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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Sectors:
Investor Partnerships – ACT and Semiconductors
Opens: 01/09/2026
Closes: 14/10/2026
UK registered SMEs can apply for grant funding alongside private investment from selected investor partners.
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Advanced Manufacturing: Measurement and Sensing Pilot
Opens: 26/08/2026
Closes: 07/10/2026
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £1 million as part of a pilot. This is to support high potential businesses developing a technology, product or service in measurement, instrumentation or sensing for UK manufacturing.
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UK Space Agency: International Bilateral Fund – Call 3
Deadline 4 Nov: encouraged to send EoI by 14 Sep.
Up to £1.5m per project to build international partnerships working on mutual space priorities.
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ADOPT Facilitator Support Grant: Round 11
Closing Soon
Opens: 20/08/2026
Closes: 30/09/2026
Farming, growing or forestry businesses based in England can apply for a grant of £2,500, to engage an external Project Facilitator to support the development of a Full ADOPT Grant application.
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Advancing innovation in accelerated cancer diagnosis
Opens: 01/09/2026
Closes: 28/10/2026
Up to £25.4 million funding available to support the clinical validation and evaluation of early cancer diagnostic technologies and devices.
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Critical Minerals Programme: Critical Minerals Accelerator
Closing Soon
Opens: 05/08/2026
Closes: 30/09/2026
Funding to support UK-based projects that strengthen critical mineral supply chains and develop innovative capabilities across the critical minerals sector.
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BBSRC ICURe Explore January 2027
Opens: 01/09/2026
Closes: 20/11/2026
BBSRC ICURe Explore provides financial support of up to £35,000, including a maximum of £20,000 for the Entrepreneurial Lead’s salary, as well as funding for assumption testing and customer discovery activities.
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ARIA: Nature Inspired Computation - Olfactory Perception and Open Olfactory Resource
Closing Soon
Opens: 12/08/2026
Closes: 30/09/2026
ARIA seeks to build the foundations for general-purpose olfactory perception – matching or exceeding biological systems in programme challenges.
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Full ADOPT Grant: Round 9
Opens: 14/08/2026
Closes: 07/10/2026
Farming, growing or forestry businesses can apply for a share of up to £5 million for on-farm trial and demonstration projects, to improve adoption of new ideas or solutions in the agricultural sector.
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Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP): 2026 – 2027 Round 3
Opens: 13/08/2026
Closes: 14/10/2026
UK registered academic institutions, RTOs or Catapults, working with businesses, can apply for a share of up to £12.5m to fund innovation projects.
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EIT Culture & Creativity: Shape and Scale - financial support for Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries
Opens: 10/08/2026
Closes: 12/10/2026
Cultural and creative startups and scaleups that are looking to accelerate growth, attract investment, and expand internationally, are invited to apply for financial support under the Shape Acceleration Programme and Scale Post-Acceleration Programme.
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DRIVE35 Scale-up Fund Drawdown 5
Opens: 10/08/2026
Closes: 04/11/2026
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £150 million to create scale up manufacturing facilities for zero emission vehicle technologies.
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UK-Singapore CR&D 2026
Opens: 24/08/2026
Closes: 16/12/2026
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £3 million for the purpose of developing innovative proposals with Singapore. You must collaborate with at least one Singapore business applying under the equivalent Enterprise Singapore programme.
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Ultra long duration energy storage project development studies
Closing Soon
Opens: 03/08/2026
Closes: 30/09/2026
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £3 million for project development studies to support the development of ultra long duration batteries and battery energy storage demonstrators in the UK.
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Farming Futures R&D fund: Automation and Robotics Round 2
Closing Soon
Opens: 03/08/2026
Closes: 30/09/2026
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £20 million to develop innovative solutions for automation and robotics in agriculture, horticulture and forestry.
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European Space Agency: Environmental Crimes
Opens: 19/10/2026
Closes: 25/06/2027
This opportunity supports the development of space-based applications and services targeting environmental crimes.
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EPSRC Healthcare Technologies ICURe Engage November 2026
Opens: 10/07/2026
Closes: 09/10/2026
EPSRC Healthcare Technologies ICURe Engage is a four-week, part-time programme which helps healthcare technologies researchers identify who could benefit from their research and explore the benefits of entrepreneurship.
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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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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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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.