UK registered SMEs can apply for grant funding for projects that grow their innovation activities in the digital technologies cluster in North East England, alongside private investment from selected investor partners.
Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with North East Combined Authority to invest up to £1.7 million in innovation projects.
The projects will be led by ambitious UK registered micro, small or medium sized businesses (SMEs) who will use the funding to grow their innovation activities in the digital technology cluster in North East England, both during and after the project.
For this competition, North East England refers to the geography of the North East Combined Authority which includes Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham.
This funding is from Innovate UK’s Launchpad programme which supports the UK Government’s goals for local economic growth. This Launchpad is also supporting Innovation SuperNetwork as the local cluster management organisation.
This competition brings together:
The aim of this competition is to provide support for your research and development and access to the capital investment that you need to develop and commercialise your innovations and grow your business.
Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, has selected investor partners who have demonstrated the credibility, capability, capacity and appetite to invest in innovative, technology-led businesses in areas that align with our objectives in programme areas. The investor partners will work with Innovate UK to invite innovative businesses to apply for grant funding alongside their investment.
To be successful, your project must be independently assessed by Innovate UK as fundable and receive investment, led or catalysed by the investor partner.
A full list of our investor partners is provided at Innovate UK Investor Partners – UKRI.
You will need to gain traction with one of these investor partners before you apply, and you must identify them in your application. We will contact them to confirm how the grant funding will impact the proposed investment, and the current stage of completion.
In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly but we are still unable to fund it.
This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief. We cannot guarantee other government or third party sites will always show the correct competition information.
Investor Partnerships
Your project’s total costs will depend on your research category and must be between £50,000 and £300,000 for feasibility studies, £100,000 and £1 million for industrial research, £250,000 and £2 million for experimental development.
We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.
You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance.
We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline.
You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).
Your project
The eligibility criteria will depend on your research category.
For feasibility studies projects:
For industrial research projects:
For experimental development projects:
For all projects, your project must:
Total project costs, detailed within your application, must not exceed the maximum project costs for your research category. If your total project costs do exceed the maximum, then your application will be made ineligible.
Your project will only be allowed to start once the aligned investment has been confirmed.
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. For specific guidance, see the eligibility section in this competition.
Your organisation
This competition is open to single applicants only.
To apply your organisation must:
More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.
Innovation and ideas can come from anyone and anywhere. We want to see investments unlocked for the diverse and extraordinary talent in the UK.
We encourage innovation involving communities that are typically under-represented, including:
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 cannot use non-UK based subcontractors.
All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total eligible 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 that 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.
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:
Innovate UK may withhold a grant payment at any time if you have any outstanding sums due to us in relation to other projects.
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 (legislation.gov.uk).
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. Please 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 always make sure that the funding awarded to you is compliant with all current Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom.
This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to, or actually distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries.
Up to £1.7 million of grant funding from Innovate UK is available in this competition.
The total funding available for this Launchpad competition can change. The funders have the right to:
You will receive Innovate UK grant funding only if you also receive a minimum level of aligned investment, led or catalysed by your investor partner. The minimum level of investment depends on your project’s research category.
Feasibility studies and industrial research projects
For feasibility studies and industrial research projects, Innovate UK will fund:
The aligned investment must always be at least equal to your grant funding request.
Experimental development projects
For experimental development projects Innovate UK will fund:
The aligned investment must always be at least twice as much as your grant funding request.
For more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance.
If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.
Your project
The eligibility criteria will depend on your research category.
For feasibility studies projects:
For industrial research projects:
For experimental development projects:
For all projects, your project must:
Total project costs, detailed within your application, must not exceed the maximum project costs for your research category. If your total project costs do exceed the maximum, then your application will be made ineligible.
Your project will only be allowed to start once the aligned investment has been confirmed.
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. For specific guidance, see the eligibility section in this competition.
Your organisation
This competition is open to single applicants only.
To apply your organisation must:
More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.
Innovation and ideas can come from anyone and anywhere. We want to see investments unlocked for the diverse and extraordinary talent in the UK.
We encourage innovation involving communities that are typically under-represented, including:
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 cannot use non-UK based subcontractors.
All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total eligible 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 that 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.
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:
Innovate UK may withhold a grant payment at any time if you have any outstanding sums due to us in relation to other projects.
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 (legislation.gov.uk).
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. Please 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 always make sure that the funding awarded to you is compliant with all current Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom.
This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to, or actually distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries.
Up to £1.7 million of grant funding from Innovate UK is available in this competition.
The total funding available for this Launchpad competition can change. The funders have the right to:
You will receive Innovate UK grant funding only if you also receive a minimum level of aligned investment, led or catalysed by your investor partner. The minimum level of investment depends on your project’s research category.
Feasibility studies and industrial research projects
For feasibility studies and industrial research projects, Innovate UK will fund:
The aligned investment must always be at least equal to your grant funding request.
Experimental development projects
For experimental development projects Innovate UK will fund:
The aligned investment must always be at least twice as much as your grant funding request.
For more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance.
If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.
24 February 2025 Competition opens
3 March 2025 Online briefing event: watch the recording
Briefing slides are now available to download from Supporting Information.
9 April 2025 11:00am Competition closes
16 May 2025 Applicants notified
1 September 2025 Project start from
You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.
Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure:
You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline. You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline.
What we ask you
The application is split into four sections:
Accessibility and Inclusion
We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.
You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance.
We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline.
You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).
This section provides background for your application and is not scored.
Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers.
Application team
Decide which people from your organisation will work with you on the project and invite those people to help complete the application.
Application details
Give your project’s title, start date and duration.
Research category
Select the type of research you will undertake.
Public description
Describe your project in detail and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This could happen before you start your project.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Scope
Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition. In your answer you must outline how your project will grow your innovation activities in the cluster both during and after the project. Your answer may be used in our portfolio approach to prioritising projects.
If your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
The assessors will score all your answers apart from questions 1 to 4. You will receive feedback for each scored question. Find out more about how our assessors assess and how we select applications for funding.
You must answer all questions. Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers.
Question 1. Applicant location (not scored)
You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation and any subcontractors working on your project. If the work location for your project is different to your registered address then you must state the work location for your project.
We are collecting this information to understand more about the geographical location of all applicants and your answer may be used in our portfolio approach.
Your answer can be up to 150 words long.
Question 2. Animal testing (not scored)
Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing?
You must select one option:
We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare.
Further information for proposals involving animal testing is available at the UKRI Good Research Hub and NC3R’s animal welfare guidance.
Question 3. Permits and licences (not scored)
Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project?
We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date.
You must select one option:
Question 4. Investor partner (not scored)
Provide the name of the investor partner who you are working with.
We will contact the investor partner to confirm how the grant funding will impact the proposed investment, and the current stage of completion. This forms part of the decision of whether your application is successful.
Your answer can be up to 50 words long.
Question 5. Need, challenge and market awareness
What is the business need, technological challenge, and market opportunity behind your innovation? What does the market or markets you are targeting look like?
Explain:
If your project is highly innovative, where the market may be unexplored, describe or explain:
Your answer can be up to 600 words long.
Question 6. Approach and innovation
What approach will you take and where will the focus of the innovation be?
Explain:
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It can include diagrams and charts. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages but must be legible at 100% zoom.
Question 7. Team, resources and delivery
Who is in the project team, what are their roles and how will you manage your project effectively?
Explain:
Your answer can be up to 600 words long.
You must submit a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF, up to two A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.
You can also submit one further appendix, with a short summary of the main people working on the project to support your answer. It must be a PDF, up to four A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.
Question 8. Outcomes and route to market
How are you going to grow your business and increase your productivity into the long term as a result of the project?
Explain:
If there is any research organisation activity in the project, describe:
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Question 9. Project risks
What are the main risks for this project?
Explain:
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
You must submit a risk register as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF, up to two A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.
Question 10. Costs, value for money and added value
How much will the project cost and how does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer? How will this public funding help you to accelerate or enhance your approach to developing your project towards commercialisation? What impact would this award have on the organisations involved?
In terms of your project goals, explain:
Your answer can be up to 600 words long.
Your organisation in your project must complete their own project costs, organisation details and funding details in the application.
For an overview on what costs you can claim, see our project costs guidance. Note this is general guidance, for specific guidance please see the eligibility section in this competition. You can also view our application finances video.
This section is not scored but will provide background to your project.
Each partner must complete the Project Impact questions before being able to submit the application.
More information can be found in our Project Impact guidance and by viewing our Impact Management Framework video.
Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.
Your application will be reviewed by three independent assessors based on the content of your application and their skills or expertise relevant to your project. All of the scores awarded will count towards the total score used to make the funding decision unless you are notified otherwise.
You can find out more about our assessment process in the General Guidance.
Your submitted application will be assessed against these criteria:
In considering the eligibility of your proposal you are encouraged to review:
Further information about the innovation cluster will be provided in the online briefing event that will be available for you to view.
Innovate UK provide support for your investment readiness and for engaging with suitable investors via Innovate UK Business Growth and Innovate UK Business Connect.
In the first instance you should contact Innovate UK Business Growth for support in understanding your readiness for investment and also to look at your wider strategy for growth.
You should also contact Innovate UK Business Connect to establish if there are specific programmes for connecting businesses in your sector to relevant investors. Support and connections to sector specific investors may also be provided by the relevant Catapult centre.
Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, has selected a pool of investor partners. These investor partners have demonstrated that they have the credibility, capability, capacity and appetite to invest in innovative, technology-led businesses that align with the programmes. These programmes will focus on the future economy as described in our plan for action.
You will need to establish a relationship and a level of investment traction with one of our approved investor partners before you apply for funding. A full list of selected investor partners is provided at Innovate UK Investor Partners – UKRI and Innovate UK Business Connect investor partnerships websites.
The investor partner must have confirmed with you that you are in a position to apply for grant funding as you will be asked to identify them in the application.
To be successful, your project must be independently assessed by Innovate UK as fundable and receive investment directly, led or catalysed by the investor partner.
Briefing event: watch the recording
Briefing slides are available to download here:
Applicant Briefing - Launchpad Investor Partnership R2.pdf (opens in a new window)
If you are successful with this application, you will be asked to set up your project.
You will be notified by email on the date published for this competition. Notifications may be sent any time up to 5pm.
You must follow the unique link embedded in your email notification. This takes you to your Innovation Funding Service (IFS) Set Up portal, where we gather the information to set up your project.
Watch our video on what steps there are before a project starts.
During the project set up you will be assigned a delivery executive who will guide you through the whole project set up process.
Following your email notification, you will need to provide the following within 5 days (including weekends and bank holidays):
You will need to provide the following within 30 days (including weekends and bank holidays):
You will have 90 days (including weekends and bank holidays) to complete all of your project set up. Within this time, you will also be required to submit:
Your funding offer may be withdrawn if project setup is not completed within this or an alternative timeframe as advised by Innovate UK.
In order for us to process your claims, you must make sure you have a valid UK business bank account. It can take several weeks for a new account to be created if required. We recommend starting this process as early as possible to avoid any delays to your project start date.
The bank account which grant is to be paid into must:
Online accounts are eligible as long as they meet the above criteria.
Innovate UK will accept most banking societies apart from:
If you have any doubts that your bank account will not meet Innovate UK's funding criteria, you can use the sort code checker. If you input the sort code and find a tick next to the ‘BACS Direct Credit payments can be sent to this sort code’, this will give you an indication that the bank account you hold is acceptable.
Finance checks
We will carry out checks to make sure all organisations are UK registered with access to the funds necessary to complete their project.
You must check your IFS portal regularly and respond to any requests we have sent for additional information to avoid any delays.
If you are not a UK registered organisation or fail to complete project setup this may result in your grant offer being withdrawn.
During our financial due diligence checks you must provide evidence of how you will finance your project costs for the duration of your project. Grant claims are submitted three months in arrears.
Your Grant offer letter (GOL)
Once you have successfully completed project setup, we will issue your GOL.
The GOL will be made available on your IFS portal. You will not be able to start your project until:
Once approved we will send you an email with permission to start your project on your confirmed start date.
You must not start your project before the date stated on your email and GOL. Any costs incurred before your agreed start date cannot be claimed as part of your grant.
If your GOL is approved on or before the fifteenth of the month it will be dated from the first of that month. If your GOL is approved after the fifteenth, it will be dated the first of the next month.
If you are unsuccessful with your application this time, you can view feedback from the assessors. This will be available to you on your IFS portal following notification.
Sometimes your application will have scored well, and you will receive positive comments from the assessors. You may be unsuccessful for any of the following reasons:
We would like to remind you that eligible non-funded business can still benefit from fully funded and bespoke support from the Innovate UK Business Growth service.
You will need to establish a relationship and a level of investment traction with one of our approved investor partners before you apply for funding. A full list of selected investor partners is provided at Innovate UK Investor Partners – UKRI and Innovate UK Business Connect investor partnerships websites.
Innovate UK Business Growth helps innovation focused businesses make the best strategic choices and access the right resources, in order to grow and ultimately achieve scale.
Our innovation and growth specialists provide our fully funded and bespoke support to clients nationwide. Visit the service’s website to discover whether you could benefit from this advisory support, which is available to Innovate UK funded and non-funded businesses alike.
A Secure Innovation campaign has been developed to help founders and leaders of innovative startups protect their technology, competitive advantage, and reputation.
This was developed by UK’s National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
This competition is jointly operated by Innovate UK and the North East Combined Authority (each an ‘agency’).
Any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application can be shared by one agency with the other, for its individual storage, processing and use.
This means that any information given to or generated by Innovate UK in respect of your application may be passed on to North East Combined Authority and vice versa. This would include, but is not restricted to:
Innovate UK and North East Combined Authority are directly accountable to you for their holding and processing of your information, including any personal data and confidential information. Data is held in accordance with their own policies. Accordingly, Innovate UK, Innovate UK Business Connect and North East Combined Authority will be data controllers for personal data submitted during the application.
Innovate UK Business Connect Privacy Policy
North East Combined Authority's Privacy Policy
Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.
The Information Commissioner’s Office also has a useful guide for organisations, which outlines the data protection principles.
If you need more information about how to apply or you want to submit your application in Welsh, email support@iuk.ukri.org or call 0300 321 4357.
Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).
Innovate UK or any of our partners will not tolerate abusive language in any written or verbal correspondence, applications, social media or any other form that might affect staff.