Deadline: 31 January 2024
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £2 million to develop innovative proposals in partnership with Japan and other participating Eureka members.
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) Japan, and other participating Eureka members to invest up to £2 million in innovation projects.
This competition is for UK businesses that want to apply to the Eureka Globalstars Japan call. The aim of this competition is to fund business led, collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects focused on industrial research. This competition will be for innovative proposals developed between the UK, Japan and the other participating Eureka members. Innovate UK will be funding the UK partners only.
Your project must have high market potential and develop at least one of the following:
- innovative products
- technology-based applications
- technology-based services
Projects must be co-ordinated by a lead partner from the UK and a lead partner from Japan as a minimum requirement. Any additional partners from each Eureka member should also nominate a lead from that country.
The EUREKA members confirmed as participating in this competition are:
- Canada
- Czech Republic
- France
- Netherlands
- Singapore
- Spain
Project Size
- UK applicants can apply for a maximum grant request of up to £600,000 for each project.
Projects they will not fund
- They will not fund projects that:
- are in the nuclear or pharmaceutical sector
- do not include at least one UK registered SME and one eligible Japanese registered business as a minimum
- do not meet Innovate UK’s eligibility criteria
- do not submit all mandatory documentation
- work on non-civilian technologies
- request grants of more than £600,000 from Innovate UK
- 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
- Your project
- Your UK project must:
- start by 1 August 2024
- end by 31 July 2028
- last between 12 and 48 months
- Please note: Canada, Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands and Spain can only fund projects with a duration of up to 36 months. Any projects which include a collaboration with these countries will only be able to have a project duration of up to 36 months.
- The start date and funded period depends on the national funding procedures of the Eureka members involved in the selected projects. Projects must be collaborative.
- Your UK project must:
- Overall Eureka project team
- The organisations from participating Eureka members must meet the funding and eligibility conditions of their respective national funding bodies.
- Each partner must carry out the majority of their funded work within the Eureka member from which they receive funding, for example the UK for Innovate UK funding.
- Under current restrictions Innovate UK will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian or Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian or Belarusian source.
- Eureka terminology and roles
- The terminology differs between Eureka and Innovate UK. In the Innovate UK application the ‘project lead’ is responsible for the entire project but Eureka uses the term ‘main participant’. For partners in the collaboration Eureka uses ‘other participants’.
- Even if the project lead is from a participating Eureka member other than the UK, the UK registered partners can still claim funding from Innovate UK. These collaborations must include at least one UK registered SME.
- UK Lead organisation
- To lead a UK project your organisation must:
- be a UK registered business of any size
- be or involve at least one grant claiming UK registered SME
- partner with a Japanese registered business, which must be a separate non-linked entity to the UK project partner
- You have the option to partner with other participating Eureka members in addition to Japan.
- To lead a UK project your organisation must:
- UK Project team
- 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)
- UK research organisations cannot lead or work alone. They must be able to show how they will exploit the results of the project to grow the wider sector in the UK.
- Each UK partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) by the lead to collaborate on a project.
- To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:
- Subcontractors
- Subcontractors are allowed in this competition but they must not account for more than 20% of the UK partners’ total eligible costs. Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK. Where subcontractors are non-UK based, you must justify why you are unable to use a UK alternative.
- All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.
For more information, visit Innovate UK.