The Winners and Losers of Innovate UK Funding (Part 1)

The government announced a 66% funding increase in core Innovate UK programmes to £1.1 billion in 2024-2025 so it’s important to know if your type of business and the innovation project you are thinking of typically get Innovate UK funding.

Innovate UK’s 5 year plan which covers the years 2021 to 2025, has the future economy as one of its key priorities and focuses on the following:

  1. Net zero plus
    Better protect the environment and help the UK achieve a net zero carbon economy in 2050.
  2. Health and wellbeing
    Invest to tackle ill-health, enhance wellbeing, and improve diet and food in the UK.
  3. Technologies
    Help UK companies deploy technologies more effectively in their businesses.
  4. Horizon scanning and foresight
    Look ahead to what comes next, in markets, societal trends and technology.

Are more businesses getting funded by Innovate UK?

Looking back at 2021* we can see the number of Innovate UK funded projects returned back to normal levels with 3,296 projects started, following the surge in 2020 that saw 6,439 projects started, 3,596 projects started in 2019 and 3,585 projects started in 2018.

*2021 is where we have a reasonably complete set of data with only minor updates from Innovate UK.

If you’re thinking of starting an innovation project and want to know what are the latest innovation grants available right now then click here to order your Grants Report, if you prefer to get in touch please use our contact form.

In part 2 of this blog series we look at the how Innovate UK funding was allocated to the regions and major cities.