Competition opens: 26 November 2025<\/p>\n
Deadline for submissions: 4 February 2026<\/p>\n
Stay informed by joining our Women in Innovation mailing list<\/a>.<\/p>\n Back in June 2016, I initiated the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards with a simple but urgent goal: to get more women engaging with innovation. At the time, only 14% of successful Innovate UK grant applicants were women. That stark statistic signalled that we were missing out on enormous talent, fresh ideas and economic growth potential.<\/p>\n So, we took action to change that.<\/p>\n We engaged with women innovators, learning about their journeys and experiences. Again and again, we heard the same challenges: access to funding and investment, a lack of visible role models, and difficulty finding the right networks and support.<\/p>\n We designed the Women in Innovation Awards to directly address those barriers. Just some of our 200 pioneering Women in Innovation Award winners. Credit: Innovate UK<\/p><\/div>\n Since 2016, the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards have invested over \u00a311 million in 200 of the highest potential women innovators. Beyond those, it\u2019s enabled us to build a thriving community of over 11,000 women business leaders who continue to support and lift each other up.<\/p>\n It’s also helped us drive a major shift in participation: the proportion of successful women-led applications across all Innovate UK competitions has risen from one in seven to one in three.<\/p>\n Last year, the Women in Innovation community asked us to do more – to better understand their challenges, listen to their concerns and recognise the role Innovate UK could play in affecting system-wide change.<\/p>\n In response, we gathered extensive feedback through a series of roundtables<\/a>, bringing together 50 diverse stakeholders – past applicants, award holders and ecosystem partners. These weren\u2019t just meetings, they were spaces for honest conversations, collective insight and shared ambition.<\/p>\n Our Women in Innovation roundtables in London and Birmingham. Credit: Innovate UK<\/p><\/div>\n To keep the two-way dialogue going, we launched the Women in Innovation Community Forum<\/a> – enabling us to bring real-world perspectives to our evolving innovation strategy and programmes.<\/p>\n These conversations led to something bigger – Innovate UK\u2019s Pledge for Progress<\/a>, featuring 10 clear commitments to better support women innovators. One of these commitments is to refine the Women in Innovation Awards to improve clarity, accessibility, impact and, ultimately, success rates.<\/p>\n The Women in Innovation Awards\u2019 fundamental mission is unchanged. We champion women across the UK with the potential to be global industry leaders of the future, supporting their growth ambitions, whilst spotlighting them as role models for the next generation.<\/p>\n The 16 members of the Women in Innovation Community Forum. Credit: Innovate UK<\/p><\/div>\n But, thanks to your feedback – and with the support of our Women in Innovation Community Forum<\/a> – we\u2019ve made several important refinements to this year\u2019s award. For transparency, the changes are:<\/p>\n This year, up to 60 awardees, more than any previous round, will receive a package of support that includes a grant of up to \u00a375,000, bespoke business support, and a suite of training, networking and role-modelling opportunities.<\/p>\n By recognising and supporting high-potential applicants, we can help build the skills needed to secure future funding, from Innovate UK or others.<\/p>\n Improved clarity and ensures funding goes to women-led businesses.<\/p>\n Internal data and external research, including insights from the Gender Index and Women\u2019s Enterprise Scotland, show that women-founders face some of the biggest barriers when growing and scaling their businesses. Women face persistent challenges accessing investment \u2013 only 2% of equity investment<\/a> in the UK goes to fully women-founded businesses.<\/p>\n As such, we are targeting our support to later-stage startups, where need and impact are greatest. This support will include connections and exposure to our investor community.<\/p>\n Alignment with the UK’s Industrial Strategy<\/a> addresses concerns from our community, who felt that previous rounds were too broad and over-subscribed. It also ensures our funding goes where national strength, investment, and regulatory support are concentrated, helping to drive inclusive, sustainable and resilient growth.<\/p>\n We are starting with these three sectors and will carefully review future areas of focus.<\/p>\n Your time matters. Before investing effort in a full application, you can complete a quick check to confirm eligibility. The suitability checker will also signpost you to alternative opportunities if required.<\/p>\n On-demand resources are available from day one of the competition, so you can access crucial information when it suits you. This will be complimented by a live question and answer (Q&A) webinar<\/a>.<\/p>\n As the competition is open over the festive period, we have extended the application window to 10 weeks instead of the usual eight – allowing applicants to balance downtime and caring responsibilities.<\/p>\n It also ensures a full eight weeks of access to our customer support<\/a> and Reasonable Adjustments<\/a> outside our Christmas closure period.<\/p>\n If this competition isn’t a good fit for you, we will direct you to other support opportunities from Innovate UK<\/a> and our ecosystem partners<\/a>.<\/p>\n Innovate UK\u2019s new, user-tested framework<\/a>, featuring a standardised bank of questions, will be piloted in the this round of Women in Innovation. This aims to improve clarity and consistency, and enable applicants to repurpose responses for future opportunities.<\/p>\n Every one of these changes respond to feedback from you – our community. From a larger funding pot to clearer eligibility criteria to accessible application guidance – they address what we\u2019ve heard during our conversations, surveys and roundtables.<\/p>\n The redesigned Women in Innovation Awards \u2013 and the trailblazing women it supports \u2013 also have the potential to deliver even greater socioeconomic benefit for the UK. As Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, noted:<\/p>\n The Women in Innovation Awards are unlocking the UK\u2019s untapped potential within our community of women innovators; if men and women started and scaled businesses at the same rate this could be worth as much as \u00a3250 billion for the UK economy. This record \u00a34.5 million investment will empower ambitious women founders to scale their businesses, drive economic growth, and inspire the next generation of innovators.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n We\u2019re committed to continually improving our support to women innovators. This is your award – and we\u2019ll keep evolving it, together.<\/p>\n We know your time is precious. The new suitability checker<\/a> and on-demand briefing video<\/a> will help you make a swift, informed decision about whether to apply.<\/p>\n When you’re ready to move forward, explore our applicant support videos<\/a> and register for the live applicant Q&A webinar<\/a>. This will help you shape the strongest application possible.<\/p>\n Then head to the Women in Innovation Award<\/a> page to begin your application.<\/p>\nWhere we started<\/h2>\n
\nNine years on, I\u2019m incredibly proud of how far we\u2019ve come. The award doesn\u2019t just offer funding and support \u2013 it offers belief, visibility and a sense of belonging. It\u2019s empowering today\u2019s trailblazing women and inspiring the innovators of tomorrow<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IUK-251125-WomeninInnovation-Collage.jpg\")
Impact so far<\/h2>\n
We listened. We learned. We\u2019re acting.<\/h2>\n
![\"Three](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IUK-251125-WomeninInnovation-Roundtables.jpg\")
What\u2019s new this year?<\/h2>\n
![\"The](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IUK-251125-WomeninInnovation-16Women.jpg\")
Supporting more women than ever<\/h3>\n
Personalised business support for highly commended applicants<\/h3>\n
Applicants must be founders or co-founders<\/h3>\n
Applicants must be at the late startup stage, with a minimum viable product, early user interest or revenue, a growing team, and plans to raise significant capital within the next 12 to 24 months<\/h3>\n
Applicants must operate within advanced manufacturing, digital and technologies, or life sciences – three of the high growth sectors identified in the UK\u2019s Industrial Strategy<\/h3>\n
Potential applicants can access a quick \u2018suitability checker\u2019<\/h3>\n
Pre-recorded competition briefing and applicant support videos<\/h3>\n
Extended application window<\/h3>\n
Better signposting to alternative opportunities<\/h3>\n
Piloting new application question set<\/h3>\n
Why this matters<\/h2>\n
Get ready to apply<\/h2>\n
Don\u2019t miss a thing<\/h2>\n