Innovation funding opportunities
Looking for funding and support to develop your idea? At Innovate UK Business Connect, we connect businesses, researchers and innovators with the right opportunities they need to grow.
Explore opportunities for funding and expert guidance, to help turn your innovation into a commercial success.
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KAVA Call 14 – Upscaling: Raw Materials & Advanced Materials
Opens: 01/07/2026
Closes: 16/11/2026
Receive funding for projects in mining, materials, and recycling from €500,000 up to €2.5+ million.
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EIT Health Innovation Uptake Call 2026
Opens: 24/06/2026
Closes: 16/09/2026
EIT Health is calling for mature digital, data-driven and AI-powered healthcare solutions ready to scale across European markets: up to €650k per project.
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EIT: Transformative Healthcare Instrument 2026
Opens: 24/06/2026
Closes: 16/09/2026
EIT Health is offering €300,000 and €500,000 in funding per project to support high-potential European startups developing innovative solutions in biotech, medtech, digital health, AI, and biomarkers or diagnostics.
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Deep Tech Co-Creation Accelerator 2026-2027
Opens: 02/07/2026
Closes: 08/09/2026
The Co-Creation Accelerator pairs early-stage ventures with industry partners to validate technology, with grants of up to €250,000.
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IHI (Innovative Health Initiative) 13th Call for Proposals
Short proposal submission deadline: 8 Oct 2026
Topics on accelerating healthcare innovation through networks, reducing animal use in drug safety studies, and decoding the immuno-science of diseases affected by ageing and the immune system.
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UK Defence Innovation - Space to Innovate: Delta Drop
Opens: 02/07/2026
Closes: 28/07/2026
Dstl and the UK Space Agency seek innovations to improve future space capabilities for defence and security.
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European Space Agency: The Arctic Region: Safety, Navigation and Operations
Opens: 05/09/2026
Closes: 05/11/2026
Applications are invited on space-enabled solutions targeting safe maritime navigation and operations in the Arctic where the melting ice is not only resulting in increased traffic but also posing significant hazards to vessels.
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European Space Agency: Road and Traffic Safety
Opens: 15/07/2026
Closes: 27/11/2026
This opportunity offers funding for teams who would like to develop sustainable space-based services and applications that address challenges related to the Road and Traffic Safety sector.
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BBSRC Institutes ICURe Discover - October 2026
Opens: 01/07/2026
Closes: 18/09/2026
BBSRC Institutes ICURe Discover is a part-time online market discovery programme exclusively for research teams at BBSRC's eight strategically supported institutes, with up to £2,500 support for market discovery activities.
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Global Business Innovation Programme: Createch SLUSH 2026 - Finland
Opens: 06/07/2026
Closes: 30/07/2026
Innovate UK is inviting ambitious innovative companies to participate in its Global Business Innovation Programme (GBIP), with a visit to the SLUSH gathering in Helsinki included.
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ARIA: Trust Everything, Everywhere - opportunity seeds
Opens: 22/06/2026
Closes: 27/07/2026
ARIA (the UK's Advanced Research & Innovation Agency) are seeking high-potential proposals to build a new cyber-physical trust infrastructure, with funding available up to £500,000 each.
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HMGCC Co-Creation Challenge: Cooling in high power battlefield comms
Opens: 06/07/2026
Closes: 06/08/2026
HMGCC is inviting applications to help stop high-bandwidth radios from emitting too much heat.
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Women TechEU 2026-27
Opens: 01/06/2026
Closes: 13/07/2027
Women TechEU 2 EIC is an EU-funded project designed to support women-led early-stage deep tech startups from Europe. Each startup can receive €75,000 in funding.
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Scaling performance of quantum computing hardware: CR&D
Opens: 27/06/2026
Closes: 18/09/2026
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £33 million to develop device level hardware and associated software to meet the scale, programmability, and runtime performance needs of universal fault tolerant quantum computers.
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DRIVE35 Innovation Fund: Collaborate 3
Opens: 26/06/2026
Closes: 16/09/2026
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £20 million for late stage collaborative research and development projects. Projects will support the UK’s transition to zero emission vehicles and a pathway to a net zero automotive industry.
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Global Incubator Programme - Video Gaming, Canada (Montreal)
Opens: 01/07/2026
Closes: 14/08/2026
Seeking up to 8 high potential video gaming companies to join a Global Incubator Programme in partnership with La Piscine, a global innovation centre for the creative industries sector located in Montreal, Quebec.
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UK Space Agency: Commercial Climate Services Call 4
Send intent to submit by 31 July, full submission required by 7 August
Grants of up to £85k per project are now available to support the development of commercial UK-based services using satellite Earth Observation data.
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Clean Transport Accelerator: Maritime 2026
Opens: 16/06/2026
Closes: 28/07/2026
The Clean Transport Accelerator: Maritime is a six-month programme supporting SMEs developing innovative solutions for maritime decarbonisation. Up to six TRL 5–8 companies will receive tailored commercial support and apply for up to £30k to run a four‑month trial with partners.
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Global Business Innovation Programme: Advanced Connectivity Technologies, India
Opens: 02/07/2026
Closes: 10/08/2026
The UK Government is inviting advanced connectivity companies to explore new partnerships and business opportunities in India, one of the world’s largest and fastest growing telecoms markets.
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Next Wave: Breakthrough Wave 1
Opens: 23/06/2026
Closes: 11/08/2026
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £10m for industrial research projects to explore industrial strategy aligned Createch innovation.
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DRIVE35: Scale Up Fund
There is no submission deadline
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £150 million, to create scale up manufacturing facilities for zero emission vehicle technologies.