UK Israel open collaborative competition 2018

Overview

UK and Israel are announcing a joint funding competition under the EUREKA framework. This will support collaborative, business led research and development (R&D) projects which should result in a new product, industrial process or service. Projects must be innovative, involve a technological risk and target large global markets.

Scope

Your 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
• a team, business arrangement or working structure with the necessary skills and experience to run and complete the project successfully and on time
• awareness of all the main risks the project will face (including contractor or equipment failure, recruitment delays and so on) with realistic management, mitigation and impact minimisation plans for each
• 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 and Israeli economies and/or national productivity
• the benefit of participants from the 2 countries working together
• how this adds value

Exclusions

They will not fund projects that:

• have non-civilian applications
• do not include at least one UK based business and one Israel based business

Eligibility

To be eligible for funding your collaboration must:

• be led by a UK business of any size
• include at least one business in the UK and at least one in Israel

The Israeli partner or partners must be separate, non-linked legal entities from the UK partners.

Each partner must carry out the majority of their funded work within the country from which they receive funding. That is the UK for Innovate UK and Israel for the Israel Innovation Authority funding.

Funding Costs

For UK participants Innovate UK have allocated up to £1 million to fund innovation projects in this competition.

UK project total eligible costs are expected to be between £200,000 and £250,000. Projects are expected to last up to 24 months.

For 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 Israeli funding support is in the form of a conditional grant. This generally amounts to up to 50% plus regional incentives for companies located in the designated ’development zones’ of the eligible R&D budget. You can find out more about development zones, grants and payment of royalties from the Israel Innovation Authority website.

Organisations from other EUREKA member states can participate provided:

• your project meets the minimum participation levels for UK and Israel organisations
• the partners have secured funding