Sustainable Innovation Fund: Round 1 (United Kingdom)

Deadline: 29-Jul-2020

Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £55 million to fund single and collaborative research and development projects as part of the Sustainable Innovation Fund.

The aim of this competition is to help all sectors of the UK rebuild after the effects of COVID-19. All projects must be led by a business and include at least one SME. Proposals can either be from a single business or a collaboration.

Specific Themes

Your project can also focus on

decarbonisation, circular economy and/or biodiversity
climate change and environmental sustainability
geographic or regionally-targeted innovation
innovation that is aimed at commercial or residential users
innovations that work across more than one sector
follow-on international opportunities that help the UK lead the world

Funding Information

Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £100,000 and £500,000.
Each funded partner can claim a maximum of £175,000 against their eligible project costs. This amount cannot exceed their cumulative aid total of €800,000 if they have received other funding as part of the Covid-19 Temporary Framework.
Projects must be ready to start by 1 October 2020. They can last between 3 and 9 months.

Projects not Funded

Innovate UK is not funding projects that:

are not related to an impact on a business due to Covid-19 disruption
have a negative impact on the environment and/or society
have a detrimental effect on equality, diversity and inclusion
would duplicate other UK Government activities or EU-funded initiatives already underway such as the testing or manufacture of vaccines and ventilators.
do not involve any research and development or innovation, for example, the creation of information-only websites
are feasibility studies

Eligibility Criteria

To lead a project or work alone your organisation must:
- be a UK registered business of any size
- involve at least one SME
- carry out its project work in the UK
- be able to carry out project work under the current restrictions of COVID-19
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
Academic institutions and research and technology organisations (RTOs) cannot lead or work alone.
Sole traders are not eligible to apply for this competition.
Project team
- To collaborate with the lead organisation your organisation must:
  - be a UK registered business, academic institution, charity, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation (RTO)
  - carry out its project work in the UK
  - be able to carry out project work under the current restrictions of COVID-19
  - intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
  - be invited to take part by the lead applicant
  - enter your costs in the Innovation Funding Service
- The lead and at least one other organisation must claim funding if applying as a collaboration.
- The research organisations in your consortium undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them.
- Subcontractors are allowed in this competition. Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK/European Economic Area (EEA). They expect subcontractor costs to be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs. Subcontractor costs should not exceed 30% of your total project costs.
- 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 eligible project costs.
- All projects awarded funding must upload evidence for each expenditure with every claim made. These might include invoices, timesheets, receipts or spreadsheets for capital usage. This is part of Innovate UK’s obligations under the Managing Public Money government handbook in relation to assurance, financial management and control.