Pre-: EPSRC Prosperity Partnerships

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.

Register below for the pre-announcement webinar on 9 December 2025.

This funding opportunity will now open at a later date. We will update this page when the new opening date is confirmed.

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

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
• NHS bodies with research capacity

For full details about eligibility, visit .

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Preannouncement EPSRC Prosperity Partnerships 2027
• Swindon, Wiltshire, UK