UK businesses can win a share of up to £3 million to run a collaborative R&D project with a Swiss partner in semiconductors, engineering biology or life sciences. Each UK project can claim up to £450,000.
Innovate UK and Innosuisse, the Swiss innovation agency, have teamed up for the third round of this joint programme. The idea is simple. You pair a UK company with a Swiss one, back a genuinely innovative project, and help both sides grow. UK partners are funded by Innovate UK. Swiss partners are funded by Innosuisse through a parallel application.
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.
Find Out if You're Eligible Now
To find out if you and your project are suitable for this grant, book in a free Competitiveness and Eligibility Assessment. In just 25 minutes, I'll tell you:
- Whether you're a strong candidate for this competition
- Other grants you may be eligible for
- What other sources of funding we can help you secure
Never Miss a Funding Opportunity
New grant competitions are opening all the time. Make sure you don’t miss out by subscribing to GrantTree’s newsletter.
Who is Eligible?
Your Organisation
To start an application, you must be a UK registered business of any size. Your project has to involve at least one grant-claiming micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME). SMEs can apply as a sole applicant or lead a collaborative project, involving multiple organisations.
Your UK team can also bring in other partners as collaborators. UK collaborators can be an:
- Academic institution
- Business of any size
- Charity
- Not-for-profit organisation
- Public sector organisation
- Research and technology organisation (RTO)
Only UK partners are listed on the application. Your Swiss partner applies separately to Innosuisse and is funded by them, not by Innovate UK.
Your Project
Your UK project must:
- Claim no more than £450,000 in grant funding
- Last between 18 and 36 months
- Start on 1 February 2027
UK partners must carry out the majority of their work in the UK and intend to exploit the results from or within the UK.
Your project must also:
- Address innovation in semiconductors, engineering biology or life sciences
- Balance the technical contribution fairly between the UK and Swiss partners, with no country providing more than 70% or less than 30% of the total effort
- Include at least one business registered in Switzerland that is applying to the equivalent Innosuisse programme
- Include at least one research institute from the UK or Switzerland, unless your Swiss partner is an individual start-up that is pre-market and has fewer than 50 employees
- Show a clear, game-changing or disruptive innovation that leads to new products, processes or services
- Show a clear route to market within two to three years of the project finishing
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 UK grants are worth up to £450,000.
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 your UK project has eligible costs of £600,000 and you're a small company carrying out industrial research. You could claim 70%, which is £420,000 in grant. You will need to fund the remaining £180,000 from other sources, like R&D Tax Relief, investment or loans.
Applying as a Non-Commercial Organisation
Non-economic organisations 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 an academic institution, like a university
How Do I Apply?
The deadline for applications is 3 September 2026.
Applications are submitted via Innovate UK's Innovation Funding Service (IFS) portal.
The application is split into four sections:
Project Details
This section gives background on your project and is not scored. It covers your:
- Application details, including your project title, start date and duration
- 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 your main theme, animal testing, international collaboration and trusted research
- Ten scored questions covering your business need, technical approach, team, market, route to market, wider impacts, project management, risks, added value, 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 completes its own project costs, organisation details and funding details.
Project Impact
Every partner answers the Project Impact questions, which give background on the difference your project will make.
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 30 November 2026, and projects can start from 1 February 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.
Maximise Your Chances of Securing Funding
GrantTree has 15 years of experience helping startups, scaleups and established businesses secure over £500 million in innovation funding.
We offer Full Service Write, Grant Review and Grant Matching, plus our bespoke Elevate package, which combines writing, review, coaching and matching to maximise your chances of success.
We work closely with active grant assessors to understand exactly what it takes to prepare a compelling application.
To find out how we can help, just get in touch.
