Eligibility criteria
This competition is open to single applicants only.
You can apply for a loan of between £100,000 and £5 million to fund your project. To be eligible, you must
- be a UK-registered micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
- carry out your project from or within the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or within the UK
- provide evidence that your business is suitable to take out a loan
- start by 1 January 2026.
Additional information
Innovate UK innovation loans support highly innovative late-stage research and development (R&D) projects with the greatest potential for the future. There must be a clear route to commercialisation and economic impact.
Your project should result in innovative new products, processes, or services that are notably more advanced than those currently available, or suggest an original use of existing products, processes, or services. It can also involve a new or innovative business model.
Your project must focus on one or more of the following themes
- Net Zero
- Health and wellbeing
- Next generation digital technologies
- Technology families
Applications open on 10 July and close on 27 August 2025.