Engineering Biology Investor Partnerships Round 1

UK registered SMEs can apply for a share of up to £8 million to develop engineering biology products and services with selected investor partners. Total funding: £8 million Minimum award: £250,000 Maximum award: £2 million Location: National Who can apply: Private Sector Closing date: 2026-12-02 11:00 (UK time) Eligibility Who can apply Your project For experimental development projects: - your total grant funding request must be between £250,000 and £2 million - the project duration must be 24 months 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 grant funding request or duration falls outside of our eligibility criteria, you must provide justification by email to [email on the official page] 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. Your organisation This competition is open to single applicants only. To apply your organisation must: - be a UK registered micro, small or medium sized business (SME) - carry out its project work in the UK - intend to exploit the results from or in the UK More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules. 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 ca Summary Description Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will invest up to £8 million in this Engineering Biology Investor Partnership competition. This competition is part of UKRI’s Engineering Biology Programme. The aim of this competition is to support: - the development and adoption of engineering biology technologies - commercialisation of late stage experimental development projects that are close to market, and ultimately market adoption To be offered grant funding your project must be assessed as eligible for grant funding and you must have secured aligned investment with a lead investor. In the investor pool you can view the areas of expertise and investment preferences for the investors. You can apply for this competition before you speak to an investor but initiating dialogue with investors is strongly encouraged. In addition to investment, the lead investors in the pool can provide you with commercial acumen in, for example: - leadership - market access - skills - resources Successful UK registered SME’s will receive: - grant funding from Innovate UK - aligned investment funding with one of the programme’s pool of investors acting as the lead investor In a Objectives Your proposal The aim of this competition is to support: - the development and adoption of engineering biology technologies - commercialisation of late stage experimental development projects that are close to market, and ultimately market adoption To be offered grant funding your project must be assessed as eligible for grant funding and you must have secured aligned investment with a lead investor. In the investor pool you can view the areas of expertise and investment preferences for the inve Dates 7 October 2026 Online briefing event: join at 2pm (Briefing slides will be available to download from Supporting Information after the event) 15 January 2027 Notification of Innovate UK grant eligibility 29 July 2027 Deadline to reach heads of terms with lead investor 17 August 2027 Applicants notified 1 December 2027 Project start by How