Eureka collaborative R&D: Eurostars 3 Call 6

Overview

This competition is for UK businesses that want to apply to the Call 6 of the Eurostars. Please visit the Eureka call for proposals web page if you are not a UK applicant.

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £2.5 million to fund collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects focused on industrial research.

Scope

The aim of this competition is for international collaboration on R&D projects that create innovative products, processes or services for commercialisation.

Your collaborative research and development (CR&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, 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 definition of where intellectual property (IP) can be used and shared between the participants and countries
a clear route to market or have gone to clinical trials within 2 years of project completion

Eligibility

To apply, you must fulfil the seven eligibility criteria:

your consortium must be led by an innovative SME from a Eurostars country.
your consortium must include organisations from at least two Eurostars countries
the project organisations concerned must be independent from each other with a minimum of one organisation from an EU or Horizon associated country
the budget of the SMEs from a Eurostars country, excluding subcontracting, is 50% or more of the total project cost
no single participant or country is responsible for more than 70% of the project budget
the project duration is 36 months or less
the project has an exclusively civilian purpose

UK registered SME’s can apply for a total grant of up to €360,000 for each eligible UK project partner or 60% of total eligible project costs, whichever is the least.

To be eligible for grant funding from Innovate UK your collaboration:

must include at least one UK registered business micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
must include at least one eligible partner from one of the Eureka Eurostars members countries participating in the competition
can include other UK registered organisations

Your project:

can last up to 36 months
start date depends on the national funding procedures of the Eureka Eurostars members involved in the selected projects
must be collaborative

Projects must always start on the first of the month and this must be stated within your application. Your project start date will be reflected in your grant offer letter if you are successful.

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.

Eurostars terminology and roles

The terminology differs between Eurostars and Innovate UK. In the Innovate UK application the ‘project lead’ is responsible for the entire project but Eurostars uses the term ‘main participant’. For partners in the collaboration Eurostars uses ‘other participants.

Even if the project lead is from a participating Eurostars member other than the UK, the UK registered partners can still claim funding from Innovate UK. These collaborations must include at least one UK registered SME or business.

UK organisations

In the UK, only UK registered innovative SMEs are eligible for funding. More than one UK SME can be involved in each project.

These conditions must be met by each of the UK innovative SMEs.

You must:

not be a dormant status as per Companies House registration
be able to resource your participation

Innovate UK will not fund any other types of organisations, including:

academic institutions, including universities
research and technology organisations (RTOs)
charities
large businesses

These organisations can take part but must self-fund or use funds from other sources.

You must follow the Eurostars eligibility criteria and the Innovate UK eligibility criteria, at the application deadline and throughout your project.

The Innovate UK eligibility criteria:

UK SMEs will only receive funding for one live Eurostars project at a time, if you have an existing live project, then you must self-fund your participation in this application
UK partners must be separate, non-linked legal entities
UK partners must have been trading for 12 months at the competition application close date
all UK funded work must be carried out in the UK and your project costs must be incurred in the UK
UK subcontracting is capped at 20% of the UK partners’ total eligible costs
a UK-led project must be managed by an innovative SME, you cannot subcontract project management
your labour costs must be on a pay as you earn (PAYE) basis, following the PAYE rules section
overheads are capped at 25% of labour costs

If you require a permit or licence to carry out your project deliverables, you must have these in place prior to the project start date.

Subcontractors

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition, but they must not account for more than 20% of the UK partners’ total eligible costs.

Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.

You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use suppliers from the UK.

You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.

All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.

Partners not claiming funding

A non-grant claiming UK partner cannot lead on a project.

Your collaboration can include organisations from Eurostars that are not participating in this funding competition provided:

they have secured full funding elsewhere
you describe in your application why and how they will be involved and where they have secured financing from

Overall Eurostars project team

The organisations from participating Eurostars countries must meet the funding and eligibility conditions of their respective national funding bodies. These will be published on the Eureka call for proposals web page when this competition opens. These organisations must apply through their own funding bodies and not through the Innovation Funding Service.

Each partner must carry out all of their funded work within the Eurostars member country from which they receive funding, for example the UK for Innovate UK funding.

Any work which you wish to do outside of the UK, must be authorised by Innovate UK prior to your project starting, if you are in receipt of funding.

You must provide justification by email to support@iuk.ukri.org as soon as possible before you start your application and no later than the application deadline.

Your request will be passed on to the Programme Manager. They will decide whether to approve your request. If you have not requested approval or your request has not been approved by us, these costs will not be eligible for funding and must be self-funded.

Use of animals in research and innovation

Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.

Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both that in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation.

Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process. This information will be reviewed before an award is made.

You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.

Exclusions

Innovate UK are not funding projects that:

work on non-civilian technologies
are not in scope
do not meet Innovate UK’s and Eurostars eligibility criteria
do not submit all mandatory documentation

Innovate UK cannot fund projects that are:

dependent on export performance, for example giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country
dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product

Funding Costs

Up to £2.5 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

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 industrial research projects, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of up to €360,000 or 60% project costs, whichever is lower if you are a micro, small or medium-sized business.

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