UK-Singapore Collaborative R&D

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £3 million in innovation projects in partnership with Enterprise Singapore. This competition has an open scope.

The aim of this competition is to fund business led collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects focused on industrial research. Your proposal must include at least one partner from the UK and one partner from Singapore.

The projects are expected to result in a new product, industrial process or service. They must be innovative, involve a technological risk, and have high market potential in the participating countries.

Innovate UK would particularly welcome applications from the following sectors:

• Advanced manufacturing and materials
• Agrifood tech
• Mobility and transport
• Cybersecurity
• Health and life sciences

Your project must:

• apply for a maximum grant of up to £350,000
• start by 1 September 2022
• end by 31 August 2025
• last between 24 and 36 months

UK project partners must carry out the majority of their project work in the UK and intend to exploit the results from or in the UK.

The consortium must include at least one business registered in Singapore that is a separate, non-linked entity.

All businesses in a consortium must be separate legal and non-linked entities. This is to ensure that projects encourage genuine international collaboration, not internal company research. Linked companies are considered a single entity under the parent company.

Projects should have a balanced contribution of the total eligible project costs among the partners from the participating partner countries. No more than 70% of the total project costs can be claimed by any single partner or by all partners from a single participating country.

Each organisation will receive funding from its respective national funding body.

Lead organisation

To lead a project your organisation must:

• be a UK registered business of any size
• be or involve at least one grant claiming UK registered SME
• partner with a Singapore registered business, which must be a separate non-linked entity to the UK project partners

Academic institutions cannot lead or work alone.

Project team

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be a UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition, but they are limited to no more than 20% of the total eligible costs of the UK participation. Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.

A UK registered business can lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in a further 2 applications. If a UK registered business is not leading any application, it can collaborate in up to 3 applications. A UK registered academic institution or RTO can collaborate on any number of applications.

The aim of this competition is to fund business led, collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects focused on industrial research, for innovative proposals developed between the UK and Singapore.

Your project must demonstrate:

• a clear game-changing or disruptive innovative idea leading to new products, processes or services
• a strong and deliverable business plan that addresses and documents, market potential and needs
• sound, practical financial plans and timelines
• good value for money which will always be a consideration in Innovate UK funding decisions
• a clear, evidence-based plan to deliver significant economic impact, return on investment (ROI) and growth through commercialisation, as soon as possible after project completion
• considerable potential to significantly benefit the UK economy or national productivity
• the benefits of participants from the countries working together and how this adds value
• a clear definition of where intellectual property (IP) can be used and shared between the participants and countries
• a clear route to market within 2 to 3 years of project completion

Innovate UK want to fund a portfolio of projects, across a variety of technologies. They are not funding projects that work on non-civilian applications.

An online briefing event will be held at 9.30am on Thursday 3rd February 2022: click here for the joining link.

If you would like help to find a collaborative partner, contact KTN’s International team.