Looking for funding for your business innovations?
We’ve rounded up the relevant public funding and competitions that have been announced and are open for applications in September. You can also find out more about public and private funding sources in our online directory.
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship Programme
This programme aims to help the next generation of researchers, tech entrepreneurs, business leaders and innovators get the funding and support they need to develop their potential through challenging innovation or research projects. Funding of up to £1.2m over a 4 year period is available. Deadline for outline proposal 8 October
Innovation Loans: September 2019 open competition
Innovate UK is offering up to £10m in loans to SMEs for game-changing late stage innovations with strong commercial potential that will significantly improve the UK economy. Find out more by attending a KTN briefing event throughout October/November in London (& webcast), Newport, Malvern, Tyne & Wear, Edinburgh, Belfast, Derry/Londonderry, Colchester and Cambridge. Closes 27 November
October expression of interest: ATI programme
The Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Programme provides funding to industrial research and capital projects to encourage innovation in UK civil aerospace. Opens 7 October, closes 23 October
UK Research and Innovation strength in places fund: wave 2 EoI
Consortia of UK businesses and research organisations can apply for ‘seed corn’ funding of up to £50k to develop full applications for wave 2 of the UKRI strength in places fund. Closes 9 October
China Global Business Innovation Programme – open to applications
This Innovate UK programme, delivered by the Enterprise Europe Network, offers up to 15 creative businesses working in immersive tech the chance to join a fully funded visit to China (30 Nov-7 Dec) to showcase their work and build international partnerships. Apply by 13 October
CELTIC-NEXT autumn 2019: innovative 5G infrastructure and applications
Up to £2m funding is available to encourage the development of 5G in an international collaborative environment by helping UK organisations to take part in the CELTIC programme. Join the London briefing event on 10 October in London. Opens 14 October, closes 11 December
Innovate UK Smart Grants
Apply for a share of up to £25m to deliver ambitious or disruptive R&D innovations that can make a significant impact on the UK economy. Closes 16 October
New Creatives North open call
Up to £20K commissioning opportunity. This call is for 16-30 year olds living in the north of England, who have an idea or concept brewing, or partially developed for an immersive audio and video project. New Creatives North is run by Tyneside Cinema, backed by BBC Arts and Arts Council England. Closes 27 October
Transforming UK Construction round 2: MMC, digital and whole-life performance
Apply for a share of up to £10m for collaborative R&D projects that improve productivity, quality and performance in UK construction. Closes 30 October
ISCF Healthy Ageing Investment Accelerator: round 1
Investors can apply to distribute grant funding from Innovate UK with private equity investment into UK businesses to deliver innovation in the healthy ageing market. Registration closes 30 October
XR4ALL: open call
XR4ALL, co-funded from Horizon 2020, will give financial support to XR research teams from start-us, SMEs, research institutions and academia to develop XR solutions. A total of €1.5m is available, with a maximum of €50k per selected project. Closes 31 October
Transforming UK Construction round 2: demonstrator projects
Apply for a share of up to £26m for practical, demonstrator projects in modern methods of construction, digital and whole-life asset performance. Closes 6 November
SBRI innovation in automated tunnel examination
Apply for a share of up to £1.5m for projects that develop and demonstrate innovation to automate the examination of tunnels. Closes 13 November
GCRF demonstrate impact in meeting sustainable development goals: phase 1
Apply for a share of up to £9.3m to demonstrate market-creating innovations in lower income countries and emerging economies. Closes 13 November
Transforming Construction Network Plus (N+) – round 2
Apply for a share of £600K for research projects that aim to address some of the biggest challenges the construction industry currently face. Closes 14 November
Enabling data access in accountancy, insurance and legal services: CR&D
Apply for a share of up to £3.5m to help speed up the responsible adoption of AI and data technologies & solutions in accountancy, insurance and law by enabling better access to data. Opens 14 October, closes 20 November
ISCF healthy ageing trailblazers: stage 1
A share of up to £2m is available to conduct research and develop a business plan for a healthy ageing trailblazer. Closes 27 November
SME support to evaluate innovative medical technologies: round 5
Apply for a share of £1.5m to support the evaluation of innovative medical devices, diagnostics and regulated digital health products. Closes 11 December
New Ideas Fund
Through BFI Lottery funding, Creative England is wanting to find untapped talent and fund new ideas in storytelling. The New Ideas Fund offers small seed funding to sole traders, start-ups and SMEs for their creative business ideas. It is designed to help with business costs, improving your offering and diversifying revenue streams. Read more
Epic MegaGrants
Epic Games has committed $100m to support games developers, entrepreneurs, media & entertainment creators, students, educators and tool developers doing amazing things with Unreal Engine or enhancing open-source capabilities for the 3D graphics communities. Find out more
Vision 2020 Crowdhelix Network
Challenged by finding potential collaboration partners for the European Union’s Horizon 2020 projects (and beyond)? Check out the Crowdhelix Network, an open innovation platform that forges links between researchers and innovating companies to plan and deliver pioneering projects. The platform enables you to upload your profile and post, and respond to, opportunities to collaborate. Read more