Apply Now: Canada-UK Semiconductors

Deadline: 9 July 2025

UK registered organisations can apply for collaboration with Canadian SMEs on joint Semiconductors projects.

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) to invest in innovation projects.

Aims

The aim of this competition is to stimulate the development of innovative semiconductor technologies.

Themes

Your project can focus on one or more of the following application areas:
- high-voltage systems, including utilities, industry and public power systems
- sustainable technologies, including electric vehicles, batteries, solar, wind
- communications, including Wi-Fi, cellular 5G and 6G, satellite
- sensors
- data centres
Application areas are not limited to the above, this is not an exhaustive list.

Research Categories

They will fund feasibility projects, industrial research projects and experimental development projects, as defined in the guidance on categories of research.

Funding Information

At least £1 million has been allocated to fund UK participants in innovation projects for this competition. Funding will be in the form of a grant.
UK partners total grant funding request can be up to £500,000 per project.
Eligible Canadian SMEs may receive from NRC IRAP up to 50% reimbursement of eligible project costs up to a maximum total funding amount of CA$500,000.

Ineligible Projects

They are not funding projects that are:
- fundamental research
They cannot fund projects that are:
- dependent on export performance, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country
- dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product

Eligibility Criteria

Canada specific rules
- To be eligible for this competition, Canadian funding applicants must first register and submit an Expression of Interest (EoI) form.
- UK participants must be part of an application submitted to Innovate UK. Canadian partners must submit a parallel application to NRC IRAP.
Your project
- Your project must:
  - last between 12 and 24 months not start before 1 April 2026
  - end by 31 March 2028
- The majority of the project work must be undertaken in the UK and Canada.
- The consortium must include at least one Canadian SME in Canada that is a separate legal entity and 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.
- 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.
Roles and terminology
- There must be a ‘project lead’ and this can be either an eligible UK or Canadian organisation. The project lead is responsible for managing the entire project.
- The ‘lead applicant’, is the organisation that starts the application on the Innovation Funding Service. This must be a UK organisation.
- Your collaboration must involve at least one grant claiming UK registered business and one eligible Canadian incorporated, profit orientated SME.
UK lead organization
- To start an application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS), your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.
- You must:
  - collaborate with at least one Canadian registered SME, which must be a separate legal entity, not linked to the UK partners
- Canadian organisations can be a project lead but cannot start an application on IFS.
- Canadian partners must not be invited onto IFS. Their involvement in the project is listed as part of your answers to the questions. If you include a grant claiming Canadian partner in your IFS application you will be made ineligible and your application will not be sent for assessment.
UK Project team
- To collaborate with the lead, 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)
- To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and at least one other organisation must:
  - apply for funding from their respective funding organisations
  - include rationale for the collaboration and describe the structure in your application
  - ensure any one partner does not account for more than 70% of the total eligible costs