There are continued opportunities for UK registered businesses to apply for Innovation Loans from Innovate UK. A share of £25 million is available for innovative, late-stage projects with strong commercial potential.
In the Strategic Delivery Plan 2022-25, Innovate UK confirmed a full national roll-out of the Innovation Loans programme. They have committed £50 million for ten competitions in 2022-23, with an additional £15 million allocated to the DASA Innovation Loans programme.
Eligibility
You can apply for a loan of between £100,000 and £2 million to fund your project’s eligible costs. Projects can last up to 5 years, including both the R&D and commercialisation phases. Loan recipients must also:
- Be a UK-registered SME
- Carry out their project from or in the UK and intend to exploit the project’s results from or in the UK
- Give evidence that their business is suitable to take on a loan
Scope
All projects must lead to new products, processes or services that are significantly ahead of current state-of-the-art solutions. They can also involve a new or innovative business model. Projects should focus on one or more of the following themes and sub-themes:
Net Zero
- energy
- impact of industrial processes and use of materials
- agriculture and food and other sources of emissions
- capital intensity
Health and Wellbeing
- tackling ill health
- enhancing wellbeing
- diet and food
Next generation digital technologies
Technology families
- advanced materials and manufacturing
- artificial intelligence
- digital and advanced computing
- bioinformatics and genomics
- engineering biology
- electronics, photonics and quantum technologies
- energy and environment technologies
- robotics and smart machines
Dates
Innovation Loans Round 6 is open for applications until 9th November 2022. The next round will open on the day the previous round closes, with the final round closing on 8th March 2023.
How RedKnight can help
RedKnight has a strong track record of securing Innovate UK funding and can help you develop a competitive application! Please contact us in order to arrange a free consultation.
If you’re looking for grant funding, you may be more interested in Innovate UK Smart Grants.
