UK-Switzerland CR&D Round 3

UK-Switzerland CR&D Round 3 is sponsored by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Funding for UK registered businesses to collaborate with Swiss partners on innovative projects in specific technology areas, potentially including AI in marketing and advertising.

Competition overview - UK-Switzerland CR&D Round 3 - Innovation Funding Service Your application has timed out You have been signed out as you were inactive for 8 hours. We do this to keep your information secure. You need to sign back in to continue with your application.

Your application will time out soon We will reset your application if you do not respond in 5 minutes. We do this to keep your information secure. This is a new service – your feedback will help us to improve it.

UK-Switzerland CR&D Round 3 UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £3 million for innovative projects in specific technology areas. You must collaborate with at least one Swiss implementation partner applying under the equivalent Swiss Innosuisse programme.

Competition opens: Wednesday 1 July 2026 Thursday 3 September 2026 11:00am Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Authority, will invest up to £3 million from Innovate UK and at least CHF 3 million from Innosuisse in innovation projects. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received.

The aim of this competition is to enhance UK and Swiss collaborations and capabilities in the emerging technology fields, resulting in the development and delivery of new innovations and applications across a broad range of sectors. Your proposal must address innovation in the fields of Semiconductors, Life Sciences or Engineering Biology.

UK registered businesses must collaborate with at least one non-linked, registered Swiss implementation partner applying under the equivalent Swiss Innosuisse programme. UK registered organisations must apply through the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) portal to Innovate UK. Your Swiss partner will not receive any funding from Innovate UK.

Swiss partners must apply to, and will be funded by, Innosuisse for the Swiss component of the project set out in this application. 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 an 11% 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.

The project must be independently selected by both Innovate UK and Innosuisse to be eligible for funding. Your UK project’s total grant funding request must be no greater than £450,000. 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).

have a maximum grant funding request of £450,000 last between 18 and 36 months involve at least one grant claiming UK registered micro, small or medium sized enterprise (SME) The majority of the project work must be undertaken in the UK and Switzerland. UK project partners must carry out the majority of their project work in the UK and intend to exploit the results from or in the UK, and spend most of the funding within the UK.

The consortium must include at least one business registered in Switzerland that is a separate legal entity and not linked to the UK partners and one research institute from either the UK or Switzerland in your consortium. However, if the Swiss applicant is an individual start-up, pre-market and less than 50 FTE, the requirement to include a research institute is waived.

This is to ensure that projects encourage genuine international collaboration, not internal company research. Linked companies are considered a single entity under the parent company. Your project must demonstrate a balanced technological contribution by the participants from both countries and must be equally significant to all participants.

No one country or project partner can represent more than 70% of the total project cost. Note: eligibility on the Swiss counterpart competition states that in a project with two cooperating partners, no partner may contribute more than 70% of the total person months to the project. Person months is the metric for the time in months devoted by staff to a project.

No single country may contribute more than 70% or less than 30% of the total person months dedicated to the project. Person months refers to the cumulative time in months allocated by staff to the project. One person month is equal to 154 hours of full time work.

Applications identified as not eligible by either Innovate UK or Innosuisse will not be sent for assessment. Your project must always start on the first of the month and this must be stated within your application. Your project start date will be reflected in your grant offer letter if you are successful.

Your proposal must demonstrate a clear intention to commercially exploit the results of the project domestically or globally. You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs .

There must be a ‘project lead’ and this can be either an eligible UK or Swiss organisation. The project lead is responsible for managing the entire project. The ‘lead applicant’, is the organisation that starts the application on the Innovation Funding Service.

This must be a UK organisation. To start an application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS), your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.

be or involve at least one grant claiming micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) collaborate with at least one Swiss implementation partner applying to the Innosuisse programme, which must be a separate legal entity, not linked to the UK partners collaborate with at least one research institute from either the UK or Switzerland, however, if the Swiss applicant is an individual start-up, pre-market and less than 50 FTE, the requirement to include a research institute is waived Swiss organisations can be a project lead but cannot start an application on IFS.

They must be added as a partner to the UK lead applicant. This is for system functionality reasons. More information on the different types of UK organisations can be found in our Funding rules .

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered: public sector organisation research and technology organisation (RTO) Only UK registered partners must be listed in the Project Partner section of your application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS). Your Swiss partner will not receive any of this UK competition funding.

Swiss partners will be funded by the Innosuisse programme following a parallel application. Each organisation in your consortium will receive funding from its respective national funding body. Each UK partner organisation must be invited into the IFS by the lead to collaborate on a project.

Once accepted, partners will be asked to login or to create an account and enter their own project costs into the IFS.

To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and where another UK organisation is part of the consortium, the organisation must: apply for funding when entering their costs into the application include rationale for the collaboration and describe the structure in your application ensure any one partner does not account for more than 70% of the total eligible 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.

Swiss partners do not need to be invited into Innovate UK’s application on the Innovation Funding Service. Swiss partners will be funded by Innosuisse following a parallel application. Subcontractors are allowed in this competition, but they are limited to no more than 20% of the total eligible costs of the UK participation.

Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process. You can use subcontractors from other countries but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use subcontractors from the countries providing grant funding for the project.

You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK or Swiss 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 a subcontractor from a third country. All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs.

An eligible organisation can only lead on one application. Any further applications by the same organisation as lead will be made ineligible. The first application will be the only one considered for assessment.

An eligible organisation that is leading an application can be included as a collaborator in a further two applications and if not leading, can collaborate in any number of applications. Application guidance for Swiss organisations For guidance for Swiss organisations, see Supporting Information.

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 (legislation. gov.uk) .

Innovate UK is unable to award organisations that are considered to be in financial difficulty. W e 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 actually 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 £3 million from Innovate UK and at least CHF 3 million from Innosuisse has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications. 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. Each country will fund its eligible participants according to their national procedure and funding rules.

Funding conditions and eligibility criteria may vary between UK and Switzerland. The bilateral joint cooperation between the partners and its added value is an important aspect to be considered within the evaluation. If your UK registered 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.

For feasibility studies and 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 experimental development projects which are nearer to market, you can get funding for your eligible project costs of: up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation up to 35% if you are a medium sized organisation up to 25% 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.

Research participation for UK Organisations 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 enhance UK and Swiss collaborations and capabilities in the emerging technology fields, resulting in the development and delivery of new innovations and applications across a broad range of sectors. Your proposal must address innovation in the fields of Semiconductors, Life Sciences or Engineering Biology.

This competition will support UK and Swiss business led collaboration in innovation, with grant funding. Innovate UK will support UK businesses to collaborate successfully with Swiss counterparts and build their global growth prospects.

Your collaborative R&D proposal must demonstrate: a clear game changing or disruptive innovative idea leading to new products, processes or services a strong and deliverable business proposal within your application that addresses and documents market potential and needs sound, practical financial plans and timelines good value for money and how you intend to deliver significant economic impact, return on investment (ROI) and growth through commercialisation within two to three years of project completion clear potential to significantly benefit the UK economy or national productivity the benefit of participants from the countries working together and how this adds value a clear definition of where intellectual property (IP) can be used and shared between the participants and countries a clear route to market within two to three years of project completion 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 focus on one or more of the following: Semiconductors : Applications of particular interest: Compute: AI chips and accelerators for training, inference and edge use, including architectures and chip design, spanning CPUs, GPUs, TPUs, AI ASICs; key technology trends in this area include chiplets, heterogeneous integration, 3D packaging, novel computer architectures such as neuromorphic computing, and photonic approaches to improve bandwidth, latency and energy efficiency Photonic interconnects and data movement: chip to chip, board and system level connectivity, including integrated photonics and co‑packaged optics, as well as memory and data storage technologies which are increasingly critical to scaling AI systems Sensing: sensors and front end devices that generate and pre-process data for AI systems, including vision, radar, lidar, RF based sensing and photonic sensing where they deliver advantages in speed, precision or energy efficiency Power and energy systems: power electronics that make use of advanced materials such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride for efficiency and thermal management, and which are fundamental to scalable, cost effective and sustainable AI compute Engineering Biology : Applications where the core innovation is in engineered biological systems, for example, built on synthetic biology techniques: Biotechnology and genetic engineering platforms Bio-based production and bioprocesses, including food and agrifood applications Bio-engineered medical and diagnostic solutions ClimateTech or CleanTech applications We will fund feasibility projects, industrial research projects and experimental development projects, as defined in the guidance on categories of research .

Projects we will not fund We are not funding projects that: do not have a genuine collaboration with a Swiss implementation partner who has been successful in the corresponding Innosuisse programme do not collaborate with a minimum of one UK or Swiss research institution, however if the Swiss applicant is an individual start-up, pre-market and less than 50 FTE, the requirement to include a research institute is waived do not meet Innovate UK’s eligibility criteria 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 Online briefing event at 10am: watch the recording Briefing slides are available to download from Supporting Information.

Text update 23 June 2026: we have changed the guidance in the ‘Before submitting’ section for clarity. 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 UK partners have completed all assigned sections and accepted the terms and conditions (T&Cs) that projects submitted to the Innovation Funding Service and Innosuisse have the same project title 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. Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

The assessors will score all your answers apart from question 1 to 7. 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. Your answer to each question can be up to 400 words long. 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. Themes (not scored) Select one main theme from the specific themes list in the ‘Scope’ section of this competition.

You cannot choose more than one. Question 2. 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 3. 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 4.

(UK applicants only) 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 5.

International collaboration (not scored) 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.

Question 6. 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 7.

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. Question 8. Need or challenge What is the business need, technological challenge, or market opportunity behind your innovation?

the main motivation for the project the business need, technological challenge or market opportunity whether you have identified any similar innovation and its current limitations, including those close to market or in development any work you have already done to respond to this need, for example, if the project focuses on developing an existing capability or building a new one the wider economic, social, environmental, cultural or political challenges which are influential in creating the opportunity, such as incoming regulations Question 9.

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 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 10. 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 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 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 11.

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 Question 12.

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 Question 13.

Wider impacts What impact might this project have outside the project team? Describe and, where possible, measure the