Updated 10 September 2026
Grants and funding for research organisations and science businesses
Schemes open today that name research organisations and science businesses in their published criteria, or fund the kind of work research organisations and science businesses do. Read from the funders' own pages and re-checked daily.
10 open today. Whether your business qualifies for any of them depends on your legal form, your size, your age and where you are, which is what the check does.
Which of these can you actually get?
Enter your company number. We read each funder’s own page against your business and tell you which fit, which do not, and why.
Check my businessWhat kind of funding these are
- Grants
- 5
- Loans
- 2
- Equity investment
- 1
- In-kind and free support
- 1
- Tax reliefs
- 1
A grant is money you keep. A tax relief lowers a bill rather than arriving as cash. In-kind support is training, credits or expert time instead of money. Loans and equity have to be paid back or bought back, and are worth treating as a different decision entirely.
Who can apply
Every one of these has published criteria. Across the 10, the conditions that come up most are that you must:
- be a particular kind of organisation3 of 10
- work in a named sector3 of 10
- be under a headcount limit2 of 10
- be spending within a range1 of 10
Which of them you meet depends on your legal form, size, age and where you are registered. That is what the check reads for you, scheme by scheme, and it quotes the funder’s own sentence beside each answer.
What the money is for
- Innovation and new products 7
- Research and development 7
- Business growth 3
- Net zero and decarbonisation 2
- Digital and software 2
- Staff recruitment 2
- Premises 1
- Property improvements 1
How to apply
You apply to the funder, never to us. Every scheme above links straight to its own page, and that page is the only thing that decides whether you get it.
Before you spend an afternoon on a form, three things are worth checking: that you are inside the deadline — 1 of these close within the month; that you have not already started or paid for the work, which a great many grants refuse; and that you can fund the share they expect you to.
Most refusals are not close calls. They are a rule the applicant never saw, in a sentence on the funder’s own page.
Where else to look
The government publishes its own list, free, and you should use it. What is above is wider than that list, because it also holds council schemes, tax reliefs and in-kind support that Find a Grant does not carry — but if you only want a list, start there.
Find a grant, on GOV.UKThe 10 open today
Loan
Midlands Engine Investment Fund II – Debt Fund
Department for Business and Trade
Up to£2,000,000
A flexible debt fund providing loans between £100,000 and £2 million to established SMEs trading business to business across the East and West Midlands, to support growth plans such as working capital, asset purchase, product development, new staff and marketing. It cannot be used to refinance existing debt.
RollingThe funder’s page
Grant
National Space Innovation Programme - Call 3
UK Space Agency
Up to£2,000,000
A co-funded grant programme from the UK Space Agency supporting UK-based space R&D projects, split into two strands: Kick Starter for early-stage disruptive innovation (TRL 1-4) and Major Projects for near-commercial work (TRL 5-9). Up to £20 million is available across roughly 15-30 grants, awarded through a two-stage outline-then-full-proposal process.
Closes 12 November 2026The funder’s page
Loan
Regional Growth Loan Scheme - East of England
The FSE Group
Up to£500,000
A loan scheme run by The FSE Group offering growth finance to established SMEs across the East of England. Loans range from £50,000 to £500,000 for businesses with turnover of at least £100,000 and a clear plan for significant growth.
RollingThe funder’s page
Equity
Venture Accelerator
Carbon13
Up to£250,000
Carbon13's Venture Accelerator is a two-phase equity investment programme for early-stage climate tech founding teams. Successful ventures can pitch for a pre-seed investment of EUR 150,000 to 250,000 from Carbon13 via a SAFE, alongside one-to-one advisory support to prepare for a follow-on funding round.
RollingThe funder’s page
Grant
CfI: Engineering Biology for Defra and FSA Phase 1
Innovate UK
Up to£200,000
A UK government procurement contract competition inviting organisations to develop engineering-biology solutions for Defra and the Food Standards Agency, covering water quality monitoring, veterinary vaccine platforms, ecosystem health prediction, and food safety diagnostics. Phase 1 winners receive a fixed contract of up to £200,000 for a 9-month feasibility study.
Closes 14 October 2026The funder’s page
Grant
BBSRC-STFC DeepTech Catalyst Bio 2026
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Up to£50,000
A UKRI business incubator programme giving early-stage UK biotech start-ups R&D funding, an innovation voucher, and access to UKRI campuses and investor networks. Applicants must already have received prior BBSRC/UKRI-linked support and be taking a bioscience innovation to market.
Closes 14 September 2026The funder’s page
Grant
Advancing innovation in accelerated cancer diagnosis
Innovate UK
Innovate UK, with the Office for Life Sciences, is investing up to £25.4 million to support the clinical validation and evaluation of early cancer diagnostic technologies and devices. Applications must be collaborative, led by a UK business, academic institution or NHS organisation, and the consortium must include at least one UK SME claiming funding.
Closes 28 October 2026The funder’s page
In-kind support
Isambard-AI and Dawn AIRR supercomputers: Gateway route
UK Research and Innovation
A rolling, no-deadline route giving UK researchers and organisations, including businesses of any size, up to 10,000 GPU hours of compute time on the Isambard-AI and Dawn supercomputers for AI-related research and development. It provides compute resource rather than cash, and businesses must fund the remaining share of project costs themselves.
RollingThe funder’s page
Tax relief
UK Investment Zones Tax Site Incentives
Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
Businesses investing in one of 13 UK Investment Zones get access to a 10-year package of tax reliefs on designated sites plus support for skills, infrastructure and innovation. On designated tax sites this includes full Stamp Duty Land Tax relief, zero-rate employer National Insurance on new employees' earnings up to £25,000 a year for 36 months, a 100% first-year capital allowance on plant and machinery, an enhanced structures and buildings allowance, and full business rates relief for eligible new or expanding businesses.
RollingThe funder’s page
Grant
Wildfires: Wildfire Preparedness Call for Proposals (ESA Business Applications)
European Space Agency (ESA)
A European Space Agency co-funding call for companies developing space-enabled services for wildfire management. This round focuses on wildfire risk assessment, fuel load management and preventative measures. ESA co-funds proof-of-concept studies and pilot projects on a zero-equity basis, at a rate of 50-80% of company costs depending on SME status and Member State approval, for teams based in one of a named list of participating countries that includes the United Kingdom.
RollingThe funder’s page