To lead a project you must:

• be a woman founder or co-founder within a UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) that is registered on Companies House
• be a resident in the UK
• engage in a minimum of 10 hours of training and development support
• commit to a minimum of four hours of role modelling activity to inspire future generations of women innovators

You are not eligible to apply for Women in Innovation Awards 2025/26 if you or anyone else from your business have previously received Innovate UK funding from:

• Women in Innovation Awards
• Young Innovators Next Steps follow on funding
• Innovate UK Award: Build

You can only make one application for yourself. Only one woman working within an organisation can apply.

Grant funding in this competition is awarded as Minimal Financial assistance (MFA). This allows public bodies to award up to £315,000 to an enterprise in a three year rolling financial period.

Your project must:

• have a grant funding request of up to £75,000
• last for 12 months
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
• start on 1 July 2026
• end on 30 June 2027

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition. Subcontracting costs must not exceed 50% of the grant funding amount.

To be eligible, you must submit a Pitchtape video in response to this question.

Your video is an opportunity to:

• Showcase your idea
• Outline your business growth ambitions
• Explain why this award is right for you

Video requirements:

• Maximum length: 3 minutes, if your video is longer than this only the first 3 minutes will be assessed.
• Create and submit using Pitchtape via this application
• Check the link works before submitting

We will not be assessing the production quality of your video. Pitchtape will automatically create a link in response to the video question, if your link doesn’t work or is hosted on a platform other than Pitchtape, your application will be made ineligible.

Should you experience any technical issues while creating your video, email support@iuk.ukri.org at least 15 working days before the deadline.

Your video will be stored securely and viewed only by Innovate UK staff and assessors. If confidentiality limits what you can share, you must note this in your written response.

Further details on how to send in your video as part of your application can be found at the competition page.

The aims of this competition are to support Women in Innovation Award winners:

• whose innovation is aligned to one of the following three high growth sectors defined in the Government’s Industrial Strategy; Advanced Manufacturing, Digital and Technologies and Life Sciences
• who have a late stage start-up with ambitions to grow a scalable business which will involve raising considerable investment in the next 12 to 24 months

Your business must be developing a new or significantly improved product, service, or business model that addresses a specific market need. Your solution must be one of the following:

• new to the market, for example, not currently available
• a significant improvement over existing solutions in terms of performance, efficiency, accessibility, cost or impact

Your innovation needs to align with one of the following growth sectors and associated priority areas:

• Advanced Manufacturing
• Digital and Technologies
• Life Sciences

For information about each of these high growth sectors we strongly encourage you to look through the sector plan for your respective growth sector.

We are not funding projects:

• that are not led by a woman founder or co-founder within a UK registered SME
• that are not a late stage start-up and does not have ambitions to grow a scalable business which will involve raising considerable investment in the next 12 to 24 months
• whose innovation is not aligned to the Advanced Manufacturing, Digital and Technologies or Life Sciences growth sectors
• that do not align with our definition of innovation; a solution that is either new to the market (not currently available) or a significant improvement over existing solutions in terms of performance, efficiency, accessibility, cost or impact
• that have a grant funding request that exceeds £75,000
• that attribute more than 50% of their costs to subcontractors
• that do not intend to use the full award package, for example, requesting just the funding and not the wider support package
• that have a negative impact on the environment or society
• that have a detrimental effect on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)
• that are unable to engage in a minimum of 10 hours of training and development support
• that are unable to commit to a minimum of four hours of role modelling activity to inspire future generations of women innovators
• that have previously received Innovate UK funding from Women in Innovation Awards, Young Innovators Next Steps follow on funding, or Innovate UK Award: Build

We cannot fund projects that:

• involve primary production in fishery and aquaculture
• involve primary production in agriculture
• are not allowed under de minimis regulation restrictions
• are not eligible to receive Minimal Financial Assistance
• are dependent on export performance, for example, giving an award to a baker on the condition that they export a certain quantity of bread to another country
• are dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example, if we give an award to a baker on the condition that they use 50% UK flour in their product

Your total project costs will be eligible for up to 100% funding subject to MFA subsidy rules. Your total grant funding request must not exceed £75,000.

If successful, the grant funding will be paid in three instalments:

• 50% of grant request within a month of project start date
• a further 40% in arrears, after approval of 50% claim and the evidence of spend made, submitted with the claim
• the remaining 10% of the grant up to 30 days after Innovate UK receive and approve the final claim

As an award holder you will also receive tailored business support, including but not limited to:

• training and development, with an expectation to engage in a minimum of 10 hours of dedicated support
• tailored business support and coaching provided by a dedicated expert, an Innovation Growth Specialist, from Innovate UK Business Growth
• press and media training day to amplify the comms opportunity for your business when the winners are announced
• bespoke investment support and connections to accelerate future growth
• access to networks and networking via Innovate UK Business Connect
• access to mentoring, with an expectation to engage in a minimum of one hour of mentoring, and consider providing mentorship for others in the future

Watch the recordings of the competition briefing and applicant support sessions to learn more about the scope for this competition, the application process and support available for applicants.

You can also register to attend our live Q&A support session on 8 January for answers to common questions. Please pre-submit questions using this form.

In the Women in Innovation Award 2024/25, 3.4% of applicants were successful. Following feedback from the community we have ensured the scope for this competition is more defined and we have included a suitability checker as an initial step in the application process. This is to ensure women founders and co-founders at the right business stage, in specific growth sectors, are applying. You must complete the suitability checker before starting an application.