and
- they state in the application how they will do this
- they include their eligible costs for research purposes in the total research organisation involvement
- they make sure they are not applying for a grant towards costs which are already being paid by the public purse such as labour and overheads
Categories of research and development
The competition scope will specify the category of R&D activity for that particular competition.
Innovate UK supports the following R&D categories:
- fundamental research
- feasibility studies
- industrial research
- experimental development
Fundamental research
This means experimental or theoretical work primarily to gain new knowledge of underlying phenomena and visible facts, without any direct practical application or usage. This type of research is usually undertaken by a research organisation.
Feasibility studies
This means analysis and evaluation of a project’s potential, aimed at supporting the process of decision making. This is achieved by uncovering its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as well as identifying resources needed and the prospects for success. Feasibility studies will usually help businesses decide to work either individually or collaboratively with other industrial or research organisations, before conducting a subsequent larger project.
Individual competition scopes will define their own requirements for feasibility studies in terms of project size and length.
Industrial research
This means planned research or critical investigation to gain new knowledge and skills. This should be for the purpose of product development, processes or services that lead to an improvement in existing products, processes or services. It can include the creation of component parts to complex systems and may include prototypes in a laboratory or environment with simulated interfaces to existing systems, particularly for generic technology validation.
Experimental development
‘Experimental development’ means acquiring, combining, shaping and using existing scientific, technological, business and other relevant knowledge and skills with the aim of developing new or improved products, processes or services. This may also include, for example, activities aimed at the conceptual definition, planning and documentation of new products, processes or services.
Experimental development may comprise prototyping, demonstrating, piloting, testing and validation of new or improved products, processes or services in environments representative of real life operating conditions. The primary objective is to make further technical improvements on products, processes or services that are not substantially set. This may include the development of a commercially usable prototype or pilot which is necessarily the final commercial product and which is too expensive to produce for it to be used only for demonstration and validation purposes.
Experimental development does not include routine or periodic changes made to existing products, production lines, manufacturing processes, services and other operations in progress, even if those changes may represent improvements.
Projects that span more than one category of research
Enter the research category that reflects the majority of your work. If your work is going to be evenly split across categories, please [email protected].
Participation in a project
Innovate UK provides funding to support and stimulate innovation in the UK economy. We do this by encouraging businesses to work with other commercial and research organisations. As such we have the following requirements:
- at least 70% of total eligible project costs should be incurred by commercial organisations
- a maximum of 30% of total eligible project costs are available to research participants. If there is more than one research participant, this amount will be shared between them
If businesses choose to directly fund higher levels of involvement in research organisations then those additional costs:
- will be considered to be outside the project
- should not be included as eligible costs in the project
- should not appear on any finance forms
- will not be funded by a grant
The project consortium should agree to the level of involvement any research organisations have in the project. The involvement should, however, fit with the business share of eligible costs that are detailed above.
Where funding levels are more specific, these will be detailed in the competition scope.
As with business, the level of research participation is a maximum of 30% of total eligible costs. Where there is more than one research organisation the eligible costs will be shared between them. Eligible costs for Je-S registered applicants means 80% of FEC.
Research done by charities and public sector organisations should have a work and dissemination plan. This plan should be included in the application. Eligible costs should be counted towards the participation levels of the research organisation. These will be set by the competition.
Collaboration
Innovate UK plans to help industry, research communities and other organisations to work together on R&D projects. This is primarily in science, engineering and technology. Within a collaborative project there must be:
- at least 2 collaborators
- a business-led consortium which can involve business and research participants
- evidence of effective collaboration
- the lead partner of the project must be a grant recipient
This would mean that no single partner has more than 70% of the eligible costs. We would also expect to see the workings of the collaboration that you have described in the application.
Additional information
Information security and confidentiality
For submissions via the document-based application process, Innovate UK uses secure sites such as https for you to upload your application and appendices safely. Secure sites enable information between your browser and our server to be encrypted and decrypted.
Assessor confidentiality and potential conflicts of interest
Assessors must accept confidentiality agreements and declare any potential conflicts of interest. All applications must be treated in the strictest of confidence. Independent assessors must assess all applications themselves and should not allow any other person to assess the application on their behalf. Assessor identities are kept confidential including under any Freedom of Information request.
Published 9 May 2016
Last updated 8 August 2018 + show all updates
- We have updated the section defining experimental development. The new wording is in line with the EU framework for state aid for research and development and innovation.
- In the section ‘Categories of research and development’ we have simplified the guidance on applying for more than one category of research. If you wish to do this you will need to email [email protected]. Also clarified that we are unable to fund, under state aid, organisations that meet the condition ‘undertakings in difficulty’, which is defined.
- We have clarified the guidance on state aid issues and provided an updated link to GBER definitions.
- Change of title to make it clear that this guidance is for those applying for an innovation grant.
- Under ‘funding rules’, extended the trial period for which an RTO may lead a project in a sector competition to 31 December 2018.
- Have clearly defined the portfolio approach in the section on what happens after you have submitted your application.
- Section on ‘What happens if you are successful’ is expanded to include details about project setup requirements for Innovation Funding Service applications and what information we need you to fill in online.
- Added section on collaborating in the Innovation Funding Service with advice for lead applicants and collaborators. Removed paragraph on quarterly claims for grants over £2 million in claims and auditing, which is no longer applicable.
- Updated the guidance to explain the 2 types of application process: the Innovation Funding Service and document-based application process.
- Change in the naming convention of Appendices
- More clarity in the funding rules around research and technology collaborations.
- In ‘Your files and their formats’ under ‘The Application Process’ we have updated the guidance on submitting appendices to make this clearer following queries from competition applicants.
- Wording to clarify: “all other research organisations: 100% of eligible costs”
- Changed the page title to “General guidance for applicants: Innovate UK”
- First published.
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