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. 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

We will publish full details on how to apply when the funding opportunity opens.

Contact details

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

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