UK-Switzerland CR&D Round 2

Your project

Your UK project must:

• have a maximum grant funding request of £450,000
• start on 1 November 2024
• end by 31 October 2027
• last between 18 and 36 months
• include at least one business entity from each country (UK and Switzerland) and one research institute from either the UK or Switzerland in your consortium

Note: If the Swiss applicant is an individual start-up (pre-market and less than 50 full time equivalent employees) the research institute requirement is waived.

UK project partners must carry out the majority of their project work in the UK and intend to exploit the results from or in the UK.

Your project must demonstrate a balanced technological contribution by the participants from both countries and must be equally significant to all participants.

Note: eligibility on the Swiss counterpart competition states that in a project with two cooperating partners, no partner may contribute more than 70% of the total person months to the project. Person months is the metric for the time in months devoted by staff to a project.

In a project with more than two cooperating partners, no partner may contribute more than 50% of total person months. All research organisations involved in the consortium may altogether not contribute more than 50% of the total person months.

Your application must be in line with the criteria of Innovate UK and Innosuisse.

Applications identified as not eligible by either Innovate UK or Innosuisse will not be sent for assessment.

Your project must always start on the first of the month and this must be stated within your application. Your project start date will be reflected in your grant offer letter if you are successful.

You must only include eligible project costs in your application.

Under current restrictions, this competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian or Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian or Belarusian source.

If your project’s total 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 decide whether to approve your request.

If you have not requested approval or your application has not been approved by us, you will be made ineligible. Your application will then not be sent for assessment.

Lead organisation

To be a UK lead your organisation must:

• be a UK registered business of any size
• be or involve at least one grant claiming UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
• collaborate with at least one Swiss implementation partner applying to the Innosuisse programme, which must be a separate legal entity, not linked to the UK partners
• collaborate with at least one research institute from either the UK or Switzerland

More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.

Project team

To collaborate with the lead and claim grant funding from Innovate 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)

Each UK partner organisation must be invited into IFS by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once partners have accepted the invitation, they will be asked to login or to create an account in IFS. They are responsible for entering their own project costs and completing their Project Impact questions in the application.

Only UK registered partners must be listed in the Project Partner section of your application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS). Your Swiss partner will not receive any of this UK competition funding. Swiss partners will be funded by the Innosuisse programme, following a successful parallel application.

Each organisation in your consortium will receive funding from its respective national funding body.

Non-funded partners

Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example non-UK businesses. Their costs will count towards the total project costs.

Subcontractors

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.

You can use subcontractors from the UK, Switzerland and other countries but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use suppliers from the countries providing grant funding for the project.

All subcontractors must be selected through your usual procurement process.

You must provide a detailed rationale and evidence of the potential UK or Swiss contractors you approached, with the reasons why they were unable to work with you. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use a subcontractor from a third country.

All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate for the project.

Number of applications

An eligible UK business can lead on one application and collaborate on two further applications.

If a business is not leading any application, it can collaborate in up to three applications.

Application guidance for Swiss organisations

For guidance for Swiss organisations, see Supporting Information.

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.

Your proposal

The aim of this competition is to enhance UK and Swiss collaborations and capabilities in technology. The result being, the developing and delivering of new innovations, and applications of the technologies across a broad range of other sectors.

This competition will support UK and Swiss business-led collaboration in innovation, with grant funding.

Innovate UK will support UK businesses to collaborate successfully with Swiss counterparts and build their global growth prospects.

Specific themes

Your collaborative R&D proposal must demonstrate:

• a clear game-changing or disruptive innovative idea leading to new products, processes or services
• a strong and deliverable business proposal within your application that addresses and documents market potential and needs
• sound, practical financial plans and timelines
• good value for money and how you intend to deliver significant economic impact, return on investment (ROI) and growth through commercialisation within two to three years of project completion
• clear potential to significantly benefit the UK economy or national productivity
• the benefit of participants from the countries working together and how this adds value
• a clear definition of where intellectual property (IP) can be used and shared between the participants and countries
• a clear route to market within two to three years of project completion

Research categories

We will fund feasibility projects, industrial research projects and experimental development projects, as defined in the guidance on categories of research.

Proposals can come from any area of technology and we particularly encourage applications in, but not limited to, the following technologies:

• life sciences
• AI
• semiconductor applications
• quantum

Projects we will not fund

We are not funding projects that:

• do not have a genuine collaboration with a Swiss implementation partner who has been successful in the corresponding Innosuisse programme
• do not meet Innovate UK’s eligibility criteria

We will not fund quantum-focussed projects that are:

• not covered by any of the four specific themes
• not ‘second generation’ quantum technologies, defined as those involving the generation and coherent control of quantum states, resulting in phenomena such as superposition or entanglement
• feasibility studies or projects that are low maturity in their development
• market research, road mapping or landscape studies

We cannot fund projects that are:

• dependent on export performance, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country
• dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product

29 January 2024

Online briefing event: register to attend

5 February 2024

Competition opens

1 May 2024 11:00am

Competition closes

12 August 2024

Applicants notified

Before you start

You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.

Before submitting, it is the UK lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure:

• that all the information provided in the application is correct
• your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria
• all sections of the application are marked as complete
• that all UK partners have completed all assigned sections and accepted the terms and conditions (T&Cs)
• that projects submitted to the Innovation Funding Service and Innosuisse have the same project title
• a common proposal form is submitted to both Innovate UK and Innosuisse

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:

1. Project details.
2. Application questions.
3. Finances.
4. Project Impact.

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).

1. Project details

This section provides background for your application and is not scored.

Application team

Decide which UK organisations will work with you on your project and invite people from those organisations to help complete the application.

Application details

Give your project’s title, start date and duration. Your project’s title must match the title provided by your Swiss partners on their corresponding national application to Innosuisse.

Research category

Select the type of research you will undertake.

Project summary

Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign the right experts to assess your application.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

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. 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.

2. Application questions

The assessors will score all your answers apart from questions 1 to 5. 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. Your answer to each question can be up to 400 words long. 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 partners or subcontractors working on your project, including the Swiss partners in your consortium.

We are collecting this information to understand the geographical location of all applicants.

Question 2. Animal testing (not scored)

Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing?

You must select one option:

• Yes
• No

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. Opportunity awareness (not scored)

Where did you hear about this opportunity?

We are collecting this information to improve our communication methods with potential applicants.

Select one of the options from the list below:

• UKRI website
• Innovate UK Facebook
• Innovate UK Instagram
• Innovate UK LinkedIn
• Innovate UK Twitter
• Innovate UK employee
• Gov.UK website
• Innovate UK KTN
• Innovate UK EDGE
• Northern Irish Scottish or Welsh government agencies
• Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)
• Third party website
• Innovate UK newsletter
• Events
• German source
• other

Question 4. 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 who do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date.

You must select one option:

• Yes
• No
• In process of being applied for
• Not applicable

Question 5. Common proposal form (not scored)

This form is to enable Innovate UK and its assessors to gain an understanding of the costs of the whole project for the participants in both countries.

You must download and complete the ‘Common Proposal Form’ template, then upload as an appendix. It must be a PDF and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Once uploaded you must add ‘Common Proposal Form uploaded’ as your answer in the text box for this question.

Your Swiss partners must upload the same ‘Common Proposal Form’ to their application to Innosuisse.

Question 6. Need or challenge

What is the business need, technological challenge, or market opportunity behind your innovation?

Explain:

• the main motivation for the project
• the business need, technological challenge or market opportunity
• whether you have identified any similar innovation and its current limitations, including those close to market or in development
• any work you have already done to respond to this need, for example, if the project focuses on developing an existing capability or building a new one
• the wider economic, social, environmental, cultural or political challenges which are influential in creating the opportunity, such as incoming regulations and using our Horizons tool if appropriate

Question 7. Approach and innovation

What approach will you take and where will the focus of the innovation be?

Explain:

• how you will respond to the need, challenge or opportunity identified
• how you will improve on any similar innovation that you have identified
• whether the innovation will focus on existing technologies in new areas, the development of new technologies for existing areas, or a totally disruptive approach
• the freedom you have to operate
• how this project fits with your current product, service lines or offerings
• how it will make you more competitive
• the nature of the outputs you expect from the project, for example, reports, demonstrator, know-how, new process, product or service design, and how these will help you to target the need, challenge or opportunity identified

You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It can include diagrams and charts. It must be a PDF, up to 2 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 8. Team and resources

Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Explain:

• the roles, skills and experience of all members of the project team that are relevant to the approach you will be taking
• the resources, equipment and facilities needed for the project and how you will access them
• the details of any vital external parties, including subcontractors, who you will need to work with to successfully carry out the project
• the current relationships between project partners and how these will change as a result of the project
• any roles you will need to recruit for

You can submit one appendix, with a short summary of the main people working on the project to support your answer. It must be a PDF, up to 4 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 9. Market awareness

What does the market or markets you are targeting look like?

Describe:

• the target markets for the project outcomes and any other potential markets, either domestic, international or both
• the size of the target markets for the project outcomes, backed up by references where available
• the structure and dynamics of the target markets, including customer segmentation, together with predicted growth rates within clear timeframes
• the target markets’ main supply or value chains and business models, and any barriers to entry that exist
• the current UK position in targeting these markets
• the size and main features of any other markets not already listed

If your project is highly innovative, where the market may be unexplored, describe or explain:

• what the market’s size might be
• how your project will try to explore the market’s potential

Question 10. Outcomes and route to market

How are you going to grow your business and increase long term productivity as a result of the project?

Explain:

• your current position in the markets and supply or value chains outlined, and whether you will be extending or establishing your market position
• your target customers or end users, and the value to them, for example, why they would use or buy your product
• your route to market
• how you are going to profit from the innovation, including increased revenues or cost reduction
• how the innovation will affect your productivity and growth, in both the short and the long term
• how you will protect and exploit the outputs of the project, for example, through know-how, patenting, designs or changes to your business model
• your strategy for targeting the other markets you have identified during or after the project

For the research organisation activity in the project, describe:

• your plans to spread the project’s research outputs over a reasonable timescale
• how you expect to use the results generated from the project in further research activities

Question 11. Wider impacts

What impact might this project have outside the project team?

Describe and, where possible, measure the economic benefits from the project such as productivity increases and import substitution, to:

• external parties
• customers
• others in the supply chain
• broader industry
• the UK economy

Describe and, where possible, measure:

• any expected impact on UK government priorities
• any expected environmental impacts, either positive or negative
• any expected regional impacts of the project

Describe any expected social impacts, either positive or negative, on, for example:

• quality of life
• social inclusion or exclusion
• jobs, such as safeguarding, creating, changing or displacing them
• education
• public empowerment
• health and safety
• regulations
• diversity

Question 12. Project management

How will you manage your project effectively?

Explain:

• the main work packages of your project, indicating the lead partner assigned to each and the total cost of each one
• your approach to project management, identifying any major tools and mechanisms you will use to get a successful and innovative project outcome
• the management reporting lines
• your project plan in enough detail to identify any links or dependencies between work packages or milestones

You must submit a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF, up to 2 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 13. Risks

What are the main risks for this project?

Explain:

• the main risks and uncertainties of the project, including the technical, commercial, managerial and environmental risks
• how you will mitigate these risks
• any project inputs that are critical to completion, such as resources, expertise, and data sets
• any output likely to be subject to regulatory requirements, certification, ethical issues and other requirements identified, and how you will manage this

You must submit a risk register as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF, up to 2 A4 pages long, and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 14. Added value

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?

Explain:

• what advantages public funding would offer your project, for example, appeal to investors, more partners, reduced risk or a faster route to market
• the likely impact of the project outcomes on the organisations involved
• what other routes of investment or means of support you have already approached and why they were not suitable
• how any existing or potential investment or support will be used in conjunction with the grant funding
• what your project would look like without public funding
• how this project would change the R&D activities of all the organisations involved

Question 15. Costs and value for money

How much will the project cost and how does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer?

In terms of your project goals, explain:

• your total project costs including a breakdown for both the UK and Swiss partners
• the grant you are requesting
• how each partner will finance their contributions to your project
• how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer
• how it compares to what you would spend your money on otherwise
• the balance of costs and grant across the UK project partners
• any subcontractor costs and why they are critical to your project

3. Finances

Each UK organisation in your project must complete their own project costs, organisation details and funding details in the application. Academic institutions must complete and upload a Je-S form.

For full details on what costs you can claim see our project costs guidance. You can also view our Application Finances video.

4. Project Impact

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.
 

Background and further information

The UK and Switzerland are collaborating to deliver bilateral funding through Innovate UK and Innosuisse grant funding.

The Innosuisse programme in Switzerland is designed to enhance companies' capacity to innovate and to strengthen their long-term competitiveness. Under Innosuisse, Swiss companies and the research institutes they work with can be awarded grants for ambitious R&D projects.

Innosuisse funding is not restricted to any particular field of technology, nor to specific fields of application. Whether or not an application for a grant is approved depends on how innovative the R&D project is and how marketable the results are likely to be.

Application guidance for Swiss organisations

The Swiss organisations must follow these guidelines:

• there will be mandatory submission of a proposal via Innosuisse submission portal, including a consortium agreement draft, common call document and financial documents per business entity
• there needs to be a minimum project consortium of one business entity from each participating country and one research institute from any of the participating countries
• all participants need to comply with funding rules of their origin country
• requested project funding to Innosuisse should not exceed 450’000 CHF
• project duration should be between 18 and 36 months

The funding rate for Swiss partners is as follows:

• research institutions 100%
• start-ups and micro, small or medium sized enterprises (SMEs) up to 50%
• large enterprises up to 25%

Swiss start-ups that have not yet entered the market and that only collaborate with foreign companies can receive up to 70%

A maximum 70% of the total Swiss project costs are covered by Innosuisse.

Data sharing

This competition is jointly operated by Innovate UK and Innosuisse (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 Innosuisse and vice versa. This would include, but is not restricted to:

• the information stated on the application, including the personal details of all applicants
• scoring and feedback on the application
• information received during the management and administration of the grant, such as Monitoring Officer reports and Independent Accountant Reports

Innovate UK and Innosuisse 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, and Innosuisse will be data controllers for personal data submitted during the application.

Innovate UK’s Privacy Policy

Innosuisse's Data Protection and 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.

Find a project partner

If you want help to find a project partner, you can use our specifically created B2Match website.

Support for SMEs from Innovate UK EDGE

If you receive an award, you will be contacted about working with an innovation and growth specialist at Innovate UK EDGE. This service forms part of our funded offer to you.

These specialists focus on growing innovative businesses and ensuring that projects contribute to their growth. Working one-to-one, they can help you to identify your best strategy and harness world-class resources to grow and achieve scale.

We encourage you to engage with Innovate UK EDGE, delivered by a knowledgeable and objective specialist near you.

Assessment

Your application will be reviewed by up to 5 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.

UK - Switzerland CRD R2 - Assessor guidance for applicants.pdf (opens in a new window)

Next steps

If you are successful with this application, you will be asked to set up your project.

You must follow the unique link embedded in your email notification. This takes you to your Innovation Funding Service (IFS) Set Up portal, the tool that Innovate UK uses to gather necessary information before we can allow your project to begin.

You will need to provide:

• the name and contact details of your project manager and project finance lead
• a redacted copy of your bank details
• a collaboration agreement
• an exploitation plan

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:

• be a business account in the same name as the organisation listed in IFS
• be from a UK bank regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)
• have a cheque and credit clearing facility

Online accounts are eligible as long as they meet the above criteria.

Innovate UK will accept most banking societies apart from:

• Viva Wallet
• Intesa Sanpaolo
• Equals Money UK Limited

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 you are an established company with access to the funds necessary to complete the project.

You must check your IFS portal regularly and respond to any requests we have sent for additional information to avoid any delays.

Failure to complete project setup may result in your grant offer being withdrawn.

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 need to sign and upload this for us to approve. 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 your application is unsuccessful

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 as your average score was not above the funding threshold or your project has not been selected under the portfolio approach if this is applied for this competition.

Contact us

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).