UK-Germany Bilateral Collaborative R&D: Round 5

Key Features

UK registered SME’s can apply for a share of up to £2.4 million for the purpose of developing innovative proposals with Germany. You must collaborate with at least one German SME applying under the equivalent German ZIM programme.

Programme:     Innovate UK

Award:     Share of up to £2.4 million

Opens: 28th Sep 2026

Closes: 1st Dec 2026

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Grant Overview

Innovate UK will work with The Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie to invest up to £2.4 million in innovation projects.

Grant Scope

The aim of this competition is to fund business-led collaborative research and development projects focused on industrial research.

Projects must focus on one or more of the following specific themes:

  • Clean Energy
  • Life Sciences
  • Engineering Biology

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for this competition you must have a grant funding request of between £100,000 and £350,000. Projects must last between 12 and 24 months, starting on 1st August 2027 and ending by 31st June 2029.

The majority of the project work must be undertaken in the UK and Germany. UK project partners must carry out the majority of their project activities in the UK, with the intention of exploiting the project results in or from the UK, and the majority of the funding must be spent in the UK. Consortiums must include at least one business registered in Germany that is a separate entity and not linked to UK partners.

No one country or project partner can represent more than 70% of the total project cost.

UK Lead Organisation: To lead a collaborative project you must be a UK registered micro, small or medium sized enterprise and collaborate with at least one German registered SME applying to the German ZIM programme, which must be a separate legal entity and not linked to the UK partners.

UK Project Team: To collaborate with the lead, organisations must be a UK registered business of any size, academic institution or research and technology organisation. Only UK registered partners must be listed in the Project Partner section of your application on the Innovation Funding Service. German partners will not receive any of this UK competition funding, they will be funded by the German ZIM programme following a parallel application.

Non-funded partners: Projects can include organisatio9ns that do not claim funding for their work on the project, these costs will be covered from their own resources and can include UK, EU and other non-UK organisations. Non-UK partners are permitted to carry out project work from within their home countries and exploit results from outside the UK.

International partners: German partners do not need to be invited into Innovate UK’s application on the Innovation Funding Service. German partners will be funded by the German ZIM programme following a parallel application.

Subcontractors: Subcontractors are allowed in this competition but are limited to no more than 20% of the total eligible costs of the UK participation. Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK. All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs.

Number of applications: An eligible organisation can only lead on one application. Further applications will be made ineligible. An eligible organisation leading an application can be included as a collaborator in a further two applications and if not leading, they can collaborate in any number of applications.

Previous Applications: Previously submitted applications can be used for this competition.

Grant Exclusions

Innovate UK will not fund the following projects:

  • Projects that do not meet Innovate UK’s eligibility criteria
  • Projects that do not submit all mandatory documentation
  • Projects requesting grants of less than £100,000 or more than £350,000 from Innovate UK
  • Projects without a German partner
  • Projects posing a risk to the UK’s national security, economic security or strategic interests

Funding Costs

Innovate UK are offering up to £2.4 million to fund innovation projects in this competition. Funding will be in the form of a grant. Each country will fund its eligible participants according to their national procedure and funding rules.

UK Partners

If your UK registered 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 can 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

Research participation for UK Organisations

The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them. Of that 30% you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:

  • 100% of your eligible project costs if you are an RTO or research organisation
  • 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are an academic institution

Eligibility criteria for claiming 80% of FEC funding

  1. Research organisations must use the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) method as the Je-S form has now been decommissioned.
  2. We pay 100% of the 80% Full Economic Cost (FEC). On IFS only enter the 80% being claimed.

For further information on this competition, please see full details.

Full competition details