Farming Innovation Programme: Small R&D Partnership Projects Rd 5

Farming Innovation Programme: Small R&D Partnership Projects Rd 5 is sponsored by Innovate UK (part of the Defra Farming Innovation Programme). This fund supports small R&D partnership projects in the farming sector.

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Farming Innovation Programme: Small R&D Partnership Projects Rd 5 UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £13 million for small R&D partnership projects. This funding is from the industry led R&D Partnerships Fund, a part of the Defra Farming Innovation Programme.

Competition opens: Tuesday 1 September 2026 Wednesday 14 October 2026 11:00am The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will invest up to £13 million in innovation projects. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received. This funding is part of Defra's Farming Innovation Programme which is delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.

We reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions under exceptional circumstances, for example, in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations, or broader government funding decisions.

The aim of this competition is to: develop solutions with the potential to improve overall productivity, sustainability, resilience and move existing agricultural sectors to net zero ensure solutions have positive outputs for farmers, growers or foresters in commercially relevant situations develop new agricultural solutions by collaboration through engagement with end users and the UK research community in the innovation process accelerate adoption by ensuring knowledge exchange with the wider sector and other stakeholders Your proposal must be able to demonstrate how the project will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England.

This competition has a two stage assessment. If your project is assessed as eligible, you may be invited to present at interview. The selection of successful projects will be decided after interviews.

In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly but we are still unable to fund it.

Our experience from similar competitions suggests that you could have 15% chance of success. We consider a range of factors when determining whether to provide funding to applicants. This includes an assessment of prior conduct, such as any outstanding payments owed to Innovate UK or UKRI.

Such factors may influence the funding decision, potentially resulting in a refusal of funding or an award subject to additional scrutiny. We also reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions. This may be in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations or broader government funding decisions.

This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief . We cannot guarantee other government or third party sites will always show the correct competition information. Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £1 million and £3 million.

Accessibility and Inclusion We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us. You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance.

We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline. You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357.

Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). If your application passes the technical assessment, any awards given to primary agricultural producers are subject to the green box exemption under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture. See further guidance on green box subsidies WTO Guidance for support in Agriculture .

Applicants receiving this type of support must ensure that there is minimal to no distortion of trade and comply with the requirements of Annex 2 of the Agriculture Agreement .

have total costs between £1 million and £3 million carry out all of its project work in the UK intend to exploit the results from or in England Any organisation receiving funding must carry out its project work in the UK, intend to exploit the results in the UK, and spend most of the funding within the UK. Projects must always start on the first of the month, even if this is a non-working day.

You must not start your project until your Grant Offer Letter has been approved by Innovate UK. Any delays within Project Setup may mean we need to delay your project start date. You must only include eligible project costs in your application.

See our overview of eligible project costs . If your project’s total costs/grant funding request or duration falls outside of our eligibility criteria, you must provide justification by email to support@iuk. ukri.

org at least 10 working days before the competition closes. We will then decide whether to approve your request. If your project does not meet our criteria and you have not requested justification approval, your application will be made ineligible and it will not be sent for assessment.

To lead a collaborative project your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size. The consortium must contain at least one UK registered micro, small or medium sized enterprise (SME) claiming grant funding on this application. More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules .

You must be able to evidence that you are an established commercial business, including sole traders and partnerships. To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered: public sector organisation research and technology organisation (RTO) Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) by the lead to collaborate on a project.

Once partners have accepted the invitation, they will be asked to login or to create an account in the IFS. They are responsible for entering their own project costs and completing their Project Impact questions in the application.

To be an eligible collaboration: the lead and at least one other organisation must request funding you must explain why you’re collaborating and how the collaboration will work no single organisation can claim more than 70% of the total project costs Your project can include organisations who do not claim any funding for their work on the project. Their costs will be covered from their own resources.

These can include UK, EU and other non-UK organisations. Non-UK partners are permitted to carry out project work from within their home countries and exploit the results outside the UK. Where non-funded partners have been invited to the application on IFS, their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs.

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition. Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process. You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you cannot use subcontractors from the UK.

You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor. All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.

A business can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in two further applications. If a business is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications. Academic institutions, research and technology organisations (RTO), charities, not for profits or public sector organisations can collaborate on any number of applications.

This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions .

For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups . Use of animals in research and innovation Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.

Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation . Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process.

This information will be reviewed before an award is made. You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition. If you have previously submitted an application that reached our assessment stage, you can re-apply once more with the same proposal.

If there are minor differences to the proposal, but it is judged by us to be ‘not materially different’, the same rule applies. We will not award you funding if you have: failed to exploit a previously funded project an overdue independent accountant’s report failed to comply with grant terms and conditions Innovate UK may withhold a grant payment at any time if you have any outstanding sums due to us in relation to other projects.

Subsidy control (and State aid where applicable) This competition provides funding in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Further information about the Subsidy requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022 . Innovate UK is unable to award organisations that are considered to be in financial difficulty.

We will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage. EU State aid rules now only apply in limited circumstances. See the Windsor Framework to check if these rules apply to your organisation.

In the ‘Project details’ section of your application you will be asked questions to indicate if State Aid or Subsidy applies to your organisation. If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 or the State aid rules, you should take independent legal advice. We are unable to advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations.

You must not do anything which could cause a breach of Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom. This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to, or distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries. This award is classified as a Subsidy which does not form part of your Minimal Financial Assistance or de minimis allowance.

Up to £13 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

We reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions under exceptional circumstances, for example, in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations, or broader government funding decisions.

If your project includes grant funding for farmers, growers or foresters, a minimum of 50% of the total grant amount requested by them in your application, must come from farmers, growers or foresters geographically based in England. If your organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below.

These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically but for the purpose of this project will be undertaking commercial or economic activity. The balance between your total eligible project costs and the amount of grant awarded must be funded by the organisation receiving the grant.

For industrial research projects, you can get funding for your eligible project costs of: up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation up to 50% if you are a large organisation For more information on company sizes, refer to the company accounts guidance .

If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003 . Innovate UK may revoke our decision to provide funding without notice if government commitment for this initiative is withdrawn. The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs.

If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them.

Of that 30% you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to: 100% of your eligible project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not for profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are an academic institution Eligibility criteria for claiming 80% of FEC funding Research organisations must use the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) method as the Je-S form has now been decommissioned.

We pay 100% of the 80% Full Economic Cost (FEC). On IFS only enter the 80% being claimed. To find out more see our: Cost Guidance for Academics .

The aim of this competition is to: develop solutions with the potential to improve overall productivity, sustainability, resilience and move existing agricultural sectors to net zero ensure solutions have positive outputs for farmers, growers or foresters in commercially relevant situations develop new agricultural solutions, by collaboration through engagement with end users and the UK research community in the innovation process accelerate adoption by ensuring knowledge exchange with the wider sector and other stakeholders Your solutions must significantly improve: sustainability and the environmental impact of farming progression towards net zero emissions Businesses within a supply chain, are encouraged to come together as a partnership to solve major challenges or opportunities.

Your project must be able to demonstrate how the project will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England. We want to fund a variety of projects across different technologies, markets, technological maturities and research categories. We call this a portfolio approach .

Your project must address a significant industry challenge or opportunity in at least one of the industry subsectors below: novel food production systems bioeconomy and agroforestry 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: do not benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England involve wild caught fisheries involve aquaculture for fish production or human consumption involve cellular or acellular production systems, fermentation systems for bacteria, yeast or fungi for human consumption are for the production of crops or plants for medicinal or pharmaceutical use We cannot fund projects that are: dependent on export performance: giving a subsidy to an organisation on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of its products to another country dependent on domestic inputs usage: giving a subsidy to an organisation on the condition that it uses a set percentage of UK components in their product Recorded applicant briefing: watch the recording Briefing slides are available to download from Supporting Information.

Interview panel : 04/12/2026 – 09/12/2026 You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.

Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure: that all the information provided in the application is correct your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria all sections of the application are marked as complete that all partners have completed all assigned sections and accepted the terms and conditions (T&Cs) You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline.

You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline. The application is split into four sections: Accessibility and Inclusion We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.

You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance. We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline.

You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). This section provides background for your application and is not scored.

Decide which organisations will work with you on your project and invite people from those organisations to help complete the application. Give your project’s title, start date and duration. Select the type of research you will undertake.

Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign the right experts to assess your application. Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Describe your project in detail and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description.

This can happen before you start your project. Your answer can be up to 400 words long. Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition.

If your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why. Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition by: indicating which on farm or immediate post farmgate challenges or opportunities you are addressing identifying to which farming sectors your solution will be applicable Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

The assessors will score all your answers apart from questions 1 to 6. You will receive feedback for each scored question. Find out more about how our assessors assess and how we select applications for funding .

You must answer all questions. You must not include any website addresses or links (URLs) in your answers. Any website addresses or URLs included, will not be viewed or opened.

Question 1. Applicant location (not scored) You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation and any partners or subcontractors working on your project. We are collecting this information to understand more about the geographical location of all applicants.

Question 2. Animal testing (not scored) Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing? You must select one option: We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare.

Further information for proposals involving animal testing is available at the UKRI Good Research Hub and NC3R’s animal welfare guidance . Question 3. Permits and licences (not scored) Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project?

We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date. You must select one option: In the process of being applied for Question 4. International collaboration (not scored) Does your proposed work involve any international collaboration or engagement?

You must provide details of any expected international collaboration or engagement. You must include a list of the names and the countries, any international project co-leads, project partners, visiting researchers, or other collaborators are based in. You must also include details of any subcontractors or service providers.

If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration or engagement, your answer must confirm this. Your answer can be up to 100 words long Question 5. Export licence (not scored) You must indicate whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance .

You must select one option: Question 6.

Trusted Research and Innovation (not scored) You must explain if your proposed project work relates to UKRI’s Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) Principles , including: a list of any dual use (both military and non-military) applications to your research a list of the areas where your project is relevant to one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance and the status of any applications a list of any items or substances on the UK Strategic Export Control List If your proposed work does not relate to UKRI’s TR&I Principles, your answer must confirm this.

We may ask you to provide additional TR&I information at a later date, in line with UKRI TR&I Principles and funding terms and conditions. Your answer can be up to 400 words long Question 7. Need or challenge What is the business need, technological challenge, or market opportunity behind your innovation?

the farming or agricultural problem, need, technological challenge or market opportunity identified how your project outputs would deliver large improvements in productivity, resilience and sustainability, while significantly decreasing the environmental impact of farming how your project is helping the industry transition towards net zero emissions and benefiting farmers, growers or foresters in England the wider economic, social, environmental, cultural or political challenges which are influential in creating the opportunity Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 8. Approach and innovation What approach will you take and where will the focus of the innovation be?

how you will respond to the need, challenge or opportunity identified how you will improve on any similar innovation that you have identified whether the innovation will focus on existing technologies in new areas, the development of new technologies for existing areas, or a totally disruptive approach the freedom you have to operate how this project fits with your current product, service lines or offerings how it will make you more competitive the nature of the outputs you expect from the project, for example reports, demonstrator, know how, new process, product or service design, and how these will help you to target the need, challenge or opportunity identified Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It can include diagrams and charts. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB.

It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom. Question 9. Team and resources Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

the roles, skills and experience of all members of the project team that are relevant to the approach you will be taking how you will work with farmers, growers or foresters throughout the project to ensure outputs remain focussed on end users needs the resources, equipment and facilities needed for the project and how you will access them the details of any vital external parties, including subcontractors, who you will need to work with to successfully carry out the project if your project is collaborative, the current relationships between project partners and how these will change as a result of the project any roles you will need to recruit for Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

You can submit one appendix, with a short summary of the main people working on the project to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 10. Market awareness What does the market or markets you are targeting look like?

the target markets for the project outcomes and any other potential markets, either domestic, international or both the size of the target markets for the project outcomes, backed up by references where available the structure and dynamics of the target markets, including customer segmentation, together with predicted growth rates within clear timeframes the target markets’ main supply or value chains and business models, and any barriers to entry that exist the current UK position in targeting these markets the size and main features of any other markets not already listed If your project is highly innovative, where the market may be unexplored, describe or explain: what the market’s size might be how your project will try to explore the market’s potential Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 11. Outcomes and route to market How are you going to grow your business and increase long term productivity as a result of the project?

your current position in the markets and supply or value chains outlined, and whether you will be extending or establishing your market position your target customers or end users, and the value to them, for example, why they would use or buy your product how you are going to profit from the innovation, including increased revenues or cost reduction how the innovation will affect your productivity and growth, in both the short and the long term how you will protect and exploit the outputs of the project, for example through know how, patenting, designs or changes to your business model your strategy for targeting the other markets you have identified during or after the project If there is any research organisation activity in the project, describe: your plans to spread the project’s research outputs over a reasonable timescale how you expect to use the results generated from the project in further research activities Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 12. Wider impacts What impact might this project have outside the project team?

Describe and, where possible, measure: the environmental, sustainability and resilience benefits from the project to external parties, for example, contributing to net zero targets for emissions and reduction of waste the economic benefits from the project to external parties, such as productivity increases and import substitution at a regional or national scale the long term social and welfare impacts from the project how you have determined that the project outputs will not widen any farming inequalities, including any negative impacts that you have identified, and how will you mitigate against these Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 13. Project management How will you manage your project effectively?

the main work packages of your project, indicating the lead partner assigned to each and the total cost of each one your approach to project management, identifying any major tools and mechanisms you will use to get a successful and innovative project outcome the management reporting lines your project plan in enough detail to identify any links or dependencies between work packages or milestones Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

You must submit a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

What are the main risks for this project?

the main risks and uncertainties of the project, including the technical, commercial, managerial and environmental risks how you will mitigate these risks any project inputs that are critical to completion, such as resources, expertise, and data sets any output likely to be subject to regulatory requirements, certification, ethical issues and other requirements identified, and how you will manage this Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

You must submit a risk register as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

How will this public funding help you to accelerate or enhance your approach to developing your project towards commercialisation? What impact would this award have on the organisations involved?

what advantages public funding would offer your project, for example: appeal to investors, more partners, reduced risk or a faster route to market the likely impact of the project outcomes on the organisations involved what other routes of investment or means of support you have already engaged with and why they were not suitable how any existing or potential investment or support will be used in conjunction with the grant funding what your project would look like without public funding how this project would change the R&D activities of all the organisations involved Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 16. Costs and value for money How much will the project cost and how does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer?

In terms of your project goals, explain: your total eligible project costs the grant you are requesting how each partner will finance their contributions to your project how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer how it compares to what you would spend your money on otherwise the balance of costs and grant across the project partners any subcontractor costs and why they are critical to your project Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Each organisation in your project must complete their own project costs, organisation details and funding details in the application. Academic institutions must use the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) method and upload to IFS to support their costs. This is a replacement to the Je-S form which has now been decommissioned.

For an overview on what