Opportunity status:
Upcoming
Funders:
UK Research and Innovation,, ,, ,, ,
Funding type:
Grant
Total fund:
£9,000,000
Award range:
£100,000 - £250,000
Publication date:
18 February 2026
Opening date:
4 March 2026 9:00am UK time
Closing date:
13 May 2026 4:00pm UK time
Apply for funding for research commercialisation activities to develop new products, processes, and services via future venture creation, licensing or other commercialisation routes.
Applications are welcomed from any discipline. The programme will not fund discovery or curiosity-driven research.
You must be based in a UK research organisation eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding.
The full economic cost (FEC) can be up to £250,000 up to nine months duration.
UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC. We aim to support a range of projects across both the cost, length and remit permitted.
This is a pre-announcement and the information may change.
The funding opportunity will open on 4 March 2026. More information will be available on this page then.
This opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility. .
To ensure applications are assessed in a timely manner and to maintain a reasonable success rate, we are implementing demand management measures to this funding opportunity. Research organisations will each be allocated a cap for the maximum number of applications allowed to be submitted as project lead. This is detailed in the annex under additional information.
Submission of the grant application is managed by your institution’s research office (or equivalent).
We are encouraging eligible research organisations and potential applicants to work together to agree which applications are submitted to this funding opportunity as project leads, up to the maximum number allowed for that organisation.
Who is eligible to apply
Those eligible to apply include:
* researchers including postdoctoral researchers, research assistants or associates, head of groups, fellows
* support staff including, technicians, specialists, research and innovation associates including technology transfer or knowledge exchange staff (when employed directly by the eligible organisation)
Who is not eligible to apply
Those not eligible to apply include:
* employees at public sector research establishments, public sector arm length bodies and government departments applying to develop their own public sector knowledge assets
* anyone eligible to apply to the Government Office for Technology Transfer’s
* employees in business, sole trader, industry bodies
* doctoral students are not eligible to apply as lead during the duration of their course
International applicants
International applicants based outside the UK are not eligible to apply.
Resubmission
Resubmission of previously unsuccessful applications are not permitted unless you have been explicitly invited to do so. This includes unsuccessful applications previously submitted to another research council or UKRI Proof of Concept opportunity.
If an application has progressed and evolved significantly since it was last submitted, notably around its commercial proposition and technical development, it would be considered a different proposal and can be submitted to this funding opportunity.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.
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
for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.
To accommodate a range of background, expertise, personal circumstances and commercialisation journeys, the UKRI Proof of Concept programme should be considered flexibly so that it can attract the best talent.
Aim
The UKRI Proof of Concept funding opportunity aims to support and accelerate the development of new or improved technologies, products, processes, and services arising from research activities at eligible UK research organisations.
Scope
The UKRI Proof of Concept funding opportunity supports early-to-mid stage commercialisation activities that validate concepts that arose from research, at the pre-licensing or pre-company creation stage (spinouts or social ventures) or any other commercialisation routes. This is to support and enable the commercial application of existing research along varied commercialisation pathways.
Applications are welcomed from across all research disciplines and research councils’ remit (AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC, MRC, NERC and STFC) including cross and multi-disciplinary approaches.
We will support projects that are not eligible for funding applications via existing UKRI funding opportunities or those projects that have been funded by other mechanisms and that now require further de-risking at a larger scale.
If your project is eligible and in scope for live or upcoming UKRI council specific translation, knowledge exchange or commercialisation support via a specific council funding opportunity, you should apply to that council.
This UKRI funding opportunity aims to de-risk the commercialisation of research. This will allow research organisations and their partners to deliver better commercialisation outcomes. These outcomes may include establishing successful university spinouts or social ventures, as well as developing other applicable commercialisation routes that generate societal and economic benefits for the UK
The intended outputs of funded projects should include the development of an appropriate commercialisation proposition and strategy. This might include increasing readiness towards an investable or licensable proposition (or any other applicable commercialisation routes, for example social ventures) after completion of the proof-of-concept project.
Successful applicants and their institutions will need to demonstrate commitment to the adoption of best practices in research commercialisation (including, for example, TenU USIT guides).
For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, go to the Additional information section.
Duration
The duration of this award is a minimum of six months and a maximum of nine months from project start date.
Projects must start by 1 October 2026.
Funding available
The FEC of your project can be up to £250,000 with a minimum amount of £100,000.
UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC.
UKRI aims to fund a range of applications across both the cost and duration permitted.
Resources to access specialised expertise pertinent to your specific commercialisation journey are an eligible cost but will be assessed as part of the resource justifications in your application. These may include expertise such as further intellectual property strategy development, legal requirement, expert business advice and investor input, user-centric design, regulatory requirements or standards.
Collaborations between organisations across the research and development system and notably access to specialised facilities or infrastructures are welcome, including with those facilities supported by UKRI (Catapults, research institutes, campuses and clusters, facilities and centres) but not exclusively.
What we will fund
The UKRI Proof of Concept opportunity supports two types of activities as part of the same grant award. These are the further development or advancement of research toward specific user needs or market use or audiences, as well as the development of the commercialisation requirements needed to reach those users or markets. Both types of activities need to be addressed if you are to be successful in your research commercialisation endeavour.
Example of activities supported as part of Proof of Concept include:
* advancement of existing research outputs toward real world applications
* development of prototypes
* product, process or service design
* user testing and feedback
* refining routes to markets, users or audiences
* development of the business model including future financial sustainability
* development of product, process or service value chains including scale up requirements
* development of understanding of market, user or audience segmentation and positioning
* development of intellectual property strategy
* establishing or demonstrating freedom to operate
* developing regulatory or standards requirement needed to reach user/audience
* confirmation of market validation and product or market fit
* establishment of and test value proposition with target market or audience
* validation studies including larger scale viability studies
* prototype demonstration
* ‘technical’ and real-world concept optimisation
These are only examples of activities that form part of Proof-of-Concept development. Your activities should be specific to your project, your target market, user or audience needs and disciplines. You are encouraged to use milestones, both technical and commercial, to demonstrate the progression of your project toward its intended market, user or audience.
What we will not fund
The Proof of Concept opportunity is not a standard research project. This opportunity will not fund:
* fundamental or curiosity-driven research
* discovery research
* the simple extension or continuity of on-going work between research grants
* public engagement activities
* the filing of intellectual property, for example, patent, trademark or registered design
Supporting skills and talent
Taking research outputs toward real world commercialisation outcomes requires a diversity of skills, expertise, experiences and talents. We encourage you to consider the full range of expertise, experience and talent required as part of your wider team in order to succeed. Project leads do not need to be primary investigators or the most senior researcher. We welcome all level of experience and expertise to apply as part of the eligible research organisation.
We encourage you to follow the principles of the and the .
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. 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.
, including where you can find additional support.
We are running this funding opportunity on the new UKRI Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system. We will publish full details on how to apply when the funding opportunity opens.
The project lead 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 research organisation 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.
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.
Please be aware that research office and finance teams undertake checks on hosting arrangements and financial eligibility. The ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance with all opportunity requirements lies with the applicant.
Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. We recommend embedding your project plan or Gannt chart as images in the relevant sections of your application.
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 policy on the .
Deadline
UKRI must receive your application by 13 May 2026 at 4:00pm UK time.
You will not be able to apply after this time.
Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.
Following the submission of your application to this funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and submitted applications will not be amended. 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 privacy notice.
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: [UKRI Proof of Concept; 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 .
Institutional Matched Funding
There is no requirement for matched funding from the institutions hosting the project lead, project co-leads or other staff employed on the application, beyond the standard 20% FEC. Expert reviewers and panels assessing UKRI funding applications must not consider levels of institutional matched funding as a factor on which to base recommendations. Direct and in-kind contributions from third party project partners are encouraged.
This policy does not remove the need for support from host organisations who must provide the necessary research environment and infrastructure for award-specific activities funded by UKRI. For example, research facilities, training and development of staff.
Publication of outcomes
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the .
Summary
Word limit: 550
In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.
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
Guidance for writing a summary
Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of:
* the user needs and market opportunity your project addresses
* the aims and objectives and how you are addressing this challenge
* the proposed route to application(s) and markets
* the benefit(s) to potential users or customers
Core team
List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:
* project lead (PL)
* project co-lead (UK) (PcL)
* specialist
* grant manager
* professional enabling staff
* research and innovation associate
* technician
* visiting researcher
* researcher co-lead (RcL)
Only list one individual as project lead.
UKRI has introduced a new addition to the ‘Specialist’ role type. Public contributors such as people with lived experience can now be added to an application.