Analysis for Innovators: National Physical Laboratory Stage 1

Who can apply

Your project

Your project must:

• meet the programme problem scope requirements

• relate to work being undertaken in the UK

• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

• demonstrate a stage 2 project duration of between 3 and 9 months with NPL

Confirmation of your stage 2 project duration and start date will be agreed with your analysis for innovators partner during brokerage following a successful stage 1 application. This must be between 1 January 2026 and 30 September 2026.

In stage 2, all of your funding from this competition will be subject to Minimal Financial Assistance (MFA) limits. You will be made ineligible if you exceed this limit. You must submit a completed MFA declaration as part of your application in stage 2.

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.

Lead organisation

To apply to this stage, your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.

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

Number of applications

A business of any size, must submit only one application to 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.

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 Innovate UK in relation to other projects.

Minimal Financial Assistance (and De minimis where applicable)

The funded stage 2 of this competition will be award as Minimal Financial assistance (MFA).

MFA allows public bodies to award up to £315,000 to an enterprise in a 3-year rolling financial period.

In your stage 2 application, you will be asked to declare previous funding received by you. This will form part of the financial checks ahead of Innovate UK making a formal grant offer.

To establish your eligibility, we need to check that our support added to the amount you have previously received does not exceed the limit of £315,000 in the ‘applicable period’.

The applicable period is made up of:

(a) the elapsed part of the current financial year, and

(b) the two financial years immediately preceding the current financial year.

In your stage 2 application, you must include any funding which you have received during the applicable period under:

• Minimal Financial Assistance (previously referred to as Special Drawing Rights)

• De Minimis Regulation

You do not need to include aid or subsidies which have been granted on a different basis, for example, an aid award granted under the General Block Exemption Regulation.

Further information about the Subsidy Control Act 2022 requirements can be found in the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk).

EU Commission rules now only apply in limited circumstances. Please 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, you should take independent legal advice. We cannot advise on individual eligibility or your legal obligations.

Funding

There is no funding at stage 1 of this competition. Successful applicants from stage 1 will be invited to submit a stage 2 application, which will be eligible for grant funding.

In stage 2, NPL have allocated up to £1.5 million to support innovation projects within this competition. Your total project costs will be eligible for 100% funding subject to MFA subsidy rules.

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.

You can make reference to any additional voluntary contribution in your application answers. It must not be detailed in the finance section.

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

If you are applying for an award funded under European Commission 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.

Your proposal

The aim of this competition is to help businesses address their existing analysis and measurement problems. These are problems that can be best explored by scientists and cutting-edge facilities available in the UK.

You must outline what you consider to be the benefits of solving your problem, such as improved productivity or competitiveness.

We will only consider problems that:

• are related to an existing process, product or service owned or used by a company

• are related to the measurement or analysis of some quantities or properties of your process, product or service

• are not effectively solvable by simple ‘off the shelf’ methods or techniques

• relates to a product, service or process improvement owned or used by a company

You must outline any methods and attempts that you have previously tried to address the problem. Do not propose how the problem should be solved.

Analysis problems cannot be simply software related, for example pure data analysis.

Problems we will not consider

We are consider problems that are:

• not measurement or analysis problems

• ones we consider to be resolvable with easily available methods, such as those that do not require any innovative or cutting-edge science or facilities

• solely computer software analysis problems, such as algorithms to analyse objects

• not related to a company’s existing processes, products or services owned or used by the company

In the Stage 2 competition we will not fund any projects that:

• involve primary production in fishery and aquaculture

• involve primary production in agriculture

• are not allowed under De minimis regulation restrictions

• are not eligible to receive Minimal Financial Assistance

• are dependent on export performance, for example, giving an award to a baker on the condition that they export a certain quantity of bread to another country

• are dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example, if we give an award to a baker on the condition that they use 50% UK flour in their product

26 August 2025

Online briefing event: join at 10am

(Briefing slides will be available to download from Supporting Information after the event)

22 September 2025

Brokerage sessions start

3 October 2025

Brokerage sessions end

10 October 2025

Brokerage outcome notification

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

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 two sections:

1. Project details.

2. Application questions.

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 as soon as possible 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).

1. Project details

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

Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers.

Application team

Decide which people from your organisation will work with you on the project and invite those people to help complete the application.

Application details

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

Scope

Describe how your problem fits the scope of the competition. If your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

2. Application questions

Innovate UK and the National Physical Laboratory will review your answers to questions 6, 7, and 8 to enable progression to the brokerage phase of this stage.

You must answer all questions. Your answer to each question can be up to 400 words long.

You must not include any website addresses or links (URLs) in your answers. If you do, your application will be made ineligible.

Question 1. Applicant location (not scored)

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

We are collecting this information to understand the geographical location of all applicants.

Question 2. 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 3. 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 who 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 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. Problem scope

You must select if your problem is related to an existing product, service or process owned or used by your company:

• existing product

• existing service

• existing process

• not yet available

Question 7. Problem

What is the measurement or analysis problem that you need to solve?

You must summarise:

• what the core of the problem is

• what your major challenges are in understanding this problem

Question 8. Previous attempts to solve the problem

What methods or techniques have you previously tried to solve the problem?

Explain:

• what you did to understand or address the problem

• what success or otherwise you had when trying to address the problem

Review and partner brokerage sessions

After the close of this stage of the competition, your application will be reviewed as follows:

1. Innovate UK will check your organisation’s eligibility.

2. Innovate UK will determine whether your application constitutes a measurement or analysis problem, and whether the problem relates to an existing process, product, or service that is owned or utilised by a company, thereby confirming it is within scope.

3. An independent panel of experts will decide whether it requires cutting-edge scientific expertise and facilities or whether the problem is solvable using easily available ‘off the shelf’ methods and techniques and is therefore out of scope.

4. Expert scientists from NPL will decide whether they have a potential approach to solving your problem.

This process will be done in confidence.

If your application is successful at this first stage, you will be invited to attend brokerage sessions with NPL.

If unsuccessful we will tell you the reason why your problem was not selected.

Background and further information

Innovate UK Analysis for Innovators is a very different type of programme from Innovate UK’s usual grant funding competitions. It is focused on helping individual companies solve tricky and perhaps long running technical problems affecting existing processes, products or services.

The programme’s aim is to help boost a company’s productivity or competitiveness. It achieves this by bringing the UK’s top scientists and facilities, often otherwise inaccessible, together with companies to address problems in innovative ways.

Briefing recording and slides

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

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 the National Physical Laboratory (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.

This means that any information given to or generated by Innovate UK in respect of your application may be passed on to NPL 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 grant, such as Monitoring Service Provider reports and Independent Accountant Reports

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

Innovate UK and NPL 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, and NPL will be data controllers for personal data submitted during the application and therefore, an additional Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA) is not required for brokerage.

Innovate UK’s Privacy Policy

National Physical Laboratory 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.

Contact Us

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).

Innovate UK or any of our partners will not tolerate abusive language in any written or verbal correspondence, applications, social media or any other form that might affect staff.