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UK: funding calls and deadlines closing soon (week of 26 October 2026)

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By TrustList Editorial

Innovate UK, UK Space Agency and government visa schemes open to UK companies in AI, zero emission vehicles, batteries and space, closing between 4 November 2026 and 2030, with amounts and dates as each funder states them.

About UK: funding calls and deadlines closing soon (week of 26 October 2026)

UK: funding calls and deadlines closing soon (week of 26 October 2026)

25 October 2026: Fourteen UK competitions and schemes open to companies close between 4 November 2026 and 2030, led by the £150 million DRIVE35 drawdown for zero emission vehicle factories on 4 November and Innovate UK's Frontier AI feasibility call on 11 November. Each was read on GOV.UK's Find a grant service today; amounts and deadlines are given as the funder states them.

Not yet independently verified. Each competition was read on GOV.UK Find a grant on 25 October; most pages carry no publication date. Where a page states a range, it is either the grant or the project's total eligible costs, as given; competition rules on the Innovate UK service may set further conditions we did not read. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

AI for small companies

Frontier AI: SME Champions, Phase 1 lets UK registered SMEs bid for a share of up to £3.1 million for feasibility studies in frontier AI and machine learning "with a clear route to defensible scale-up". Each project's total eligible costs must be between £150,000 and £250,000. It closes on 11 November 2026 at 11:00am, and a second phase of up to £1 million per project is planned, subject to a business case.

Efficient, Structured and Controllable AI Systems is for research-intensive AI start-ups, deep tech SMEs and spinouts at an early stage of development: £50,000 to £150,000 per project from a pot of up to £1.66 million, closing on 18 November 2026 at 11:00am.

BridgeAI Deployment Catalyst, carried over from last week: three calls of £5 million each for UK SMEs putting AI into operational systems, with grants of £100,000 to £200,000, closing on 8 December 2026 at 11:00am.

Working with partners abroad

  • UK-Germany Bilateral Collaborative R&D, Round 5: a UK SME and at least one German SME funded under Germany's ZIM programme; £100,000 to £350,000 per project over 12 to 24 months, £2.4 million in total, closing on 1 December 2026 at 11:00am.
  • UK-Singapore Collaborative R&D 2026: a UK business with a Singapore business; £100,000 to £900,000 over 24 to 36 months, up to £3 million, closing on 16 December 2026 at 11:00am.
  • Eureka Globalstars Japan 2027: UK organisations working with Japanese partners; up to £600,000 per UK applicant over up to three years, £2 million in total, closing on 20 January 2027 at 11:00am.

Vehicles, batteries and space

DRIVE35 Scale-up Fund, Drawdown 5 (Innovate UK with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade and the Advanced Propulsion Centre) shares up to £150 million among UK organisations building scale-up manufacturing for zero emission vehicle technologies; total eligible costs must be at least £5 million. It closes on 4 November 2026 at 11:00am.

Battery Innovation, Round 3 has two strands from a combined £25 million: feasibility studies of £70,000 to £500,000 and concept development of £500,000 to £4 million, both closing on 2 December 2026 at 11:00am.

The UK Space Agency has two calls open to industry-led bids, suited to companies working with satellite data and software: the National Space Innovation Programme Call 3, with £150,000 to £2 million per project from £20 million, closing on 12 November 2026 at midnight, and Unlocking Space for Business on environmental intelligence and emissions, with up to £400,000 per project from £2 million, closing on 11 December 2026 at 4:00pm.

Partnerships and hiring

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships 2026 to 2027, Round 4 pair a UK business with a university, research organisation or Catapult, which must lead the application; a company cannot apply alone. Grants run from £75,000 to £750,000 from £12.5 million, and the round closes on 27 January 2027 at 11:00am.

Two schemes pay back visa costs. The Visa Fees Reimbursement Scheme for Scale Ups covers £500 to £25,000 for scale-ups in clean energy, life sciences and digital and technologies that grew more than 20% over three years and had at least 10 staff at the start, from £1.25 million, until 1 March 2027. The Sovereign AI Visa Reimbursement Scheme pays £500 to £151,650 to companies in the government's Sovereign AI portfolio and a limited number of other supported firms, from £7.9 million, until 31 March 2030.

Our Europe edition covers EU programmes and national funders on the continent, and the North America edition the US and Canada.

Sources

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