Innovate UK is investing up to £10 million in early stage Createch innovation, with grants of up to £350,000 for UK SMEs building new digital platforms and services in the creative industries.
The Next Wave: Breakthrough Wave 1 competition funds industrial research projects that sit at the intersection of high growth Createch and the frontier industries set out in the Creative Industries Sector Plan: video games, advertising and marketing, film and TV, and music, performing and visual arts. Your project should take an innovation beyond proof of concept, de-risk future investment and create a new revenue stream for your business.
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 lead a project, you must be a UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME). SMEs can apply as a sole applicant or lead a collaborative project, involving multiple organisations. Organisations without a commercial focus, including Community Interest Companies (CICs) and charities, can't lead in this competition.
If you're leading a collaborative project, you can include the following UK registered organisations as collaborators:
- Academic institutions
- Businesses of any size
- Charities
- Not-for-profits
- Public sector organisations
- Research and technology organisations (RTOs)
Academic institutions and RTOs can't lead or work alone, and no single partner can account for more than 70% of the total eligible project costs. Subcontractors are allowed, but their costs must not be more than 50% of the total project costs.
Your Project
Your project must:
- End by 31 December 2027
- Have total eligible costs between £100,000 and £500,000
- Last between 9 and 12 months
- Start by 1 January 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:
- Be market ready within 12 months of project completion
- Create a new revenue stream, like new products, services or IP
- Demonstrate a clearly innovative and ambitious idea that addresses an industry challenge
- Demonstrate value for money
- Focus on innovation in high growth commercial digital platforms and services
- Sit within one of the frontier industries: video games; advertising and marketing; film and TV; or music, performing and visual arts
Innovate UK won't fund projects that:
- Are content rather than R&D, like podcasts, courses or informational websites
- Commission business as usual activities
- Create secondary funding, like grant programmes, accelerators or awards
- Develop fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) products
- Develop internal workflow tools that don't benefit the wider ecosystem
- Include physical construction or infrastructure
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 £50,000 to £350,000.
Applying as a Company
| Project Type | Micro and Small | Medium | Large |
|---|---|---|---|
| Industrial Research* | 70% | 60% | 50% |
*Industrial research refers to planned research aimed at acquiring new knowledge for developing new products, processes, or services.
Funding Example
Say you're a small company with a project worth £500,000 in eligible costs. At a funding rate of 70%, you could claim a grant of £350,000. You will need to fund the remaining £150,000 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 30% 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
How Do I Apply?
The deadline for applications is 11 August 2026.
Applications are submitted via Innovate UK's Innovation Funding Service (IFS) portal.
The application is split into four sections:
Project Details
This section provides background for your application and isn't scored. It 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 17 questions in total:
- Seven unscored administrative questions covering topics like animal testing, international collaboration and your chosen frontier industry
- Ten scored questions covering your business need, approach and innovation, team, market awareness, route to market, wider impacts, project management, risks, added value, and costs and value for money
You can include appendices (PDFs of up to two A4 pages) for the approach, team, project management, and risk questions.
Finances
Each organisation in your project must complete its own project costs, organisation details and funding details.
Project Impact
Each partner must answer the Project Impact questions before you can submit; this section isn't scored but provides background to your project.
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 1 October 2026.
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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