New Innovators in Marine and Maritime, Great South West

To lead a project your organisation must be a UK registered micro or small business.

If your business has been funded directly by Innovate UK previously, you are not eligible to apply for this competition. If however you have received funding directly from Innovate UK Business Growth (previously Innovate UK EDGE) or a Catapult scheme, you are still eligible to apply for this competition.

Businesses with directors who have previously received a grant or Innovation Loan from Innovate UK as part of a different company, are eligible to apply but will be considered on a case by case basis.

A business with a previous award to a parent or subsidiary would also be eligible to apply, but the parent company must be classified as a micro or small business. Applications will be considered on a case by case basis.

If you are unsure, contact our customer support team by email at least 10 working days before the submission deadline.

An eligible UK business can submit one application only. We will only award grant funding to one project per business.

We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.

You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance.

We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline.

You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

Your project must:

• have total project costs and grant funding request of between £25,000 and £50,000
• have total project costs that equal your grant funding request
• start from 1 October 2025
• end by 31 May 2026
• last between 3 and 6 months
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the project outcomes from the UK for domestic or global benefit

The aim of this competition is to provide a package of targeted support to enable ambitious UK registered micro and small businesses to develop affordable, adoptable and investable innovations in the marine and maritime cluster in the Great South West.

Your project must grow your innovation activities in the marine and maritime cluster in the Great South West, both during and after your project.

This could be demonstrated by:

• your local innovation activities during and after your project
• the value that your innovation activities create in the cluster
• your engagement with other innovation active organisations in the cluster, such as with Maritime UK South West, this Launchpad’s cluster management organisation

For this competition, the Great South West consists of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Devon, Somerset and Dorset.

Your application may be considered ineligible if you do not describe clearly how your main project activities and work packages meet the scope of this competition.

This includes the main project activities of any subcontractors. If you do not describe clearly how your activities in the cluster will continue after your project, then you are unlikely to be offered funding in this competition.

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

• marine autonomy
• clean maritime
• digital ocean technologies

In your application, you must demonstrate that you:

• have an innovative idea
• need public funding
• have the capability to deliver the project

We are particularly interested in how your proposal will help you:

• develop both your ambitious idea and your business
• create a new revenue stream, for example new products, services or IP
• evidence and enable your market, funding and commercialisation plans
• show what is feasible, in helping you decide whether to pursue your idea further
• catalyse further innovation on your path to commercial success
• respond to changing market conditions

Your project can focus on one or more of the following theme areas:

Monitoring and autonomy

Developing or using disruptive technologies to replace traditional ship-based alternatives for equipment inspection and other marine monitoring operations and enhance safety of the seas, such as in the offshore renewable energy industry.

Clean maritime

Transitioning to alternative fuel powered vessels using energy from low or zero emission sources or highly efficient batteries, also integrating ports into a decarbonised energy network and supplying the fuels of the future.

Digital ocean technology

Advancing sensor and communication technology and their connectedness and interoperability, to enhance our understanding of the ocean and the impacts from offshore operations, including in aquaculture and the emerging ocean economy.

This list is not exhaustive. Where you can show your proposal fits within the scope of this competition you can focus on other themes.

An online briefing was held on 2 June: the recording will be available soon.

There will also be an online Q&A for potential applicants at 10am on Tuesday 10 June: click here for the joining link.

If you would like help in finding a subcontractor or have queries about other aspects of the competition, contact Peter Holland, Maritime KTM at Innovate UK Business Connect.