To lead a collaborative project you must:

• be a UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
• collaborate with at least one Germany registered SME applying to the German ZIM programme, which must be a separate legal entity, not linked to the UK partners

This is to ensure that projects encourage genuine international collaboration, not internal company research. Linked companies are considered a single entity under the parent company.

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

Only UK registered partners must be listed in the Project Partner section of your application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS). Your German partner will not receive any of this UK competition funding. German partners will be funded by the German ZIM programme following a parallel application.

Your project must:

• have a grant funding request of between £100,000 and £350,000 (this can cover up to 70% of your project costs, depending on business size)
• last between 12 and 24 months
• start on 1 August 2027
• end by 31 June 2029

The majority of the project work must be undertaken in the UK and Germany. 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, and spend most of the funding within the UK.

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

No one country or project partner can represent more than 70% of the total project cost.

Your proposal must demonstrate a clear intention to commercially exploit the results of the project domestically or globally.

The aim of this competition is to fund business-led collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects focused on industrial research.

Your project must focus on one of the following sectors

• Clean Energy
• Life Sciences
• Engineering Biology

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 plan that addresses and documents market potential and needs
• sound, practical financial plans and timelines
• good value for money, which will always be a consideration in Innovate UK funding decisions
• a clear, evidence based plan to deliver significant economic impact, return on investment (ROI) and growth through commercialisation, as soon as possible after project completion
• clear, considerable 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 2 to 3 years of project completion

Innovate UK will hold an online briefing event on Monday 12 October at 1pm: click here for the joining link. A recording and slides will be available afterwards.

If you would like help to find a collaboration partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Global, Energy, Health or Biotechnology teams.