UK – Germany Bilateral: Collaborative R&D Round 3

Deadline: 3 June 2024

UK registered organisations, collaborating with at least one German SME applying under the equivalent German ZIM programme, can apply for a share of up to £4 million for collaborative projects resulting in innovative solutions in emerging technologies.

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with The Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz (BMWK), (The Federal Ministry For Economic Affairs And Climate Action), to investing in innovation projects.

The aim of this competition is to enhance UK and German collaborations and capabilities in the emerging fields of technology in the society. This is to develop and deliver new innovations and applications of the technologies across a broad range of sectors.

They want to fund a variety of projects across a range of sectors and technology areas. They particularly encourage applications from the following emerging technology areas:

Quantum
AI
Semiconductor Applications
Engineering Biology
Future Telecommunications
Green Technologies (including hydrogen and battery technologies)

Project Size

Your project’s maximum grant funding request must not exceed £500,000.

Projects they will not fund

They are not funding projects that are:
- do not have a genuine collaboration with a German SME who has been successful in the corresponding German ZIM programme
- do not meet Innovate UK’s eligibility criteria
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

Who can apply?

Your project
- Your project must:
  - last between 18 and 36 months
  - carry out the majority of its project work in the UK
  - intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
  - start on 1 December 2024
  - end by 30 November 2027
- Projects must always start on the first of the month and this must be stated within your application. Your project start date will be reflected in your grant offer letter if you are successful.
- Under current restrictions, this competition 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.
Lead organisation
- To lead a project your organisation must:
  - be a UK registered business of any size
  - be or involve at least one UK micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
  - collaborate with at least one German registered SME applying to the German ZIM programme, which must be a separate legal entity, not linked to the UK partners
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)
- Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) by the lead to collaborate on a project.
Non-funded partners
- Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example non-UK businesses. Their costs will count towards the total project costs.
Subcontractors
- Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.
- Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK or Germany and you must select them through your usual procurement process.
- You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use suppliers from the UK or Germany.
- You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK or German contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.
- All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.
Number of applications
- A business can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in two further applications.