Engineering Biology SPARK Awards

The Engineering Biology SPARK awards will fund UK-registered academic institutions or Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) to deliver an engineering biology project to address a challenge by a UK-registered Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) or to enhance the SME’s progress towards developing new products, processes, or services.

In this competition, up to £225,000 of total funding (up to £15,000 per project) is available to fund Engineering Biology SPARK Awards.  

This funding is part of the Engineering Biology Innovation Network, led by Innovate UK Business Connect in collaboration with Innovate UK and UKRI’s Technology Mission Fund, which aims to drive the development of a joined-up UK innovation ecosystem to ensure synthetic biology tools, technologies and processes can be more easily developed and adopted by a variety of industries. The network’s goal is to progress innovations, create a commercially focused community and foster new consortia to advance innovations towards commercial applications. 

Projects will start from 1 September 2025. Projects must finish by 28 February 2026. 

What is an Engineering Biology SPARK Award? 

Projects must have an overarching goal of ‘pulling’ engineering biology knowledge and expertise from lab-based discovery towards application.  

Projects will use the engineering biology knowledge, expertise and facilities/tools of academic organisations to address a challenge held by an SME or to enhance progress towards developing new products, processes or services. 

Projects must be a collaboration between an academic research organisation and an SME.  

The Engineering Biology SPARK Awards aim to initiate longer-term partnerships.  

Both partners should be instrumental in determining the need for the project and its design.  

The SME can support in the delivery of the project goals by carrying out related and/or parallel activities, but they are not required to deliver any defined activities under the remit of the project. 

The SME will not be able to claim funding for any work undertaken to support the project goals. 

There should be a defined plan for how the SME will be involved in the exploitation of the project outcomes.  

Projects must: 

• address a challenge held by an SME or collaboratively enhance progress towards developing new products, processes or services  
• be collaborative, led by one UK-registered academic institution or Research and Technology Organisation (RTO) (see here for eligible RTOs), and one UK-registered SME (see here for definition of an SME). 
• focus on an engineering biology solution and fall within at least one of the following thematic areas: 
  • agriculture and food production 
  • health 
  • materials and chemicals 
  • energy and low carbon fuels 
  • waste recycling 
  • the development of novel synthetic biology tools and technologies 

Further Information

Click here to download the SPARK Awards Competition Brief.

Email any questions to EngBio@iukbc.org.uk. 

How to apply

Please read the privacy notice before applying.

Click the link below to start your application. Applications must be submitted by 11am BST on 9 July 2025.