Funding opportunity

Funding opportunity: Pre-announcement: Local Innovation Partnerships Fund

This is a pre-announcement, more information will be available on this page in due course.

This programme earmarks at least £30 million for each of ten regions across the UK, including one in each of the devolved nations.

A competition will run for all other parts of the UK to bid for support to grow their innovation ecosystems. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will work with regional partnerships between civic authorities, businesses and research organisations to co-create a portfolio of investment in each region.

The intention is to attract a further £1 billion additional investment, including from the private sector, and £700 million of additional value to local economies.

What we're looking for

This will not run as a typical UKRI funding opportunity.

Partnership and co-creation are at the heart of the Local Innovation Partnership Fund (LIPF). It is open to collaborative proposals co-created between UKRI and locally led triple-helix partnerships/consortia of civic authorities, industry and research organisations.

The programme is designed to support places that have an identifiable innovation ecosystem, with high-potential innovation clusters aligned to national policy priorities.

Proposals must build on local innovation strengths and opportunities giving places a strong role in determining their priorities, with UKRI providing a national perspective, technical expertise and support.

Places will need to demonstrate their level of readiness, this will include demonstration of strong triple helix governance and decision making, clear plans for innovation-led growth, robust plans to support proposals with devolved funding and other levers, a clear plan for resourcing including operational/delivery capability.

Proposed activities must fit within the government’s wider definition of R&D activities. This excludes basic research. Activities must also be additional to existing local and national provision, not financially reliant on extensions to the programme, and have a measurable impact on regional economic growth.

Key elements of the fund remain subject to business case approval, more information will be available on this page in due course.

How to apply

All applicants will be required to complete an early readiness check. We have published this initial guidance document to set out the proposed framework, principles, and indicative process for the LIPF, and to provide places with an early opportunity to plan their response. It also includes further detail on the fund’s key features, eligibility criteria, and an overview of timescales.

Further guidance to follow in the autumn.

Contact details

For questions related to this specific funding opportunity please contact: place@ukri.org

Additional info

At this stage, key elements of the fund remain subject to business case approval. However, previous experience has proved that sharing information iteratively is valuable in supporting places to prepare and respond to funding calls. more information will be available on this page in due course.

Updates

  • 29 July 2025
    Added information to 'How to apply' and 'Additional info' section.

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