EUREKA GlobalStars Japan

Key Features

UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £1 million to develop innovative proposals with Japan and other EUREKA participating members.

Programme:     Innovate UK

Award:     Share of up to £1 million

Opens: 8th Jun 2020

Closes: 10th Sep 2020

! This scheme is now closed

Overview

EUREKA, in partnership with NEDO (Japan), announce a Global Stars funding competition for research and development (R&D) projects under the EUREKA programme.

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing £1 million to fund UK businesses leading collaborative research and development (R&D) projects.

Projects should result in a new product, industrial process or service, be innovative and involve a technological risk.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to support innovative proposals developed between the UK, Japan and other EUREKA participating members.

Your collaborative R&D proposal must demonstrate:

  • a clear game-changing and/or disruptive innovative idea leading to new products, processes or services
  • a strong and deliverable business plan that addresses (and documents) market potential and needs
  • sound, practical financial plans and timelines
  • value for money
  • a clear, evidence-based plan to deliver significant economic impact, return on investment (ROI) and growth through commercialisation, as soon as possible after project completion
  • clear, considerable potential to significantly benefit the UK economy and/or national productivity
  • the benefit of participants from the countries working together and how this adds value
  • a clear definitions of where intellectual property (IP) can be used and shared between the participants and countries
  • a clear route to market within 2 to 3 years of project completion

Eligibility

To lead a project your organisation must:

  • be a UK registered business, of any size
  • involve at least one UK based SME, unless the lead themselves is an SME
  • the UK registered SME in your consortium must incur at least half of the UK total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one UK SME, this minimum is shared between them
  • collaborate with a lead organisation registered in Japan

Organisations from other EUREKA participating members must meet the funding and eligibility conditions of their respective national funding bodies. These will be provided in the competitions page on the EUREKA website, which will be published when this competition opens.

The consortium must include at least 2 businesses that are independent from each other:

  • one business registered in Japan
  • one business from one of the EUREKA participating members taking part in the project. As a minimum this would be the UK registered lead

In addition to the UK lead, the collaboration can also include other UK registered businesses of any size and UK registered research organisations.

Research organisations cannot lead or work alone. They must be able to show how they will exploit the results of the project to grow the wider sector in the UK.

Exclusions

This competition will not fund projects that:

  • are in the nuclear or pharmaceutical sector
  • have non-civilian applications
  • do not include at least one UK registered SME and one Japanese registered business
  • do not meet Innovate UK’s eligibility criteria
  • do not submit all mandatory documentation

Funding Costs

Up to £1 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition.

Organisations whose main activity is commercial or economic must make sure that the outcomes of the project such as intellectual property do not help gain a selective advantage in the market. This includes organisations that typically act non-economically but for the purpose of this project will be undertaking commercial or economic activity.

For industrial research projects, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:

  • up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
  • up to 60% if you are a medium-sized organisation
  • up to 50% if you are a large organisation

Eligible project costs are defined in the project costs guidance.

Your project must:

  • have total UK eligible costs between £100,000 and £1 million
  • start by 1 March 2021
  • last up to 24 months

Your project start date is dependent on the national funding procedures of the participating members national funding body involved in the selected projects.

Projects must be collaborative.

If your project’s total costs or duration fall outside of our eligibility criteria, you must provide justification by email to support@innovateuk.ukri.org at least 10 days before the competition closes. Innovate UK will decide whether to approve your request.