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 Taiwan.

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
• clear, considerable potential to significantly benefit the UK economy or national productivity
• the benefits of participants from the UK and Taiwan working together and how this adds value
• a clear definition of where intellectual property (IP) can be used and shared between the participants
• a clear route to market within 2 to 3 years of project completion

We would particularly welcome applications from the following sectors:

• smart technology for example next generation communication and semiconductor technology
• green energy technologies for example electric vehicles, hydrogen transportation and renewable energy
• smart manufacturing
• biotechnology for example medical materials
• service innovation for example the Internet of Things, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, 5G and 6G

This list is not meant to be exhaustive.

Portfolio approach

We want to fund a variety of projects across different technologies and UK geographical locations. We call this a portfolio approach.

Research categories

We will fund industrial research projects as defined in the guidance on categories of research.

Projects we will not fund

We are not funding projects that:

• work on non-civilian applications
• do not meet Innovate UK’s eligibility criteria
• do not submit all mandatory documentation
• request grant of more than £750,000 from Innovate UK
• do not have an eligible Taiwan partner

We cannot fund projects that are:

• dependent on export performance, for example giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country or territory
• dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product

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