Funding Competition: UK-Taiwan Collaborative R&D

Deadline: 19-Jul-23

UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £2million for the purpose of developing innovative proposals with Taiwan.

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with the Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT) to invest up to £2 million in innovation projects. This competition has an open scope.

The aim of this competition is to fund collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects focused on industrial research. Your proposal must include at least one partner from the UK and one partner from Taiwan.

UK registered organisations must apply to and will be funded by Innovate UK. Taiwan partners must apply to and will be funded by the Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT).

Details

Your project must

• Start by 1 March 2024
• End by 28 February 2027
• Last between 24 and 36 months
• 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

Sectors

• They would particularly welcome applications from the following sectors:
  • Smart technology for example next generation communication and semiconductor technology
  • Green energy technologies for example electric vehicles, hydrogen transportation and renewable energy
  • Smart manufacturing
  • Biotechnology for example medical materials
  • Service innovation for example the Internet of Things, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, 5G and 6G

Funding Information

• UK applicants can apply for a maximum grant of up to £750,000 for each project.

Eligible Projects

• Your project must demonstrate:
  • A clear game changing or disruptive innovative idea leading to new products, processes or services
  • A strong and deliverable business plan that addresses and documents market potential and needs
  • Sound, practical financial plans and timelines
  • Good value for money which will always be a consideration in Innovate UK funding decisions
  • A clear, evidence based plan to deliver significant economic impact, return on investment (ROI) and growth through commercialisation, as soon as possible after project completion
  • Clear, considerable potential to significantly benefit the UK economy or national productivity
  • The benefits of participants from the UK and Taiwan working together and how this adds value
  • A clear definition of where intellectual property (IP) can be used and shared between the participants
  • A clear route to market within 2 to 3 years of project completion

Eligibility Criteria

• The consortium must include at least one business registered in Taiwan that is a separate, non-linked entity.
• All businesses in a consortium must be separate legal and non-linked entities. This is to ensure that projects encourage genuine international collaboration, not internal company research. Linked companies are considered a single entity under the parent company
• Projects should have a balanced contribution of the total eligible project costs among the partners from the UK and Taiwan. No more than 70% of the total project costs can be claimed by a single partner or by all partners from either the UK or Taiwan.
• Each organisation will receive funding from its respective public funding body.
• 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 and Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian and Belarusian source.
• Lead organisation
  • To lead a project your organisation must:
    • Be a UK registered business of any size
    • Be or involve at least one grant claiming UK registered SME Partner with a Taiwan registered business, which must be a separate non-linked entity to the UK project partners.
• Project team
  • To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be a UK registered:
    • Business of any size
    • Academic institution
    • Research and technology organisation (RTO)
    • Each UK partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once accepted, partners will be asked to login or to create an account and enter their own project costs into the Innovation Funding Service.
    • To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and at least one other organisation must apply for funding when entering their costs into the application.
• Number of applications
  • A UK registered business can lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in a further 2 applications.
  • If a UK registered business is not leading any application, it can collaborate in up to 3 applications.
  • A UK registered academic institution or RTO can collaborate on any number of applications.

Ineligible

• They are not funding projects that:
  • Work on non-civilian applications
  • Do not meet Innovate UK’s eligibility criteria
  • Do not submit all mandatory documentation
  • Request grant of more than £750,000 from Innovate UK
  • Do not have an eligible Taiwan partner
• They 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 or territory
  • 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.

For more information, visit Innovate UK.