Funding competition Innovate Ukraine – Supporting Ukraine’s Energy Recovery
Invite only
- Competition opens: Saturday 24 June 2023
- Competition closes: Friday 15 September 2023 11:00am
This competition is now closed.
Competition sections
Description
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to invest up to £10 million in clean energy innovation projects. Projects will support and help Ukraine to rebuild and transition to a low carbon economy.
This funding support comes from the UK’s International Climate Finance (ICF), and in particular forms part of the UK’s Ayrton Fund commitment of up to £1 billion of support to clean energy innovation.
The aim of this competition is to accelerate Ukraine’s recovery and ensure the country’s energy supply is low-carbon, affordable and secure.
Your innovation should build resilience to attacks on infrastructure in the short-term and build access to greener energy in future.
Innovate UK runs many different competitions, and each will have different eligibility and scope requirements. The guidance in this competition brief will always supersede any other guidance. If you are unsure or have any questions, please contact our Customer Support Service who will assist you further.
In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process.
This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated.Funding type
Grant
Project size
Your total project costs must be between £50,000 and £2 million.
Who can apply
Your project
Your project must:
- have total project costs of between £50,000 and £2 million
- start on or after 1 April 2024
- end by 31 March 2026
- involve at least one partner with a legal entity in Ukraine
- include a UK-registered administrative lead
- involve a business of any size
- involve at least one legally separate collaborator
Your project can also involve any organisation from any eligible country.
You must only include eligible project costs in your application.
Under current restrictions, this competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian and Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian and Belarusian source.
Innovate UK will consider projects which fall outside the project costs criteria. You must obtain approval for this from Innovate UK prior to submitting your project application. You must provide your justification by email to support@iuk.ukri.org at least 10 working days before the competition closes. We will notify you of our decision within 5 working days.
If you have not requested approval or your application has not been approved by us, you will be made ineligible. Your application will then not be sent for assessment.
Lead organisation
There are two types of lead in this competition, an administrative lead, who will complete the application on the Innovation Funding Service and a technology lead who will lead the project work.
The eligible UK administrative lead will start the application form on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) and can invite partner organisations to support the competition of the form. They will act as the recipient of the award and will distribute funding to all other partners. This is known as a ‘hub and spoke’ model. The administrative lead will manage and be accountable for the finances of the project in accordance with the terms and conditions of the award.
The administrative lead must:
- be a UK-registered entity of any size and be capable of distributing funding to other collaborating partners
- be eligible to claim grant funding through this competition, including grant for their administrative function
The technology lead will lead on the development of the scope, work packages and any other technical work for the project. They will also lead the Intellectual Property (IP) creation for the project
The technology lead:
- can be from any eligible country
- must be eligible to claim grant funding through this competition
UK registered organisations can be both the administrative and technology lead if the criteria is met for both, as well as the additional project and collaborative requirements.
More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.
Project team
To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following:
- business of any size
- academic institution
- charity
- not-for-profit
- non-government organisation (NGO)
- research and technology organisation (RTO)
Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service by the administrative lead to collaborate on a project. Once the invite is accepted, partners will be asked to login or to create an account and enter their own project costs into the Innovation Funding Service.
To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and at least one other organisation must apply for funding when entering their costs into the application.
Collaboration
There needs to be at least two eligible grant claiming participants who are working on the project. This can include the administrative lead if they are doing technical work outside of the project administrative responsibilities.
Ukrainian Government Agencies
Ukrainian governmental entities such as central government institutions, local government institutions and administrations are able to participate in projects as advisory partners. As advisory partners they are unable to claim project costs but can be invited as a non-grant claiming partner.
Non-funded partners
Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding. Their costs will count towards the total project costs.
Subcontractors
Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.
Subcontractors can be from any eligible country and you must select them through your usual procurement process.
All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.
Number of Applications
All eligible organisations can lead or collaborate on any number of applications.
Previous applications
You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.
We will not award you funding if your organisation has:
- failed to exploit a previously funded project
- an overdue independent accountant’s report
- failed to comply with grant terms and conditions
Subsidy control (and State aid where applicable)
This competition provides funding in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Further information about the Subsidy requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk). Additional information can be found about the rules governed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Innovate UK is unable to award organisations that are considered to be in financial difficulty. We will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage.
EU State aid rules now only apply in limited circumstances. Please see our general guidance to check if these rules apply to your organisation.
Further Information
If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022, World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules or the State aid rules, you should take independent legal advice. We are unable to advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations.
You must always make sure that the funding awarded to you is compliant with all current Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom.
This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to, or actually distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries.
Funding
Up to £10 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. Funding will be in the form of a grant. This funding is part of the UK government’s official development assistance budget (ODA).
The total funding available for this competition can change. The funders have the right to apply a ‘portfolio’ approach
If your organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically but for the purpose of this project will be undertaking commercial or economic activity.
For feasibility studies or industrial research projects you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:
- up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
- up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation
- up to 50% if you are a large organisation
For more information on the UK definition of company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance. This is a change from the EU definition unless you are applying under State aid.
If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.
Research participation
Research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 50% of the total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them. Of that 50% you could get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:
- 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are a UK Je-S registered institution such as an academic
- 100% of your project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not for profit organisation, NGO or research organisation
Capital expenditure
If you plan to leave capital equipment in the ODA eligible country you can, in principle, fully depreciate the costs.
Assets can be transferred but before Innovate UK can agree to this, you must provide evidence that:
- the asset will be put to a good developmental purpose
- the recipient has adequate resources to maintain and operate the asset, including purchase of any consumables
- the item will not be sold or disposed of, or diverted for another purpose, within a reasonable time period
- the recipient has adequate controls in place to ensure that the assets are used as intended
- any local requirements, regarding duties and taxes, or any other formalities, on transfer will be met
- IT Equipment is disposed of in line with EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations and all personal data will be removed
This evidence should take the form of an end-of-life plan. If you are successful in being awarded funding, our project finance team will ask for this evidence to sign off your finances as part of project set up.
Expenditure on capital is eligible for funding. All materials must be directly related to and essential to the goals of the project.
Your proposal
Ukraine has historically relied on imports of fuels, particularly fossil fuels. Since October 2022, widespread missile and drone strikes, targeting Ukraine’s power supplies have damaged or destroyed more than 40% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, including transmission lines, power stations and pipelines. This has left millions of Ukrainians across the country living without electricity or experiencing rolling blackouts. The Government of Ukraine has set ambitious targets for rebuilding its generation capacity to become a key European exporter.
The aim of this competition is to accelerate Ukraine’s recovery and ensure the country’s energy supply is low-carbon, affordable and secure.
This funding support will accelerate the innovations needed to rebuild Ukraine’s energy system. It focuses on creating immediate energy security for Ukraine and helping its long term ambitions to transition away from hydrocarbons.
Your project can support the development, testing or scale up of innovative technologies or business models.
Your project must:
- focus on the specific needs of Ukraine’s energy recovery
- be an innovative technology or business model that is low-carbon, affordable and secure
- create energy resilience to attacks in the short term or build access to clean energy in the future
- a country with a similar or representative environment to Ukraine to prove viability.
- Ukraine, subject to Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) guidance and appropriate security mitigations being in place
While any technology which meets these criteria is in scope, priority will be given to the following areas:
- Leave no one behind: technologies and business models that ensure the benefits reach the poorest and most marginalised, including women, those with disabilities, and people in humanitarian contexts, supporting the local economy by localisation of production of new technologies
- Smart green grids: including main grid-related technologies (supply and demand side technologies) and mini or micro-grids to support modularity, decentralisation and system resilience. This could include innovative digital smart grid solutions for energy efficiency and resilience.
- Grid stability and resilience hardening: new approaches which can help manage and mitigate the damage and instability caused by cyber and missile attacks or provide physical protection to critical energy infrastructure.
- Energy storage: enabling higher intermittent renewable energy penetrations on the grid providing backup power, and improving access in areas unserved, or poorly served, by the grid
- Renewable heating strategies: including heat pumps
- Green gases: developing efficient models for biomethane or hydrogen generation and technologies specifically supporting the adaptation of Ukraine’s existing systems to green gases
- Waste-based energy solutions: the use of waste materials as fuel and the utilisation of waste heat from industrial processes or heat-emitting sectors, for example data centres
- Bio-energy: including the use of energy crops, for example miscanthus, to improve the quality of soils damaged by war and to act as a low-carbon fuel source for local energy systems
- Next-generation solar technologies and business models: enabling new, locally manufacturable, cost-effective alternatives
- Green building materials: local production of materials and development of green construction techniques, including, super-insulation, green concrete and other energy-efficient and cost-effective materials for reconstruction
- Portable units for the generation and storage of low carbon energy: tailored specifically to the Ukrainian context and able to replace fossil generators as needed
- High-voltage autotransformers: improving the local availability of hard-to-produce and other specialist electricity distribution equipment
- Low-energy inclusive appliances: improving the efficiency, performance, availability, and affordability of end use domestic and productive appliances adapted to Ukraine’s needs
- Offshore wind deployment: realising the potential for deployment in Ukraine
Innovate UK will consider projects which fall outside these scope criteria. You must obtain approval from Innovate UK prior to submitting your project application. You must provide your justification by email to support@iuk.ukri.org at least 10 working days before the competition closes. We will notify you of our decision within 5 working days.
If you have not requested approval or your application has not been approved by us, you will be made ineligible. Your application will then not be sent for assessment.
Official development assistance budget
This funding is part of the UK government’s official development assistance budget (ODA). You must be able to demonstrate in your proposal that there is a clear economic and social benefit to Ukraine. This includes a need to outline how your project and innovation will positively impact Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI).
If projects are judged to be non-compliant with ODA, Innovate UK will not submit the application for assessment.
Portfolio approach
We want to fund a variety of projects within the competition, covering the range of priority themes, using different technologies, technological maturities, markets, location and research categories. We call this a portfolio approach.
This is to make sure that the strategic criteria for the competition brief is met by successful projects considered to be above the quality threshold. The quality threshold will be as a result of independent expert assessment.
Research categories
We will fund feasibility and industrial research projects as defined in the guidance on categories of research.
Projects we will not fund
We are not funding projects:
- for innovations unlikely to contribute significantly to building back Ukraine’s energy system
- which are not Official Development Assistance (ODA) compliant
- that do not take into account and plan to manage Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) issues
- where energy innovation or security are not the primary focus, for example, if more than 50% project is focussed on other innovations
- that are not low-carbon, affordable and secure
We cannot fund projects that are:
- dependent on export performance, for example giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country
- dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product
- 24 June 2023
- Competition opens
- 27 June 2023
- Online briefing event
- 15 September 2023 11:00am
- Competition closes
- 2 November 2023
- Applicants notified
Before you start
You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.
The UK administrative lead is responsible for the following:
- starting the application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS)
- collecting the information for the application
- submitting the finished application
- representing the consortium if your application is successful
- distributing funding to all partners as part of the consortium
Before submitting, it is the UK administrative lead’s responsibility to make sure:
- that all the information provided in the application is correct
- your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria
- all sections of the application are marked as complete
- that all partners have completed all assigned sections and accepted the terms and conditions (T&Cs)
You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline. You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline.
What we ask you
The application is split into 3 sections:
1. Project details.
2. Application questions.
3. Finances.
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 providing support, in the form of reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us. Watch our video on how we are making our application process more accessible and inclusive for everyone.
You must contact us as early as possible in the application process. We recommend contacting us at least 15 working days before the competition closing date to ensure we can provide you with the most suitable support possible.
You can contact us by emailing support@iuk.ukri.org or calling 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). This service is only available in English.
1. Project details
This section provides background for your application and is not scored.
Application team
Decide which organisations will work with you on your project and invite people from those organisations to help complete the application.
Application details
Give your project’s title, start date and duration.
Research category
Select the type of research you will undertake.
Project summary
Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign the right experts to assess your application.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Public description
Describe your project in detail and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information or information which may be security critical. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This could happen before you start your project.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Scope
Describe how your project fits and addresses all three scope elements of the competition.
Your project must:
- focus on the specific needs of Ukraine’s energy recovery
- be an innovative technology or business model that is low-carbon, affordable and secure
- create energy resilience to attacks in the short term or build access to clean energy in the future
You do not need to include information of ODA compliance as this will be assessed in Gateway Questions.
If your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.2. Application questions
The assessors will score out of 10, all your answers apart from questions 1 to 6. These questions will be given a pass or fail only.
You will receive feedback for each scored question.
Questions 1 to 6, although not scored, provide background for the assessors to make sure your project is eligible and complies with Official Development Assistance (ODA) and the competition scope.
If your project does not pass all these criteria, it will not be sent for a full assessment. We will tell you the reason why.
You must answer all questions. Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers.
Question 1. Applicant location (not scored)
You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation and any partners or subcontractors working on your project.
We are collecting this information to understand the geographical location of all applicants.
Your answer can be up to 200 words long
Question 2. Technology lead (not scored)
You must state the person and their organisation that will act as the technology lead for the project.
A technology lead will lead on the development of the scope, work packages within the project and other work from a technical perspective. They can be from any eligible country.
If they are registered in the UK, they can be the same organisation as the administrative lead.
Your answer can be up to 50 words long.
Question 3. Technology area (not scored)
Confirm which primary technology area your project falls into:
- leave no one behind
- smart green grids
- grid stability
- energy storage
- renewable heating strategies
- green gases
- waste-based energy solutions
- energy crops
- next-generation solar technologies
- green building materials
- portable units for the generation and storage of low carbon energy,
- high-voltage autotransformers
- low-energy inclusive appliances
- offshore wind deployment
- other
Question 4. Licenses and permits (eligibility criteria - not scored)
Will you have the correct licences and permits in place to carry out all of your project activities?
We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct licences or permits in place.
You must select one:
- yes
- no
- in process of being applied for
- not applicable
Question 5. In country entity (eligibility criteria - not scored)
You must involve at least one partner with a legal entity in Ukraine.
You must state which of your partners are the in-country entity and confirm their eligible office.
Your answer can be up to 50 words long.
Question 6. Official Development Assistance (ODA) (eligibility criteria - not scored)
To be eligible for Innovate Ukraine grant funding, you must clearly explain and give evidence for why and how your project is in scope for Official Development Assistance (ODA).
Describe:
- how your project will promote the social welfare and economic development of Ukraine, by addressing a development need in that country.
- the benefits to project partners and to those people outside the consortium making a clear distinction between the two.
You must:
- be clear on how your project will specifically help Ukraine’s energy system in either the short or long term
- if testing or demonstrating outside of Ukraine, clearly explain the rationale for the chosen area and how this will help you commercialise in Ukraine in the longer term.
- be clear about what stakeholder groups in Ukraine you expect to benefit from this project, avoid making generic statements.
- give sufficient detail and data on how your project outputs are likely to create socio-economic impacts, whether they are positive or negative
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
You must download, complete and upload the ODA template as an appendix to support your answer. It can include an explanation of your rationale of the expected outputs and impacts and must include a basic logic model. It must be a PDF and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.
Question 7. Need or challenge
How will your technology or business model address the specific needs of Ukraine’s energy recovery
Explain:
- the main area of Ukraine’s recovery you are focusing on
- the business opportunity this presents
- whether you have identified any similar innovation and its current limitations, including those close to market or in development
- any work you have already done to respond to this need and how this will be built upon to reflect the current needs in Ukraine
- the wider economic, social, environmental, cultural or political challenges which are influential in creating the opportunity
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Question 8. Approach and innovation
What approach will you take and where will the focus of the innovation be?
Explain:
- how you will respond to the need, challenge or opportunity identified
- how will you improve on any similar innovation that you have identified
- whether the innovation will focus on existing technologies in new areas, the development of new technologies for existing areas or a totally disruptive approach
- the freedom you have to operate
- how this project fits with your current product, service lines or offerings
- how it will make you more competitive
- the nature of the outputs you expect from the project (for example report, demonstrator, know-how, new process, product or service design) and how these will help you to target the need, challenge or opportunity identified
You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It can include diagrams and charts. It must be a PDF, up to 2 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Question 9. Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI)
How will your project and innovation help enable gender equality and social inclusion? To score highly in this question, both gender equality and social inclusion will need to be addressed. A minimum pass criterion of 50% has been set for this question. If you do not achieve this pass mark, then your project will not be eligible for funding.
You must describe:
- the disadvantaged groups your project and innovation will support and how they will be engaged
- the barriers to gender equality and social inclusion in your chosen regions
- what actions will be taken through your project to address the identified barriers
- how your energy innovation will enable greater gender equality and social inclusion
- any potentially negative impacts your project could have and how you will mitigate against these
Your answer is a mandatory requirement under the International Development (Gender Equality) Act, 2014. You can read further guidance on UKRI’s approach to the Gender Equality Act.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Question 10. Team and resources
Who is in the project team and what are their roles?
Explain:
- the roles, skills and experience of all members of the project team that are relevant to the approach you will be taking
- the resources, equipment and facilities needed for the project and how you will access them
- the resources allocated for Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) activities
- the details of any vital external parties, including subcontractors, who you will need to work with to successfully carry out the project
- the current relationships between project partners and how these will change as a result of the project
- any roles you will need to recruit for
You can submit one appendix with a short summary of the main people working on the project to support your answer. It must be a PDF, up to 4 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Question 11. Market awareness
What does the market you are targeting look like?
Describe:
- the target markets for the project outcomes, any other potential markets (domestic, international or both)
- the size of the target markets for the project outcomes, backed up by references where available
- the structure and dynamics of the target markets, including customer segmentation, together with predicted growth rates within clear timeframes
- the target markets’ main supply or value chains and business models, and any barriers to entry that exist
- the current UK position in targeting these markets
- the size and main features of any other markets not already listed
If your project is highly innovative, where the market may be unexplored, describe or explain:
- what the market’s size might be
- how your project will try to explore the market’s potential
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Question 12. Outcomes and route to market
How are you going to grow your business and increase long term productivity as a result of the project?
Explain:
- your current position in the markets and supply or value chains outlined, and whether you will be extending or establishing your market position
- your target customers or end users, and the value to them, for example why they would use or buy your product
- your route to market
- how you are going to profit from the innovation, including increased revenues or cost reduction
- how the innovation will affect your productivity and growth, in both the short and the long term
- how you will protect and exploit the outputs of the project, for example through know-how, patenting, designs or changes to your business model
- your strategy for targeting the other markets you have identified during or after the project
If there is any research organisation activity in the project, describe:
- your plans to spread the project’s research outputs over a reasonable timescale
- how you expect to use the results generated from the project in further research activities
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Question 13. Wider impacts
What impact might this project have outside the project team?
Describe and, where possible, measure the economic benefits from the project such as productivity increases and import substitution, to:
- external parties
- customers
- others in the supply chain
- broader industry
Describe and, where possible, measure:
- any expected impact on Government of Ukraine’s priorities
- any expected environmental impacts, either positive or negative
- any expected regional impacts of the project
Describe any expected social impacts, either positive or negative on, for example:
- lives impacted
- jobs, such as safeguarding, creating, changing or displacing them
- education
- public empowerment
- health and safety regulations
- joint ventures
- CO2 avoidance
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Question 14. Project management
How will you manage your project effectively?
Explain:
- the main work packages of your project, indicating the lead partner assigned to each and the total cost of each one
- your approach to project management, identifying any major tools and mechanisms you will use to get a successful and innovative project outcome
- the management reporting lines
- your project plan in enough detail to identify any links or dependencies between work packages or milestones
It is expected that your GESI activities are interwoven throughout your project. If you chose to separate GESI activities into a separate work package an explanation needs to be provided.
You must submit a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF, up to 2 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Question 15. Risks
What are the main risks for this project?
Explain:
- the main risks and uncertainties of the project, including the technical, commercial, managerial and environmental risks
- if operating in Ukraine, the security risks of the project and the key principles of your resilience planning.
- how you will mitigate these risks.
- if in Ukraine, your mitigations for the current situation, what will change if the conflict intensifies or if the conflict ends
- any project inputs that are critical to completion, such as resources, expertise, and data sets
- any output likely to be subject to regulatory requirements, certification, ethical issues or similar, and how you will manage these
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
You must submit a risk register as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF, up to 2 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.
Question 16. Added value
How will this public funding help you to accelerate or enhance your approach to developing your project towards commercialisation? What impact would this award have on the organisations involved?
Explain:
- what advantages would public funding offer your project, for example, appeal to investors, more partners, reduced risk or a faster route to market (this list is not exhaustive)
- the likely impact of the project outcomes on the organisations involved
- what other routes of investment have you already approached
- what your project would look like without public funding
- how this project would change the R&D activities of all the organisations involved
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Question 17. Costs and value for money
How much will the project cost and how does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer?
In terms of your project goals, explain:
- your total project costs
- the grant you are requesting
- how each partner will finance their contributions to your project
- how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer
- how it compares to what you would spend your money on otherwise
- the balance of costs and grant across the project partners
- any subcontractor costs and why they are critical to your project
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
3. Finances
Each organisation in your project must complete their own project costs, organisation details and funding details in the application. UK academic institutions must complete and upload a Je-S form.
For full details on what costs you can claim see our projects costs guidance.Background and further information
Up to £10 million will be invested by the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) as part of the UK Aid budget. This support comes from the UK’s International Climate Finance, and in particular forms part of the UK’s Ayrton Fund commitment of up to £1 billion of International Climate Finance (ICF) support to clean energy innovation.
Ukraine has historically been highly reliant on energy imports, which has created vulnerabilities and gaps in energy security. Post-conflict, Ukraine is aiming to rebuild an energy system which is modern, green, flexible and EU-integrated.
Ukraine was exporting electricity to the rest of Europe until exports were suspended on 12 October 2022 due to damage to critical infrastructure. Post-conflict, it aims to be a key energy exporter to Europe. This funding will support the Ukrainian government to rebuild the electricity sector and provide much-needed supply to the international market over the longer term.
Monitoring
Your project manager, and others as may be agreed from time to time, will meet with your Monitoring Service Provider (MSP) once a calendar quarter (or agreed period) to review your written report for the period since the last monitoring meeting. You should deliver this report to your MSP no later than 14 days before the scheduled monitoring meeting. Overseas partners are required to dial into these meetings every quarter.
Additional reporting is required to comply with the FCDO’s request surrounding key performance indicators (KPIs) and data capture for impact analysis. Your MSP will discuss the extra requirements at your initial meeting and a plan will be put in place to capture this information quarterly.
The project will also be required to complete a survey 1 to 2 times a year to support annual reporting. Quarterly claims are not approved until reporting is completed to a satisfactory level.
Payment of grant
As your project will have an international partner, all partners will receive their grants through a hub and spoke model. This means grant payments to all partners are paid through the administrative lead organisation.
Financial support for the project forms part of the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) commitment. This is monitored by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Data sharing
This competition is jointly operated by Innovate UK and the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), each an “agency”.
Any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application can be shared by one agency with the other, for its individual storage, processing and use.
This means that any information given to or generated by Innovate UK in respect of your application may be passed on to FCDO or vice versa. This would include, but is not restricted to:
- the information stated on the application, including the personal details of all applicants
- scoring and feedback on the application
- information received during the management and administration of the grant, such as Monitoring Officer reports and Independent Accountant Reports
Innovate UK and FCDO are directly accountable to you for their holding and processing of your information, including any personal data and confidential information. Data is held in accordance with their own policies. Accordingly, Innovate UK and FCDO will be data controllers for personal data submitted during the application. Innovate UK’s Privacy Policy is accessible here.
Innovate UK complies with the requirements of GDPR, and is committed to upholding the data protection principles, and protecting your information. The Information Commissioner’s Office also has a useful guide for organisations, which outlines the data protection principles.
Accelerator programme
All successful projects will be enrolled onto accelerator support. The technical lead on each project, and where relevant their project partners, will need to engage with this accelerator. Accelerator support aims to improve the likelihood of successfully commercialising these innovative solutions in Ukraine.
The support for this element of the programme will be provided through Minimal financial assistance (MFA). Companies in receipt of this support will be required to provide an MFA declaration before receiving this support.
Support for SMEs from Innovate UK EDGE
If you receive an award, you will be contacted about working with an innovation and growth specialist at Innovate UK EDGE. This service forms part of our funded offer to you.
These specialists focus on growing innovative businesses and ensuring that projects contribute to their growth. Working one-to-one, they can help you to identify your best strategy and harness world-class resources to grow and achieve scale.
We encourage you to engage with Innovate UK EDGE, delivered by a knowledgeable and objective specialist near you.
Next steps
If you are successful with this application, you will be asked to set up your project.
You must follow the unique link embedded in your email notification. This takes you to your IFS Set Up portal, the tool that Innovate UK uses to gather necessary information before we can allow your project to begin.
You will need to provide:
- the name and contact details of your project manager and project finance lead
- a redacted copy of your bank details
- a collaboration agreement
- an exploitation plan
In order to process your claims, we need to make sure that the bank details you give to us relate to a UK high street bank that is regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). The account must have a BACS clearing facility and be in the same company name as your application.
If you have any doubts that your bank account will not meet Innovate UK's funding criteria, you can use the sort code checker. If you input the sort code and find a tick next to the ‘BACS Direct Credit payments can be sent to this sort code’, this will give you an indication that the bank account you hold is acceptable.
Finance checks
We will carry out checks to make sure you are an established company with access to the funds necessary to complete the project.
You must check your IFS portal regularly and respond to any requests we have sent for additional information to avoid any delays.
Failure to complete project setup may result in your grant offer being withdrawn.
Your Grant offer letter (GOL)
Once you have successfully completed project setup, we will issue your GOL.
The GOL will be made available on your IFS portal. You will need to sign and upload this before you start your project.
Your GOL will show the start date for your project, do not start your project before this date. Any costs incurred before your start date cannot be claimed as part of your grant.
If your application is unsuccessful
If you are unsuccessful with your application this time, you can view feedback from the assessors. This will be available to you on your IFS portal following notification.
Sometimes your application will have scored well, and you will receive positive comments from the assessors. You may be unsuccessful as your average score was not above the funding threshold or your project has not been selected under the portfolio approach if this is applied for this competition.
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