Canada-UK Semiconductors

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) to invest at least £1 million in innovation projects.

The aim of this competition is to stimulate the development of innovative semiconductor technologies.

This call for proposals is open to organisations from Canada and the UK who wish to form project consortia to perform collaborative projects focused on developing innovative products, processes, or technology-based services in Semiconductors.

Only those with an approved Canadian EoI are eligible to submit an application.

UK registered businesses must collaborate with at least one Canadian non-linked registered business applying under the equivalent NRC IRAP programme.

UK registered organisations must apply through the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) portal to Innovate UK. Your Canadian partner will be funded by NRC IRAP and will not receive any funding from Innovate UK. The project must be independently selected by both Innovate UK and NRC IRAP to be awarded funding.

To be eligible for this competition, Canadian funding applicants must first register and submit an Expression of Interest (EoI) form. The registration deadline for the Canadian SME is 09 July 2025 and EoI submission deadline for the Canadian SME is 23 July 2025. Canadian funding applicants who do not complete an EoI and have not been invited to proceed will not be eligible for funding through this competition.

If you want help to find a project partner, please visit the LINK networking platform and create an online profile; you can also contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Global Alliance or Electronics teams.

Who can apply

Your collaboration must involve at least one grant claiming UK registered business and one eligible Canadian incorporated, profit oriented SME, which must be a separate legal entity, not linked to the UK partners.

To collaborate with the lead from within the UK, 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)

Only UK registered partners must be listed in the Project Partner section of your application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS)

A UK business can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in one further application.

A UK business that is not leading an application can collaborate on a maximum of two applications.

A Canadian SME may only participate in one application either as a lead or collaborator.

UK Academic institutions or RTOs can collaborate in up to three applications.

Your project must:

• have a total grant funding request of no greater than £500,000 allocated to UK organisations
• have a total grant funding request for Canadian partners of no greater than CA$500,000
• last between 12 and 24 months
• not start before 1 April 2026
• end by 31 March 2028

The majority of the project work must be undertaken in the UK and Canada.

• The aim of this competition is to stimulate the development of innovative semiconductor technologies.

  This call for proposals is open to organisations from Canada and the UK who wish to form project consortia to perform collaborative projects focused on developing innovative products, processes, or technology-based services in semiconductors.

  We want to fund a variety of projects across the semiconductors sector, and technologies of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • compound, Wide Band Gap semiconductors
  • semiconductor design, intellectual property (IP)
  • advanced packaging
  • heterogeneous, hybrid integration
  • photonics, including silicon photonics
  • emerging materials
  • prototyping and low volume piloting
  • processing or processes
  • simulation tools

  Applications are open to all UK businesses focusing on the above technology areas.

An online briefing will be held on Wednesday 21 May at 3:30pm UK time: click here to register for a place.  Briefing recording and slides will be available to download after the briefing event.

If you want help to find a project partner, please visit the LINK networking platform and create an online profile.

Participants’ profiles will be visible to all who are interested in this collaboration opportunity. If you want help to find a project partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect.