FOI2026/00287: IUK funding risks in the context of unrecognised Israeli settlements
Case reference FOI2026/00287
Received 1 April 2026
Published 13 May 2026
Request
Request received: 13 May 2026
This request relates to Eureka Collaborative R&D: UK-Israel competitions. This request relates to the latest round (Round 3) as well as previous rounds under the same collaboration. Hereafter, these competitions will be referred to as the ‘UK-Israel competitions’.
As the UK Government’s guidance ‘Overseas business risk: Palestine’ states, the UK does not recognise Israeli settlements outside of pre-1967 borders, and economic activities (including transactions and investments) in Israeli settlements entail legal and economic risks; due to the fact these settlements are not recognised as part of Israel in international law.
1. Please disclose whether Innovate UK obtained the locations of Israeli-based collaborator organisations applying to the UK-Israel competitions.
2. If so, please disclose how these locations were obtained. ‘Collaborator’ here could mean partners (lead or otherwise) in applications, or subcontractors listed as providing expertise, labour or any other service to a project proposal. ‘Location’ here means the legal operating headquarters of organisations, or business/correspondence address of individuals, as applicable.
3. If locations were obtained, please confirm how many, if any, successful applications included collaborators based in legally unrecognised Israeli settlements. If any collaborators have unknown locations, please disclose how many are unknown.
Response
Response sent: 13 May 2026
I can confirm that UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) does not hold information relevant to your request. Please see the information below.
As part of the Innovate UK application process, applicants are asked to provide their location, however this is a non-scored question and is only to confirm where applicants are based within the UK, to ensure they are eligible for the competition.
Applicants are not under any obligation to submit the location of their overseas partners, as they are not receiving funding from Innovate UK. Whilst applicants may volunteer information on the Israeli addresses of partners, we take no action on whether they meet the requirements of the guidance from the Government; the Israeli partner must meet the requirements under Israeli Law, and eligibility checks are carried out by the Israeli Innovation Agency.
Documents
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