Contracts for Innovation: Resource Efficient Chemicals Impacts

Who can apply

Your project

Projects must:

• start no sooner than 1 November 2025

• end by 31 March 2026

• last between three and five months

• have total costs of between £50,000 and £300,000, inclusive of VAT; we expect the majority of projects to have costs less than £100,000

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 Contract has been approved by Innovate UK.

You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs. For specific guidance, see the eligibility section in this competition.

Applicant

To lead a project, you can:

• be an organisation of any size, including those based in the EU, EEA or internationally

• work alone or with the subcontracted skills and expertise of others from business, research organisations, research and technology organisations, or the third sector (charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups)

Contracts will be awarded to a single legal entity only. The majority of the project work and key deliverables must be completed by the applicant and be carried out in the UK. Subcontractors can be used, but only for specialist skills.

If your own organisation does not have operations in the relevant sector, we expect you to include an integration supporter in your project to help facilitate the impact validation of your solution.

Demonstrations should be in a suitable industrial environment within the UK to enable the effective validation of the solution’s viability and impacts. We also welcome applications for solutions which have been demonstrated in a relevant sector in the UK within the last five years, but which have not yet reached commercial maturity and require further impact validation.

Your project could involve, for example:

• a manufacturer within the chosen sector, for example, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 suppliers, raw material producers

• recovery businesses, for example, demolition companies, scrap processors, re-use and recycling facilities

• remanufacturing and repair businesses

• organisations that have the potential to become a customer

• specialists in impact validation, for example, in Life Cycle Analysis

We recommend approaching potential integration supporters as early as possible during the application process or early stages of your project. This ensures your industry relationships are well established before delivering the project demonstration. We welcome projects that include innovative startups.

If your project is successful, we reserve the right to request letters of support from organisations named in your application.

Sanctions

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 that 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.

Funding

Up to £3 million, inclusive of VAT, is allocated to this competition across three sector strands. Contracts will be between £50,000 and £300,000, inclusive of VAT, for each project of between three and five months. We expect to fund a minimum of three projects per strand and up to 30 projects across all three strands.

This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications. Funding will be in the form of a contract.

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 total funding available for the competition can change. The funders have the right to:

• adjust the provisional funding allocations between the competition strands and priorities within the strands

• apply a ‘portfolio’ approach

The contract is completed at the end of the project, after which we would expect promising solutions to explore further commercialisation opportunities.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

You must select whether you are VAT registered before entering your eligible project costs.

VAT is the responsibility of the invoicing business. We will not provide any further advice and suggest you seek independent advice from HMRC.

VAT registered

If you select you are VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT. As part of the application process VAT will be automatically calculated and added to your project cost total. Your total eligible project costs inclusive of VAT must not exceed £300,000.

Not VAT registered

If you select you are not VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT and no VAT will be added. You will not be able to increase total project costs to cover VAT later should you become VAT registered. Your total project costs must not exceed £300,000.

Research and development (R&D)

Your application must have at least 50% of the contract value attributed directly and exclusively to R&D services, including solution exploration and design. R&D can also include prototyping and field-testing the product or service. This lets you incorporate the results of your exploration and design and demonstrate that you can produce in quantity to acceptable quality standards.

R&D does not include:

• commercial development activities such as quantity production

• supply to establish commercial viability or to recover R&D costs

• integration, customisation or incremental adaptations and improvements to existing products or processes

Innovate UK may revoke our decision to provide funding without notice if government commitment for this initiative is withdrawn.

Subsidy control

Contracts for Innovation competitions involve procurement of R&D services at a fair market value and are not subject to subsidy control criteria that typically apply to grant funding.

Your project

The aim of this competition is to build on the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) Unlocking Resource Efficiency research by supporting organisations to deliver an impact validation report for a resource efficiency solution.

This should be informed by a demonstration, which may be carried out as part of the project or otherwise conducted within the last five years.

The innovative resource efficiency solutions should address themes in one of the following strands:

• Resource Efficient Chemicals Impacts (this strand)

• Resource Efficient Construction Impacts

• Resource Efficient Automotive Impacts

You must select a single strand to apply for. If a project covers multiple strands, choose the one in which the majority of the work will be undertaken.

Innovate UK and DESNZ are collaborating with the chemicals, construction and automotive sectors to accelerate and increase the adoption of innovative resource efficient technologies, low carbon materials and circular business models. This is supporting the government’s commitment to transition the UK to a Net Zero, circular economy.

This competition will focus on the impact validation of resource efficiency solutions. This competition will support the development and delivery of high maturity demonstrations, and the validation of demonstrators from recent (within the last five years) research and development projects.

This competition will:

• enable efficient integration of technologies into targeted industrial sectors

• support innovative suppliers for market readiness

• provide more granular evidence on the potential impact of resource efficiency solutions to help meet the UK’s territorial carbon budget targets

As a minimum, proposals into this competition must relate to solutions at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 or higher. If you have validated your solution at TRL5 (in a relevant environment) your project should be to validate up to TRL7 (in an operational environment) and gather operational data to develop a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA).

If you have already validated at TRL7, your project should be to gather operational data to develop an LCA.

In both cases, the solution should still be a prototype or custom built system, not a full commercial version. You must show evidence of this, the testing and validation previously undertaken as part of your application and identify the TRL that you expect to be at start and end of the project.

This strand: Resource Efficient Chemicals Impact

We encourage you to focus on innovative solutions within the chemicals value chain, including tier 1, 2 and 3 chemicals (see Fig 1). Solutions should improve the resource efficiency of the sector and reduce life cycle emissions. Solutions must fall within one or more of the following themes:

1) Industrial symbiosis: uses for industrial by-products, including materials that would otherwise go to waste or be downgraded to lower value uses, but excluding heat and energy

2) Redesign of chemical formulations and products to reduce emissions and improve circularity, such as:

• reductions in resource intensity of chemical formulations for a given product, or products

• production efficiencies to reduce material waste and improve yield rates when using defossilised chemical feedstocks

• transitions to circular business models including ‘chemicals as a service’ or ‘chemical leasing’ approaches

3) Defossilisation: replacement of virgin fossil-based organic feedstocks with captured CO2, particularly where:

• the CO2 may be derived from sustainable bioenergy, direct air capture or other point sources; impact validation should include these activities

• any hydrogen feedstock used is not fossil derived

4) Defossilisation: replacement of virgin fossil-based organic feedstocks with sustainable biomass.

5) Defossilisation: replacement of virgin fossil based organic feedstocks through chemical plastic recycling, or other valorisation routes for waste streams

Solutions in the defossilisation themes could include:

• development of new tier 2 and 3 chemical synthesis routes that do not rely on fossil-derived based chemicals

• development of chemical formulations that do not rely on the traditional petrochemical value chain and support the creation of high value consumer products

• repurposing and retrofitting of existing process equipment built for fossil-based feedstocks

• repurposing and retrofitting of feedstock supply chains built for fossil-based feedstocks

• improvements in feedstock quality

• feedstock distribution and logistics

You are encouraged to identify how your solution builds on the existing research and innovation landscape, for example, referencing:

• the Unlocking Resource Efficiency research

• NICER Circular Chemical Economy Centre insights

• the Sustainable Chemicals and Materials Manufacturing Hub (SCHEMA Hub) insights

• the Innovation Action Plan to Transform Industrial Waste Gases to Chemicals by the Circular Economy Innovation Network

You must demonstrate a credible and practical route to market, so your application must include an assessment of the commercial viability of your solution and a plan to commercialise your results. The specification report provides details of the commercial assessment that you must undertake as part of this project, and an initial assessment is required as part of your application.

Contracts will be given to successful applicants.

Demonstration

A key project deliverable, that must be included in your milestones, is a demonstration of the solution. The further validation of demonstrations and trials from recent research and development projects is also in scope, provided these meet the eligibility requirements for this competition. Costs for retrospective work cannot be claimed, only new analysis to validate the potential impact of the demonstrated technology.

The demonstration must take place in an environment representative of where the solution will be deployed, allowing for effective evaluation. As part of your project milestones, you are encouraged to invite stakeholders from your target sector to a demonstration event. The demonstration must take place in a setting where potential customers and industry representatives can witness the solution as a compelling business proposition.

If your own organisation does not have operations in the relevant sector, we expect you to include an integration supporter, for example, a trusted sector representative in your project to help facilitate the demonstration and trialling of your solution. In their role as potential future customers, they will be well placed to propose an appropriately representative environment.

You will be expected to collaborate with your integration supporter to achieve this, securing all necessary permissions and approvals.

Example environments include:

• within a manufacturing process

• within a recovery or recycling facility

• within a remanufacturing, re-use or repair facility

• in an end-use site, such as a construction project

• within a customer facing environment, such as retail

This list is not exhaustive, and other environments may be more appropriate to demonstrate certain types of solutions.

You should de-risk all aspects of your project before submitting a bid to this competition, ensuring it can be delivered in line with the requirements of DESNZ and Innovate UK.

Impact Validation Report

Projects must produce an impact validation report, informed by measuring and analysing data to evaluate the lifecycle impacts and commercial scale-up potential of the demonstrated resource efficiency solution. This should identify the solution’s potential to decarbonise the target sector and contribute to UK territorial carbon savings.

The impact validation report should compare baseline data related to the competition theme and outline the improvement from your solution using data from the demonstration or trial.

The collected data could include measurements of resources or time taken to complete a task, or the costs incurred before and after adoption of the technology. You might also include a survey of producers or customers to solicit feedback and to anticipate cost benefit. In all cases the collection of objective data where possible is preferred over the collection of subjective feedback.

We expect you to consult with the sector and (or) your dedicated integration supporter to identify the appropriate impact indicators to track the relevant standards that apply within the sector.

The impact validation report is a key deliverable and must be included as part of your milestones. You can view the outline format of the validation report.

You must ensure that you have the required resources and skills to complete the report to a high standard. The report will be shared with DESNZ in line with IUK and DESNZ data sharing policies. The report will need to be reviewed and approved by DESNZ, in line with standard claim timeframes before final payments are made.

Project leads will be required to partake in the scheme evaluation following project completion. Evaluation activities that projects might be invited to complete include interviews, surveys, or other forms of primary data collection. You are also expected to participate in at least one knowledge sharing event with the successful cohort of projects.

Portfolio approach

We want to fund a variety of projects across different technologies, markets, strand, theme, technological maturities or location. We call this a portfolio approach. The portfolio approach will take into account the range of themes covered, as well as hardware versus software solutions.

Specific themes

For applications in this Resource Efficient Chemicals Impacts strand, your project can focus on one main theme:

• industrial symbiosis in the chemicals sector

• redesign of chemical formulations and products

• defossilisation: captured CO2

• defossilisation: sustainable biomass

• defossilisation: chemical or mechanical plastic recycling, or other valorisation routes for waste streams

You must focus on one main theme but your project may cross over into other themes. This can be explained in further detail in Question 6 in the application questions section.

Research categories

Prototype development and evaluation

This can include prototyping, demonstrating, piloting, testing and validation of new or improved products, processes or services in environments representative of real-life operating conditions. The primary objective is to make further technical improvements on products, processes or services that are not substantially set.

Projects we will not fund

We will not fund projects that:

• are not original in scope and duplicate someone else’s work

• do not have an identified commercial route to market

• fail to integrate with existing technologies and systems

• are exclusively focused on producing sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) or other sustainable fuels, however, projects that investigate chemical processes that valorise SAF or other sustainable fuel by-products would be acceptable

• would directly duplicate other UK Government or EU funded initiatives you have already been funded to deliver

• are covered by existing commercial agreements to deliver the proposed solutions

• do not have an integration supporter involved (if you do not have operations in the relevant sector)

• create products with significant negative environmental impact

• exclusively address energy efficiency or energy efficiency related challenges

16 July 2025

Online briefing event: register to attend

Briefing slides will be available to download from supporting information after the event.

30 September 2025

Applicants notified

30 September 2025

Feedback

31 October 2025

Contracts awarded

1 November 2025

Project start from

Before you start

By submitting an application, you agree to the terms of the draft contract which is available once you start your application. The terms of the contract are non-negotiable and are included in the draft contract. We reserve the right to change the terms and conditions if necessary.

The final contract will include any milestones you have agreed with the funding authority and will be sent to you if your application is successful. The contract is binding once it is returned by you and signed by both parties.

When you start an application, you will be prompted to create an account as the lead applicant or sign in as a representative of your organisation. Using your account, you will be able to track your applications progress.

As the applicant you are responsible for:

• collecting the information for your application

• representing your organisation in leading the project if your application is successful

You will be able to invite colleagues from your organisation to contribute to the application.

What happens next

A selected panel of assessors will review and score your application. You will be notified of the outcome and feedback will be provided. Contracts for this competition will then be issued to all successful applicants.

What we will ask you

The application is split into four sections:

1. Project details.

2. Application questions.

3. Finances.

4. Project Impact.

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

You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline. You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline.

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).

1. Project details

This section provides background for your application and is not scored.

Application details

Give your project’s title, start date and duration.

Who made you aware of the competition?

Select a category to state who made you aware of the competition. You cannot choose more than one.

How long has your organisation been established for?

Select a category to state how long has your organisation been established for. You cannot choose more than one.

What is your organisation’s primary focus area?

Select a category to state your organisation’s primary focus area. You cannot choose more than one.

Project and scope summary

Provide a short summary of your project.

Describe your project briefly. Be clear about what makes it innovative and how it relates to the scope of the competition. How does it tackle different aspects of the challenge and how will it provide an integrated solution?

Give details of the lead organisation. Before you submit, we expect you to have discussed your application within your organisation.

Your answer for this section can be up to 800 words long.

This section is not scored, but we will use it to decide whether the project fits the scope of the competition. If it does not, it may be rejected.

Public description

Provide a brief description of your project. If your application is successful, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project. This question is mandatory, but we will not assess this content as part of your application.

Describe your project in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. We have the right to amend the description before publication if necessary but will consult you about any changes.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Applicant location

You must state the name of your organisation along with your full registered address.

You must also state the name and full registered address of any potential or confirmed subcontractors.

We are collecting this information to understand the geographical location of all participants of a project.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

2. Application questions

The assessors will score all of your questions except questions 1 to 5 which are not scored. You will receive feedback for each scored question. Find out more about how our assessors assess and how we select applications for funding.

Do not include any URLs in your answers unless we have explicitly requested a link to a video. If you do, your application will be made ineligible.

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 main theme.

• industrial symbiosis in the chemicals sector

• redesign of chemical formulations and products

• defossilisation: captured CO2

• defossilisation: sustainable biomass

• defossilisation: chemical or mechanical plastic recycling, or other valorisation routes for waste streams

If your project crosses over into more than one theme this can be explained in Question 6.

Question 2. Animal testing (not scored)

Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing?

You must select one option:

• Yes

• No

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:

• Yes

• No

• In the process of being applied for

• Not applicable

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. 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 6. Proposed idea or technology

Describe the current state of the target sector and the theme that your proposed idea or technology matches to (you may identify multiple themes if appropriate). Where feasible, relate this to the resource efficiency opportunities and challenges identified within the Unlocking Resource Efficiency report for your target sector.

Provide a description of your proposed idea or technology. Identify the extent to which the solution is expected to contribute to greenhouse gas emissions reductions, where this will occur (scope 1, 2, 3) and whether this contributes to territorial emissions savings, for example, are the targeted activities taking place in the UK.

Include a description of the current state of development or readiness of the idea. You must provide evidence that what you are proposing is already at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 or above. If your technology is below TRL 5, the application will be rejected.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

You can submit a single appendix as a PDF containing images and diagrams 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.

This question will be scored against this assessment criterion: How well does the proposal meet the challenge, how well aligned is it with ‘Unlocking Resource Efficiency’ and the Technology Readiness Level?

Question 7. Technical project summary

What are the main technical challenges you are addressing?

Explain:

• how you will address the challenge

• what the innovation is

• the main technical deliverables

• the research and development that will prove the scientific, environmental and commercial merit of the project

• what might be achieved by deploying the innovation to address the selected challenge

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

This question will be scored against this assessment criterion: How valid is the technical approach?

Question 8. Current state of the art and intellectual property

Are similar products currently available in the market?

How is your proposed project differentiated from them?

You must include details of:

• any existing intellectual property (IP)

• its significance to your freedom to operate

• novel concepts you develop or employ

• new approaches or technologies you use

• new tools or technologies

You must explain how you would handle any intellectual property (IP) issues which might arise during the project.

If you are working with subcontractors (specialist skills only), include details of how you will maintain freedom to operate and fulfil the IP requirements detailed in the contract.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

This question will be scored against these assessment criteria: How innovative is this project? How much does the project develop or employ novel concepts, approaches, methodologies, tools or technologies for this area?

Question 9. Project plan and methodology

Describe your project plan and identify the main milestones.

Provide evidence that the technology works, can be made into a viable product and can achieve the proposed benefits.

You must:

• describe resources that will be needed to deliver the project

• describe what the main success criteria will be and define this in terms of a measurable unit, for example: reduction in resource use or emissions per tonne of product produced

• identify the project management processes that will ensure you achieve the milestones

• describe the main technical, commercial and environmental risks and what you will do to mitigate them

• provide a clear plan for your demonstration, including the operational time period, and include this in your milestones, or detail what demonstration has already been done and when

• provide a plan for your project impact validation and include this in your milestones

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

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

Your milestones must:

• be clear

• be defined using SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) criteria

• be associated with the appropriate deliverables and payments

• indicate your payment schedule by month

This question will be assessed against these assessment criteria:

• does the proposal show a clear plan for establishing technical feasibility

• is there a clear management plan

• what are the main technical, commercial, and environmental risks to the project’s success

• how will these be effectively managed

• are the milestones and evaluation procedures appropriate

• whether the demonstrator will provide sufficient data for the impact validation report

Note, information from the finances section will be used to support the assessment of this question. Proposed milestones and associated payments stated in this section must match those entered in the finance summary on your application.

Question 10. Technical team and expertise

Who is in the technical team? What expertise do they offer?

Provide a brief description of your technical team, including any subcontractors.

Describe:

• how each organisation has the skills, capabilities, and experience to deliver the intended benefits

• how much of their time will be spent on the project

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

This question will be scored against this assessment criterion: Does the applicant have the skills, capabilities and experience to deliver the intended benefits?

Question 11. Costs and value for money

How much will the project cost? How does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer?

Describe:

• the total costs inclusive of VAT (If applicable) you are requesting in terms of the project goals

• how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer

• your expected overall costs

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Proposed costs stated in this section must match those entered in the finance summary.

All costs quoted must reflect actual costs at a fair market value and not include profit.

You can submit a single appendix as a spreadsheet in PDF format. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Note that all payments are made quarterly in arrears on submission of an invoice. The invoice must be submitted within 30 days of the end of each monitoring period for all completed milestones.

Full Economic Cost (FEC) calculations are not relevant for Contracts for Innovation competitions. Contracts for Innovation is a competitive process and applications will come from a variety of organisations. Whatever calculation you use to arrive at your total eligible project costs your application will be assessed against applications from other organisations. Bear this in mind when calculating your total eligible project costs. You can include overheads but remember that this is a competitive process.

The assessors are required to judge the application finances in terms of value for money. They will score your finances against this assessment criterion: Are the budget and costs realistic, justified and appropriate for the aims and methods?

Note: the information from the finances section will be used to support the assessment of this question.

Question 12. Commercial potential

What is the commercial potential of your project? You must focus on your proposed customer’s needs.

Describe your:

• timescales

• projects commercial potential for a marketable product, process or service

• delivery plan

• expected route to market

Describe the competitive advantage that your project has over existing or alternative technologies that meet market needs.

Describe any existing commercial relationships relevant to the project.

With the focus on your proposed customer’s needs, you can also mention the future commercial potential across the public or private sector and international markets.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

This question will be scored against these assessment criteria:

• is there a clear commercial potential for a marketable product, process or service

• is there a clear plan to deliver that and a clear route to market

• how significant is the competitive advantage of this technology over the nearest currently available solutions to the challenge identified

3. Finances

Enter your project costs, organisation details and funding details.

You must select whether you are VAT registered before entering your eligible project costs. We advise you answer the VAT registered question first before entering your eligible costs. Your total eligible project costs must not exceed £300,000.

If you select you are VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT. As part of the application process VAT will be automatically calculated and added to your eligible project cost total.

If you select you are not VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT and no VAT will be added. You will not be able to increase total project costs to cover VAT later should you become VAT registered.

VAT is the responsibility of the invoicing business. We will not provide any further advice and advise you to seek independent advice from HMRC.

Full Economic Cost (FEC) calculations are not relevant for Contracts for Innovation competitions. Contracts for Innovation is a competitive process and applications will come from a variety of organisations.

Whatever calculation you use to arrive at your total eligible project costs your application will be assessed against applications from other organisations. Bear this in mind when calculating your total eligible project costs. You can include overheads but remember that this is a competitive process.

For an overview on what costs you can claim, see our project costs guidance. Note this is general guidance, for specific guidance see the eligibility section in this competition.

4. Project Impact

This section is not scored but will provide background to your project.

You must complete the Project Impact questions before being able to submit the application.

More information can be found in our Project Impact guidance and by viewing our Impact Management Framework video.

Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.

Assessment

Your application will be reviewed by five independent assessors based on the content of your application and their skills or expertise relevant to your project. All of the scores awarded will count towards the total score used to make the funding decision unless you are notified otherwise.

You can find out more about our assessment process in the General Guidance.

Your submitted application will be assessed against these criteria:

Contracts For Innovation - Chemicals - assessor scoring guidance for applicants.pdf (opens in a new window)

Background and further information

About Contracts for Innovation competitions

Contracts for Innovation provides innovative solutions to challenges faced by the public sector. This can lead to better public services and improved efficiency and effectiveness.

The Contracts for Innovation programme:

• supports economic growth and enables the development of innovative products and services through the public procurement of R&D

• generates new business opportunities for companies

• provides a route to market for new ideas

• creates opportunities to work directly with the public sector

Contracts for Innovation competitions are open to all eligible organisations that can demonstrate a route to market for their solution. Developments are 100% funded and focused on specific identified needs, increasing the chance of exploitation.

Contracts for Innovation encourages the creation and protection of new intellectual property (IP). Applicants retain all the rights to both foreground and background IP but will be expected to grant certain royalty-free licences to the funder for use of the foreground IP.

Contracts for Innovation is a procurement of R&D services. If successful, you will receive a contract to deliver the proposed activity. Costs quoted must reflect actual costs at a fair market value and not include profit.

You must submit an invoice for the work undertaken. All payments are made in arrears on submission of an invoice. Invoices must be submitted within 30 days of the end of each monitoring period for all completed milestones.

If you are VAT registered, your total costs are expected to include VAT that you would charge as a service provider. VAT is the responsibility of the invoicing business and applicants should ensure that VAT has been calculated correctly as part of their application. You will need to confirm your VAT status as part of the application process

Note: we are seeing a rise in double counting of VAT during the application process, making some applicants ineligible. To avoid this, it is important you input your costs minus VAT. VAT is added on by us in the Innovation Funding Service (IFS).

Suppliers for each project will be selected by an open competition process and retain the intellectual property generated from the project, with certain rights of use retained by the contracting authority. This is an excellent opportunity to establish an early customer for a new technology and to fund its development.

Broader Information

Improving the resource efficiency of industrial supply chains is vital to the government’s mission to accelerate to Net Zero and become a Clean Energy Superpower.

The chemicals sector is emissions and resource intensive, responsible for 14% of the UK’s industrial emissions and 2.3% of all UK emissions. As identified in the Unlocking Resource Efficiency research commissioned by DESNZ and Defra, there is significant potential to reduce emissions across the chemicals value chain. This could be achieved through the adoption of resource efficient production methods, defossilisation of feedstocks and a transition to circular business models.

Chemicals is the second largest manufacturing industry in the UK, and chemicals are used in over 95% of manufactured products and materials. This includes plastics, fertilisers and detergents and are a vital building block of priority growth sectors, such as advanced manufacturing and advanced materials; electric vehicle battery supply chains, sustainable fuels, hydrogen and advanced recycling.

Many chemicals are also made from carbon and the sector will need to transition away from using fossil fuel derived inputs toward sustainable alternatives such as biomass, recycled plastics or captured carbon dioxide. Further actions can also be taken to minimise waste, maximise resource productivity, and encourage industrial symbiosis. Whilst the sector is engaging with these challenges and already taking action, significant barriers remain.

The government intends to support the chemicals and plastics sector in this transition through the forthcoming Circular Economy Strategy and this competition specifically targets some of the innovation challenges identified by stakeholders and government.

Briefing recording and slides

Briefing recording and slides will be available to download here after the briefing event.

Setting up your project

You will be notified by email on the date published for this competition. Notifications may be sent any time up to 5pm.

You must follow the unique link embedded in your email notification. This takes you to your Innovation Funding Service (IFS) Set Up portal, where we gather the information to set up your project.

You will have 30 days (including weekends and bank holidays) to complete all of your project set up. Within this time, you will also be required to submit:

• project location

• any answers to financial or milestone queries we have requested

• any requested documentation to support your project

Your funding offer may be withdrawn if project setup is not completed within this or an alternative timeframe as advised by Innovate UK.

In order for us to process your invoices, you must make sure you have a valid UK business bank account. It can take several weeks for a new account to be created if required. We recommend starting this process as early as possible to avoid any delays to your project start date.

The bank account which milestone payments are to be paid into must:

• be a business account in the same name as the organisation listed in IFS

• be from a UK bank regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)

• have a cheque and credit clearing facility

Online accounts are eligible as long as they meet the above criteria.

Your Contract

Once you have successfully completed project setup, we will issue your contract. The contract will be made available on your IFS portal. You will need to sign and upload this for us to approve. Once approved we will send you an email with permission to start your project on your confirmed start date.

You must not start your project before the date stated on your email and contract. Any costs incurred before your agreed start date cannot be claimed as part of your project.

Your contract start date is provided in the dates and eligibility sections. This cannot be varied and all contracts must start on that date.

If your application is unsuccessful

If you are unsuccessful with your application this time, you can view feedback from the assessors. This will be available to you on your IFS portal following notification.

Sometimes your application will have scored well, and you will receive positive comments from the assessors. You may be unsuccessful as your average score was not above the funding threshold or your project has not been selected under the portfolio approach if this is applied for this competition.

We would like to remind you that eligible non-funded business can still benefit from fully funded and bespoke support from the Innovate UK Business Growth service.

Support for SMEs from Innovate UK Business Growth service

Innovate UK Business Growth helps innovation focused businesses make the best strategic choices and access the right resources, in order to grow and ultimately achieve scale.

Our innovation and growth specialists provide our fully funded and bespoke support to clients nationwide. Visit the service’s website to discover whether you could benefit from this advisory support, which is available to Innovate UK funded and non-funded businesses alike.

Protecting your innovation

A Secure Innovation campaign has been developed to help founders and leaders of innovative startups protect their technology, competitive advantage, and reputation.

This was developed by UK’s National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

Data sharing

This competition is jointly operated by Innovate UK and the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, ‘DESNZ’ (each an ‘agency’).

Any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application can be shared by one agency with the other, for its individual storage, processing and use.

This means that any information given to or generated by Innovate UK in respect of your application may be passed on to DESNZ and vice versa. This would include, but is not restricted to:

• the information stated on the application, including the personal details of all applicants

• scoring and feedback on the application

• information received during the management and administration of the contract, such as Monitoring Service Provider reports

Your application details may also be shared with other government departments for the purpose of receiving funding.

Innovate UK may also share any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application with Innovate UK’s national and regional UK third parties and partners who may contact you.

Innovate UK and DESNZ are directly accountable to you for their holding and processing of your information, including any personal data and confidential information. Data is held in accordance with their own policies. Accordingly, Innovate UK, Innovate UK Business Connect and DESNZ will be data controllers for personal data submitted during the application.

Innovate UK’s Privacy Policy

Innovate UK Business Connect Privacy Policy

Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero Privacy Policy

Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.

The Information Commissioner’s Office also has a useful guide for organisations, which outlines the data protection principles.

Further help and guidance

If you want help to find an organisation to work with, contact the Innovate UK Business Connect.

If you have any questions about the scope requirements of this competition, email support@iuk.ukri.org.

If you need more information about how to apply or you want to submit your application in Welsh, email support@iuk.ukri.org 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).

Innovate UK or any of our partners will not tolerate abusive language in any written or verbal correspondence, applications, social media or any other form that might affect staff.