Eureka GlobalStars Japan 2026

Overview

This competition is for UK businesses that want to apply to the Eureka Globalstars Japan 2026 call. Please visit the Eureka call for proposals web page if you are not a UK applicant.

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest a minimum of £2 million. This is to fund collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects focused on industrial research. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received.

Innovate UK reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions under exceptional circumstances, for example, in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations, or broader government funding decisions.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to fund business led, collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects focused on industrial research. This competition will be for innovative proposals developed between the UK, Japan and the other Eureka participating countries. Innovate UK will be funding the UK partners only.

Your project must have high market potential and develop at least one of the following:

innovative products
technology based applications
technology based services

Your collaborative R&D proposal must demonstrate:

an effective collaboration between the UK partners and Japan as a minimum
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 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 two to three years of project completion

Specific Themes

Your project must have high market potential and develop at least one of the following:

innovative products
technology based applications
technology based services

Innovate UK encourage projects in key sector areas which align to the UK Industrial Strategy.

Eligibility

UK applicants can apply for total grant of up to £600,000 for each project.

Your project can last up to three years and is expected to start by 1 July 2026. The start date depends on the national funding procedures of the Eureka members involved in the selected projects.

Projects must be collaborative.

You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs. For specific guidance, see the eligibility section in this competition.

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

If you have not requested approval or your application has not been approved by us, you will be made ineligible. Your application will then not be sent for assessment.

Eureka terminology and roles

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

Even if the project lead is from a participating Eureka 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 business of any size.

UK lead applicant

The UK registered partners in your Eureka project must nominate one business, of any size, to start an Innovate UK application. Innovate UK refer to them as the ‘lead organisation’ and the person they nominate to have overall responsibility as the ‘lead applicant’.

The lead applicant has an overall view of the application and must:

start the application
monitor the partners’ application progress
make sure all UK partners complete their parts of the application
click submit once the application is complete

The UK lead applicant must collaborate with at least one SME from Japan participating in the competition. It must be a separate legal entity, not linked to the UK partners.

You can also collaborate with other participating Eureka members in addition to Japan.

Overall Eureka project team

The organisations from participating Eureka members 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 the majority of their funded work within the Eureka member from which they receive funding, for example the UK for Innovate UK funding.

There must be a genuine collaboration. No more than 70% of the total eligible project costs can be claimed by a single partner or by all partners from a single participating Eureka member collectively.

UK project team

The UK lead applicant can also collaborate with:

other UK registered businesses of any size
UK registered universities and research and technology organisations (RTOs)

UK 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.

To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and at least one other organisation must:

apply for funding when entering their costs into the application
include rationale for the collaboration and describe the structure in your application
ensure any one partner does not account for more than 70% of the total eligible costs

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. Where subcontractors are non-UK based, please justify why you are unable to use a UK alternative.

Innovate UK would expect subcontractor costs to be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs.

Partners not claiming funding

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

Your collaboration can include organisations from Eureka members 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

Number of applications

A UK registered business can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in a further two applications.

If a UK registered business is not leading any application, it can collaborate in up to three applications.

An academic institution or RTO can collaborate on any number of applications.

Sanctions

This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions. For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups.

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.

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 will not fund projects that:

work on non-civilian technologies
are not in scope
do not meet Innovate UK’s eligibility criteria
do not submit all mandatory documentation
are in the nuclear or drug discovery sector
do not include at least one UK registered business and one eligible Japanese registered SME as a minimum
request grants of more than £600,000 from Innovate UK

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

A minimum of £2 million has been allocated to fund UK organisations undertaking innovation projects in this competition. This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

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

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

The UK registered research organisations in your consortium can share up to 30% of the UK total eligible project costs:

100% of your eligible project costs if you are an RTO

80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are a Je-S registered institution such as an academic

Eligibility criteria for claiming 80% of FEC funding

Research organisations using the Je-S system must submit their costs through the Je-S system which calculates the 80% FEC figure.
On IFS, only the 80% FEC output should be entered at 100% funding.
Applicants do not need to show the remaining 20% on the finance table.

To find out more see our: Cost Guidance for Academics.

If your consortium contains more than one UK research organisation, this maximum will be shared between them.

Innovate UK may revoke our decision to provide funding without notice if government commitment for this initiative is withdrawn.

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