UKRI Creating opportunities: rethinking economic (in)activity

The Content Fund is a joint plan between Government and industry to drive growth, build talent and develop skills across the creative sectors.

Apply for AHRC standard research grant funding to support collaborative arts and humanities projects. Projects must involve a UK-based project lead and at least one co-lead to develop and manage the research. These grants aim to foster collaborations within and beyond academia, enhance career development for researchers, and promote effective dissemination of research outcomes. Proposals can involve interdisciplinary or international partnerships and may include individual research components that demonstrably add value to the overall project.

This fund aims to drive sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating local opportunity for new and growing businesses across Wales.

​The European Space Agency (ESA) invites proposals for feasibility studies and demonstration projects that leverage space-based services and applications to enhance smart cities. This initiative addresses challenges arising from rapid urban population growth and climate change, focusing on areas such as urban development, emissions, air pollution, digital communication, transport, and urban overheating.

Scottish Enterprise's Research and Development (R&D) Grants aim to support businesses in Scotland that are developing new products, processes, or services, or significantly enhancing existing ones. The program seeks to boost business competitiveness, stimulate further R&D activities, and benefit the Scottish economy. ​

What they look for
–Technologies that operate across extreme environmental conditions (cold, heat, humidity, radiation, etc.).
–Solutions enabling human survivability, operational continuity, and resilient logistics.
–Innovations in energy generation and storage, ruggedisation, autonomous systems, sensing, and command and control.
–AI-driven systems for supply chain optimisation, training, and situational awareness.
–Dual-use solutions that are applicable to both NATO military operations and civil/commercial needs in Arctic and other extreme environments.

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The Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) funding, administered by Scottish Enterprise, is a discretionary grant aimed at encouraging capital investment and job creation in designated Assisted Areas of Scotland, classified as Tiers 2 and 3. The primary objective of RSA is to support projects that contribute to economic growth, job creation, and Scotland's transition to a greener economy.

Innovate UK and its partners seek projects that:

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–Focus on innovation in agri-tech or food technology, including but not limited to productivity, quality, nutritional value, resilience, and resource efficiency; food processing, manufacturing, and new market development; sustainability, biodiversity, and rural resilience.

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–Demonstrate ongoing contribution to the cluster, such as local innovation activities, value creation, engagement with other innovation-active organisations, and increased innovation activity post-project.

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–Align with regional priorities and the UK government’s goals for local economic growth.

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–Are led by UK-registered businesses and involve collaboration with at least one UK-registered SME claiming grant funding.

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DIANA seeks dual-use technologies that address key limitations in current maritime uncrewed systems, such as autonomy in navigation and decision-making, power and propulsion resilience, system survivability in cluttered or contested waters, and robust communication in denied environments. Innovations may include AI for autonomous decision-making, low-drift navigation solutions, resilient edge computing, secure communications, acoustic sensing, and systems to mitigate physical or electronic attack.

The Space4Rail initiative, led by the European Space Agency (ESA), aims to enhance the railway sector by integrating space-based assets—such as satellite navigation, satellite communications, and Earth observation—into innovative and sustainable applications and services. The goal is to improve the performance, efficiency, safety, and attractiveness of railways for both operators and end-users. ​

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The LSIMF will provide capital grants across the UK and sector-wide to support investments in the manufacturing of human medicines (including active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished products), medical diagnostics (for disease identification and monitoring), and MedTech products (medical devices for human health). The fund will remain open until all funding is allocated.

Solutions that strengthen public transport as the backbone of a resilient, sustainable, inclusive and multimodal mobility ecosystem, by improving its attractiveness and competitiveness – with the clear goal of attracting users away from private cars.New concepts, technologies and business models that enhance demandresponsive transport and integrate shared mobility services with public transit – aimed at improving first- and last-mile connectivity and expanding overall network coverage are encouraged.

You can apply for funding from ESA for the Open Call for Proposals or through specific themed opportunities. Your project must delivered R&D related to the space industry

To advance dual-use biomedical, biotechnology, bioengineered, synthetic, and computational solutions that enhance the wellbeing, survivability, and operational readiness of NATO personnel and civilians particularly in extreme, conflict, or disaster settings through rapid trauma care, health resilience, CBRNE response, and human performance augmentation.

​The EIC Work Programme 2025 outlines over €1.4 billion in funding to support breakthrough technologies and innovations in Europe. It introduces the STEP Scale Up scheme, allocating €300 million for larger investments in companies advancing strategic technologies. The programme also emphasizes increased access to Business Acceleration Services, particularly for emerging companies from 'widening countries'. ​

The READ-OUT Digital Cognitive Dementia Assessments competition, funded by Innovate UK, supports the deployment and evaluation of high-maturity digital cognitive assessments (DCAs) for dementia within the READ-OUT blood-based biomarker study led by the University of Oxford, contributing to wider initiatives like the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative.With up to £1.2 million in total funding (inclusive of VAT), single projects can receive up to £600,000, starting on 1 August 2025 and lasting up to 20 months, to be completed by 31 March 2027. Proposals must demonstrate real-world readiness, show potential impact on dementia diagnosis and care, and be aimed at integrating DCAs into existing clinical pathways. The competition is open to organisations of any size, with collaboration optional, and projects must stay within the £600,000 cost limit and adhere to the defined timeline.

Provide financial support to highly innovative, late-stage R&D projects that demonstrate the potential for significant economic impact and a clear path to commercialisation.

Arts Council National Lottery are offering funding to people in England who are creative, or work in the arts, museums or libraries. The fund supports thousands of individual practitioners, community and cultural organisations

The MRC-NIHR Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme invites applications to assess novel non-pharmacological approaches for diagnosing, treating, or managing ADHD in children and adults. Proposals should target core symptoms or related conditions and provide strong clinical rationale and proof of concept. Evaluations must focus on interventions or technologies with convincing human evidence of efficacy, including diagnostic tools with promising sensitivity, specificity, or predictive value.

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The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) has launched Phase 2 of the Innovation in Support of Operations competition, aiming to identify and fund innovative, cost-competitive solutions that can be rapidly manufactured and scaled within approximately twelve months. These solutions should address specific operational challenges faced by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD).

Solutions (products, services and business models) that reduce the negative externalities of urban logistics – such as congestion, emissions and noise – while enhancing efficiency, resilience, sustainability and integration with the urban environment, especially in last-mile operations.Innovative concepts for logistics hubs and digitally enabled solutions that foster greater collaboration among logistics operators, cities and users are particularly encouraged.

NIHR i4i Challenge Awards support the real-world evaluation of medical devices, in vitro diagnostic devices and high-impact patient-focused digital health technologies for us in the NHS or social care system. The i4i Challenge Awards provide funding for collaborative projects with a focus on implementation research on technologies which have demonstrated safety and efficacy, and have a clear pathway towards adoption and commercialisation.

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The Women TechEU programme aims to empower women entrepreneurs leading early-stage deep tech start-ups across Europe. Its primary goal is to foster a more gender-balanced innovation ecosystem by supporting these women-led ventures in becoming tomorrow's tech leaders. The initiative focuses on contributing to the green, digital, and social transitions in line with European objectives.

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​The EIC Accelerator is a European funding programme under Horizon Europe that supports start-ups and SMEs developing innovative, game-changing products, services, or business models with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones. It offers grant funding of up to €2.5 million for innovation activities (TRL 6-8) and equity investments ranging from €0.5 to €10 million, with higher amounts available under the STEP ScaleUp scheme.

Data-driven solutions that enhance the performance, efficiency and responsiveness of urban mobility systems through e.g. the use of advanced analytics, AI, quantum technology or real time data – in alignment with EU level interoperability and data governance efforts (e.g. common data spaces, European data standards, open digital infrastructures). Solutions that enable cities and public authorities to make data-informed decisions – particularly for the design and implementation of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs), inclusive/participatory planning and citizen engagement, resilience and disruption response, or regulatory monitoring and enforcement (e.g. Low Emission Zones) – are particularly encouraged.All solutions should adhere to principles of data privacy, interoperability, replicability and scalability, while demonstrating a clear pathway to sustainable deployment and uptake.

The aim is to develop innovative technologies that enhance space domain awareness and ensure freedom of manoeuvre in orbit. This includes improving situational awareness, monitoring space weather and debris, sustaining satellite operations, and enabling rapid response and servicing in an increasingly congested space environment. These technologies are intended for dual civil-military use, supporting both commercial growth and NATO’s defence capabilities.

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The Canada-UK Semiconductors competition, jointly administered by Innovate UK and the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP), aims to foster collaborative innovation in semiconductor technologies between UK and Canadian organisations.

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To develop dual-use solutions that improve the resilience, adaptability, and performance of next-generation communications technologies. The aim is to ensure robust, rapid, and secure data exchange across decentralised computing, sensing, and communications networks, particularly under conditions of disruption, interference, or cyber threat.

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To identify and support integrated dual-use digital technologies that enable accurate, timely, and resilient data-assisted decision making through advanced data fusion, modelling, simulation, and visualisation tools across civilian and military operations.

​The EIC Accelerator Challenges 2025 offer €250 million to support startups and SMEs developing breakthrough technologies in five key areas: advanced materials, low-emission food production, generative AI, in-space services, and future mobility. Each challenge has a dedicated budget of €50 million. These initiatives aim to drive innovation and address significant EU objectives. ​

UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £25 million for game-changing and commercially viable R&D innovation that can significantly impact the UK economy. This funding is from Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation.

This is a multi-sector generous loan opportunity of between £100k and £2m for UK registered, highly innovative SMEs with projects lasting up to 5 years.

The Future Leaders Fellowships: Round 10 competition, administered by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), aims to support ambitious research and innovation projects across various sectors. It seeks to foster excellence in innovation, encourage interdisciplinary collaboration, and develop the next generation of research and innovation leaders.

Solutions that promote active mobility as a foundation for healthier urban lifestyles, by improving safety, convenience, inclusivity and integration within the urban environment, facilitating a modal shift towards active modes. Proposals should go beyond typical behavioural change campaigns, to include innovative and market-oriented solutions that strengthen the European cycling industry and align with the goals of the European Declaration on Cycling. Digital or public space design innovations must demonstrate a disruptive approach and clear potential for adoption by public authorities.This topic also includes innovations that monitor, reduce, or mitigate the health impacts of air and noise pollution in urban mobility systems – including solutions for cleaner transport, reduced exposure, and health informed planning.

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II), managed by the British Business Bank, aims to drive sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating local opportunities for new and growing businesses across the North of England. Building on the success of the first Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, NPIF II delivers a £660 million commitment of new funding to smaller businesses. ​

To identify and support dual-use innovations that ensure the robustness and operational continuity of sensing, navigation, and data transmission technologies in congested and contested electromagnetic environments. These solutions should provide resilience against spectrum interference, jamming, and spoofing, and be applicable to both military and civilian domains.

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To source innovative autonomous technologies and countermeasures that enhance detection, resilience, and neutralisation of unmanned systems (UxS) across all domains—air, land, sea, and undersea. This includes both the advancement of friendly UxS capabilities and protection against adversarial UxS threats.

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The EIC Pathfinder Open aims to support ambitious, high-risk research projects that develop radically new technologies with the potential to create new markets or provide transformative solutions to major challenges. It focuses on early-stage scientific research and breakthrough innovation, encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration and visionary technological developments.

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The Growth Guarantee Scheme (GGS), administered by the British Business Bank, is designed to support access to finance for UK smaller businesses as they look to invest and grow. Launched on 1 July 2024, GGS succeeds the Recovery Loan Scheme, offering a range of financial products through accredited lenders. ​

This funding opportunity supports collaborative arts and humanities research projects, enabling researchers to establish or enhance interdisciplinary and international partnerships, foster early-career researcher development, and maximise the impact of research outcomes through effective communication and knowledge transfer. Proposals should prioritize arts and humanities perspectives while integrating diverse disciplines and sectors. Projects, funded for up to five years, must align with AHRC or NSF-SBE research themes and demonstrate a proportionate commitment from project leads.

Creative UK have partnered with Triodos Bank on the Creative Growth Finance fund to offer loans of £100,000 to £1m* to businesses that bring change, disruption and new IP to the creative industries, harness creativity with technologies and supporting businesses and are talent led.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has launched the "Space for Intermodal Transport" funding opportunity to support European teams in developing sustainable, space-based services and applications that enhance intermodal transport for both freight and passengers. This initiative aims to improve the efficiency, flexibility, and environmental sustainability of transportation systems by integrating multiple modes of transport through innovative solutions utilizing satellite data and space-based technologies. ​

The NIHR's Health Technology Assessment Programme seeks research proposals to evaluate the effectiveness and economic impact of technology-based interventions aimed at improving care and support for individuals with deafblindness in social care settings.

The SMART: SCOTLAND grant aims to support high-risk, highly ambitious projects providing support to conduct feasibility studies. It’s only available to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) based in Scotland

The Midlands Engine Investment Fund II (MEIF II), managed by the British Business Bank, aims to stimulate economic growth and innovation by providing financial support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the Midlands region. Building upon the success of the first Midlands Engine Investment Fund, MEIF II seeks to enhance the availability and diversity of early-stage finance, thereby fostering business expansion and job creation. ​

The SMART: SCOTLAND grant, administered by Scottish Enterprise, aims to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in conducting feasibility studies for high-risk, highly ambitious research and development (R&D) projects. The grant focuses on projects that represent a significant technological advance for the UK industry or sector concerned and have a clear commercial endpoint.

The Contracts for Innovation: Net Zero Living Tech Trials, Phase 3 competition, funded by Innovate UK, aims to support the development of pre-commercial innovations that assist UK Local Authorities in achieving their net zero goals. The competition focuses on conducting extended field trials to evaluate and enhance emerging technological solutions, facilitating their progression toward commercial readiness.

The challenge aims to foster the development of innovative, dual-use energy technologies that ensure reliable, resilient, and flexible power generation and distribution. These solutions should be capable of operating independently of vulnerable centralised infrastructures and adapting to dynamic conditions, with potential for both civilian and defence applications.

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The Circular Electricals Fund provides up to £1 million in funding to support projects that contribute to a more circular economy for electrical products. The aim is to fund initiatives that encourage reuse, refurbishment, recycling, or resource efficiency in the electricals sector, helping to reduce environmental impact and drive sustainability through innovation.

DIANA seeks dual-use technologies that can enhance infrastructure reliability, robustness, and responsiveness across domains. Specifically, they are interested in:

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–Cyber-physical security systems: Capable of detecting, defending against, and recovering from multi-vector attacks (e.g. combined cyber and kinetic threats).
–Digital twins and AI models: Tools for simulating, monitoring, and stress-testing infrastructure under complex and evolving conditions.
–Rapid diagnostics and repair technologies: Including robotics, drones, or autonomous systems for infrastructure inspection and remediation.
–Resilient network design: Solutions that decentralise operations, enable islanding (operating independently when disconnected), or shift between power/data nodes.
–Predictive analytics: To anticipate failure points due to age, stress, or environmental exposure.
–Cross-sector coordination tools: That enable integrated responses across different infrastructure systems and authorities.

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​Innovate UK is offering grants between £50,000 and £300,000 for early-stage projects aimed at improving clean energy access in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Indo-Pacific regions. The goal is to develop affordable, reliable, and low-carbon energy solutions that promote gender equality, disability inclusion, and social inclusion.

NIHR is seeking research proposals to develop and evaluate interventions aimed at preventing and/or managing lymphoedema following breast cancer resection. Proposals should focus on innovative approaches to address this condition, which affects many breast cancer survivors. The goal is to improve patient outcomes and quality of life through effective prevention and management strategies.

The NIHR Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) programme invites stage 1 applications for research addressing health service practices with potential to improve patient and NHS user wellbeing. As a researcher-led initiative, it welcomes diverse proposals tackling health service challenges. The programme funds high-quality quantitative and qualitative research with clear patient benefit, emphasizing public and patient involvement and co-development with service users.

i4i THRIVE (Translate Healthcare Research through InnoVation and Entrepreneurship) programme invites innovations at prototype development level (Technology Readiness Level (TRL 3)) and above which demonstrate potential to reduce health inequalities and meet needs in underserved communities.

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This competition by the Department for Transport aims to develop affordable, user-friendly hardware and software solutions for coaches to comply with the Public Service Vehicles (Accessible Information) Regulations 2023. The solutions must provide accessible audio and visual route, destination, and location information, supporting disabled passengers. Proposals should prioritize scalability, compatibility, and affordability while incorporating innovative technologies.

​The European Space Agency's Open Call for Proposals invites businesses from any sector to apply for funding throughout the year to develop new commercial services that utilise one or more space assets, such as satellite communications, Earth observation, or satellite navigation.

This initiative offers UK-registered small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) loans ranging from £100,000 to £2 million. The loans are intended to support late-stage research and development (R&D) projects that are highly innovative and have strong commercial potential to significantly benefit the UK economy. Projects should focus on developing new or improved products, processes, or services that are ahead of current market offerings or propose innovative applications of existing solutions.

The Full ADOPT Grant: Round 2 aims to support farming, growing, or forestry businesses in England to conduct on-farm trials and demonstration projects. The goal is to test innovative ideas or solutions that address significant on-farm or immediate post-farmgate challenges or opportunities, thereby improving productivity, resilience, sustainability, and progression towards net-zero farming.

Solutions that advance zero-emission urban mobility through innovation across the electrification value chain, vehicles, new battery technologies, smart /dynamic charging infrastructure, grid integration or life battery extension, reuse and recycle.Alternative fuels solutions such as hydrogen applications, that support early adoption, reducing initial or operative costs, offer integrated solutions to the urban environment, and are viable to scale-up.