Women in Innovation Awards 2025/26
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), is offering up to 60 Women in Innovation Awards to women founders and co-founders of micro, small, or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the UK. This is subject to a sufficient number of high-quality applications being received.
Successful projects will receive up to £75,000 of grant funding and bespoke business support for 12 months. A proportion of highly commended applicants who have not been awarded grant funding in this competition will be offered bespoke business support for 12 months.
The aims of this competition are to support Women in Innovation Award winners:
- whose innovation is aligned to one of the following three high-growth sectors defined in the Government’s Industrial Strategy: Advanced Manufacturing, Digital and Technologies, and Life Sciences
- who have a late-stage start-up with ambitions to grow a scalable business that will involve raising considerable investment in the next 12 to 24 months.
As late-stage start-ups, applicants are expected to:
- have built a basic version of the idea or product, service, or solution, for example, a prototype or Minimal Viable Product
- have received early interest from users or customers, or generated some revenue
- know who the product is for and have started testing how the business will work
- have an understanding of realistic market opportunity
- have started forming a team, going beyond the original founders.
The competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in the Innovate UK competition brief.
Visit the website for the full details, eligibility criteria, and how to apply.