Organisations can apply for a share of up to £7 million across the three strands of the competition. This is for energy access in ODA eligible countries in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, the Indo Pacific region and Latin America.
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will invest up to £7 million in projects which create new or improved energy access in ODA eligible countries. These countries are in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, the Indo Pacific regions and Latin America. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received.
This funding is part of the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) and provided by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). This is part of the UK’s Ayrton Fund commitment.
The aim of this competition is to accelerate the innovations needed to create new or improved clean energy access in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, the Indo-Pacific region and Latin America. This is to create a just and inclusive energy transition and extend the benefits of clean energy for all to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7 and 13.
Sustainable Development Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
Sustainable Development Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
Your proposal must:
- create or improve energy access for eligible countries in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, the Indo Pacific regions and Latin America
- have a technology or business model which is affordable, reliable and low carbon
This competition is split into three strands:
- Energy Catalyst Round 11: early stage (this strand)
- Energy Catalyst Round 11: mid stage
- Energy Catalyst Round 11: late stage
It is your responsibility to ensure you submit your application to the correct strand for your project. You will not be able to transfer your application and it will not be sent for assessment if it is ineligible.
In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly but we are still unable to fund it.
Our experience from previous rounds suggests that you could have 15% chance of success.
We consider a range of factors when determining whether to provide funding to applicants. This includes an assessment of prior conduct, such as any outstanding payments owed to Innovate UK or UKRI. Such factors may influence the funding decision, potentially resulting in a refusal of funding or an award subject to additional scrutiny.
We also reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions. This may be in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations or broader government funding decisions.
This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief. We cannot guarantee other government, or third party sites will always show the correct competition information.
Funding type
Grant
Project size
Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £50,000 and £300,000.
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).
