Innovate UK funding opportunities open for applications
Published: 05 May 2026
Innovate UK has a range of live funding competitions currently open to West Midlands businesses, research organisations and innovation-led collaborations. The opportunities below span sectors including cyber security, advanced manufacturing, AI, batteries, medicines manufacturing and low carbon technologies.
Here are some of the key competitions currently available to businesses and organisations across the UK.
Cyber Scale
Innovate UK has launched Cyber Scale, a Contracts for Innovation programme designed to help cyber security innovators demonstrate their solutions in real-world critical sector environments. The programme also enables organisations operating in critical sectors to trial and evaluate emerging cyber technologies.
The competition is aimed at supporting innovation adoption while strengthening cyber resilience across key industries.
Click here for more information.
Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Innovation
Innovate UK is investing up to £6.5 million into collaborative industrial research projects focused on improving the productivity, resilience and resource efficiency of manufacturing supply chains.
Projects must apply one or more of the following themes:
- Measurement, sensing and instrumentation
- Additive manufacturing
- Digital manufacturing and industrial AI
- Robotics and intelligent automation
- Power electronics
Click here for more information.
Innovate UK Venture Builder Pilot
Innovate UK is funding up to £150,000 through a pilot Venture Builder Programme aimed at supporting new deep-tech spin-outs and helping them secure their first significant investment.
This competition is currently at the Expression of Interest stage.
Click here for more information.
Frontier AI Benchmarking Datasets
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £4.5 million to support the creation, curation and application of FAIR-data and benchmarking datasets designed to accelerate AI industry growth.
The programme focuses on enabling the development and evaluation of frontier AI systems and foundation models.
Click here for more information.
Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP): 2026–2027 Round 2
Innovate UK is investing up to £10 million into Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) projects that connect businesses with universities, Catapults and research organisations to deliver innovation projects.
To apply, projects must involve:
- A UK registered higher education institution, research organisation or Catapult
- A UK registered business with at least two full-time employees
The business partner must contribute towards project costs.
Competition closes: 24 June 2026
Click here for more information.
Growth Cohorts: Next Generation Low Carbon Concrete
Innovate UK is inviting ambitious UK businesses to join a specialist growth cohort focused on decarbonising concrete production and use.
Participants will receive sector-specific support and access to funding opportunities to help develop and scale innovative low carbon solutions.
Competition closes: 8 July 2026
Click here for more information.
Frontier AI Discovery
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £2.5 million to develop feasibility studies focused on frontier AI, machine learning and foundation models.
The programme is designed as a two-phase competition, with Phase 2 expected to invest at least £50 million into collaborative demonstrator projects.
Competition closes: 10 June 2026
Click here for more information.
Medicines Manufacturing: Labs of the Future
Innovate UK is investing up to £7.5 million into projects supporting the development and adoption of digital, automated and robotic technologies within pharmaceutical manufacturing.
The competition aims to improve the speed and efficiency of medicines development and manufacturing processes.
Competition closes: 28 May 2026
Click here for more information.
Battery Innovation Feasibility Studies – Round 2
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £25 million to support innovation in battery technologies for electrification.
The competition aims to accelerate the commercialisation of advanced battery technologies, strengthen UK supply chains and improve the UK’s global competitiveness in the battery sector.
Competition closes: 27 May 2026
Click here for more information.
Battery Innovation Concept Development – Round 2
Innovate UK is also investing up to £25 million into innovation projects focused on battery-grade material technologies and UK battery manufacturing capability.
Projects should support:
Battery material processing and extraction
- Recycling and recovery of critical materials
- Supply chain resilience and localisation
- Multi-sector manufacturing capability
Competition closes: 27 May 2026
Click here for more information.
