Funding Competition: UK-Singapore Collaborative R&D 2024

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £5 million in innovation projects in partnership with Enterprise Singapore. This competition has an open scope.

UK registered organisations must collaborate with at least one Singapore non-linked registered business applying under the equivalent Enterprise Singapore programme.

UK registered organisations must apply through the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) portal to Innovate UK and will be funded by Innovate UK. Your Singapore partner will not receive any funding from Innovate UK.

Singapore partners must apply to and will be funded by Enterprise Singapore. The aim of this competition is to fund business led collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects focused on industrial research.

They would particularly welcome applications from the following sectors:

• Advanced manufacturing and materials
• Agrifood tech
• Mobility and transport
• Cybersecurity
• Health and life sciences

Your project 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
• considerable potential to significantly benefit the UK economy or national productivity
• the benefits 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 two to three years of project completion

Project Size

• UK applicants can apply for a maximum grant of up to £750,000 for a project.

Projects they will not fund

They are not funding projects that:

• work on military applications
• do not meet Innovate UK’s eligibility criteria
• do not submit all mandatory documentation
• request grant of more than £750,000 from Innovate UK
• do not have an eligible Singapore partner

Who can apply?

• Your project
  • For UK organisations your project must:
    • have a maximum grant funding request of £750,000
    • last between 24 and 36 months
    • start by 1 April 2025
    • end by 31 March 2028
  • 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.
  • The consortium must include at least one business registered in Singapore.
  • All businesses in a consortium must be separate and non-linked entities. This is to ensure that projects encourage genuine international collaboration, not internal company research.
• UK lead applicant
  • To start an application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS), your organisation must:
    • be a UK registered business of any size
    • partner with a Singapore registered business, which must be a separate non-linked entity to the UK project partners
• 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)
  • Only UK registered partners must be listed in the Project Partner section of your application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS). Your Singapore partner will not receive any of this UK competition funding. Singapore partners will be funded by the Enterprise Singapore programme following a parallel application.
• International partners
  • Singapore partners must not be invited into Innovate UK’s application on the Innovation Funding Service.
  • Singapore partners will be funded by Enterprise Singapore following a parallel application.
• Subcontractors
  • Subcontractors are allowed in this competition, but they are limited to no more than 20% of the total eligible costs of the UK participation.
  • Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.
  • All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.

For more information, visit Innovate UK.