Innovate UK Innovation Loans Round 23

To receive an innovation loan for a new project you must:

• be a UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
• carry out your project from or in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
• give evidence that your business is suitable to take on a loan

Only single businesses can receive loans, so collaboration with other organisations cannot be funded in this competition.

Individuals, large companies, not for profits, charities, academic institutions, and research organisations are not eligible for innovation loans.

We encourage innovation involving communities that are typically under represented including:

• from regions that have historically accessed lower levels of investment (outside London, Oxford and Cambridge)
• ethnic minority groups
• women and other marginalised genders
• people with disabilities
• people with non-traditional education backgrounds

We particularly welcome applications from businesses from these communities.

Your business can only submit one application per round of this competition.

You cannot submit an application in this competition at the same time as submitting an application in any other innovation loans or DASA defence innovation loans competition.

You can apply for a loan of between £100,000 and £5 million to fund your project’s eligible costs.

Projects can last up to five years, including both the R&D and pre-commercialisation phases. Projects in round 22 are expected to start by 1 February 2026. Your exact project start date and first innovation loan drawdown will depend on the timing of the final credit committee decision and completion of loan documentation.

Innovate UK innovation loans are for highly innovative late stage research and development (R&D) projects with the best potential for the future. There must be a clear route to commercialisation and economic impact.

Your project must lead to innovative new products, processes or services that are significantly ahead of others currently available, or propose an innovative use of existing products, processes or services. It can also involve a new or innovative business model.

Your project must demonstrate:

• a clearly expressed and compelling innovative idea
• a robust and deliverable business plan that addresses and shows evidence of market potential and needs
• a team with the necessary skills and experience to run and complete the project successfully and on time, and take the outputs forward
• awareness of all the main risks the project and business will face, with realistic plans to manage, mitigate and minimise the impact of each of these
• sound, practical financial plans and timelines that represent good value for money and ability to repay the loan
• why you are unable to fund the project from your own resources or other forms of public or private sector funding
• 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

Your project can include:

• prototyping
• demonstrating
• piloting
• testing
• validation

These can be in environments that represent real life operating conditions.

Your project must focus on one or more of the following themes or sub-themes:

Net Zero

• energy
• impact of industrial processes and use of materials
• agriculture and food and other sources of emissions
• capital intensity

Health and wellbeing

• tackling ill health
• enhancing wellbeing
• diet and food

Next generation digital technologies

Technology families

• advanced materials and manufacturing
• artificial intelligence digital and advanced computing
• bioinformatics and genomics
• engineering biology
• electronics, photonics and quantum technologies
• energy and environment technologies
• robotics and smart machines

A briefing event for all applicants for round 23 will be held on 17 September, 11:30am-1:30pm. This webinar will provide an overview of the innovation loans programme and detailed information about the application process. Click here to register for a webinar place.

Deep dive workshops

The business and financial submission is a critical part of the application loan in the innovation loans programme. We held ‘deep dive’ workshops to enable applicants to consider how an innovation loan may fit within their funding strategy for growth at scale through innovation, and to engage with members of the innovation loans team and other applicants. The online workshops will have a maximum of 45 participants to promote engagement and discussion.

Deep dive workshop 1: Wednesday 24 September, 11.00am – 12.30pm
Deep dive workshop 2: Monday 29 September, 3.00pm – 4.30pm
Deep dive workshop 3: Thursday 9 October, 10.00am – 11.30am

Register for a place on the deep dive workshops.

If you are unable to attend these workshops, please contact the Innovation Loans team for advice before applying.