Regional Grants

Business Grants in the East Midlands

The East Midlands provides business funding through local councils, the regional Growth Hub, and various LEP programmes. The region has strengths in manufacturing, logistics, and food production.

212grants available
From councils, growth hubs & national bodies

D2N2 Growth Hub

The D2N2 Growth Hub covers Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham, and Nottinghamshire. They provide free business support and can connect you with grant funding for growth and innovation projects.

Leicester and Leicestershire

Leicester City Council and the LLEP offer business support programmes. The area has particular strengths in textiles, space and satellite technology, and food manufacturing.

County Council Grants

Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, and Rutland each have county-level business support through their councils. Rural business grants are often available alongside more general SME support.

East Midlands Business Grants

212 grants found

open
Medical Research Council (MRC)

Collaborate with the UK Human Functional Genomics Initiative

Apply for an Academic and Industry Partnership award as part of the UK Human Functional Genomics Initiative’s (FGx) Innovation and Collaboration fund. The awards will enable the development of links between industrial partners and the FGx. These awards can be used to support feasibility, pilot or initial studies to provide preliminary experiments to explore ideas and generate initial data which could support the development of competitive collaborative grant proposals for longer term projects.

Between £15,000 and £100,000UK Wide1 Nov 2026
Life Sciences & HealthGrants & Funding
open
National Churches Trust

Large Grants

Funding to support Christian places of worship with major urgent repairs costing over £80,000 or the installation/upgrade of kitchen and accessible toilet facilities costing over £30,000.

Up to £50,000 (average grant size £21,000)UK Wide3 Nov 2026
Creative & HeritageGrants & Funding
open
Innovate UK

Engineering Biology Collaborative R&D: Round 3

UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £8.5 million to develop and scale Engineering Biology platforms, products and services. This funding is part of UKRI’s Engineering Biology Programme.

Up to £8,500,000UK Wide3 Nov 2026
TechnologyGrants & Funding
open
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

Focal award: EPSRC and MHCLG Fire Engineering Skills Hub

Funding for a skills hub to deliver high quality, cohort based doctoral training, and design of high-quality postgraduate level taught programmes in fire engineering.

Up to £5,900,000UK Wide3 Nov 2026
Education & SkillsGrants & Funding
open
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

EPSRC-Defra Reimagining Circularity: full stage

Funding to develop a NetworkPlus that builds new capacity, strengthens community, and enhances research to innovation capabilities focused on the circular economy in data and metrics, or textiles, using the 'Plus' element to accelerate impact.

Up to £5,410,000UK Wide3 Nov 2026
EnvironmentGrants & Funding
upcoming
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)

UKRI: Integration of AI/HPC with quantum computing

Apply for funding to expose and overcome critical bottlenecks associated with the implementation of quantum computing within classical computational workflows. This investment will strengthen the UK’s capability to achieve accessible, UK-based quantum computers that deliver benefits beyond classical supercomputers across key sectors of the economy.

Up to £3,750,000UK Wide3 Nov 2026
TechnologyGrants & Funding
open
Innovate UK, on behalf of the Office for Life Sciences (OLS) Cancer Healthcare Goals programme

Advancing innovation in accelerated cancer diagnosis

Funding to support innovative CR&D projects focused on the clinical validation and evaluation of early cancer diagnostic technologies and devices, particularly for less common cancers.

Between £1,500,000 and £4,000,000UK Wide4 Nov 2026
Life Sciences & HealthGrants & Funding
open
Innovate UK, Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST), Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC)

DRIVE35 Scale-up Fund drawdown five

UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £150 million to create scale up manufacturing facilities for zero emission vehicle technologies. DRIVE35 (Driving Research and Investment in Vehicle Electrification) is a BIST-led programme aimed at transforming the UK’s automotive industry.

Up to £150,000,000UK Wide4 Nov 2026
Transport & AutomotiveGrants & Funding
open
Medical Research Council (MRC)

UKRI translation: MRC proof of concept: stage two

Apply for funding to develop and test novel therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics and other interventions across any stage of the developmental pathway, from prototype development, through pre-clinical refinement, to early-phase clinical studies (up to phase 2a).

No funding limit (Total fund: £10,000,000)UK Wide4 Nov 2026
Life Sciences & HealthGrants & Funding
open
Innovate UK

FOAK Builder: Programme Entry Expression of Interest

Support to develop a Climate Tech First-of-a-Kind (FOAK) project towards Final Investment Decision (FID). Selected companies receive expert advisory, technical assistance, mentoring, and upskilling support, with potential opportunity to apply for Phase 2 grant funding.

Up to £315,000UK Wide5 Nov 2026
EnvironmentGrants & Funding
open
Innovate UK

Funding opportunity: Expression of interest: First-of-a-Kind (FOAK) builder: programme entry

Expression of interest competition for UK-registered businesses to apply for support to develop a climate tech FOAK commercial project. Successful applicants could be invited to apply for a larger grant through FOAK builder phase two.

Up to £315,000UK Wide5 Nov 2026
EnvironmentGrants & Funding
upcoming
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence 2027-2030 – invite only

Supports the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE) to conduct high-quality research that improves economic measurement, enhances key statistics production, modernises data collection, and assists the ONS in shaping global economic measurement standards.

Up to £8,007,500UK Wide5 Nov 2026
FinanceGrants & Funding
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Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about business grants in East Midlands