How Innovate UK Assess Your Application What Assessors Look For
Securing funding from Innovate UK is highly competitive. In some competitions, success rates fall below five percent, meaning that thousands of strong applications are rejected every year. To succeed, it is not enough to have a good idea; you must understand how Innovate UK assess applications and what assessors are trained to look for.
This article explains the assessment process, highlights the criteria assessors use, and offers practical advice on how to present your case effectively.
Innovate UK Assessment Stage One: Eligibility and Scope
Every application is first checked for eligibility and scope before it is passed to assessors. The eligibility check confirms whether you are a UK-registered business, whether your project duration and budget fall within the competition limits, and whether your consortium meets the requirements. The scope check ensures your project fits the aims of the competition.
If your application fails either of these tests, it will not be assessed further. Many applications fall at this stage simply because they do not explicitly demonstrate alignment with the competition’s brief. It is important to use the competition language and show clearly why your project is in scope.
Innovate UK Assessment Stage Two: Independent Assessment
Applications that pass the checks are sent to up to five independent assessors. These experts are drawn from business and academia and assess the application individually, without consulting one another. They score your answers using Innovate UK’s published scoring matrix and provide written feedback.
Assessors are not trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. They can only award marks for information that is explicitly provided in your application. If part of a question is unanswered or unclear, you will lose marks.
Innovate UK Areas of Assessment
Innovation
Assessors are looking for genuine innovation, not incremental improvements. You need to show how your idea is different from what already exists, why the timing is right, and whether you have freedom to operate. Evidence such as patent searches, competitor analysis, and regulatory considerations strengthen your case.
Business Case and Market Opportunity
The commercial context is central. Assessors want to know whether there is a clear market pull, how large the opportunity is, and whether your route to market is realistic. They expect credible market data, awareness of competitors, and an honest assessment of barriers to entry. Overly optimistic projections without evidence will undermine your score.
Value Proposition and Impact
Because Innovate UK funding is public money, applications must demonstrate benefits beyond commercial success. Assessors look for economic, social, environmental, and regional impacts. The strongest applications show how the project will create jobs, raise productivity, deliver environmental improvements, and strengthen UK competitiveness, while also acknowledging potential negative impacts and how these will be mitigated.
Project Plan and Feasibility
A strong project plan reassures assessors that your idea can be delivered. This means a clear structure of work packages, milestones, deliverables, and resourcing. A Gantt chart and a risk register are considered essential evidence. Assessors want to see evidence of good project management and realistic timelines.
Consortium and Team
The credibility of the team matters as much as the quality of the innovation. Assessors want to see that you have the skills, experience, and facilities to deliver the project. Each partner must play an active role and add value. Weak or poorly justified partnerships are a common reason for scoring down.
Risks and Justification for Public Funding
Innovate UK supports high-risk, high-reward projects. If you understate risk, you will score poorly. A strong application recognises technical, commercial, and environmental risks, and sets out clear mitigation strategies. You must also explain why public funding is necessary and why the project could not be financed through private investment alone.
Innovate UK Assessment Stage Three: Moderation and Portfolio Approach
Once scoring is complete, Innovate UK averages the assessor scores and produces a ranked list of applications. Only those above the quality threshold are considered further. At this stage, Innovate UK may apply a portfolio approach to ensure that funding is allocated across different technologies, sectors, and regions. This means that even high-scoring applications can be unsuccessful if they do not fit the required balance.
Innovate UK Assessment Stage Four: Interviews and Final Decisions
For certain competitions, shortlisted applicants are invited to interview. This is your opportunity to respond to assessor feedback and demonstrate your team’s capabilities. The final decision is made by the Innovate UK Funders Panel, which approves the portfolio of projects for funding.
Why Many Innovate UK Applications Fail
The most common reasons for failure are predictable. Applications often fail because they do not answer every part of the question, make vague claims without evidence, adopt a sales pitch style instead of addressing innovation detail, ignore risks, or justify poorly why public funding is required. Many are also rushed at the last minute, leading to avoidable errors.
Innovate UK Applications: How to Maximise Your Score
Success depends on thinking like an assessor. Plan early, answer each question precisely, back every claim with evidence, acknowledge and mitigate risks, and make it easy for the assessor to award marks. Treat the process like an exam. If it is not written down, it cannot be scored.
Innovate UK assessors are not looking to approve your project; they are looking for reasons to reduce your score. The winning applications are those that anticipate this, address every scoring point directly, and present a clear, evidence-based case. With scores of 85 or more often needed to secure funding, small details make the difference between rejection and success.
Need More Information?
Want to see exactly how Innovate UK assessors think? Watch their official videos: How do our assessors assess? and How are successful applications selected for funding?.
If you would like to know how your draft is likely to score before submission, our Application and Scoring Assessment service gives you a full assessor-style review, complete with detailed feedback and indicative scoring, for just £499.00. This small investment could make the difference between rejection and securing hundreds of thousands in funding.