Deadline: 6 December 2024
Innovate UK is inviting applications from UK registered organisations to enhance UK and German collaborations in emerging fields of technology.
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 invest up to £2 million 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.
Focus Areas
- 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
Funding Information
- Up to £2 million from Innovate UK, and up to 2 million euros from The Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz (BMWK), (The Federal Ministry For Economic Affairs And Climate Action), has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. Funding will be in the form of a grant.
- The UK partners grant funding request can be up to £500,000 per project.
Project Requirement
- Your project must demonstrate:
- a clear game-changing or disruptive innovative idea leading to new products, processes or services
- a strong and deliverable business proposal within your application that addresses and documents, market potential and needs
- sound, practical financial plans and timelines
- good value for money
- how you intend to deliver significant economic impact, return on investment (ROI) and growth through commercialisation, within 2 to 3 years of project completion
- clear 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
Ineligible Projects
- They are not funding projects that:
- 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:
- have a maximum grant funding request of £500,000
- 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 by 1 August 2025
- end by 31 July 2028
- 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.
- The consortium must include at least one SME registered in Germany that is a separate legal entity and not linked to the UK partners. This is to ensure 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 costs on the UK application.
- Please note that the German ZIM application requires a breakdown of contribution in person months rather than costs.
- Your proposal must demonstrate a clear intention to commercially exploit the results of the project domestically or globally.
- Your project must:
- Roles and terminology
- There must be a ‘project lead’ and this can be either an eligible UK or German 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.
- UK lead applicant
- To start an application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS), your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.
- You must:
- be or involve at least one grant claiming 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
- 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 collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:
- Non-funded partners
- Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding. Their eligible costs will count towards the total eligible project costs.
- German partners
- German partners do not need to be invited into Innovate UK’s application on the Innovation Funding Service.
- German partners will be funded by AiF in Germany, on behalf of BMWK, following a successful 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.
- You can use subcontractors from other countries but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use suppliers from the countries providing grant funding for the project.
- 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. They will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use a subcontractor from a third country.
- All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs.
- Number of applications
- A UK registered business, academic institution, research and technology organisation (RTO), charity, not for profit or public sector organisation can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in a further 2 applications.
- Sanctions
- This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions.
For more information, visit Gov.UK.