Pre-announcement: EPSRC Prosperity Partnerships 2027

Apply for funding to support ambitious, collaborative research programmes.

Prosperity Partnerships projects must:

  • be business-led, co-created and co-delivered by business and academic partners
  • aim to create long-term prosperity for the UK, for example by bringing jobs and revenue growth, or addressing broader societal and sustainability issues

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) will fund 80% of the full economic cost (FEC) of your application.

The business cash contribution must at least match the amount funded by EPSRC.

This opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility. Check if your organisation is eligible. The below section provides more detail about what role your organisation may take in an application.

Primary academic partner

Research organisations can act as the ‘primary academic partner’ if they are eligible to receive EPSRC funding. This includes:

  • UK higher education institutions
  • research council institutes
  • UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)-approved independent research organisations
  • public sector research establishments
  • NHS bodies with research capacity

For full details about eligibility, visit EPSRC’s eligibility page.

The primary academic partner will be required to create and submit the application on the UKRI Funding Service, but all partners are expected to contribute to the application in the spirit of the partnership before its added to the system.

Primary business partner

Applications must be co-created with a primary business partner that has an established relationship with the lead academic partner. The business partner (or partners) must make a cash contribution to the project which matches or exceeds the amount requested from EPSRC. Businesses can act as the ‘primary business partner’ if they meet at least one of the following requirements:

  • be a UK-based business of any size
  • be a business of any size with a UK presence and significant UK-based research activity
  • be a public sector research establishment (PRSE), noting that your financial contribution to the project must not be derived from public funds (appropriate confirmation and assurance of this will be required)
  • be the lead of a consortium of organisations which collectively contributes the match funding, the members of which meet any of the above requirements

Collaborations may include international partners, noting that the match funding must be contributed by a partner or consortium meeting the above definitions. All partners are expected to be involved in the creation of your application.

Established partnership

This opportunity will support collaborative partnerships between the primary partner organisations which have been established for at least one year. A partnership is a working relationship between the two individuals who will lead the project in both organisations, as well as a broader relationship between the two organisations. An established partnership in this context is one which meets all the following requirements:

  • has individual relationships at the core of the partnership
  • can be recognised by both primary partner organisations
  • can demonstrate a track record of at least one year showing significant, regular collaborative research projects which the primary academic and business partners have developed and completed together
  • can demonstrate a clear trajectory for future collaborative work

These partnerships may involve the signing of a memorandum of understanding  or collaboration agreement.

Individual eligibility

UKRI has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the Funding Service. For full details, visit Eligibility as an individual.

Resubmissions

We will not accept uninvited resubmissions of projects that have been submitted to UKRI or any other funder.

Find out more about EPSRC’s resubmissions policy.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.

We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:

  • career breaks
  • support for people with caring responsibilities
  • flexible working
  • alternative working patterns

UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.

 

Aim

The aim of the opportunity is to support ambitious, collaborative research programmes which are business-led, co-created and co-delivered by business and academic partners. By investing in these projects, we aim to create long-term prosperity for the UK, for example by bringing jobs and revenue growth, or addressing broader societal and sustainability issues.

EPSRC will fund 80% of the FEC of your application. The business cash contribution must at least match the amount funded by EPSRC.

Funding available

Projects must apply for at least £500,000 and may last up to five years. EPSRC will pay 80% of the FEC of the project. We particularly encourage involvement of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in this opportunity. Involvement could be as a sole primary business, or as part of a consortium.

This opportunity does not feature a separate application route for smaller scale projects. Instead, there is a single assessment route and applications may range in size from £500,000 and up. Applicants must demonstrate a minimum of one year of established partnership collaboration in their application. Less established partnerships are expected to apply for smaller grants, and larger grant applications will need to demonstrate stronger evidence of an established partnership. The assessment panel will judge this as part of the assessment process.

Funding example

If the full academic costs of the project are £625,000, then EPSRC would contribute 80% of this (£500,000). The matched contribution from the industry partners would then need to be at least £500,000.

The primary business partner, or the consortium led by the primary business partner, must (collectively) contribute match funding to the project equal to or exceeding the EPSRC contribution. In the case of a consortium, the greatest single contribution should come from the primary business partner.

Requested funds from EPSRC may include:

  • staff costs
  • costs related to impact
  • travel and subsistence
  • skills and talent training costs
  • small items of equipment (under £25,000 per item) and other items required to carry out the project
  • equipment (between £25,000 and £400,000 per item)

Quotes for equipment do not need to be included in your application.  However, please retain quotes for equipment costing more than £138,000 as we may ask for these at post-panel stage before releasing funds. For details of how to include equipment in your application see Equipment on research grants.

Project features

Prosperity Partnerships are collaborative research partnerships that focus on important industry challenges. Applications should feature world-leading, fundamental engineering and physical sciences research, which creates long-term prosperity for the UK. They should lead to significant impacts by creating new knowledge, innovations, approaches, or technologies. It should be clear that both the business and academic researchers are making distinct intellectual contributions to the partnership.

In our assessment process, we will prioritise applications which can demonstrate clear strategic alignment to UK national priorities. For example, The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy 2025 and the associated sector plans, or other similarly prominent and current national strategies. This aspect will be assessed and used to shortlist and prioritise applications at the first assessment stage.

Projects must be at least 50% within the EPSRC remit. Cross-disciplinary and multidisciplinary projects are welcomed. We may seek funding from other UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) councils, if there is a substantial element of the proposed work which lies outside our remit.

It is important to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest. You must declare in your application if any member of your project leadership team has paid positions within both the business and research organisation partnering on the same project. If this is the case, you must also clarify the separation of duties and how you will manage the potential conflicts of interest.

Match contribution details

The business and academic partners should consider the following:

  • business cash contribution will at least match the amount funded by EPSRC (see the ‘Definitive list of eligible cash contributions’ section). Any contribution not defined under the definitive list will count as ‘in-kind’
  • no UKRI, public or government funding will be used as leverage

Matched contribution: single primary business partner

If there is a single primary business partner named in the application, then they must provide a cash contribution which at least matches the EPSRC funding. EPSRC funding is at 80% of full economic costs of the application. In-kind contributions will not count towards this cash component but are encouraged.

Matched contribution: consortium led by a primary business partner
The combined cash contributions from all the business partners must at least match the EPSRC funding requested. The value of the primary business partner’s cash contribution must be the greatest among business partners on this application.

Other contributions

In-kind contributions, such as data, software, management time, or facilities access are welcome and can help show business commitment to the success of the project. However, they will not count towards the industry matching contributions.

Any academic partner’s cash contribution (including the primary academic partner) does not contribute to the matching contribution requirements. There is no expectation for the academic partners to contribute significantly to the project, and it won’t affect the assessment of your application.

EPSRC does not mandate a specific audit format for the business contributions to a project. However, a record must be provided if requested that can demonstrate a continuous auditable cash transfer, or staff time-record by the business partner.

The business cash contribution can be used in conjunction with EPSRC funds for the gross academic staff salaries such as researchers, postdoctoral research associates (PDRAs), technicians, and the project manager (that is National Insurance, taxes including indirect costs such as pension).

Please note that the salary of the person who is the primary business partner must be paid by the business as it is part of the business support and is ineligible as cash or in-kind contributions.

Supporting skills and talent

We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.

UKRI supports over 25,000 FTE research and innovation (R&I) staff directly on grants, many more if indirect costs, facility charges and strategic funding streams are included. Those skilled people and teams design our studies, deliver the R&I work and disseminate the outputs. They are the R&I system, and critical to delivering the outcomes we invest in.

Our expectations for people and teams are collated on the supporting skills and talent section of the good research resource hub. In this opportunity, we are piloting a new approach to embedding consideration of people and teams in our assessment. Some of the assessment criteria have been updated to reflect this. Find out about the background to the people and teams assessment pilot.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)

UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.

As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.

See further guidance and information about TR&I, including where applicants can find additional support.

 

For more information visit https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/epsrc-prosperity-partnerships-2027/