UK-Germany Bilateral Collaborative R&D: Round 5

Business-led collaborative industrial research in clean energy, life sciences or engineering biology, bringing together a UK SME and an independent German SME applying through the parallel ZIM programme. UK partners may request GBP 100,000–350,000 per project for 12–24 months, starting on 1 August 2027. The GBP 2.4 million figure is the total UK competition budget, rather than an individual award. UK and German contributions must be balanced, with no country or partner accounting for more than 70% of total project cost. Most UK-funded activity and exploitation must be in the UK. The authoritative Innovation Funding Service competition closes on 1 December 2026 at 11:00 UK time.

A UK-registered SME must lead and collaborate with a legally separate, non-linked German SME applying to ZIM. UK businesses of any size, academic institutions and research and technology organisations may collaborate. German partners receive German ZIM funding through a separate application, not Innovate UK funding. Selection is required by both funding bodies.