Innovate UK grants

Innovate UK funds business innovation through competitions on its Innovation Funding Service, each with its own scope, deadline and funding rate. Smart grants, the open competition for any sector, are closed, and funding now goes mainly to six priority sectors.

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What Innovate UK funds in November 2026

Innovate UK is the national innovation agency, part of UK Research and Innovation. It pays grants and makes loans to businesses through competitions, each published on the Innovation Funding Service with a brief that sets out the scope, who can apply, the funding rate, the questions you answer and the closing date. You apply online and the application is scored by independent assessors.

Smart grants, which for years took applications from any sector in quarterly rounds, are closed. UK Research and Innovation’s guidance says they are closed to new applications while funding is aligned to Innovate UK’s new strategic direction, and it names no replacement. That direction was published on 19 March 2026. It puts funding into six sectors from the government’s industrial strategy: advanced manufacturing, clean energy industries, creative industries, defence, life sciences, and digital and technologies, which covers artificial intelligence, advanced connectivity, cybersecurity, engineering biology, semiconductors and quantum. Within those sectors Innovate UK says it will prioritise deep tech businesses, with grants and loans matched to the company’s stage and risk, and a new account management service called Velocity for the companies it backs.

For a business outside those sectors the route has narrowed. Competitions still open on themes such as artificial intelligence adoption and international collaboration, and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships run in rounds through the year. Check the Innovation Funding Service and our grant finder, which lists every open grant on GOV.UK Find a Grant by closing date. Swoop’s platform also matches businesses with grants during a funding search.

Competitions open on 3 November 2026

Knowledge Transfer Partnership round 4

A partnership with a university or college to bring in expertise through a graduate placed in the business. Closes 27 January 2027.

BridgeAI Deployment Catalyst

Three strands on putting artificial intelligence into operational systems, decision critical systems, and assurance and compliance. Each closes 8 December 2026.

UK-Germany bilateral collaborative R&D round 5

Joint projects between UK and German businesses. Closes 1 December 2026.

Battery Innovation round 3

Feasibility studies and concept development strands. Both close 2 December 2026.

UK-Netherlands co-innovation for quantum technology

Opened 3 November 2026, closes 9 February 2027.

Underground hydrogen storage

Testing and validating components, and support for a demonstrator. Both close 13 January 2027.

The Innovation Funding Service listed 30 competitions on 3 November 2026, including some opening later in the month.

Funding rates by type of project

Feasibility studyIndustrial researchExperimental development
Micro or small businessUp to 70%Up to 70%Up to 45%
Medium businessUp to 60%Up to 60%Up to 35%
Total project cost£50,000 to £300,000£100,000 to £1 million£250,000 to £2 million
Project length6 to 12 months6 to 24 months12 to 24 months
Investment that had to close alongsideAt least equal to the grantAt least equal to the grantAt least twice the grant
Figures from the Growth Catalyst Investor Partnerships round 2 competition, which closed on 3 February 2026. Each competition sets its own rates and limits, so read the brief for the one you apply to.
An engineer servicing a heating system

What assessors score

Before scoring, a competition manager checks that you are eligible and an innovation lead checks that the project is in scope, using your answer to the scope question. Fail either check and the application goes no further. Eligible applications go to five, three or one independent assessors, depending on the competition. Each scores every scored question and writes comments, and none sees the others’ scores.

Applications are ranked on the average score. Innovate UK can then fund a balanced portfolio across scope areas, project types, costs and locations, so an application scoring below yours can be funded ahead of it. Some competitions interview a shortlist, and the interview score then replaces the written one. In the Growth Catalyst round, the scored questions were these ten.

  • Need or challenge
  • Approach and innovation
  • Team and resources
  • Market awareness
  • Outcomes and route to market
  • Wider impacts
  • Project management
  • Risks
  • Added value
  • Costs and value for money

Innovation loans

Innovate UK also lends. Innovation loans run from £100,000 to £5 million for UK micro, small and medium businesses carrying out late-stage research and development that is close to market, with a plan to scale. You must be credit constrained, meaning you cannot fund the project from your own resources or from private finance. The rate is 7.4% a year: during the project period you pay 3.7% on the amount drawn and the other 3.7% is deferred, and in the repayment period interest runs at 7.4% while you repay the loan and the deferred interest.

Innovate UK Business Connect says applications are paused from October 2026 until January 2027. An innovation loan is still a loan: it has to be repaid whether or not the product sells. Compare it with a business loan or intellectual property finance before you commit, and with equity investment if the product is some years from revenue.

Innovation loan interest over the project period

Illustrative example

A company draws £500,000 at the start of a two-year project. The rates are Innovate UK’s; drawing the whole loan on day one is an assumption to keep the arithmetic simple.

Loan drawn
£500,000
Interest paid during the project, 3.7% a year for two years
£37,000
Interest deferred to the repayment period, 3.7% a year for two years
£37,000
Interest charged over the project period
£74,000
After the project period, interest runs at 7.4% a year on the outstanding loan, and the £37,000 deferred is repaid alongside it.

How grant money is paid

Under Innovate UK’s grant terms you are paid quarterly in arrears: you spend the money, claim the eligible costs for the completed quarter and are paid after the claim is checked. Innovate UK keeps back 10% of the maximum grant until the project has finished and it has your final claim and the independent accountant’s report, and it pays nothing more if those arrive more than 90 days after the end date. Your cash flow has to carry each quarter’s spending until the claim is paid, plus the retention until the end.

That gap is where match funding and working capital come in. The grant offer letter helps a lender see where the money is coming from, and a funding search through Swoop covers limited companies and LLPs, and sole traders and partnerships borrowing more than £25,000. The way grant payments, match funding and clawback work is covered in how business grants work, and how to answer the scored questions in writing a grant application.

Questions people ask

Are Innovate UK Smart grants still open?

No. UK Research and Innovation’s guidance says Smart grants are closed to new applications while funding is aligned to Innovate UK’s new strategic direction, published on 19 March 2026. It names no replacement. Innovate UK now funds through competitions with a defined scope, mainly in six priority sectors, listed on the Innovation Funding Service.

How much does Innovate UK fund?

It depends on the competition and the type of project. In recent competitions a micro or small business could receive up to 70% of eligible costs for a feasibility study or industrial research, and up to 45% for experimental development; a medium business up to 60% and 35%. The rest is your match funding. Each brief sets the rates and the minimum and maximum project size.

How long does an Innovate UK decision take?

Each competition publishes the date applicants will be told. In the Growth Catalyst round that closed on 3 February 2026, applicants were notified on 17 March 2026 and projects started on 1 July 2026. Build the gap between applying and starting into your plan, because costs before the start date cannot be claimed.

Is an Innovate UK grant taxable?

Yes. HM Revenue & Customs treats a grant toward revenue costs, such as salaries and materials, as a trading receipt taxed with your profit. A grant toward capital equipment reduces the cost on which you claim capital allowances. Your company can still claim research and development tax relief on the project under the merged scheme.

Can I get Innovate UK funding and R&D tax relief on the same project?

Yes, for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024. HM Revenue & Customs guidance says there is no restriction on claiming for subsidised costs under the merged scheme or enhanced R&D intensive support, so the grant-funded costs can be included. See research and development grants.

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Grants

Research and development grants

R&D grants, R&D tax relief, and how one affects the other since April 2024.

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How do I write a grant application?

Scoring, the project plan, budgets, match funding, additionality and a checklist.

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R&D tax credit loans

A loan against the R&D tax relief your company expects to receive, repaid when the claim is paid.

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Equity investment

Selling shares brings in money with no repayments, in return for part of the company.

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