UK-Switzerland CR&D Round 2

To be a UK lead your organisation must:

• be a UK registered business of any size
• be or involve at least one grant claiming UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
• collaborate with at least one Swiss implementation partner applying to the Innosuisse programme, which must be a separate legal entity, not linked to the UK partners
• collaborate with at least one research institute from either the UK or Switzerland

To collaborate with the lead and claim grant funding from Innovate UK, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

An eligible UK business can lead on one application and collaborate on two further applications.

If a business (or other organisation) is not leading any application, it can collaborate in up to three applications.

Your UK project must:

• have a maximum grant funding request of £450,000
• start on 1 November 2024
• end by 31 October 2027
• last between 18 and 36 months
• include at least one business entity from each country (UK and Switzerland) and one research institute from either the UK or Switzerland in your consortium

Note: If the Swiss applicant is an individual start-up (pre-market and less than 50 full time equivalent employees) the research institute requirement is waived.

UK project partners must carry out the majority of their project work in the UK and intend to exploit the results from or in the UK.

Your project must demonstrate a balanced technological contribution by the participants from both countries and must be equally significant to all participants.

Note: eligibility on the Swiss counterpart competition states that in a project with two cooperating partners, no partner may contribute more than 70% of the total person months to the project. Person months is the metric for the time in months devoted by staff to a project.

In a project with more than two cooperating partners, no partner may contribute more than 50% of total person months. All research organisations involved in the consortium may altogether not contribute more than 50% of the total person months.

Your application must be in line with the criteria of Innovate UK and Innosuisse.

Applications identified as not eligible by either Innovate UK or Innosuisse will not be sent for assessment.

Innovate UK will support UK businesses to collaborate successfully with Swiss counterparts and build their global growth prospects.

Your collaborative R&D proposal must demonstrate:

• a clear game-changing or disruptive innovative idea leading to new products, processes or services
• a strong and deliverable business proposal within your application that addresses and documents market potential and needs
• sound, practical financial plans and timelines
• good value for money and how you intend to deliver significant economic impact, return on investment (ROI) and growth through commercialisation within two to three years of project completion
• clear potential to significantly benefit the UK economy or national productivity
• the benefit of participants from the countries working together and how this adds value
• a clear definition of where intellectual property (IP) can be used and shared between the participants and countries
• a clear route to market within two to three years of project completion

Proposals can come from any area of technology and we particularly encourage applications in, but not limited to, the following technologies:

• life sciences
• AI
• semiconductor applications
• quantum

Innovate UK KTN held an online briefing on Monday 29 January: click here to watch the recording.

Click here to explore the partner matching platform.

If you would like help to find a project partner, contact Innovate UK KTN’s Global team.