Hey {{first_name|there}},
This month, we added 223 new opportunities to the directory.
We’ve listed some of those still live below with short summaries for your convenience!
Have a scroll through and see what looks relevant to you and {{organisation|your organisation}}. Feel free to forward this email to a friend who you think could stand to benefit.
Feeling overwhelmed by the number of opportunities or don’t have time to read through them all?
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Before we get into the opportunities, a few asks from me… 🙏
If you appreciate this service, could you please do me this quick favour… 🙋
The North East Combined Authority and its Mayor, Kim McGuinness, are currently conducting a survey to hear from business owners in the North East, just like you. They are looking to learn what kind of support you think would be useful to organisations in future. This is a great opportunity to have your say on the kinds of funding, support, and provisions we could possibly have to look forward to going forward.
The survey should take no longer than 8-minutes for business owners to complete. You will see that one of the questions (question 7) asks where would you first go to try and find out about business support. If the North East Support Directory is that for you, then I’d really appreciate a mention under the ‘Other’ option please 🙏
To have your say, both positive or negative, here's the direct link to the survey: https://www.research.net/r/JSFD2S2
Have your say in our future development! 🧑💻
Secondly, I’d love to hear from you on what features you’s love to see moving forward. We’re at a crossroads trying to decide what functionality we should develop next. We have a few ideas based on some of your feedback, but would love to get a broader consensus to build what’s most needed. If you could take 1-minute to vote on the below, it would be massively appreciated! Or better yet, feel free to respond to this email with any other ideas of things you’d love to see! Thank you!
What features/offers would you like to see developed in the future?
- AI Grant-Writing Functionality (a built in AI grant-writing tool)
- Grant/Bid Writer Database with Match-Making Functionality (connecting you with human experts who can help you win)
- An AI Voice Agent (that you could call to ask whats relevant to your business - on a PAYG basis)
- A Free Trial (to test out new functionality)
- Something else...
Finally, please help us to understand our impact 🔎
My final ask for now! To help us evidence our impact reporting, we’d love to learn how our service has benefited our users. To do this, we’d love to know which opportunities we’ve connected you to, and even more importantly - which opportunities you’ve went on to win or secure.
Our whole purpose is to democratise access to opportunities. As well as making us feel all warm and fuzzy inside when we hear of opportunities found and won through our website, it’s also great for our reporting.
If you’ve ever been accepted onto an Incubator/Accelerator, secured a Grant or Funding, or engaged with a Business Support programme that you’ve found through our service, then please respond to this email to let us know so we get a better idea of how many businesses we have helped! It really would mean the world 🫶🌍
Thank you!
Have you won any funding or been accepted onto any support programme that you found through our service?
To make your life easier, below is a handy table of contents of all the opportunities listed in this month’s newsletter.
Just click to skip to the opportunities which tickle your fancy:
This edition's opportunity list
🚀 Accelerators
Breakthrough with Lloyds
Support Type: Accelerator
Breakthrough is an eight-week accelerator for disabled entrepreneurs offering tailored funding support, expert-led mentorship, accessible learning, and a final Showcase Day with a chance to access an £18K funding pot.
Funding Available: £18,000
Application Deadline: 12/11/2025
RGU Accelerator 2026 Impact North
Support Type: Accelerator, Business Support
Turn your idea into a viable business through training, mentorship, incubation space and opportunities for equity-free seed funding during Scotland's National Innovation Week.
Funding Available: Equity-free seed funding of £3,000 and additional Showcase prizes
Application Deadline: 03/11/2025
National Climate Tech Accelerator — Sustainable Ventures
Support Type: Accelerator, Competition
Accelerate the growth of your climate tech startup with a comprehensive suite of digital, premium, and competitive support services, including access to digital learning platforms, mentoring, credits, investor connections, and pitch competitions.
Funding Available: Up to £250k in Google Cloud credits; additional credits and offers on account opening subject to terms
Burnley FC Innovation Hub
Support Type: Innovation Accelerator, Business Support
An accelerator program built inside a Premier League club that enables start-ups to test, validate, and refine sports tech solutions in a live football environment.
📈 Business Support
Boost Packs
Support Type: Business Support
Boost your company's potential with pre-packaged expert service hours including development, design, marketing, and startup advisory.
Better Tomorrow Ventures
Support Type: Venture Capital, Business Support
Better Tomorrow Ventures supports early-stage fintech startups through funding, strategic guidance, and operational support, helping founders navigate critical aspects such as hiring, company culture, distribution, partnerships, and fundraising.
eBay AI Activate
Support Type: Business Support, AI Tools
eBay AI Activate is a fully funded programme offering UK business sellers free access to enterprise AI tools and tailored training to help save time, boost sales, and grow their businesses.
🎓 Fellowships
ADR UK Research Fellowships 2025
Support Type: Fellowship
Pre-announcement funding opportunity for ADR UK Research Fellowships 2025 offering fellowships up to 18 months with a maximum award of £200,000. The funding supports research demonstrating policy impact potential using ADR England flagship datasets.
Funding Available: £200,000
Application Deadline: 26/02/2026
Churchill Fellowship
Support Type: Fellowship, Grant
The Churchill Fellowship offers a unique opportunity for individuals to learn from international best practices through overseas or online research and then use their insights to create meaningful change across the UK.
Funding Available: Grant amount is calculated individually to fully cover the costs of overseas or online research for up to two months.
Application Deadline: 04/11/2025
🤑 Grants
Energy Access Collaboration Building visits: UK - Indonesia | Kenya | Mexico
Support Type: Business Growth, Other, Training and resources
Funded visits supporting the development of partnerships between the UK and international organisations for post-trip funding opportunities.
Funding Available: Travel, accommodation, and subsistence costs for one senior representative.
Application Deadline: 23/11/2025
AMPI UK-RAS ICURe Discover
Support Type: Funding, Business growth, Training and resources
AMPI UK-RAS ICURe Discover is a part-time online market discovery programme designed to support researchers, academics and technicians working in advanced machinery, robotics and autonomous systems. It provides up to £2,500 in financial support for testing assumptions and conducting market discovery activities.
Funding Available: Up to £2,500
Application Deadline: 11/12/2025
2025 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity
Support Type: Award
A global award dedicated to recognizing and supporting unsung humanitarian heroes who bring tangible positive change to communities in need.
Funding Available: $1 million award
Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: Choose Europe for Science 2025
Support Type: Funding, Award
This initiative aims to make research careers in Europe more attractive by offering excellent working conditions, stable employment and long-term prospects through a co-funded scheme for recruiting researchers.
Funding Available: €3.5 million maximum per beneficiary
Application Deadline: 03/12/2025
Support Type: Funding, Award
ARIA's Sustained Viral Resilience programme seeks to develop a new class of medicines that provide durable, broad-spectrum protection against respiratory viruses by engineering the innate immune system. The call invites concept papers and full proposals to support research from in vitro proof-of-concept to platforms and clinical translation.
Funding Available: Varying funding depending on technical area: TA1 offers £5m-8m per project, TA2 offers £5m per project, and TA3 offers £1m per project.
Application Deadline: 10/11/2025
MacRobert Award
Support Type: Award, Prize
The MacRobert Award is the UK's longest-running and most prestigious national prize for engineering innovation, recognising outstanding innovation with tangible societal benefits and proven commercial success. The winner receives a gold medal, extensive publicity, a £50,000 prize, and an exclusive weekend away at Douneside House.
Funding Available: £50,000
Application Deadline: 31/01/2026
Innovative space-based applications enhancing capabilities for a resilient Europe
Support Type: Grant, Call for Proposal
This call supports the development and demonstration of innovative space-based applications that leverage Galileo and EGNOS technologies to enhance the capacity of crisis and security practitioners.
Funding Available: EUR 1,500,000 to EUR 1,800,000
Application Deadline: 24/02/2026
Space Data Economy
Support Type: Grant, Call for Proposal, Horizon Innovation Action, Lump Sum Grant
A Horizon Europe call for proposals aimed at developing innovative space-based solutions to scale up the uptake and commercialisation of EU space data in strategic sectors.
Funding Available: EUR 1,500,000 to 2,500,000 (depending on the specific call)
Application Deadline: 24/02/2026
Water Efficiency Lab
Support Type: Challenge Competition, Grant
The Water Efficiency Lab is a challenge-led competition aimed at attracting innovative solutions to improve water efficiency in England and Wales, with up to £5 million available in the first round.
Funding Available: Up to £5 million in total for the first round; individual entries can request between £150,000 and £1.5 million.
Application Deadline: 10/03/2026
CAM Pathfinder: Enable
Support Type: Collaboration, Funding
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £15 million to fund projects that trial Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) services for future large-scale deployment.
Funding Available: Up to £15 million in total; individual project awards must request between £2 million and £4 million covering up to 70% of eligible costs.
Application Deadline: 17/12/2025
CAM Pathfinder: Feasibility studies 2
Support Type: Grant, Collaboration, Funding
Up to £250k per project for UK feasibility studies on commercial deployment of Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) services.
Funding Available: Between £100,000 and £250,000 per project, covering up to 70% of eligible costs.
Application Deadline: 26/11/2025
Battery Innovation Concept Development Round 1
Support Type: Grant, Collaboration
UK registered businesses can apply for up to £4m per project for innovation in battery technologies for electrification, as part of The Battery Innovation Programme.
Funding Available: Between £500,000 and £4 million per project; overall programme investment up to £20 million.
Application Deadline: 17/12/2025
CAM Pathfinder: Demonstrate
Support Type: Funding
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £20 million for technology focused research and development projects for close to market Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) solutions.
Funding Available: Up to £20 million
Application Deadline: 17/12/2025
ADOPT Facilitator Support Grant: Round 5 - Innovate UK Business Connect
Support Type: Funding, Grant
Farming, growing or forestry businesses based in England can apply for a grant of £2,500 to engage an external Project Facilitator to support the development of a Full ADOPT Grant application.
Funding Available: £2,500
Application Deadline: 26/11/2025
DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund 2025-27
Support Type: Grant
The fund supports capital projects aimed at improving the display, care and accessibility of significant collections across England for eligible museums and galleries.
Funding Available: Between £20,000 and £400,000, not exceeding 85% of total eligible project costs.
Application Deadline: 14/11/2025
Local Community Skills Fund
Support Type: Grant
The Local Community Skills Fund supports a wide range of local and community-led projects across the UK, providing small grants to boost skills development, training and employment opportunities.
Funding Available: Up to £10,000 (most grants around £6,000)
Large grants
Support Type: Grant
This programme offers the largest grants of up to £50,000 to support major urgent structural repair projects and installation projects such as kitchens and accessible toilets in Christian places of worship.
Funding Available: Up to £50,000
Application Deadline: 04/11/2025
Cultural Bridge Programme 2026-2027
Support Type: Grant
Funding opportunity for arts and cultural organisations in the UK and Germany to develop new partnerships and enhance existing ones through social arts practice.
Funding Available: £370,000 total; Tier 1 up to £10,000 per new partnership, Tier 2 up to £30,000 per established partnership
Application Deadline: 12/11/2025
Support Type: Grant
A funding programme to support bold partnership projects that promote environmental sustainability and broaden involvement in climate action.
Funding Available: £500,000 to £5,000,000
Application Deadline: 17/12/2025
Help the Homeless Funding
Support Type: Grant
Small grants available for registered charities that work predominantly with homeless people, intended to fund capital projects.
Funding Available: Up to £5,000
Grants for hospices to support people living in financial hardship
Support Type: Grant
A grants programme providing a total of £400,000 to help hospices improve service accessibility and support for people facing financial hardship or socio-economic deprivation.
Funding Available: £400,000
Application Deadline: 08/12/2025
Farming Innovation Programme: feasibility round 4
Support Type: Grant
Funding opportunity for feasibility projects under the Farming Innovation Programme, offering up to £4.8million to UK registered businesses in collaboration with other UK organisations.
Funding Available: up to £4.8million
Application Deadline: 03/12/2025
Green ERA-Hub: biomass production and utilisation (pre-proposal)
Support Type: Grant
Funding opportunity supporting pre-proposals for research into sustainable biomass production and utilisation through international collaborations, led by BBSRC with co-funders across several countries.
Funding Available: Total fund of £2,000,000 with individual project funding up to £812,500 (80% funded by BBSRC)
Application Deadline: 27/11/2025
MRC Centre of Research Excellence: round four: outline application
Support Type: Grant
Funding opportunity for outline applications to establish a Centre of Research Excellence (MRC CoRE) addressing complex and interdisciplinary health challenges, including innovative projects on novel blood products in partnership with the Ministry of Defence.
Funding Available: Total fund of £50,000,000; maximum award of up to £26,250,000 (FEC) for the first seven years with MRC contributing up to £21 million.
Application Deadline: 04/02/2026
Resource efficiency for resilience and sustainability FS
Support Type: Grant
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £1.1 million for innovative feasibility studies focused on novel, sustainable, low carbon materials and manufacturing.
Funding Available: £1.1 million
Application Deadline: 03/11/2025
The Studio Innovation Fund
Support Type: Grant
The fund has supported 21 creative tech projects addressing social causes, with a total of £100k in funding.
Funding Available: £100k total
Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation - General Fund
Support Type: Grant
A funding opportunity providing grants ranging from £5,000 to £2.25 million to registered charities with an annual expenditure of less than £10 million working to support communities in need.
Funding Available: £5,000 to £2.25 million
Large grant outlines: February 2026
Support Type: Grant
Funding opportunity to support innovative, large-scale and complex research projects that tackle major environmental science questions and aim to produce world-leading research outcomes.
Funding Available: £1,120,000 - £3,450,000; Total fund available: £20,000,000
Application Deadline: 26/02/2026
Commercialising Knowledge Assets Fund (CKAF) Winter
Support Type: Grant
UK registered government research organisations can apply for competitive grants ranging from £50,000 to £250,000 to move viable public sector Knowledge Assets towards commercialisation.
Funding Available: £50,000 to £250,000
Application Deadline: 04/12/2025
Eureka GlobalStars Japan 2026
Support Type: Grant
UK organisations can apply for funding to collaborate on industrial research projects with partners in Eureka member countries and Japan. The competition focuses on business led, collaborative R&D projects that develop innovative products, technology based applications, or technology based services.
Funding Available: Up to £600,000 per project
Application Deadline: 21/01/2026
Local Innovation Partnerships Fund: Earmarked Strand – UKRI
Support Type: Grant
A funding opportunity for triple helix partnerships involving civic leadership, academia, and public research organisations to develop compelling portfolios that unlock regional economic growth by supporting high potential innovation clusters.
Funding Available: £500,000,000 total; minimum £30 million per region project portfolio with up to £300,000 for operating expenditure support
Application Deadline: 13/11/2025
Early career research fellowships scheme coordination and cohort support (invite only) – UKRI
Support Type: Grant
An invite-only funding opportunity to support cohort coordination and development for AHRC’s early career fellowships in cultural and heritage institutions, aimed at designing and delivering a comprehensive programme for early career researchers.
Funding Available: Up to £312,500 (80% of full economic cost)
Application Deadline: 11/12/2025
Farming Innovation Programme: Feasibility Round 4
Support Type: Grant
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £4.8 million to fund feasibility projects addressing major on-farm or immediate post farmgate challenges through innovative solutions.
Funding Available: Up to £4.8 million
Application Deadline: 03/12/2025
DRIVE35 Scale-up Fund
Support Type: Grant
DRIVE35 (Driving Research and Investment in Vehicle Electrification) is a programme aimed at transforming the UK's automotive industry by supporting R&D and commercial scale-up of innovative zero emission vehicle technologies through funding manufacturing facility and process development at pilot or demonstration scale.
Funding Available: Up to £150 million
Grant Investment Fund - Northumberland Small Business Service
Support Type: Grant
A capital grant fund for businesses in rural Northumberland offering between £10,000 and £300,000 to support expansion and diversification.
Funding Available: £10,000 - £300,000
School-based Nursery Capital Grant 2025 to 2026
Support Type: Grant
Provides up to £150,000 of capital funding for eligible state-funded primary-phase schools and maintained nursery schools to create or expand school-based nurseries, with a focus on supporting disadvantaged families.
Funding Available: Up to £150,000
Application Deadline: 11/12/2025
Lionesses HERe to Play Fund
Support Type: Grant
Secure a grant of up to £25k for items to make your facility more inclusive, safe and welcoming for women and girls.
Funding Available: Grant between £1,500 and £25,000, covering up to 75% of total project costs with a required 25% contribution from the applicant.
Active Travel Innovation Fund
Support Type: Grant
A £1m revenue fund offering individual grants of up to £100,000 to develop, deliver, or scale innovative active travel interventions in England.
Funding Available: £1m total, individual grants up to £100,000
Application Deadline: 14/11/2025
Toy Trust Funding Application
Support Type: Grant
Funding application for small UK and Ireland based children’s charities supporting disadvantaged children under 13, with projects reviewed at quarterly trustee meetings.
Funding Available: Up to £5000 (with potential for larger commitments in special cases)
Common Ground Award
Support Type: Grant
The Common Ground Award is a capital funding initiative aimed at VCSE organisations that promote social cohesion by building bridging social capital through physical spaces, facilities, and equipment investments.
Funding Available: Up to £1.7 million overall; individual awards up to £10,000 with exceptional cases scaling up to £50,000.
Application Deadline: 21/11/2025
Seed Corn Grants
Support Type: Grant
Seed Corn Grants offer between £500 and £5,000 to support early-stage, exploratory projects that spark new ideas and approaches to community engagement with heritage.
Funding Available: £500 to £5,000
Eureka GlobalStars Japan 2026 – UKRI
Support Type: Grant
UK organisations can apply for funding to collaborate on industrial research projects with partners in Eureka member countries and Japan.
Funding Available: £2,000,000
Application Deadline: 21/01/2026
CAM Pathfinder: Feasibility studies 2
Support Type: Grant
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £1.5 million for feasibility study projects to produce detailed business cases for the commercial deployment of Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) services in the UK.
Funding Available: £100,000 to £250,000 per project
Application Deadline: 26/11/2025
Better Access to Active Travel Experiences and Equipment
Support Type: Grant
This funding round aims to improve active travel options for disabled people by supporting projects that deliver active travel equipment, services, pilots, and training, with both immediate and longer-term impacts.
Funding Available: £50,000 to £1 million
Application Deadline: 15/12/2025
Community Hub Seed Corn Grants
Support Type: Grant
Seed Corn Grants offer between £500 and £5,000 to support early-stage, exploratory projects that spark new ideas and innovative approaches to community engagement with heritage.
Funding Available: £500 - £5,000
Application Deadline: 28/11/2025
Water Breakthrough Challenge 6: Catalyst Stream
Support Type: Grant
The Catalyst Stream awards innovative water company-led entries with funding between £150,000 and £2 million, providing a pathway to test early-stage innovations in the water sector.
Funding Available: £150,000 to £2 million per entry
Application Deadline: 06/01/2026
Launchpad: life and health sciences, Northern Ireland – Rd3 MFA
Support Type: Grant
UK registered businesses in Northern Ireland can apply for a share of up to £1.2 million in grant funding to support innovation projects in the life and health sciences cluster, with individual grants between £25,000 and £100,000.
Funding Available: Up to £1.2 million overall; individual projects between £25,000 and £100,000
Application Deadline: 26/11/2025
AHRC-DFG Research Grants: Round Eight (2025 to 2026)
Support Type: Grant
Funding opportunity for arts and humanities research projects that require integrated UK and German teams to make fundamental advances in human knowledge.
Funding Available: Total fund: £5,900,000; Maximum award for UK projects: £420,000
Application Deadline: 11/02/2026
Pre-announcement: Design Generators
Support Type: Grant
Funding opportunity to combine design-led interventions with arts and humanities methodologies, aimed at supporting innovative research projects that contribute to the green transition through collaboration with non-academic partners.
Funding Available: £150,000 - £200,000
Application Deadline: 29/01/2026
The Agentic AI Pioneers Prize
Support Type: Grant
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £1m to develop agentic AI solutions for advanced manufacturing, health and life sciences, and creative industries.
Funding Available: Up to £1 million (with £250k each for 3 projects plus an additional £250k to the best project)
Application Deadline: 19/11/2025
The Black Artists Grant (BAG)
Support Type: Grant
A no-strings attached financial support to help Black artists with various personal and professional expenses.
Funding Available: £500
The Boring Fund
Support Type: Grant
The Boring Fund supports small UK non-profit organisations by funding essential operational costs such as insurance, accountancy, admin, and web hosting.
Funding Available: £200 per grant
Battery Innovation Concept Development: round 1
Support Type: Grant
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £20 million for innovation in battery technologies for electrification under the Battery Innovation Programme.
Funding Available: Up to £20 million
Application Deadline: 17/12/2025
ARIA: Trust Everything, Everywhere - pre-programme discovery funding
Support Type: Grant
Up to £20,000 for 3-month exploratory projects in developing cyber-physical trust infrastructures that bridge digital and physical security realms.
Funding Available: Up to £20,000
Application Deadline: 12/11/2025
MSI: SME resource and energy efficiency – industrial research
Support Type: Grant
A UK funding competition for industrial research projects to develop innovative digital technologies that enhance energy and resource efficiencies in SME manufacturers.
Funding Available: Up to £15.5 million total; projects between £200,000 and £1 million with funding rates up to 70% for micro/small organisations and up to 60% for medium sized organisations.
Application Deadline: 10/12/2025
MSI: SME resource and energy efficiency – feasibility studies
Support Type: Grant
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £15.5 million to fund feasibility studies that develop industrial digital technologies aimed at improving energy and resource efficiencies in SME manufacturers.
Funding Available: Up to £15.5 million overall; individual project funding between £25,000 and £150,000
Application Deadline: 10/12/2025
W. G. Edwards Charitable Foundation
Support Type: Grant
An independent grant-making charity that supports registered UK charities with innovative projects aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of people over 65.
Funding Available: £1,000 to £1,500
Open Grants Programme
Support Type: Grant
Capital funding to support infrastructure needs for small- and medium-sized UK charitable organisations working with disadvantaged and marginalised communities. Funds can support building projects, refurbishments, equipment, digital infrastructure, and vehicles.
Funding Available: Small Grants up to £15,000 and larger grants above £15,000, subject to project scale and organisational turnover criteria.
The Yapp Charitable Trust
Support Type: Grant
Grants for running costs and salaries to small registered charities in England & Wales to help sustain their work.
Funding Available: Up to £3,000 per year for up to three years.
The Arnold Clark Community Fund
Support Type: Grant
The fund supports registered UK charities and community groups close to Arnold Clark branches, offering funding for cost-of-living relief, community projects, and youth sports initiatives.
Funding Available: Up to £2,500 for Cost-of-Living Support, up to £1,000 for Community Support, and monthly provision of 300 sports kits for youth teams.
Local Innovation Partnerships Fund: competed strand – UKRI
Support Type: Grant
Funding opportunity for triple helix partnerships across the UK to harness high-potential clusters and drive economic growth and innovation. Offers up to £20,000,000 per award within a total funding pool of £500,000,000.
Funding Available: Up to £20,000,000 per award; overall pool of £500,000,000 with additional administrative funding up to £200,000 for operating expenditure.
Application Deadline: 12/02/2026
Mid-range equipment for biosciences research: ALERT 2025
Support Type: Grant
A funding opportunity to purchase mid-range equipment for biosciences research. Awards range from £200,000 to £1,500,000 and are part of an overall budget of approximately £20 million. The grant supports advanced, multi-user equipment to enhance research capability, collaboration, and innovation in the biosciences sector.
Funding Available: £20,000,000 total fund; individual awards between £200,000 and £1,500,000 (100% of full economic cost).
Application Deadline: 20/01/2026
Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP): 2025 – 2026 Round 4
Support Type: Grant
This programme enables a UK knowledge base partner, such as a higher education institution, further education provider, research technology organisation or Catapult, to partner with a UK registered business to apply for funding for a strategic innovation project. The total pool is up to £10 million with project costs typically around £8,500 per month over a 12 to 36 month period.
Funding Available: Up to £10 million pool; individual projects typically funded at 50% or 67% of eligible costs depending on business size.
Application Deadline: 26/11/2025
Launchpad: life and health sciences, Northern Ireland, round three – UKRI
Support Type: Grant
UK-registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £1.2 million to grow innovation activities in the life and health sciences cluster in Northern Ireland.
Funding Available: £1,200,000
Application Deadline: 26/11/2025
Reimagining Circularity: Outline Stage
Support Type: Grant
EPSRC invites UK research organisations to develop a NetworkPlus that builds capacity and strengthens community collaboration to advance innovative circular economy solutions across built environment, textiles, and data/metrics. The opportunity supports interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches, flexible funding streams for feasibility studies, seed-corn projects, and research to innovation activities.
Funding Available: Up to £5,410,000 (100% FEC) with a maximum award of £4,320,000 (80% FEC)
Application Deadline: 15/01/2026
National Materials Innovation Programme: Feasibility Studies
Support Type: Grant
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £2 million to fund feasibility studies that accelerate the industrial adoption of advanced materials innovations across six high growth themes and one strategic opportunity theme.
Funding Available: Total funding up to £2 million with individual project grants between £50,000 and £100,000
Application Deadline: 17/12/2025
Back the Best of British - Airbnb
Support Type: Grant
Airbnb is launching the Best of British fund to support stays, experiences and attractions that make Britain exceptional, helping local communities thrive amidst rising costs and competition.
Funding Available: Up to £100,000 per project; total fund of £1 million available.
Application Deadline: 23/11/2025
Industrial Growth Fund - Offshore Wind Growth Partnership
Support Type: Grant
Funding support for UK-based companies in the offshore wind sector to develop and expand facilities in alignment with Industrial Growth Plan priorities. Applications are currently not being accepted.
Funding Available: £300,000 - £25,000,000
RAEng / Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships
Support Type: Research Fellowship, Grant
Fellowships that enable engineering academics to focus on full-time research by covering the salary costs of a replacement academic to take over teaching and administrative responsibilities.
Funding Available: Up to £55,000 per annum for salary costs plus an additional support fund of up to £2,500 for miscellaneous research costs
Application Deadline: 13/11/2025
North East Scotland ICURe Discover
Support Type: Grant, Training and resources
A part-time market discovery programme offering up to £2,500 to support testing assumptions and market exploration for early stage projects, delivered through a mix of online and in-person sessions.
Funding Available: £2,500
Application Deadline: 04/12/2025
PYRAMID for Avionics and Mission Systems Phase 2
Support Type: Themed Competition, Grant Funding
A themed competition to accelerate the adoption of the PYRAMID Reference Architecture in avionics and mission systems, offering up to £3m in potential funding for 5 to 10 proposals.
Funding Available: £3m
Application Deadline: 25/11/2025
🙌 Other Support
Global Business Innovation Programme: Critical materials and midstream processing and recycling, Australia
Support Type: Business growth, Other, Training and resources
This programme supports UK-based innovation-led companies to grow and scale globally by connecting them with Australian partners in the critical materials supply chain, through a structured three-phase journey including preparation, market visit, and opportunity exploitation.
Funding Available: Funding covers flights, accommodation, in-market travel and conference fees; a refundable commitment fee of £1000 is required upon acceptance.
Application Deadline: 23/11/2025
Global Business Innovation Programme - Women in Innovation in Health-Tech, India (Bengaluru & Chennai)
Support Type: Business growth, Other, Training and resources
Innovate UK invites ambitious women-led innovative companies to a 9-12 month programme that includes a preparation workshop, a market visit to India (Bengaluru & Chennai), and an exploitation workshop to foster global R&D and innovation collaborations in Health-Tech.
Funding Available: Funding covers flights, accommodation, in-market travel, and conference fees; includes a refundable commitment fee of £1000 upon successful programme completion.
Application Deadline: 13/11/2025
Global Business Innovation Programme – South by Southwest (SXSW), USA
Support Type: Business growth, Other, Training and resources
Innovate UK invites innovative UK-based companies to join a global programme designed to build R&D collaborations and accelerate market access through tailored phases including a preparation workshop, a market visit to SXSW in Austin, and an exploitation workshop.
Funding Available: Flights, accommodation, in-market travel, conference fees fully funded; a refundable commitment fee of £1000 upon completion.
Application Deadline: 14/11/2025
Associate Programme for Career Changers | On Purpose
Support Type: Career Development, Leadership Programme
A full-time, paid leadership development programme offering placements, structured learning sessions, mentoring, and coaching with purpose-driven organisations.
Funding Available: £27.01k per annum pro rata
Mayor’s Big Ideas Challenge
Support Type: Challenge, Innovation Programme
A competitive programme aimed at 16-26 year-olds in West Yorkshire to develop and pitch innovative ideas to improve the health, wellbeing and happiness of local young people. Participants benefit from learning research, design and innovation skills, receive incentives and cash prizes, and have the chance to make a real impact in their communities.
Funding Available: Prizes and vouchers valued up to £625, with additional incentives and product benefits.
Application Deadline: 30/11/2025
Management of thermal energy within a small industrial laundry service
Support Type: Collaboration, Commercial opportunity
Royal Jersey, in association with the Textile Services Association, invites innovative solutions to manage thermal energy in their industrial laundry process. The challenge focuses on improving boiler efficiency, waste heat recovery, and cooling to enhance both process efficiency and working conditions.
Funding Available: Opportunity to pitch and trial selected solutions; no specific funding amount provided
Application Deadline: 31/12/2025
HMGCC Co-Creation Challenge: Managing cybersecurity risk through network monitoring
Support Type: Funding, Commercial Challenge
Join this challenge to develop a small, low-power, and cost-effective network monitor to improve observability and enable network packet modification for penetration testing.
Funding Available: Up to £60,000 budget (exc. VAT) per single organisation
Application Deadline: 20/11/2025
National Home Decarbonisation Group: Big Retrofit Challenge 2.0
Support Type: Commercial Challenge, Innovation Showcase, Training and resources
Seeking innovative solutions for home decarbonisation. Up to six winners will present their innovations on stage at the National Retrofit Conference during Futurebuild 2026 and benefit from additional post-event opportunities.
Application Deadline: 10/11/2025
HMGCC Co-Creation: Security watermarks for physical documents
Support Type: Funding, Commercial challenge
A 12-week challenge to develop innovative manufacturing processes for small-scale, agile production of security watermarked physical documents.
Funding Available: Up to £60,000 budget (exc. VAT) per single organisation
Application Deadline: 06/11/2025
HMGCC Co-Creation Challenge: Novel counter drone and ground station solutions
Support Type: Commercial challenges, Contracts & procurement, Funding
HMGCC seeks solutions to detect and disrupt drone ground control stations and/or drone-controlling SIM-card cellular networks through two workstreams targeting different detection and disruption methods.
Funding Available: Up to £60,000 ex VAT per project
Application Deadline: 04/12/2025
National Centre for Accessible Transport (ncat) Scaling Innovation Programme – 2025/26
Support Type: Funding, Commercial challenges
A programme seeking solutions that address challenges in vehicle stop design, travel assistance services, and access to information to remove barriers to travel for disabled people.
Funding Available: Initial planning phase: up to £10,000; Delivery phase: between £50,000 to £150,000; Demonstrator phase: further funding of £100,000 to £150,000.
Application Deadline: 07/11/2025
GeoAI Build and Pitch Programme: Unlocking Nature-Based Markets with Earth Observation & AI
Support Type: Commercial challenges, Other, Training and resources
A programme challenging innovators to develop cloud-native, software-only prototypes that integrate Earth Observation and AI, featuring a build and pitch sprint event, a 6-week incubation period, expert mentorship, cloud computing credits, and the opportunity to showcase at a major industry event.
Funding Available: Up to £80k in tailored Commercialisation Credits for top 5 winners
Application Deadline: 09/11/2025
GeoAI Build and Pitch Programme: Harnessing GeoAI for a Resilient and Sustainable Agri-Food System
Support Type: Commercial challenges, Other, Training and resources
A programme inviting innovators to leverage Earth Observation and AI to enhance the sustainability, resilience, and productivity of UK agriculture, offering expert mentorship, cloud credits, access to EO datasets, and potential Commercialisation Credits for top teams.
Funding Available: Up to £80k in Commercialisation Credits for top 5 winners per company.
Application Deadline: 09/11/2025
Microbiome Engineering for Resilience and Performance
Support Type: Commercial challenges, Other, Training and resources
The Innovation Exchange (iX) Programme is supporting Dstl to find innovators who can enhance the resilience and/or performance of UK Defence personnel using microbiome engineering.
Funding Available: Up to £300,000 (approximately £150,000 per project)
Application Deadline: 05/12/2025
The Founder Commons
Support Type: Community, Events, Peer Support
A community for early-stage technology founders in North East England offering free events, programmes, and networking opportunities to unlock ambition via peer support and expert guidance.
The Hult Prize Challenge
Support Type: Competition, Seed Funding
The Hult Prize challenges students to launch for-profit startups that support at least one UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). The competition involves forming teams, developing a business plan, and competing through multiple rounds to win $1M USD in seed funding along with additional benefits.
Funding Available: $1M USD
European Space Agency: Green Hydrogen As a Sustainable Energy Source
Support Type: Funding, Contracts & procurement
ESA invites proposals for feasibility studies exploring innovative uses of space technology to advance green hydrogen as a sustainable energy source.
Funding Available: Up to €200K per awarded study, with ESA co-funding 80% of acceptable costs
Application Deadline: 06/11/2025
DASA competition: PYRAMID for avionics and mission systems: Phase 2
Support Type: Contracts & procurement, Funding
£3m total funding to further the adoption of the MOD's PYRAMID Reference Architecture in avionics and mission systems.
Funding Available: £3m total funding
Application Deadline: 25/11/2025
Scale Stronger: Three-day email course
Support Type: Email Course, Prize Draw
Subscribe to the free Scale Stronger email course to build essential financial foundations and improve business growth overseas, and enter a prize draw to win a £1,000 grant along with a mentoring session.
Funding Available: £1,000
Application Deadline: 31/12/2025
Connect to Work - Partnership Opportunity
Support Type: Partnership Opportunity, Employment Support Programme
Connect to Work is a Government initiative under the Get Britain Working Strategy, aimed at tackling hidden unemployment by using an evidence-based Individual Placement Support (IPS) model in York and North Yorkshire.
Application Deadline: 06/11/2025
Outlast Fund
Support Type: Investment Fund, Venture Capital
Outlast Fund backs disciplined founders building enduring companies by investing at the pre-seed and seed stages. With a €21M fund size, they offer initial tickets of €50-250k and follow-on funding of up to €1.5M.
Funding Available: €50-250k initial ticket; €1.5M follow-on funding
British Business Bank Start-up Loans
Support Type: Loan
Unsecured loans of £500 – £25,000 available for UK businesses trading for up to 36 months, repayable over 1-5 years, with additional free mentoring and business support.
Funding Available: £500 - £25,000 (up to £100,000 per business)
Innovate UK Innovation Loans Round 24
Support Type: Loan
UK registered SMEs can apply for loans to finance late-stage innovative R&D projects that drive economic growth and societal benefit.
Funding Available: Loans between £100,000 and £5 million; up to £25 million allocated across rounds
Application Deadline: 07/01/2026
Enter The Pitch 2026
Support Type: Pitch Competition, Mentoring Program
A startup pitching competition featuring 60 finalists across regional events in the UK and Ireland, offering a grand prize of £25k and two weeks of exclusive mentoring to help founders refine their pitches.
Funding Available: £25k grand prize plus additional founder perks
Application Deadline: 01/12/2025
Apply to Join - Founder Circles
Support Type: Programme Application
A programme for early-stage technology founders based in Tyne & Wear, Northumberland, County Durham, and Tees Valley to accelerate business growth through a collaborative network and mentorship.
Application Deadline: 03/11/2025
Supply Chain Transition Programme
Support Type: Supply chains
The Supply Chain Transition Programme is funded by West Midlands Investment Zone (WMIZ) and supports West Midlands manufacturing SMEs to diversify their customer base through workshops, one-to-one coaching, training and access to R&D grant funding.
Funding Available: Access to R&D grant funding
Application Deadline: 10/11/2025
Hartree Centre Training Portal
Support Type: Training
Free training on cutting-edge digital technologies including Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Modelling, High Performance and Exascale Computing, Software Engineering, and Emerging Technologies. Offers self-directed online learning and face-to-face sessions with badge certification.
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Thanks for reading,
Ben Mushen
Founder of the North East Support Directory
Disclaimer: The content on this email/website and all subsequent support detail pages, has been AI-generated, based upon publicly available information found on grant and/or business support websites, sourced either via URL submissions by North East Support Directory users, or via research, discovery and submission by the North East Support Directory team. The information from these websites has been extracted, processed, summarised, and categorised using the latest AI technology to produce content on the North East Support Directory that is easier for query and consumption for our users. The North East Support Directory and it's owners assume no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in the content of this site. The information contained is provided on an "as is" basis with no guarantees of completeness, accuracy, usefulness or timeliness. The North East Support Directory's primary objective is to provide high-level, easy to query, find, and understand information and eligibility criteria regarding grants, finance, business support, and more, so it's users can make more informed, efficient decisions on where to spend their time in reaching out for support. The North East Support Directory acknowledges that eligibility criteria can be complex, and so advises that for full, true, and up-to-date opportunity details and conditions, users should visit the corresponding grant or support programme site directly. Users can do so by clicking the 'View Opportunity' link next to each opportunity, or by searching the support title in your search engine of choice. Please note that your visit via the 'Vier Opportunity' link will be tracked by the North East Support Directory. No personal details or protected information will be tracked or guarded against your North East Support Directory account. The only data we track is the number of times that each website is visited via the North East Support Directory. The collection of this data may later be used to form insights in regards to, but not limited to; grant and/or support programme demand, appetite, and popularity; identifying 'hot' and 'cold' areas of the region, and those in need of greater support; and potentially in informing future grant and/or support offerings. These data/insights may later be shared or sold to local authorities, business support organisations, or others, to inform future grant and/or support opportunities. The North East Support Directory would like to highlight that the AI generated information on this page is generated and produced for entertainment purposes only and is for the sole use of the recipients. All supporters expressly disclaim all representations, warranties, assurance of any kind, expressed or implied. Should any user, grant-making body, support provider, or other, have any questions or query in regards to the content on this email or website, or wish to update/remove any of this AI generated content for any reason, then they should contact [email protected], and someone in the team will try to get back to your query as soon as possible.
