Investor Partnerships - National Materials Innovation Programme 1

Eligibility summary: Your project Who can apply Your project The eligibility criteria will depend on your research category . For feasibility studies projects: your total project costs must be between £50,000 and £300,000 the project duration must be between 6 and 12 months For industrial research projects: your total project costs must be between £100,000 and £1 million the project duration must be between 6 and 24 months For experimental development projects: your total project costs must be between £250,000 and £2 million the project duration must be between 12 and 24 months Projects must always start on the first of the month, even if this is a non-working day. You must not start your project until your Grant Offer Letter has been approved by Innovate UK. Any delays within Project Setup may mean we need to delay your project start date. You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs . If your project’s total eligible costs or grant funding request or duration falls outside of our eligibility criteria, you must provide justification by email to support@iuk.ukri.org at least 10 working days before the competition closes. We will then decide whether to approve your request. If your project does not meet our criteria and you have not requested justification approval, your application will be made ineligible and it will not be sent for assessment. Your organisation This competition is open to single applicants only. To apply your organisation must: be a UK registered micro, small or medium sized business (SME) carry out its project work in the UK intend to exploit the results from or in the UK be invited to apply by your investor partner have discussed and agreed your proposal with your investor partner before submitting your application More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules . Subcontractors Subcontractors are allowed in this competition. Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK 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 cannot use subcontractors from the UK. You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK 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 An SME can only submit one application into this round of the competition. 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 example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups . Use of animals in research and innovation Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance. Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation . Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process. This information will be reviewed before an award is made. Previous applications You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition. If you have previously submitted an application that reached our assessment stage, you can re-apply once more with the same proposal. If there are minor differences to the proposal, but it is judged by us to be ‘not materially different’, the same rule applies. We will not award you funding if you have: failed to exploit a previously funded project an overdue independent accountant’s report failed to comply with grant terms and conditions Innovate UK may withhold a grant payment at any time if you have any outstanding sums due to us in relation to other projects. Subsidy control (and State aid where applicable) This competition provides funding in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Further information about the Subsidy requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022 . Innovate UK is unable to award organisations that are considered to be in financial difficulty. We will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage. EU State aid rules now only apply in limited circumstances. See the Windsor Framework to check if these rules apply to your organisation. In the ‘Project details’ section of your application you will be asked questions to indicate if State Aid or Subsidy applies to your organisation. Further Information If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 or the State aid rules, you should take independent legal advice. We are unable to advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations. You must not do anything which could cause a breach of Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom. This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to, or distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries. Funding Up to £5 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications. Funding will be in the form of a grant. You will only receive Innovate UK grant funding if you also secure aligned investment at or above the minimum required for the relevant research level. Your investor partner must also submit a 'Declared Minimum Aligned Investment', which you must confirm with your investor partner. Before any funding decision, we will ask the investor partner to confirm the declared minimum aligned investment, If the declared minimum aligned investment is higher than the minimum required for the relevant research level, it will be treated as greater leverage and will strengthen our assessment of additionality unless there is a strong justification not to. However, at the same time, the confirmed declared minimum aligned investment becomes the new minimum aligned investment. Your project cannot start until this amount has been secured. Innovate UK will decide which projects are eligible and in scope to receive grant funding. The decision will be based on three factors: Innovation: Assessed by independent assessors based on your application. Additionality: Based on the impact of the grant in accelerating your innovation and leveraging the aligned investment. Assessed by the Investor Partnerships Team based on information provided by your named investor partner. Traction: Based on the likelihood of the investment completing within a reasonable timeframe. Assessed by the Investor Partnerships Team based on information provided by your named investor partner. To be successful in this competition, you must score strongly across all three factors. We will ask your confirmed investor partner to provide an update on the progress of your investment prior to making our funding decision. Our assessment of the additionality and traction will be based on this update. It is therefore important that you liaise with your investor partner, and that their response represents your understanding of the investment position at that time. If you are successful, you will receive grant funding to cover a proportion of the costs of your project. The project will only be allowed to commence once the agreed aligned investment has been confirmed. Your business must have sufficient capital resources, including through investment from the investor partner and the grant funding, to enable you to meet all your project’s eligible costs. All recipients must act commercially, and your funding request must not exceed the limits specified. Feasibility studies and industrial research projects For feasibility studies and industrial research projects, Innovate UK will fund: up to 70% of eligible project costs for micro or small organisations up to 60% for medium sized organisations The absolute minimum aligned investment led by the investor partner must always be at least equal to the grant funding. Experimental development projects For experimental development projects Innovate UK will fund: up to 45% of eligible project costs for micro or small organisations up to 35% for medium sized organisations The absolute minimum aligned investment led by the investor partner must always be at least twice as much as the grant funding. Innovate UK may revoke our decision to provide funding without notice if government commitment for this initiative is withdrawn.