UKRI is investing up to £110 million through Round 11 of the Future Leaders Fellowships, giving talented individuals at least four years of funding to lead an ambitious programme of research and innovation at a UK business or other non-academic organisation.
The business and non-academic strand of the fellowship is administered by Innovate UK on behalf of UKRI. It backs one fellow per application with a grant of between £100,000 and £3 million, covering a four-year programme with the option to extend for a further three years. It's open to every area of research and innovation, and you don't need a PhD to apply.
Below, I have explained the key things you need to know about this competition before you apply: who is eligible, how much funding is on the table, and what the application process looks like.
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Who is Eligible?
Your Organisation
To host a Future Leaders Fellowship, you must be a UK registered:
- Agri-tech centre
- Business of any size
- Charity
- Not for profit
- Public sector organisation
Research organisations eligible to receive UKRI funding can't apply through this competition and must use the UKRI funding service instead. Catapult centres are the exception; they apply through this competition.
The fellowship funds one named individual. You don't need a PhD, but you must show you're ready to lead an ambitious programme of research or innovation, with a clear plan for developing as a leader. UKRI won't fund senior innovators who already run significant programmes or teams, where the fellowship wouldn't accelerate their leadership development.
Partners can join your project for up to six months over the lifetime of the fellowship, provided they bring complementary and different skills. To collaborate, they must be a UK registered:
- Academic institution
- Business of any size
- Charity
- Not for profit
- Public sector organisation
- Research and technology organisation (RTO)
Your Project
Your project must:
- Have a grant funding request of between £100,000 and £3 million
- Last four years, with an option to extend for a further three years
- Not start before October 2027
All funded work must be carried out in the UK, and you must intend to exploit the project results from or within the UK.
Your project must also:
- Go beyond business as usual and show clear novelty
- Include a clear leadership development plan that will accelerate your development as an independent leader
- Include explicit host commitments, like protected time, access to facilities and senior mentorship
- Set out an ambitious programme of work that will deliver meaningful benefits for the UK
How Much Funding Can I Apply For?
The amount you can claim depends on your organisation's type and size and the sort of research your project involves.
Individual grants range from £100,000 to £3 million.
Applying as a Company
| Project Type | Micro and Small | Medium | Large |
|---|---|---|---|
| Industrial Research* | 70% | 60% | 50% |
| Experimental Development** | 45% | 35% | 25% |
*Industrial research refers to planned research aimed at acquiring new knowledge for developing new products, processes, or services.
**Experimental development is closer to market. It involves using existing knowledge to develop or improve products, processes, or services.
Funding Example
Say you're a small business hosting a fellowship with £1 million in eligible industrial research costs. You could claim up to 70% of those costs, giving you a grant of £700,000. You will need to fund the remaining £300,000 from other sources, like R&D Tax Relief, investment or loans.
Applying as a Non-Commercial Organisation
Research organisations undertaking non-economic activity can share up to 100% of the total eligible project costs and are funded at higher rates:
- Up to 100% of eligible costs if you are a charity, not-for-profit, public sector organisation, research organisation, or RTO
- Up to 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you're a Je-S-registered institution, like a university
Note that this competition only funds overheads at 20% of labour costs.
How Do I Apply?
The deadline for applications is 4 November 2026.
Applications are submitted via Innovate UK's Innovation Funding Service (IFS) portal.
The application is split into three sections:
Project Details
This section provides background for your application and covers:
- Application details
- Application team
- Project summary
- Public description
- Research category
- Scope
Most answers in this section are limited to 400 words.
Application Questions
There are 22 questions in total:
- Eleven unscored administrative questions covering topics like your host organisation, animal testing, international collaboration and resubmissions
- Eleven scored questions covering your vision, approach and innovation, capability to deliver, career development, host organisation support, ethics, project management, risks, added value, value for money, and data management
You can include appendices (PDFs of up to two A4 pages) for the approach, project management, and risk questions.
Finances
Each organisation in your project must complete its own project costs, organisation details and funding details.
Your application will be reviewed by three independent assessors. Their individual scores will be combined to determine your final result.
If you're successful, you'll be notified by 31 July 2027. Applications that pass the initial assessment may be invited to an interview in May 2027.
Like with most competitions, Innovate UK takes a 'portfolio approach' by funding projects across different technologies, markets and technological maturities. This means that a strong score won't necessarily guarantee that your application will be successful.
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