A £750 million scheme for startups and small- and medium-sized businesses with the greatest focus on research and development, to be made available through Innovate UK

SMEs focusing on research and development will benefit from £750 million of grants and loans

Innovate UK is a public body that operates independently of the Government to invest in firms driving science and technology innovations likely to boost the U.K. economy.

The £750M put aside by Innovate UK to fund UK-based companies has been split into three parts:

• £200M will go to companies already engaged with existing Innovate UK R&D programmes
• £150M will be spent on innovation loans, which any UK-based company across any sector working on an innovative product or service can apply for
• £400M will be spent on grants, with half of this going to new entrants (roughly 1,200 new companies are expected to be funded by these grants)

The announcement of the package has been well-received by industry, who believe that innovation will be key in helping the U.K. economy recover when it emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.