Funding competition

Future Leaders Fellowships: Round 11, business and non-academic

UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £110 million to deliver ambitious research and innovation and develop future leaders. This funding is from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Competition opens

Monday 22 June 2026

Competition closes

Wednesday 4 November 2026 11:00am

Start new application

Competition sections

Summary
Eligibility
Scope
Dates
How to apply
Supporting information

Description

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will invest up to £110 million through Future Leaders Fellowships Round 11. A proportion of this budget will support applicants hosted in business and non-academic organisations, administered by Innovate UK on behalf of UKRI. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received.

The aim of this competition is to:

provide sustained funding and resources for talented individuals with the potential to become future leaders in research and innovation
enable individuals to establish an independent research or innovation career
support the development of leadership capability
enable the delivery of high quality, impactful and ambitious work aligned with UK strategic priorities

A Future Leaders Fellow, working with their host organisation, will receive at least four years of funding to pursue an ambitious programme of innovation. The fellow will also have access to tailored opportunities and resources to develop their career as a future leader in their field.

Your proposal must clearly set out how the fellowship will accelerate your development as an independent leader and how your programme of work will deliver meaningful benefits for the UK.

In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly but we are still unable to fund it.

Our experience from similar competitions suggests that you could have 13% chance of success.

We consider a range of factors when determining whether to provide funding to applicants. This includes an assessment of prior conduct, such as any outstanding payments owed to Innovate UK or UKRI. Such factors may influence the funding decision, potentially resulting in a refusal of funding or an award subject to additional scrutiny.

We also reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions. This may be in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations or broader government funding decisions.

This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief. We cannot guarantee other government or third party sites will always show the correct competition information.

Funding type

Grant

Project size

Your project’s total eligible grant funding request must be between £100,000 and £3 million.

Accessibility and Inclusion

We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.

You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance.

We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline.

You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

Who can apply

Your project

Your project must:

have a grant funding request of between £100,000 and £3 million
last for 4 years, with an option to extend for a further three years
not start before October 2027

Any organisation receiving funding must carry out its project work in the UK, intend to exploit the results in the UK, and spend most of the funding within the UK.

International partners and work overseas is allowed with full justification.

Projects must always start on the first of the month, even if this is a non-working day. You must not start your project until your Grant Offer Letter has been approved by Innovate UK. Any delays within Project Setup may mean we need to delay your project start date.

You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs.

If your project’s grant funding request or duration falls outside of our eligibility criteria, you must provide justification by email to support@iuk.ukri.org at least 10 working days before the competition closes. We will then decide whether to approve your request.

If your project does not meet our criteria and you have not requested justification approval, your application will be made ineligible and it will not be sent for assessment.

If the total cost of your application is expected to exceed £1.4 million, email the FLF team to inform us of the expected cost of your proposal. This soft cap has been put in place to help monitor application costs across the scheme. Applicants can exceed this cap if all costs are fully justified and are considered good value for money by the panel.

Email the team at fellows@ukri.org using the subject header ‘Application over £1.4 million’, you will receive an automated response acknowledging your email.

Lead organisation

To host a Future Leaders Fellowship project your organisation must be a:

UK registered business of any size
charity
not for profit
public sector organisation
agri-tech centre
eligible research organisation

More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.

Research organisations eligible to receive UKRI funding cannot apply to host a fellowship through this application form. Fellowship applications for these organisations must be made through the UKRI funding service. This does not apply to Catapult centres; Catapult centres must apply for this competition through this application form.

Project team

Fellow: You must demonstrate that you have the skills, knowledge and experience required to deliver the proposed project.

Your application must evidence readiness to lead an ambitious programme of research or innovation and include a clear plan for leadership development. This applies regardless of academic qualifications.

You do not need to hold a PhD, and there are no eligibility rules based on the number of years since your PhD. If you do not hold a PhD, you must be able to demonstrate equivalent research or innovation experience or training.

Future Leaders Fellowships are open to researchers and innovators from outside the UK, with the support of an eligible UK‑based host organisation. Researchers and innovators may be eligible for a Global Talent visa under the ‘exceptional promise’ category for future research and innovation leaders.

Future Leaders Fellowships offer flexibility to support outstanding individuals, including those:

from diverse career backgrounds
returning from a career break, or returning to research or innovation following time in other roles
wishing to work part‑time or in job shares to combine the fellowship with personal responsibilities

Fellows may spend up to 50% of their time on other activities that are not funded by the fellowship, where these activities are demonstrated to benefit or be necessary for their career development. Such activities may include business as usual responsibilities, other grant funding, or ongoing contracts. No additional salary may be claimed for non‑FLF activities during the fellowship.

Where a Fellow spends less than 100% of their time on the fellowship, the duration of the award may be extended on a pro‑rata basis, up to the maximum permitted duration, subject to approval.

Applicants interested in applying as a job share should contact fellows@ukri.org.

Partners: To ensure leadership remains with you as the Fellow, the involvement of partners should be limited to a maximum of six months over the lifetime of the fellowship.

Partners are only permitted when bringing complementary and different skills to the project. Their role should be clearly defined in the application.

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

business of any size
academic institution
charity
not for profit
public sector organisation
research and technology organisation (RTO)

Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once partners have accepted the invitation, they will be asked to login or to create an account in the IFS. They are responsible for entering their own project costs in the application.

Partners are permitted from UK or abroad for six months over the lifetime of the project.

FLF is designed to help you develop and lead your own independent research or innovation vision. Because of this, we do not normally expect senior staff or established innovators to be costed on the fellowship. In most cases, senior input should be provided through mentoring, advisory, or supervisory roles rather than paid staff time.

Requests to include partners must be clearly justified. You should explain:

why their involvement is essential to delivering your programme
the distinct expertise they provide that cannot be met through mentoring or advisory support
how you will maintain leadership and ownership of the work

Partners must:

receive the same salary and conditions as staff at the organisation they are employed with
claim salary costs only for their time on the project

All costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.

Non-funded partners

Your project can include organisations who do not claim any funding for their work on the project. Their costs will be covered from their own resources. These 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 the results outside the UK.

Where non-funded partners have been invited to the application on IFS, their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs.

Subcontractors

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.

Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.

You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you cannot use subcontractors from the UK.

You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.

All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs.

Number of applications

A fellow can only lead on one application.

Sanctions

This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions. For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups.

Use of animals in research and innovation

Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.

Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation.

Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process. This information will be reviewed before an award is made.

Human Participation:

Applicants applying for research grants involving human participants will need to complete a Schedule of Events Cost Attribution Template (SoECAT).

Full guidance and the template to be submitted can be found in the Online SoECAT Guidance | NIHR.

Previous applications

You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.

You can resubmit an application previously submitted to the Future Leaders Fellowship programme. You will be asked to identify your application as a resubmission in your application form. You must indicate within your application where changes have been made to address previous feedback.

We will not award you funding if you have:

failed to exploit a previously funded project
an overdue independent accountant’s report
failed to comply with grant terms and conditions

Innovate UK may withhold a grant payment at any time if you have any outstanding sums due to us in relation to other projects.

Subsidy control (and State aid where applicable)

This competition provides funding to enterprises using the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme.

The Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Scheme can be viewed on the subsidy database here: SC10780.

This is in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Further information about the Subsidy requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk)

Innovate UK is unable to award organisations that are considered to be in financial difficulty. We will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage.

EU State aid rules now only apply in limited circumstances. See the Windsor Framework to check if these rules apply to your organisation.

In the ‘Project details’ section of your application you will be asked questions to indicate if State Aid or Subsidy applies to your organisation.

Further Information

If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 or the State aid rules, you should take independent legal advice. We are unable to advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations.

You must not do anything which could cause a breach of Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom.

This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to, or distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries.

This award is classified as a Subsidy which does not form part of your Minimal Financial Assistance or de minimis allowance.

Funding

Up to £110 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this round of the programme. This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

We reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions under exceptional circumstances, for example, in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations, or broader government funding decisions.

Under the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Route rules, no more than £3 million can be awarded in the form of a grant to any one enterprise in any one competition.

If your 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, experimental development and innovation support you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:

Category 2 Industrial research projects Funding available 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

Category 2 Experimental development projects which are nearer to market Funding available for your eligible project costs of:

up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation
up to 35% if you are a medium sized organisation
up to 25% if you are a large organisation

For more information on company sizes, refer to the company accounts guidance.

If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.

Innovate UK may revoke our decision to provide funding without notice if government commitment for this initiative is withdrawn.

Organisations not undertaking economic activity may receive 100% of eligible project costs. See further details below.

Overheads FLF will only fund overheads at 20% of labour costs.

Research participation The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 100% 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 100% you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:

100% of your eligible project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not for profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation
80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you an academic institution

Eligibility criteria for claiming 80% of FEC funding

Research organisations must use the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) method as the Je-S form has now been decommissioned.
We pay 100% of the 80% Full Economic Cost (FEC). On IFS only enter the 80% being claimed. To find out more see our: Cost Guidance for Academics.

Your proposal

Text update 12 June 2026: additional information added for clarity.

The aim of this competition is to:

provide sustained funding and resources for talented individuals with the potential to become future leaders in research and innovation
enable individuals to establish an independent research or innovation career
support the development of leadership capability
enable the delivery of high quality, impactful and ambitious work aligned with UK strategic priorities

Your project must:

clearly set out an ambitious programme of work that will deliver meaningful benefits for the UK
go beyond business as usual and show clear novelty
include a clear leadership development plan that will accelerate your development as an independent leader
include explicit host commitments, such as protected time, access to facilities and senior mentorship

Your project can:

be made up of a single programme of work, or multiple projects led by the Fellow, known as a ‘Portfolio Fellowship’
be altered once underway to react to changes in the research landscape, capitalise on advance in understanding, or react to changing business needs

Intellectual property (IP) All participants in the scheme and their host organisations are required to give due regard to the appropriate protection of any IP arising from the project. You must describe effective routes to exploitation which have the potential to achieve maximum benefit for the UK economy and wider society.

Portfolio approach We want to fund a variety of projects across different technologies, markets, technological maturities and research categories. We call this a portfolio approach.

If there is an evidenced need, UKRI may make appropriate and proportionate interventions, including in final funding decisions. This is in accordance with their duty to advance equality of opportunity between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. This may include using the EDI monitoring data provided by lead applicants in the decision making process for interview selections.

Specific themes

Proposals are invited from all areas of research and innovation, including:

the arts, humanities and social sciences
the five critical technologies outlined in the UK’s Science and Technology Framework
applications that are multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary

Research and innovation are considered in the fullest sense, including business, creative, cultural, service and knowledge-based sectors.

Research categories

We will fund industrial research projects and experimental development projects, as defined in the guidance on categories of research.

Projects we will not fund

We are not funding projects that are:

submitted by senior innovators, meaning individuals already running significant programmes or teams, or holding substantial leadership roles where FLF funding would not accelerate leadership development
supporting business as usual activities

We cannot fund projects that are:

dependent on export performance: giving a subsidy to an organisation on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of its products to another country
dependent on domestic inputs usage: giving a subsidy to an organisation on the condition that it uses a set percentage of UK components in their product

Dates (definition list)

22 June 2026: Competition opens
26 June 2026: Online briefing event: watch the recording (Briefing slides are available to download from Supporting Information)
4 November 2026 11:00am: Competition closes
30 April 2027: Invite to interview
1 May 2027: Interview panel start
31 May 2027: Interview panel end
31 July 2027: Applicants notified
1 October 2027: Project start from

Before you start

You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.

Before submitting, it is the responsibility of the fellow that started the application to make sure:

that all the information provided in the application is correct
your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria
all sections of the application are marked as complete
if collaborative, that all partners have completed all assigned sections and accepted the terms and conditions (T&Cs)

You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline. You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline.

What we ask you The application is split into three sections:

Project details.
Application questions.
Finances.

Accessibility and Inclusion We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.