Any business can apply for a share of £15m to support cutting-edge R&D projects in any technology area.

Innovate UK has up to £15m to invest in innovative research and development projects in an open competition targeted at a whole range of technology, engineering and industrial areas.

Proposals can be drawn from any area including the 4 key sectors of manufacturing and materials; emerging and enabling technologies; health and life sciences; and infrastructure systems.

Find out more about applying for an innovation award

Projects must demonstrate:

• innovation leading to new products, processes or services
• a clear and anticipated growth impact leading to a significant return on investment

Competition information

• the competition opens on 6 June 2016 and the deadline for registration is at noon on 31 August 2016
• companies of any size can enter and they can work individually or collaboratively
• projects can focus on market research, technical feasibility , industrial research or experimental development
• we expect projects to range in size from total costs of £25,000 up to £1m and to last between 6 and 36 months
• the level of support a business could receive ranges between 25% and 100% and depends on the type of project and size of the company
• a briefing webinar for potential applicants takes place on 14 June 2016

Find out more about this competition and apply

This competition is the first of two annual open competitions under Innovate UK’s new simplified process for funding competitions. The second one will open in December.