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Cash Grants for Collaborative R&D between the UK and South Korea

Written by Corporate Tax Incentives | Feb 16, 2022

As a continuing part of its initiative to further international collaborative research, Innovate UK has announced that it will invest up to £2 million in innovation projects in partnership with Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT). The aim is to fund business-led industrial research that leads to a new product, industrial process or service, be innovative, involve a technological risk, and have high market potential in the participating countries.

Qualifying projects must focus on one or more of the following sectors:
  • Advanced manufacturing and materials
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Clean energy: specifically battery technologies, hydrogen mobility technologies, and future vehicles

Learn More: Cash Grants for Collaborative R&D between the UK and Singapore


Proposals must include at least one small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) from the UK and one company from South Korea. Large UK companies are allowed to apply but must involve at least one SME. These companies should be separate legal and non-linked entities to ensure genuine international collaboration. The UK partners will be awarded up to £350,000 from Innovate UK while KIAT will fund the partners from South Korea.

This is a competitive process, with the highest scoring applications securing funding of between 50-70%, depending on the size of the applicant, as indicated in the table below. Please note that the UK thresholds for SMEs now differ from those of the EU.

  1. Entity Size

Project Costs Funded

Definition (must meet at least two)

 

Turnover

Assets

Employees

Micro

70%

<=£632,000

<=£316,000

<=10

Small

70%

<=£10.2 million

<=£5.1 million

<=50

Medium

60%

<=£36 million

<=£18 million

<=250

      Any companies not meeting these thresholds are considered large companies and will be funded at 50%.

Applications must be submitted by 6 July 2022.

Our CTI International team, based in the UK, can answer any of your questions around this new grant. Contact us today.