FOI2026/00559: Information on 4 Innovate UK Competitions
Case reference FOI2026/00559
Received 30 June 2026
Published 22 September 2026
Request
Request Received: 30 June 2026
Clarification Received: 14 July 2026
Request 1:
DRIVE35 Innovation Fund 2025: Theme and Technology Area Breakdown Further to the response received to FOI2026/00024 regarding the DRIVE35 Innovation Fund 2025, I understand that questions 11 to 15 of that request — covering theme and technology area breakdowns — were withdrawn by the original requester prior to the response being issued. I would be grateful if you could now release the following information for both the Collaborate strand and the Demonstrate strand of the 2025 DRIVE35 Innovation Fund:
1. The count of assessed applications by theme (Theme 1: Promote Zero Emission Vehicle Technologies; Theme 2: Enhance Manufacturing Competitiveness; Theme 3: Future Vehicle Innovation — Software Defined Vehicles and Electrical/Electronic Architectures).
2. The count of successful applications by technology area within Theme 1 (electrical energy storage; electric machines and associated driveline; power electronics including Vehicle-to-Everything; Internal Combustion Engines for on-road applications; ICE for off-road applications; lightweight materials and manufacturing processes; fuel cell systems and associated balance of plant; hydrogen storage and management systems).
3. The count of successful applications by technology area within Theme 2 (Digital Transformation; manufacturing process decarbonisation; Lean Manufacturing; Supply Chain Development).
4. The count of successful applications by technology area within Theme 3 (Integrated E/E systems; validation and verification technology; embedded Software Development; network communications; Control Systems).
Request 2:
Innovate UK Feasibility Studies for AI Solutions: Series 1
In relation to the Innovate UK Feasibility Studies for AI Solutions: Series 1 competition, please could you release the following information:
1. The distribution of scores for all assessed applications.
2. The number of assessors involved in the assessment process and the distribution of the number of applications reviewed per assessor.
3. The distribution of scores for each individual application.
4. The distribution of scores for each individual assessor.
5. The score threshold for funding.
6. The number of applications funded and the distribution of funding amounts awarded.
7. The number of applications submitted, assessed and funded broken down by postcode area.
8. The number of successful companies broken down by postcode area.
9. The count of assessed applications by innovation area or theme and the count of successful projects by innovation area or theme.
10. The count of assessed applications by research category (feasibility studies, industrial research, experimental development) and the count of successful projects by research category.
11. The number of funded projects broken down by UK region.
12. The number of unsuccessful applications, if any, which scored at or above the minimum funded score.
13. The minimum, maximum and average grant fund value per project for successful applications.
Request 3:
Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst 2023–2025: Supplementary Data Further to the response received to FOI2026/00334 regarding the Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst programme, I would be grateful if you could release the following supplementary information for each of the four rounds covered by that response: 2023 Round 1, 2023 Round 2, 2024 and 2025. For each round, broken down by stream (Small Projects and Large Projects) where applicable, please could you provide:
1. The minimum and maximum grant fund value awarded per project for successful applications (in addition to the average value already provided in FOI2026/00334).
2. The count of assessed applications by innovation area or theme (Diagnostics, medical technology and devices; Therapeutic and medicine development; Digital health) and the count of successful projects by innovation area or theme for each stream.
Request 4:
Innovate UK Farming Innovation Programme: 2022, 2023 and 2024 Competitions For each of the Innovate UK Farming Innovation Programme feasibility competitions launched in 2022, 2023 and 2024, please could you release the following information. Where data is not available for a specific year please indicate this and provide the data for the year(s) where it is held.
1. The number of applications submitted.
2. The number of assessed applications (post-eligibility checks).
3. The number of successful applications and the overall success rate.
4. The minimum successful score (funding threshold).
5. The score distributions of assessed applications — the number of applications scoring in each of the following bands: <70, 70.1–75, 75.1–80, 80.1–85, 85.1–90, 90.1–95, 95.1–100.
6. The minimum, maximum and average grant fund value per project for successful applications.
7. The minimum, maximum and average score of funded projects.
8. The maximum score of unfunded applications.
9. The count of assessed applications by industry subsector and the count of successful projects by industry subsector.
10. The count of assessed applications by research category (feasibility studies, industrial research, experimental development) and the count of successful projects by research category.
11. The number of funded projects broken down by UK region or postcode area.
12. The number of unsuccessful applications, if any, which scored at or above the minimum funded score.
13. The number of successful projects that were a consortium of 2 partners, 3 partners, and 4 or more partners, and the number led by a single organisation.
14. The number of successful projects that had a university partner.
15. The total number of applicants that had a university partner.
Response
Response Sent: 13 August 2026
Full details of this response are available in the attached documents.
Documents
- FOI2026_00559 Annex 1 - Drive 35 by Theme.xlsx (11.6 KB)
- FOI2026_00559 Annex 2 - Feasibility Studies for AI Solutions.xlsx (58.5 KB)
- FOI2026_00559 Annex 3 - Biomedical Catalyst.xlsx (12.7 KB)
- FOI2026_00559 Annex 4 - Farming Innovation.xlsx (25.5 KB)
- FOI_Response_Letter - FOI2026_00559_Redacted.pdf (318.6 KB)
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