Contracts for Innovation: DSbD Advancing CHERI RISC-V Devices

Who can apply

Your project

Projects must:

• start by 1 September 2025

• end by 31 March 2028

• last between 6 and 31 months

• have total costs up to £1.5 million, inclusive of VAT, for stage 1

• have total costs between £500,000 and £3.5 million, inclusive of VAT, for stage 2

Stage 1 must complete by 31 March 2026. No time extensions for stage 1 milestones will be possible. All stage 2 milestones must be completed prior to 31 March 2028.

You must provide defined and measurable milestones including associated deliverables which must be clearly broken down with associated claims against stage 1 and stage 2 respectively.

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 Contract has been approved by Innovate UK.

You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs. For specific guidance, see the eligibility section in this competition.

Break Clause:

The funding for the continuation of the Advancing CHERI RISC-V Devices projects is subject to a review by March 2026.

In the event that the decision is made to terminate the funding as a result of this review, there will be a 3 month notice period before the funding will stop. Innovate UK will not be able to fund any further project activity after the end of the notice period, and projects will stop at the end of stage 1 on 31 March 2026.

Projects who have not met their stage 1 milestones will be given a 30 day notice period before the funding for their project will stop. Innovate UK will not be able to fund further project activity after the end of the notice period, and projects who have not met their stage 1 milestones will stop on 31 March 2026.

Subject to meeting all stage 1 milestones, and funding being confirmed beyond March 2026, projects will continue into stage 2 delivery.

Although the risk of termination is expected to be low, it is crucial that applicants demonstrate they have considered this in their project plan. Projects should be designed in a way that ensures tangible and viable deliverables could be delivered by March 2026 should the funding be terminated.

Applicant

To lead a project, you can:

• be an organisation of any size

• work alone or with the subcontracted skills and expertise of others from business, research organisations, research and technology organisations, or the third sector (charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups)

Applicant organisations must:

• have an existing microcontroller or microprocessor system-on-chip device that they want to modify to be a CHERI-enabled device, or

• be currently developing, or have developed, a CHERI-enabled device and want to broaden its market applicability or accelerate its availability

A CHERI-enabled device is a system-on-chip silicon implementation that utilises the RISC-V architecture that implements the CHERI extensions as defined in the RISC-V Specification for CHERI Extensions.

Contracts will be awarded to a single legal entity only. The majority of the project work and key deliverables must be completed by the applicant and be carried out in the UK. Subcontractors can be used, but only for specialist skills.

A single organisation may submit multiple applications in this competition.

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 that 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.

Funding

A total of up to £10 million, inclusive of VAT, is allocated to this competition, across two stages. The funding budget is up to £3 million for stage 1 and up £7 million for stage 2.

Contracts will be awarded to projects with total eligible costs of up to £1.5 million, inclusive of VAT, in stage 1 and between £500,000 and £3.5 million, inclusive of VAT, in stage 2. Each project between 6 and 31 months.

The total funding available for the competition can change. The funders have the right to:

• adjust the provisional funding allocations between stage 1 and stage 2

• apply a ‘portfolio’ approach

Value Added Tax (VAT)

You must select whether you are VAT registered before entering your eligible project costs.

VAT is the responsibility of the invoicing business. We will not provide any further advice and suggest you seek independent advice from HMRC.

VAT registered

If you select you are VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT. As part of the application process VAT will be automatically calculated and added to your project cost total. Your total eligible project costs inclusive of VAT must not exceed £5 million.

Not VAT registered

If you select you are not VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT and no VAT will be added. You will not be able to increase total project costs to cover VAT later should you become VAT registered. Your total project costs must not exceed £5 million.

Research and development (R&D)

Your application must have at least 50% of the contract value attributed directly and exclusively to R&D services, including solution exploration and design. R&D can also include prototyping and field-testing the product or service. This lets you incorporate the results of your exploration and design and demonstrate that you can produce in quantity to acceptable quality standards.

The R&D component of the project cannot include:

• quantity production and similar commercial development

• supply to establish commercial viability or to recover R&D costs

• integration, customisation or incremental adaptations and improvements to existing products or processes

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

Subsidy control

Contracts for Innovation competitions involve procurement of R&D services at a fair market value and are not subject to subsidy control criteria that typically apply to grant funding.

Your project

The aim of the competition is to fund activities in maturing and growing the availability of commercial off the shelf implementations of CHERI (Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions) enabled devices for use in embedded computing.

The competition is supporting economic growth and societal resilience through accelerating the adoption and diffusion of the secure by design CHERI technology. Particular focus is being placed in the context of CHERI-enabled devices and the associated tooling and software components. Aiming to overcome the private sector’s underinvestment in protections for memory safety and compartmentalisation in embedded computing by creating CHERI-enabled devices that will enable software developers to adopt and commercialise a diversity of secured by design products and services.

Your project must focus on accelerating the availability of commercial-off-the-shelf CHERI-enabled devices. The goal is to broaden the availability of such devices for use by industry and software developers.

Projects are required to progress or accelerate the availability of CHERI-enabled devices and must:

• be supported and validated by a specific use case with a proposed customer,

• produce outputs to support the broader use of CHERI-enabled devices by businesses and software development communities

Applications must describe a credible and practical route to market to commercialise the developed CHERI-enabled device.

Portfolio approach

Contracts will be given to successful applicants for a variety of projects across different scope areas, activities, technologies, requirements and eligible project costs. We call this a portfolio approach.

Projects with a stronger relevance to CNI deployment will be prioritised during portfolio selection.

Research categories

Prototype development and evaluation

This can include prototyping, demonstrating, piloting, testing and validation of new or improved products, processes or services in environments representative of real-life operating conditions. The primary objective is to make further technical improvements on products, processes or services that are not substantially set.

Projects we will not fund

We will not fund projects that:

• are not original in scope and duplicate someone else’s work

• do not use a RISC-V processor that supports the CHERI architecture extensions

• do not develop a CHERI-enabled device towards commercial off the shelf availability

• outputs do not support the broader use of CHERI-enabled devices by businesses and software development communities

• do not have a proposed customer use case

20 May 2025

Online briefing event: register to attend

(Briefing slides will be available to download from supporting information after the event)

28 July 2025

Interview start

1 August 2025

Interview end

5 August 2025

Applicants notified

5 August 2025

Feedback

1 September 2025

Contracts awarded

1 September 2025

Project start from

Before you start

By submitting an application, you agree to the terms of the draft contract which is available once you start your application. The terms of the contract are non-negotiable and are included in the draft contract. We reserve the right to change the terms and conditions if necessary.

The final contract will include any milestones you have agreed with the funding authority and will be sent to you if your application is successful. The contract is binding once it is returned by you and signed by both parties.

When you start an application, you will be prompted to create an account as the lead applicant or sign in as a representative of your organisation. Using your account, you will be able to track your applications progress.

As the applicant you are responsible for:

• collecting the information for your application

• representing your organisation in leading the project if your application is successful

You will be able to invite colleagues from your organisation to contribute to the application.

What happens next

A selected panel of independent assessors will review and score your application.

Subject to your score from written assessment and fit against portfolio approach (scope areas, activities, technologies, requirements and eligible project costs) you will be invited to attend an interview, where you must give a presentation.

Your interview will take place either online or at a designated location. The date and time of your interview will be included in your invitation.

Project selection will be based on the score achieved from interview and fit against a portfolio approach.

What we will ask you

The application is split into four sections:

1. Project details.

2. Application questions.

3. Finances.

4. Project Impact.

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

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

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).

Project details

This section provides background for your application and is not scored.

Application details

Give your project’s title, start date and duration.

Who made you aware of the competition?

Select a category to state who made you aware of the competition. You cannot choose more than one.

How long has your organisation been established for?

Select a category to state how long has your organisation been established for. You cannot choose more than one.

What is your organisation’s primary area focus?

Select a category to state your organisation’s primary focus area. You cannot choose more than one.

Project and scope summary

Describe your project including a description of the target CHERI-enabled device and how it either:

• modifies an existing microcontroller or microprocessor system-on-chip device to become a CHERI-enabled device, or

• develops an existing CHERI-enabled device to broaden its market applicability or to accelerate its availability

For both cases describe how the developed CHERI-enabled device will achieve commercial general availability.

The summary must also include the proposed customer use-case and its relevance to CNI and how the solution will be made available to businesses and software developers.

Your answer for this section can be up to 600 words long.

This section is not scored, but we will use it to decide whether the project fits the scope of the competition and will be invited to interview. If it does not, it will be rejected.

Public description

Please provide a brief description of your project. If your application is successful, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project. This question is mandatory, but we will not assess this content as part of your application.

Describe your project in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. We have the right to amend the description before publication if necessary but will consult you about any changes.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Applicant location

You must state the name of your organisation along with your full registered address.

You must also state the name and full registered address of any potential or confirmed subcontractors.

We are collecting this information to understand the geographical location of all participants of a project.

Your answer can be up to 200 words long.

2. Application questions

The assessors will score all of your questions except questions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 which are not scored. You will receive feedback for each scored question. Find out more about how our assessors assess and how we select applications for funding.

Do not include any URLs in your answers.

Question 1. Animal testing (not scored)

Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing?

You must select one option:

• Yes

• No

We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare.

Further information for proposals involving animal testing is available at the UKRI Good Research Hub and NC3R’s animal welfare guidance.

Question 2. Permits and licences (not scored)

Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project?

We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date.

You must select one option:

• Yes

• No

• In process of being applied for

• Not applicable

Question 3: Break Clause (not scored)

Have you acknowledged the break clause in your project plan and made necessary plans to mitigate this risk?

• Yes

• No

Break Clause: The funding for the continuation of the Advancing CHERI RISC-V Devices project is subject to a review by March 2026.

In the event that the decision is made to terminate the funding as a result of this review, there will be a 3 month notice period before the funding will stop. Innovate UK will not be able to fund any further project activity after the end of the notice period, and projects will stop at the end of stage 1 on 31 March 2026.

Projects who have not met their stage 1 milestones will be give a 30 day notice period before the funding for their project will stop. Innovate UK will not be able to fund further project activity after the end of the notice period, and projects who have not met their stage 1 milestones will stop on 31 March 2026.

Subject to meeting all stage 1 milestones, and funding being confirmed beyond March 2026, projects will continue into stage 2 delivery.

Although the risk of termination is expected to be low, it is crucial that applicants demonstrate they have considered this in their project plan. Projects should be designed in a way that ensures tangible and viable deliverables could be delivered by March 2026 should the funding be terminated.

Question 4. International Collaboration (not scored)

Does your proposed work involve any international collaboration or engagement?

You must provide details of any expected international collaboration or engagement. You must include a list of the names and the countries, any international project co-leads, project partners, visiting researchers, or other collaborators are based in. You must also include details of any subcontractors or service providers.

If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration or engagement, your answer must confirm this.

Question 5. Trusted Research and Innovation (not scored)

You must explain if your proposed project work relates to UKRI’s Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) Principles, including:

• a list of any dual-use (both military and non-military) applications to your research

• a list of the areas where your project is relevant to one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act

• whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance and the status of any applications

• a list of any items or substances on the UK Strategic Export Control List

If your proposed work does not relate to UKRI’s TR&I Principles, your answer must confirm this.

We may ask you to provide additional TR&I information at a later date, in line with UKRI TR&I Principles and funding terms and conditions.

Question 6. Motivation and alignment

What is your motivation for creating a CHERI-enabled device and how does it align with the competition’s objective and scope?

Describe the level of engagement with a proposed customer and their use-case and how the resulting commercial device is relevant to CNI.

Describe your starting and ending technical readiness levels and any follow-on activities that will be required prior to commercial availability and how these follow-on activities will be funded.

Your answer can be up to 600 words long.

This question will be scored against this assessment criteria:

‘How does the motivation align with the government’s national strategies on security and resilience including relevance to UK’s CNI?’

‘Is there a clear path to commercial availability with the proposed customer?’

Question 7. Technical undertaking

Provide a description of your proposed CHERI-enabled device and how it addresses the proposed customer use-case.

What are the main technical activities that you need to undertake to progress your CHERI-enabled device towards commercial availability?

Explain:

• the technology base and associated dependencies on which you will develop your solution

• what are the R&D activities of this project

• what are the non-R&D activities of this project

• what are the commercial milestones and associated deliverables

You can submit a single appendix as a PDF containing a diagram of the CHERI-enabled device to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be a single A4 page and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Your answer can be up to 800 words long.

This question will be scored against this assessment criterion:

‘How well does the technical undertaking deliver the proposed solution?’.

Question 8. Intellectual property (IP) Describe your approach to IP in the context of this project.

You must include:

• your freedom to operate, particularly in commercial activities

• any background IP which will be utilised in the project deliverables or constrain the subsequent use of those deliverables

• how you will manage and protect any IP generated as part of this project

Your answer can be up to 300 words long.

This question will be scored against these assessment criteria: ‘Is the background IP adequately described? Is it clear that the project has freedom to operate?’.

Question 9. Project plan and methodology

Describe your project plan and identify the main milestones and associated deliverables with clear separation between stage 1 (ending by 31 March 2026) and stage 2.

Provide evidence that the proposed activities are feasible and that your described methodology will progress towards the commercial availability of a CHERI-enabled device.

You must:

• describe which milestones will be met in stage 1 and which in stage 2

• identify the milestones against which timely delivery can be assessed

• identify the mechanism(s) by which you will deliver your outcomes

• identify activities undertaken by subcontractors

• include a risk register (including likelihood and impact) with proposed mitigations

You must upload a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix in PDF format. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It must be a single A4 page and legible at 100% zoom.

Your milestones must:

• be clear

• be defined using SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) criteria

• be associated with the appropriate deliverables and payments

• indicate your payment schedule by month

Your answer can be up to 1000 words long.

This question will be assessed against these assessment criteria:

• does the proposal show a clear plan for establishing the technical feasibility for the proposed activities

• is the risk register credible

• are the stage 1 and stage 2 milestones and associated deliverables appropriately defined and scheduled

• do the deliverables provide confidence in achieving the milestones

• is the requested payment appropriate to the value of the milestones

• Is the use of subcontractors appropriate

Note information from the finances section will be used to support the assessment of this question. Proposed milestones and associated deliverables and payments stated in this section must match those entered in the finance summary on your application.

Question 10. Technical team and expertise

Provide a description of your technical team and any subcontractors.

Describe:

• how your organisation has the necessary skills, capabilities, and experience to deliver the intended milestones

• who is in the technical team and what is the relevant experience they have

• what skill does the subcontractor(s) bring to the project

Your answer can be up to 600 words long.

This question will be scored against this assessment criterion: ‘Does the team have the skills, capabilities and experience to deliver the project and enable the commercial availability of a CHERI-enabled device?’.

Question 11. Costs and value for money

How does the cost claimed for each milestone represent value for money for the taxpayer in delivering the objectives of the competition?

Describe:

• the total costs of each deliverable both in stage 1 and stage 2, inclusive of VAT (if applicable), you are requesting

• how does each deliverable represent value for money

Proposed costs stated in this section must clearly list stage 1 and stage 2 in a table and match those entered in the finance summary.

All costs quoted must reflect actual costs at a ‘fair market value’ for the activities undertaken and not include profit.

Progression to stage 2 depends on successful delivery against milestones in stage 1 and confirmed budget availability for stage 2 as defined by the Break Clause.

Note that all payments are made on submission of an invoice. The invoice must be submitted within 30 days following the acceptance of completed milestones.

Your answer can be up to 600 words long.

Full Economic Cost (FEC) calculations are not relevant for Contracts for Innovation competitions. Contracts for Innovation is a competitive process and applications will come from a variety of organisations. Whatever calculation you use to arrive at your total eligible project costs your application will be assessed against applications from other organisations. Bear this in mind when calculating your total eligible project costs. You can include overheads but remember that this is a competitive process.

The assessors are required to judge the application finances in terms of value for money. They will score your finances against this assessment criterion: ‘Are the milestones clearly and appropriately defined? Are the costs of milestones appropriate and do they represent value for money?’.

Note information from the finances section will be used to support the assessment of this question.

Question 12. Commercial and exploitation potential

What is your commercial potential for the proposed CHERI-enabled device? What is your pathway to impacting your proposed customer? What are your timescales to customer deployment?

Describe the competitive advantage that your proposed device has over existing or alternative technologies for your proposed customer’ use-case.

Your answer can be up to 600 words long.

This question will be scored against these assessment criteria:

• is there a clear commercial potential for a marketable product?

• is there a clear and timely route to market?

• how significant is the competitive advantage for the proposed use-case?

3. Finances

Enter your project costs, organisation details and funding details.

You must select whether you are VAT registered before entering your eligible project costs. We advise you answer the VAT registered question first before entering your eligible costs. Your total eligible project costs must not exceed £5 million.

If you select you are VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT. As part of the application process VAT will be automatically calculated and added to your eligible project cost total.

If you select you are not VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT and no VAT will be added. You will not be able to increase total project costs to cover VAT later should you become VAT registered.

VAT is the responsibility of the invoicing business. We will not provide any further advice and advise you to seek independent advice from HMRC.

Full Economic Cost (FEC) calculations are not relevant for Contracts for Innovation competitions. Contracts for Innovation is a competitive process and applications will come from a variety of organisations.

Whatever calculation you use to arrive at your total eligible project costs your application will be assessed against applications from other organisations. Bear this in mind when calculating your total eligible project costs. You can include overheads but remember that this is a competitive process.

For an overview on what costs you can claim, see our project costs guidance. Note this is general guidance, for specific guidance please see the eligibility section in this competition. You can also view our application finances video.

4. Project Impact

This section is not scored but will provide background to your project.

You must complete the Project Impact questions before being able to submit the application.

More information can be found in our Project Impact guidance and by viewing our Impact Management Framework video.

Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.

Assessment

Your application will be reviewed by three independent assessors who will individually score your application and the awarded scores will be averaged for your overall score to prioritise portfolio selection.

You can find out more about our assessment process in the General Guidance.

Your submitted application will be assessed against these criteria:

Contracts For Innovation - DSbD Advancing CHERI RISC-V Devices - Assessor scoring guidance.pdf

Interviews

If your application passes the first stage of assessment, you will be invited to attend an interview, where you must give a presentation. Your interview will take place in person either at Caxton House in London or Polaris House in Swindon, with remote participation by exception. The interviews will be held between 28 July and 1 August 2025.

If you require any reasonable adjustments to support you at the interview you must email us at support@iuk.ukri.org within three days of receiving your invitation.

Before the interview and by the deadline stated in the invitation email, you:

• must send a list of who will attend the interview

• must send your interview presentation slides

List of attendees

Up to four people from your organisation can attend. They must all be available on the published interview date. We are unable to reschedule slots once allocated.

Presentation slides

• use Microsoft PowerPoint

• be no longer than 30 minutes

• have no more than 15 slides

• not include any video or embedded web links

You cannot change the presentation after you submit it or bring any additional materials to the interview.

Interview

After your presentation the panel will spend 45 minutes asking questions. You will be expected to answer based on the information you provided in your application form, presentation and the response to feedback.

After your interview

The panellists will individually score your application and these will be averaged for your overall interview score and prioritise portfolio selection. We will notify you whether you have been successful or not by email within a week following the interview.

Background and further information

About Contracts for Innovation competitions

Contracts for Innovation provides innovative solutions to challenges faced by the public sector. This can lead to better public services and improved efficiency and effectiveness.

The Contracts for Innovation programme:

• supports economic growth and enables the development of innovative products and services through the public procurement of R&D

• generates new business opportunities for companies

• provides a route to market for new ideas

• creates opportunities to work directly with the public sector

Contracts for Innovation competitions are open to all eligible organisations that can demonstrate a route to market for their solution. Developments are 100% funded and focused on specific identified needs, increasing the chance of exploitation.

Contracts for Innovation encourages the creation and protection of new (intellectual property) IP. Applicants retain all the rights to both foreground and background IP but will be expected to grant certain royalty-free licences to the funder for use of the foreground IP.

Contracts for Innovation is a procurement of R&D services. If successful, you will receive a contract to deliver the proposed activity. Costs quoted must reflect actual costs at a ‘fair market value’ and not include profit.

You must submit an invoice for the work undertaken. All payments are made on submission of an invoice. The invoice must be submitted within 30 days following the acceptance of completed milestones.

If you are VAT registered, your total costs are expected to include VAT that you would charge as a service provider. VAT is the responsibility of the invoicing business and applicants should ensure that VAT has been calculated correctly as part of their application. You will need to confirm your VAT status as part of the application process

Note, we are seeing a rise in double counting of VAT during the application process, making some applicants ineligible. To avoid this, it is important you input your costs minus VAT. VAT is added on by us in the Innovation Funding Service (IFS).

Suppliers for each project will be selected by an open competition process and retain the intellectual property generated from the project, with certain rights of use retained by the contracting authority. This is an excellent opportunity to establish an early customer for a new technology and to fund its development.

Broader Information

The Digital Security by Design (DSbD) programme (2019-2025) delivered by UKRI has proven the technical viability of CHERI technology at scale in deterministically mitigating critical memory-safety vulnerabilities, thereby unlocking future pathways towards adopting secured by design computing foundations. The UK government has been strongly supporting the adoption and diffusion of CHERI, fostering collaboration through industry bodies such as the CHERI Alliance, and accelerating the commercial development and implementation of CHERI-enabled devices and associated tools and software components to drive economic growth, enhance national security and increase societal resilience.

Briefing recording and slides

Briefing recording and slides will be available to download here after the briefing event.

Setting up your project

You will be notified by email on the date published for this competition. Notifications may be sent any time up to 5pm.

You must follow the unique link embedded in your email notification. This takes you to your Innovation Funding Service (IFS) Set Up portal, where we gather the information to set up your project.

You will have 30 days (including weekends and bank holidays) to complete all of your project set up. Within this time, you will also be required to submit:

• project location

• any answers to financial or milestone queries we have requested

• any requested documentation to support your project

Your funding offer may be withdrawn if project setup is not completed within this or an alternative timeframe as advised by Innovate UK.

In order for us to process your invoices, you must make sure you have a valid UK business bank account. It can take several weeks for a new account to be created if required. We recommend starting this process as early as possible to avoid any delays to your project start date.

The bank account which milestone payments are to be paid into must:

• be a business account in the same name as the organisation listed in IFS

• be from a UK bank regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)

• have a cheque and credit clearing facility

Online accounts are eligible as long as they meet the above criteria.

Your Contract

Once you have successfully completed project setup, we will issue your contract. The contract will be made available on your IFS portal. You will need to sign and upload this for us to approve. Once approved we will send you an email with permission to start your project on your confirmed start date.

You must not start your project before the date stated on your email and contract. Any costs incurred before your agreed start date cannot be claimed as part of your project.

Your contract start date is provided in the dates and eligibility sections. This cannot be varied and all contracts must start on that date.

If your application is unsuccessful

We would like to remind you that eligible non-funded businesses can still benefit from fully funded and bespoke support from the Innovate UK Business Growth service.

Support for SMEs from Innovate UK Business Growth service

Innovate UK Business Growth helps innovation focused businesses make the best strategic choices and access the right resources, in order to grow and ultimately achieve scale.

Our innovation and growth specialists provide our fully funded and bespoke support to clients nationwide. Please visit the service’s website to discover whether you could benefit from this advisory support, which is available to Innovate UK funded and non-funded businesses alike.

Protecting your innovation

A Secure Innovation campaign has been developed to help founders and leaders of innovative startups protect their technology, competitive advantage, and reputation.

This was developed by UK’s National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

Data sharing

This competition is jointly operated by Innovate UK, and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) (each an ‘agency’).

Any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application can be shared by one agency with the other, for its individual storage, processing and use.

Innovate UK may also share any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application with Innovate UK’s regional UK third parties. For more information see how we handle grant applicant and grant holder data.

This means that any information given to or generated by Innovate UK in respect of your application may be passed on to DSIT and vice versa. This would include, but is not restricted to:

• the information stated on the application, including the personal details of all applicants

• scoring and feedback on the application

• information received during the management and administration of the contract, such as Monitoring Service Provider reports

Innovate UK and DSIT are directly accountable to you for their holding and processing of your information, including any personal data and confidential information. Data is held in accordance with their own policies. Accordingly, Innovate UK, Innovate UK Business Connect and DSIT will be data controllers for personal data submitted during the application.

Innovate UK’s Privacy PolicyInnovate UK Business Connect Privacy PolicyDSIT’s Privacy Policy

Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.

The Information Commissioner’s Office also has a useful guide for organisations, which outlines the data protection principles.

Further help and guidance

If you want help to find an organisation to work with, contact the Innovate UK Business Connect.

If you need more information about how to apply or you want to submit your application in Welsh, email support@iuk.ukri.org 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).