UK – Germany Bilateral: Collaborative R&D

Key Features

UK registered organisations, collaborating with at least one German SME applying under the equivalent German ZIM programme, can apply for a share of up to £4 million for collaborative research projects resulting in innovative solutions.

Programme:     Innovate UK

Award:     Share of up to £4 million

Opens: 7th Feb 2023

Closes: 7th Jun 2023

! This scheme is now closed

Overview

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with The Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz (BMWK), (The Federal Ministry For Economic Affairs And Climate Action), to invest up to £4 million in innovation projects.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to support UK and German business-led collaboration in innovation with grant funding. Innovate UK will support UK businesses to collaborate successfully with German counterparts and build your global growth prospects.

Your project must:

  • be collaborative
  • last between 12 and 36 months

Your collaborative R&D proposal must demonstrate:

  • a clear game-changing 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
  • good value for money, which will always be a consideration in Innovate UK funding decisions
  • 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 potential to significantly benefit the UK economy or national productivity
  • the benefit of participants from the countries working together and how this adds value
  • a clear definition 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

Your project must:

  • have a maximum grant funding request of £400,000 for all UK partners
  • start by 1 December 2023
  • end by 30 November 2026
  • last between 12 months and 36 months

UK project partners must carry out the majority of their project work in the UK and intend to exploit the results from or in the UK.

Your project’s consortium must include at least one UK registered business and one German registered SME. In order to receive any grant funding and continue as a project, your proposal must be successful with applications from both sides of the consortium.

UK participants must submit an application and be selected to receive grant funding from Innovate UK and the German participant’s application must be selected to receive grant funding through the German ZIM programme.

All businesses in a consortium must be separate legal and non-linked entities. This is to ensure that projects encourage genuine international collaboration, not internal company research. Linked companies are considered a single entity under the parent company.

Your project must have a balanced contribution of the total eligible project costs among the partners from the participating partner countries. No more than 60% of the total project costs can be claimed by any single partner or by all partners from a single participating country.

You must only include eligible project costs in your application.

Under current restrictions, this competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian and Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian and Belarusian source.

To lead a project from the UK side your organisation must:

  • be a UK registered business of any size
  • collaborate with at least one German organisation applying under the equivalent ZIM programme, which must be a separate legal entity, not linked to the UK partners
  • be or involve at least one UK micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)

Academic institutions cannot lead or work alone.

Your project can include partners, including overseas partners, that do not receive any of this competition’s funding. Their costs will count towards the total project costs.

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.

An eligible UK business can lead on one application and collaborate on one further application.

If an organisation is not leading any application, it can collaborate in up to two applications.

You cannot use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.

Exclusions

Innovate UK are not funding projects that:

  • do not have a collaboration agreement with a German SME funded under the equivalent ZIM programme for their project
  • do not meet Innovate UK’s eligibility criteria

Innovate UK cannot fund projects that are:

  • dependent on export performance
  • dependent on domestic inputs usage

Funding Costs

Up to £4 million from Innovate UK, and up to €4 million from the German BMWK has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition.

Funding from Innovate UK for UK partners will be in the form of a grant.

For UK partners, if your organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically but for the purpose of this project will be undertaking commercial or economic activity.

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

  • up to 60% 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

For experimental development projects which are nearer to market, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:

  • up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation
  • up to 35% if you are a medium sized organisation
  • up to 25% if you are a large organisation

For more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance. This is a change from the EU definition unless you are applying under State aid.

If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.

Research participation for UK organisations

The UK research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 50% of the total grant request. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them. Of that 50% you could get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:

  • 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are a Je-S registered institution such as an academic
  • 100% of your project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not for profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation

German organisations

Each German project partner must submit a separate, individual ZIM application to BMWK.

Every German SME, in accordance with the relevant EU regulations, as well as medium-sized companies with less than 500 employees (or full-time equivalents), which carry out R&D for the development of innovative products, processes or technical services, are eligible to apply.

Other medium-sized companies with less than 1,000 employees are eligible to apply for funding if they cooperate with at least one SME (EU definition) whose project is being funded.

Research and technology organisations (RTOs) are eligible to apply as cooperation partners of eligible companies. Detailed criteria for submitting applications and the ZIM application form are available on the ZIM website You can also contact BMWK directly.

The ZIM application must comply with the ZIM regulations and be written in German. If you do not have previous experience of ZIM applications, we recommend you contact BMWK at least 6 weeks prior to the deadline for guidance.

Interested in applying for this competition?

Book an appointment to speak to one of our advisors to discuss your eligibility to apply for this Grant Funding opportunity.