Funding competition Farming Innovation Programme: Small R&D Partnership Projects Rd 5

UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £13 million for small R&D partnership projects. This funding is from the industry led R&D Partnerships Fund, a part of the Defra Farming Innovation Programme.

Competition opens: Tuesday 1 September 2026 Competition closes: Wednesday 14 October 2026 11:00am

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Competition sections

• [Summary]
• [Eligibility]
• [Scope]
• [Dates]
• [How to apply]
• [Supporting information]

Description

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will invest up to £13 million in innovation projects. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received. This funding is part of Defra's Farming Innovation Programme which is delivered in partnership with Innovate UK. 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. The aim of this competition is to:

• develop solutions with the potential to improve overall productivity, sustainability, resilience and move existing agricultural sectors to net zero
• ensure solutions have positive outputs for farmers, growers or foresters in commercially relevant situations
• develop new agricultural solutions by collaboration through engagement with end users and the UK research community in the innovation process
• accelerate adoption by ensuring knowledge exchange with the wider sector and other stakeholders Your proposal must be able to demonstrate how the project will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England. This competition has a two stage assessment. If your project is assessed as eligible, you may be invited to present at interview. The selection of successful projects will be decided after interviews. 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 15% 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 costs must be between £1 million 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 If your application passes the technical assessment, any awards given to primary agricultural producers are subject to the green box exemption under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture. See further guidance on green box subsidies [WTO Guidance for support in Agriculture]. Applicants receiving this type of support must ensure that there is minimal to no distortion of trade and comply with the requirements of [Annex 2 of the Agriculture Agreement]. Your project must:

• have total costs between £1 million and £3 million
• last up to 30 months
• be collaborative
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in England
• start by 01 April 2027
• end by 31 March 2030 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. 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 total costs/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. Lead organisation To lead a collaborative project your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size. The consortium must contain at least one UK registered [micro, small or medium sized enterprise] (SME) claiming grant funding on this application. More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our [Funding rules]. You must be able to evidence that you are an established commercial business, including [sole traders] and partnerships. Project team 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 and completing their Project Impact questions in the application. To be an eligible collaboration:
• the lead and at least one other organisation must request funding
• you must explain why you’re collaborating and how the collaboration will work
• no single organisation can claim more than 70% of 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 project costs. Number of applications A business can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in two further applications. If a business is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications. Academic institutions, research and technology organisations (RTO), charities, not for profits or public sector organisations can collaborate on any number of applications. 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.

Previous applications

You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition. If you have previously submitted an application that reached our assessment stage, you can re-apply once more with the same proposal. If there are minor differences to the proposal, but it is judged by us to be ‘not materially different’, the same rule applies. 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 in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Further information about the Subsidy requirements can be found within the [Subsidy Control Act 2022]. 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 £13 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. 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. If your project includes grant funding for farmers, growers or foresters, a minimum of 50% of the total grant amount requested by them in your application, must come from farmers, growers or foresters geographically based in England. 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 projects, you can get funding 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 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. Research participation The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 30% 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 30% 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 are an academic institution Eligibility criteria for claiming 80% of FEC funding

1. Research organisations must use the [Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) method] as the Je-S form has now been decommissioned.
2. 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

The aim of this competition is to:

• develop solutions with the potential to improve overall productivity, sustainability, resilience and move existing agricultural sectors to net zero
• ensure solutions have positive outputs for farmers, growers or foresters in commercially relevant situations
• develop new agricultural solutions, by collaboration through engagement with end users and the UK research community in the innovation process
• accelerate adoption by ensuring knowledge exchange with the wider sector and other stakeholders Your solutions must significantly improve:
• productivity
• sustainability and the environmental impact of farming
• progression towards net zero emissions
• resilience Businesses within a supply chain, are encouraged to come together as a partnership to solve major challenges or opportunities. Your project must be able to demonstrate how the project will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England. 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].

Specific themes

Your project must address a significant industry challenge or opportunity in at least one of the industry subsectors below:

• farmed animals
• plants
• novel food production systems
• bioeconomy and agroforestry

Research categories

We will fund industrial research projects as defined in the [guidance on categories of research].

Projects we will not fund

We are not funding projects that:

• do not benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England
• are equine specific
• involve wild caught fisheries
• involve aquaculture for fish production or human consumption
• involve cellular or acellular production systems, fermentation systems for bacteria, yeast or fungi for human consumption
• are for the production of crops or plants for medicinal or pharmaceutical use 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

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 lead applicant’s responsibility 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
• 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 four sections:

1. Project details.
2. Application questions.
3. Finances.
4. Project Impact. 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).

Dates

• 1 September 2026: Recorded applicant briefing: [watch the recording] Briefing slides are available to download from Supporting Information.
• 1 September 2026: Competition opens
• 14 October 2026 11:00am: Competition closes
• 10 November 2026: Invite to interview
• 4 December 2026: Interview panel : 04/12/2026 – 09/12/2026
• 15 December 2026: Applicants notified
• 1 April 2027: Project start by