CfI: Engineering Biology for Defra and FSA Phase 1

Who can apply

Your project

Projects must:

• start on 1 January 2027

• end by 30 September 2027

• last up to 9 months

• have total costs of no more than £200,000, inclusive of VAT

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.

If your project’s total costs 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.

Applicant

To lead a project, you must:

• be a UK based 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)

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, and most of the funding spent within the UK. Subcontractors can be used, but only for specialist skills.

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.

Funding

Up to £3 million inclusive of VAT has been allocated to fund innovation projects to this phase 1 feasibility study research and development (R&D) competition. Contracts will be up to £200,000, inclusive of VAT, for each project for up to 9 months. We expect to fund up to 15 projects.

This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications. Funding will be in the form of a contract.

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

• adjust the provisional funding allocations between the phases

• apply a ‘portfolio’ approach

The contract is completed at the end of competition phase 1. Applicants will be expected to include a route to market as part of their application and should include any commercialisation steps appropriate for this stage in solution development.

The applicant should outline how the route to market and commercialisation plan will drive economic growth in the UK.

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 £200,000.

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 £200,000.

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.

R&D does not include:

• commercial development activities such as quantity production

• 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 our decision to provide funding without notice if government commitment for this initiative is withdrawn.

Subsidy control

Contracts for Innovation competitions involve procurement of R&D services and are not subject to subsidy control criteria. This competition is run by the Authority under the Procurement Act 2023 (R&D exemption).

Your project

The aim of the competition is to enable innovative engineering biology focused organisations to accelerate the development and commercialisation of products that can address the societal challenges defined by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and Food Standards Agency (FSA):

• low cost, real time water quality monitoring for policy, public health, and ecosystem management using genomic monitoring and surveillance

• accelerating next generation veterinary vaccine platforms through engineering biology

• predicting ecosystem health and resilience from eDNA through AI driven functional genomics

• rapid diagnostics to maintain food standards and regulatory compliance

You must demonstrate a credible and practical route to market, so your application must include a plan to commercialise your results.

You must define your goals in your application and outline your plan for phase 1.

At this stage contracts will only be given for phase 1. At the end of Phase 1 the applicant will demonstrate the technical and commercial feasibility of the innovation.

In phase 2 we will ask successful applicants from phase 1 to continue the development of their solution.

The primary innovation and competitive advantage underpinning the project must arise from, or enable, engineering biology.

For the purposes of this competitions engineering biology is defined as the purposeful engineering of biological systems. These will create new or enhanced functions that do not occur naturally, or that cannot be achieved efficiently through conventional approaches.

This includes the design, modification or creation of organisms, cells, genetic circuits, enzymes, proteins or other biomolecular systems that exhibit novel or enhanced functionality. 

Your solution can focus on one or more of the following technologies in which the core innovation is in engineered biological systems, for example, built on synthetic biology techniques: 

• Biosensors and Diagnostic

• Biomanufacturing Systems

• Biocatalysis and Chemical Production

• Engineered Biomaterials

• Metabolic Engineering

• Nucleotide Synthesis

• Engineered Proteins and Enzymes

• Cell And Microbe Engineering

• Synthetic Biology Platforms

• Gene Editing and Genome Engineering

• AI and Computational Biology

Elements of project work that predominately focus on the viability or the scale up of the technology, such as validation, manufacturing or regulatory progression as appropriate, will be supported through this competition.

This is providing that they are directly enabled by, and derive value from, the underlying engineering biology innovation.

Evidence to support the projects primary innovation being based on engineering biology will be required as part of the application, and may include:

• patents

• proprietary strains

• engineered cell lines

• protected knowhow

• software enabled biological design capabilities

• licences to relevant background IP

• other demonstrable ownership or control of engineering biology intellectual assets

Portfolio approach

We want to fund a variety of projects across different technologies, markets, regions, and themes. We call this a portfolio approach.

Specific themes

Your project must focus on only one of the following:

• low cost, real time water quality monitoring for policy, public health, and ecosystem management using genomic monitoring and surveillance

• accelerating next generation veterinary vaccine platforms through engineering biology

• predicting ecosystem health and resilience from eDNA through AI driven functional genomics

• rapid diagnostics to maintain food standards and regulatory compliance

Research categories

Phase 1: technical feasibility studies

This means planned research or critical investigation to gain new knowledge and skills for developing new products, processes or services and to determine the commercial route for these solutions.

Projects we will not fund

We will not fund projects that:

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

• are the clinical development of any biologic, vaccine or engineering biology derived small molecule

• are not engineering biology focused

• are not focussed on the competition themes

• include the clinical development of any biologic, vaccine or engineering biology derived small molecule

• are for clinical trials or preclinical evaluation of therapeutics

• are not engineering biology focused

• are not focussed on the competition themes

• are for clinical trials or preclinical evaluation of therapeutics

• are fundamental research

Challenge statements: 

Low Cost, Real Time Water Quality Monitoring for Policy, Public Health, and Ecosystem Management using Genomic Monitoring and Surveillance

Out of scope:

• purchase, installation, validation or deployment of existing water quality monitoring technology without demonstration of a significant technological innovation component

• projects focused solely on data collection, analysis, modelling, visualisation, or reporting without innovation in biological sensing or genomic technologies

Predicting Ecosystem Health and Resilience from eDNA via AI Driven data integration

Out of scope:

• project focused solely on data collection, or development of sensing technologies, if included, these should be supporting innovation in analysis, interpretation and reporting

• purchase, installation, validation or deployment or sequencing equipment without innovation in analysis, interpretation and reporting

Accelerating Next Generation Veterinary Vaccine Platforms through Engineering Biology

Out of scope:

• research to develop vaccine tools and technology focused solely on improving human health and disease burden

• projects with applications for both human and animal health, where the primary research focus is improving animal health

• incremental improvements to existing vaccines that do not substantially improve platform adaptability, vaccine performance, development timelines or manufacturing flexibility

• research to develop vaccine tools and technology that solely focus on improving health or reducing disease burden in non-food producing animals such as wildlife and companion animals is out of scope

• diagnostic, surveillance, therapeutic or other animal health technologies that are not directly related to veterinary vaccine platform development

• projects focused primarily on late stage clinical development, commercialisation, or deployment of vaccine products

Rapid diagnostics to maintain food standards and regulatory compliance

Out of scope:

• purchase, installation, validation or deployment of existing food testing technology without demonstration of a significant technological innovation component

• taking an established DNA based detection technology and designing additional tests or assays to run on it

• projects focused solely on data collection or sampling without innovation in detection technologies

7 September 2026

Online briefing event: register to attend

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

16 November 2026

Applicants notified

16 December 2026

Contracts awarded

1 January 2027

Project start on

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 assessors will review and score your application. You will be notified of the outcome and feedback will be provided. Contracts for this phase 1 will then be issued to all successful applicants.

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 focus area?

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

Project and scope summary

Provide a short summary of your project.

Describe your project briefly. Be clear about what makes it innovative and how it relates to the scope of the competition. How does it tackle different aspects of the challenge and how will it provide an integrated solution?

Give details of the lead organisation. Before you submit, we expect you to have discussed your application within your organisation.

Your answer for this section can be up to 800 words long.

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

Public description

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 400 words long.

2. Application questions

The assessors will score all of your questions except questions 1 to 6 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.

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. Any website addresses or URLs included, will not be viewed or opened.

Question 1. Themes (not scored)

Select one main theme from the specific themes list in the ‘Scope’ section of this competition. You cannot choose more than one.

• low cost, real time water quality monitoring for policy, public health, and ecosystem management using genomic monitoring and surveillance

• accelerating next generation veterinary vaccine platforms through engineering biology

• predicting ecosystem health and resilience from eDNA through AI driven functional genomics

• rapid diagnostics to maintain food standards and regulatory compliance

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 which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date.

You must select one option:

• Yes

• No

• In the 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. Export licence (not scored)

You must indicate whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance.

You must select one option:

• Yes

• No

Question 6. 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 7. Proposed idea or technology

How does the project meet the challenge described in the competition scope?

Provide a description of your proposed idea or technology.

Include a description of the current state of development or readiness of the idea.

You can submit a single appendix as a PDF containing images and diagrams to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

This question will be scored against this assessment criterion: ‘How well does the proposal meet the challenge?’.

Question 8. Technical project summary

What are the main technical challenges you are addressing?

Explain:

• how you will address the challenge

• what the innovation is

• the main technical deliverables

• the research and development that will prove the scientific, environmental and commercial merit of the project

• what might be achieved by deploying the innovation to address the selected challenge

This question will be scored against this assessment criterion: ‘How valid is the technical approach?’.

Question 9. Current state of the art and intellectual property

Are similar products currently available in the market?

How is your proposed project differentiated from them?

You must include details of:

• any existing intellectual property (IP)

• its significance to your freedom to operate

• novel concepts you develop or employ

• new approaches or technologies you use

• new tools or technologies

You must explain how you would handle any intellectual property (IP) issues which might arise during the project.

If you are working with subcontractors (specialist skills only), include details of how you will maintain freedom to operate and fulfil the IP requirements detailed in the contract.

This question will be scored against these assessment criteria:

• how innovative is this project

• how much does the project develop or employ novel concepts, approaches, methodologies, tools or technologies for this area

• how well does the project demonstrate understanding of relevant IP and its significance on freedom to operate

Question 10. Project plan and methodology

Describe your project plan and identify the main milestones.

The plan for this phase 1 must be comprehensive. The emphasis throughout should be on practicality.

Provide evidence that the technology works, can be made into a viable product and can achieve the proposed benefits.

You must:

• describe resources that will be needed to deliver the project

• describe what the main success criteria will be

• identify the project management processes that will ensure you achieve the milestones

• provide a clear plan for establishing technical and commercial feasibility

• describe the main technical, commercial and environmental risks and what you will do to mitigate them

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 can be up to two A4 pages and must be 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

This question will be assessed against these assessment criteria:

• does the proposal show a clear plan for establishing technical and commercial feasibility

• is there a clear management plan

• what are the main technical, commercial, and environmental risks to the project’s success

• how will these be effectively managed

• are the milestones and evaluation procedures appropriate

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

Question 11. Technical team and expertise

Who is in the technical team? What expertise do they offer?

Provide a brief description of your technical team, including any subcontractors.

Describe:

• how each organisation has the skills, capabilities, and experience to deliver the intended benefits

• how much of their time will be spent on the project in days

This question will be scored against this assessment criterion: Does the applicant have the skills, capabilities and experience to deliver the intended benefits?

Question 12. Costs and value for money

How much will the project cost for phase 1? How does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer?

Describe:

• the total costs inclusive of VAT (If applicable) you are requesting in terms of the project goals for phase 1

• how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer

Proposed costs stated in this section for phase 1 must match those entered in the finance summary.

All costs quoted must reflect actual costs at a fair market value and not include profit.

You can submit a single appendix as a spreadsheet in PDF format. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Indicate your potential costs for phase 2. Progression to phase 2 depends on your success in phase 1.

Note that all payments are made monthly in arrears on submission of an invoice. The invoice must be submitted within 30 days of the end of each monitoring period for all completed milestones.

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 budget and costs realistic, justified and appropriate for the aims and methods?

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

Question 13. Commercial potential

What is the commercial potential of your project? You must focus on your proposed customer’s needs.

Describe your:

• timescales

• projects commercial potential for a marketable product, process or service

• delivery plan

• expected route to market

Describe the competitive advantage that your project has over existing or alternative technologies that meet market needs.

Describe any existing commercial relationships relevant to the project.

With the focus on your proposed customer’s needs, you can also mention the future commercial potential across the public or private sector and international markets.

This question will be scored against these assessment criteria:

• is there a clear commercial potential for a marketable product, process or service

• is there a clear plan to deliver that and a clear route to market

• how significant is the competitive advantage of this technology over the nearest currently available solutions to the challenge identified.

3. Finances

Enter your phase 1 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 £200,000.

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.

All milestones must have clear deliverables and success criteria. Evidence that these have been achieved must be provided at each monthly review meeting. The costs for your milestones should be representative of the level of effort required to complete each milestone.

We will not make any advance payments, so you should consider how you will manage your cashflow throughout the life of the project. Agreed milestones will form part of your contract and will be used to monitor the progress of the project.

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 that this is general guidance, for specific guidance see the eligibility section in this competition.

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 based on the content of your application and their skills or expertise relevant to your project. All of the scores awarded will count towards the total score used to make the funding decision unless you are notified otherwise.

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

Your submitted application will be assessed against these criteria:

CfI Engineering Biology for Defra and FSA Phase 1 Assessor guidance for applicants.pdf

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 will be asked to input your milestones with monthly completion dates as part of your application and payments will be made in arrears on a monthly basis. This is in line with standard Innovate UK monitoring.

You must submit invoices for all work undertaken and these must be submitted within 30 days of the end of each monthly monitoring period for all completed milestones. Any invoices submitted outside of this time may not be paid until the end of the next monitoring period.

You should consider how this may affect your cash flow throughout the project and what impact this could have on your subcontractors.

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 that 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

Engineering Biology Definition

Engineering biology is the purposeful engineering of biological systems to create new or enhanced functions that do not occur naturally, or that cannot be achieved efficiently through conventional approaches.

It combines synthetic biology with enabling capabilities such as automation, AI, data science, advanced biomanufacturing and engineering disciplines to design, build, test and scale biological solutions.

Through the redesign of organisms, cells and biomolecular systems, engineering biology creates novel properties and capabilities that can address societal, environmental and industrial challenges.

Engineering Biology Programme

Engineering Biology was identified as a priority in the new modern Industrial Strategy and one of the six frontier technologies in the Digital and Technologies sector plan. Engineering biology holds enormous potential across the entire economy so UKRI has designated it one of the priority programmes in its 2026-2031 strategy.

The UKRI Engineering Biology Programme (EBP) provides a focused and coherent approach to investing in research and innovation that will ensure the UK can derive the greatest economic impact from its strong foundations in world-class research and a growing SME community in engineering biology.

Further information on the challenge statements:

Low Cost, Real Time Water Quality Monitoring for Policy, Public Health, and Ecosystem Management using Genomic Monitoring and Surveillance

In scope:

• portable, autonomous systems that enable continuous, real-time monitoring of pollutants and pathogens in rivers, lakes, and bathing waters to enable rapid responses to pollution events, biodiversity threats and biosecurity risks

• combine advanced sensing technologies, biosensors, eDNA, CRISPR based diagnostics, with AI driven analytics and digital platforms to deliver actionable insights for regulators, water companies, and communities

Out of scope:

• purchase, installation, validation or deployment of existing water quality monitoring technology without demonstration of a significant technological innovation component

• projects focused solely on data collection, analysis, modelling, visualisation, or reporting without innovation in biological sensing or genomic technologies

Predicting Ecosystem Health and Resilience from eDNA via AI Driven data integration

In scope:

• predictive early warning systems capable of forecasting risks from ecosystem and ecosystem service degradation using data on emerging threats, including antimicrobial resistance, invasive non-native species, climate stress and ecosystem tipping points

• predictive early warning systems capable of identifying opportunities for nature restoration using data on biodiversity, community composition and functional genomics

• use AI to integrate multi-omics data sets, including RNA, and their rich metadata, and linking data streams such as eDNA, environmental sensors and satellite data to produce forecasting systems

• suitable for implementation within government, scalable and deployable across ecosystems, and capable of producing actionable, decision ready information and data processing methods that are accessible to government users

• bioinformatics and computational omics analysis as key enabling technologies for generating insight into environmental status and resilience from nucleotide sequencing

Out of scope:

• project focused solely on data collection, or development of sensing technologies, if included, these should be supporting innovation in analysis, interpretation and reporting

• purchase, installation, validation or deployment or sequencing equipment without innovation in analysis, interpretation and reporting

Accelerating Next Generation Veterinary Vaccine Platforms through Engineering Biology

In scope:

Platform technologies for rapid vaccine adaptation:

• modular, plug and play, veterinary vaccine platforms that enable rapid substitution of pathogen specific antigens or genetic sequences without redesigning the underlying platform

• vaccine platform technologies, including nucleic acid, mRNA, saRNA, DNA, viral vector, protein subunit, nanoparticle, plant based and other approaches applicable across multiple diseases and animal species

• engineering biology approaches that accelerate the design, flexibility, optimisation, and performance of veterinary vaccine platforms across multiple diseases and animal species

• platform capabilities that support rapid response to emerging, exotic or transboundary animal disease threats

Manufacturing, formulation and deployment technologies:

• flexible manufacturing approaches that enable rapid switching between vaccine targets using common production infrastructure

• cell free production, advanced expression systems and other platform manufacturing technologies that improve scalability, surge capacity or supply chain resilience

• novel delivery systems, thermostability, shelf life extension, reduced cold chain requirements and platform compatible adjuvants that improve vaccine availability and deployment

Out of scope:

• research to develop vaccine tools and technology focused solely on improving human health and disease burden

• projects with applications for both human and animal health, where the primary research focus is improving animal health

• incremental improvements to existing vaccines that do not substantially improve platform adaptability, vaccine performance, development timelines or manufacturing flexibility

• research to develop vaccine tools and technology that solely focus on improving health or reducing disease burden in non-food producing animals such as wildlife and companion animals is out of scope

• diagnostic, surveillance, therapeutic or other animal health technologies that are not directly related to veterinary vaccine platform development

• projects focused primarily on late stage clinical development, commercialisation, or deployment of vaccine products

Rapid diagnostics to maintain food standards and regulatory compliance

In scope:

• portable systems that enable the rapid detection or identification of foodborne risks, pathogens, contaminants, toxins, allergens and markers of authenticity

• deployable across the agri-food value chain to improve food safety, reduce fraud and support regulatory compliance

• combining advanced detection technologies, for example, biosensors or novel nucleic acid amplification diagnostics, with AI driven analytics and digital platforms to deliver actionable insights for regulators, inspectors, and businesses

• using engineering biology approaches to develop novel reagents to create new tests that could be deployed using existing platforms, for example, creation of new or modified binding proteins for use within a biosensor or lateral flow platform, or as part of a novel capture or enrichment system

Out of scope:

• purchase, installation, validation or deployment of existing food testing technology without demonstration of a significant technological innovation component

• taking an established DNA based detection technology and designing additional tests or assays to run on it

• projects focused solely on data collection or sampling without innovation in detection technologies

Background to the challenge statements from July workshop: Engineering Biology Contracts for Innovation workshop - Innovate UK Business Connect.

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 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

• have a cheque and credit clearing facility

Online accounts are eligible as long as they meet the above criteria. UK bank accounts must be regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). International bank accounts may be subject to additional financial checks.

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. The contract is final and the terms are non-negotiable. 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

If you are unsuccessful with your application this time, you can view feedback from the assessors. This will be available to you on your IFS portal following notification.

Sometimes your application will have scored well, and you will receive positive comments from the assessors. You may be unsuccessful as your average score was not above the funding threshold or your project has not been selected under the portfolio approach if this is applied for this competition.

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.

Visit the service’s website to learn about how you might benefit as a winner.

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, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Environment Agency, Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VDM), Natural England and Food Standards Agency (FSA) (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 Defra, Environment Agency, VDM, Natural England and FSA 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 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, Defra, Environment Agency, VDM, Natural England and FSA and 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, Defra, Environment Agency, VDM, Natural England and FSA and will be data controllers for personal data submitted during the application.

Innovate UK’s Privacy Policy

Innovate UK Business Connect Privacy Policy

Defra’s Privacy Policy

Environment Agency Policy

Veterinary Medicines Directorate Policy

Natural England Policy

FSA 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).

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.