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    GBP 16 million for China-UK collaborative innovation projects

    Up to GBP 16 million are available for China-UK collaborative research and innovation projects that address the socio-economic challenges in China regarding health, energy, agri-food and urbanisation. UK businesses can obtain grants of up to GBP 700.000, whilst Chinese partners are eligible for a max. grant of GBP 517.063.

    Innovate UK, Research Council UK & Ministry of Science and Technology in China (MoST) are jointly managing this programme.

    A wide range of entities are eligible in both UK and China:

    • Eligible UK applicants are:
      • UK companies of any size, registered, based and operating in the UK.
      • Academic institutions, other research organisations, public sector bodies (that might   include city governments for example) and charities/non-profit organisations undertaking research activity in the UK are also eligible to participate as per Innovate UK’s funding rules: https://interact.innovateuk.org/guidance-for-applicants
    • Eligible China applicants are:
      • Micro, Small, Medium and Large companies that operate and are headquartered in China
      • Research centres (ROs)
      • Academic organisations (AOs)

    An eligible project consortium must include at least:

      • A Chinese business partner
      • A Chinese research organization
      • A UK business partner
      • A UK research organization

    Projects must be focused on industrial research, but can also include Experimental Development activities. Further details about project eligibility on the four programme topics (health, energy, agri-food and urbanisation), as well as the applicable funding conditions, can be found in the presentation here.

    The competition timeline involves a two-stage application process, with results being released in October 2016:

    • Competition opens: 16th November 2015
    • Registration deadline for UK applicants: Noon 23 March 2016
    • Expressions of Interest (EOI) deadline: Noon 30 March 2016
    • Stage 2 opens for invited applicants: 13 June 2016
    • Deadline for invited applicants: Noon 24 August 2016
    • Release date of Competition results: 21 October 2016
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