Opportunity status:
Open
Funders:
UK Research and Innovation
Funding type:
Grant
Total fund:
£500,000,000
Maximum award:
£20,000,000
Publication date:
6 October 2025
Opening date:
6 October 2025 9:00am UK time
Closing date:
12 February 2026 4:00pm UK time
Triple helix partnerships across the UK, excluding places in receipt of an Earmarked Award can apply for a maximum of £20 million.
The Competed strand provides an opportunity for places across the UK, outside of the earmarked regions, to demonstrate their innovation potential, including those with more polycentric geographies. Any proposed partnership must operate within a defined functional economic geography and clearly evidenced cluster(s).
Submissions can consider collaboration options both within and beyond administrative boundaries to ensure proposals have the required scale of impact.
Who can apply
All submissions must be made on behalf of a triple helix partnership. This is a core requirement of the Local Innovation Partnership Fund (LIPF). Each proposal will need to demonstrate that such a partnership is in place and is capable of developing a compelling portfolio of activities that support the growth of high potential innovation clusters.
The rationale behind the triple helix is well-established, having demonstrated successful implementation in national and international contexts, alongside previous UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) programmes. It brings together collective strengths of research and knowledge generation from academia, commercial expertise and market application from industry, and public sector leadership and strategic direction from civic institutions. Together, these are critical to regional decision-making and ensuring innovation-driven growth.
The lead organisation (’lead bidder’) should be agreed by the partnership on the basis of who is best placed to coordinate the response and represent the cluster opportunity. In many instances, this will be a mayoral strategic authority, combined authority or another form of regional leadership body with the necessary capacity and resources. However, there is the flexibility to designate a university or research organisation to take on a role where appropriate. The lead organisation will be required to access the UKRI Funding Service.
To apply on behalf of your triple helix partnership you must be based at an eligible organisation as follows:
* higher education providers
* research institutes
* public sector research establishments
* NHS bodies
* independent research organisations.
* a Mayoral Strategic Authority, or other local government partner that has been granted non-standard eligibility for this funding opportunity
Mayoral strategic authorities and other local government partners that are not currently eligible organisations can apply for ‘non-standard’ eligibility limited to the LIPF and need to contact to discuss their eligibility application.
Business and international organisations are not eligible to apply as the lead organisation (‘lead bidder’) on behalf of your triple helix partnership.
When you apply on behalf of your triple helix partnership you will be responsible for:
* convening and coordinating the partnership, should this be the agreed approach locally
* formally submitting the application, ensuring it reflects the local innovation strategy, the collective ambition and capabilities of the region and aligns with all readiness criteria
* managing the project portfolio process, overseeing portfolio development and prioritisation processes through the triple helix governance and formally submitting the portfolio for quality assurance
The timeline for the readiness review process reflects the volume of responses anticipated. It may be extended if necessary.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
We are for all funding applicants. We strongly encourage leadership and participation from a diverse range of people.
We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:
* career breaks
* support for people with caring responsibilities
* flexible working
* alternative working patterns
UKRI can during the application and assessment process.
What we're looking for
Scope
The LIPF seeks to harness high-potential clusters to drive economic growth, deliver impact at scale and build long-lasting innovation capacity in places, ultimately supporting places to increase their competitive advantage. Partnerships are asked to submit project portfolios that directly support the growth of these high potential clusters, shaped around clearly defined needs and opportunities. Projects must have a distinct focus on near-to-market research and innovation with strong potential for commercial application, industry adoption and scalable impact.
The LIPF is not designed to support early discovery or blue-sky research. Instead, it aims to support the conversion of research excellence into tangible products, services, or technologies that deliver impact through increased productivity, greater investment, and the creation of high-value jobs.
The primary objectives of the LIPF are to:
* foster the growth of mature innovation clusters by deepening their capabilities and expanding their reach
* support emerging clusters, to grow and mature their ecosystems enhancing their capability of generating substantial economic value
* support the adoption, diffusion, and commercialisation of new technologies
* strengthen local partnerships and governance to deliver place-based innovation
The LIPF is designed to support a broad range of research and development (R&D) activities that ultimately accelerate research commercialisation, adoption of new technologies, support businesses to scale and grow and unlock private investment. Further details on what constitutes R&D expenditure can be found in, specifically the ESA10 definition and the five criteria designed to help identify R&D.
All projects must be delivered within the five-year LIPF timescale, activities proposed for funding should not be financially dependent on sustained UKRI funding, either concluding within the programme window or supported by other sources of funding.
To be eligible for funding, projects must meet criteria around the type of activities that will be supported and clearly demonstrate how these activities will support the development of the identified priority clusters.
Each partnership will be expected to demonstrate that their portfolio of activities (not individual projects) can generate an absolute minimum private to public investment ratio of 1:1 during the delivery phase and 2:1 across the portfolio’s lifespan (7 year reporting period). Ideally, they should demonstrate how they could deliver a ratio of 3:1 over the lifespan. The focus on leveraging private sector activity from the LIPF is particularly important in the longer-term, even if it cannot be achieved out the outset of projects.
There is no prescribed number of clusters that is expected in a proposal. However, it is strongly advised that proposals ensure that funding is not spread thinly across several opportunities. Partnerships should focus on scale and impact, considering the optimal number of clusters and projects relative to the available funding, that form an impactful, deliverable portfolio.
See Additional information for further guidance.
Duration
The maximum duration of this award is for five years.
Funding available
The full economic cost (FEC) of your project portfolio including administrative costs can be up to £20 million.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will fund 100% of the FEC for administrative funding to cover operating expenditure (opex) of your triple helix partnership up to £200,000. List all costs in ‘Exceptions’ and use the following subheadings as required when completing your application:
* staff
* equipment
* travel and subsistence
* other
Find out .
UKRI typically issues funding directly to research organisations and businesses. However, in response to feedback from the Innovation Accelerator Pilot, UKRI will offer a hybrid approach as part of the LIPF. This model allows successful partnerships to identify a local anchor entity to administer grants for businesses, while UKRI continues funding research organisations at 80% FEC, bringing LIPF into better alignment with the government’s strategic objective to empower more local decision-making.
Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)
UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.
As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.
See, including where applicants can find additional support.
How to apply
We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.
The project lead (‘lead bidder’) is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.
Only the lead organisation (‘lead bidder’) can submit an application to UKRI.
To apply
Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page.
1. Confirm you are the project lead (‘lead bidder’).
2. Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password. If your organisation is not listed, email
Please allow at least 10 working days for your organisation to be added to the Funding Service. We strongly suggest that if you are asking UKRI to add your organisation to the Funding Service to enable you to apply to this opportunity, you also create an organisation Administration Account. This will be needed to allow the acceptance and management of any grant that might be offered to you.
3. Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.
4. Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.
5. Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.
6. Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.
Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.
When including images, you must:
* provide a descriptive caption or legend for each image immediately underneath it in the text box (this must be outside the image and counts towards your word limit)
* insert each new image on a new line
* use files smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format
Images should only be used to convey important visual information that cannot easily be put into words. The following are not permitted, and your application may be rejected if you include:
* sentences or paragraphs of text
* tables
* excessive quantities of images
A few words are permitted where the image would lack clarity without the contextual words, such as a diagram, where text labels are required for an axis or graph column.
For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:
* * *
References
References should be included within the word count of the appropriate question section. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.
Hyperlinks can be used in reference information. When including references, you should consider how your references will be viewed and used by the assessors, ensuring that:
* references are easily identifiable by the assessors
* references are formatted as appropriate to your research
* persistent identifiers are used where possible
General use of hyperlinks
Applications should be self-contained. You should only use hyperlinks to link directly to reference information. You must not include links to web resources to extend your application. Assessors are not required to access links to conduct assessment or recommend a funding decision.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI)
Use of generative AI tools to prepare funding applications is permitted, however, caution should be applied.
For more information see our .
Deadline
UKRI must receive your application by 4:00pm UK time on 12 February 2026.
Further deadlines can be found in the opportunity timeline.
Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.
Following the submission of your application to the funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and applications will not be returned for amendment. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.
Personal data
Processing personal data
UKRI will need to collect some personal information to manage your Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications.
We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our .
Sensitive information
If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email
Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].
Typical examples of confidential information include:
* individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example due to parental leave)
* declaration of interest
* additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section
* conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection
* the application is an invited resubmission
For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read .
Publication of outcomes
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the .
Summary
Word limit: 500
In plain language, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application. Clearly describe your submission in terms of:
* context, geography, priority clusters and specialisms, highlighting unique advantage
* the vision and innovation opportunity of the priority clusters present
* the triple helix governance that will oversee the LIPF
* track record and outline project opportunities
We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information. Make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example:
* opinion-formers
* policymakers
* the public
* the wider research community
Core team
Only list one individual as project lead. To be the project lead you must be affiliated with the organisation submitting the application on behalf of the triple helix partnership. You will be the main contact for UKRI.