Скачать или смотреть Women founders: Innovate UK Women in Innovation 2025/26 is OPEN (Up to £75k + support) Apply now

🚀 Women in Innovation Awards 2025/26 (Innovate UK) — and my video recap from the Women in Innovation Celebration.
APPLY HERE: https://iuk-business-connect.org.uk/p...

If you’re a woman founder (or co-founder) building a late-stage start-up in the UK, this is one of the biggest “apply now” moments of the year.

This video is a mix of:
• Celebration energy (yes — the smiles, the shiny venue, the familiar faces ✨)
• Real founder life (deep bass, real-life moments, and that never-give-up hope we all carry)
• And one clear mission: help ONE brilliant woman in your network find this opportunity.

🌍 What this award is about
Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation Awards support trailblazing women entrepreneurs to maximise the impact of their innovative ideas, accelerate business growth, and contribute to pressing societal, environmental and economic challenges.

💷 What Innovate UK is offering (Women in Innovation Awards 2025/26)
• £4.5m funding pot — supporting up to 60 women innovators
• Up to £75k grant funding
• Bespoke business support
• A 12-month growth journey with a suite of training, networking and role-modelling opportunities
• Plus: highly commended applicants can also receive bespoke business support
• This year, Innovate UK made 10 key changes to the awards in response to feedback from the Women in Innovation community

🧭 Focus industries (high-growth sectors)
• Advanced Manufacturing (agrifood is here!)
• Digital and Technologies
• Life Sciences

✅ Who should seriously consider applying
You’re likely a fit if you are:
• A UK-based woman founder/co-founder
• Leading a UK-registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) registered on Companies House
• A late-stage start-up with a prototype, MVP, or early product
• Building a new or significantly improved product, service, or business model that addresses a specific market need:
– new-to-market, OR
– a significant improvement over existing solutions (performance, efficiency, accessibility, cost, or impact)
• Ambitious to grow and scale — and planning to seek investment in the next 12–24 months
• Ready to show up and inspire the next generation: award holders are asked to commit to a minimum of four hours of role-modelling activity across the 12-month award

👥 Quick clarity (important!)
• The competition is open to single applicants only. If you have a co-founder, only ONE person should apply and take part in the programme.

📅 Key dates
Opens: 26 November 2025
Closes: 4 February 2026 (11:00)

🔎 Quick check + apply
Use the Suitability Checker here: bit.ly/IUKWomenInnovate

✨ Why I’m shouting about this
Women in Innovation launched in 2016 to address the underrepresentation of women in business and boost the number of women leading and scaling innovative companies. Since launch, it has invested over £11m, supported 200 pioneering women innovators, grown a 11,000+ network, and helped increase the proportion of successful women-led applications across all Innovate UK competitions from 1 in 7 to 1 in 3.

🧩 Extra resource (if you’re exploring the wider ecosystem)
Innovate UK No Limits is a free, inclusive digital platform designed to connect innovators with opportunities, resources and organisations that can help them thrive.

📌 If you’re applying: how to frame your story (fast + practical)
• The problem: what specific market need are you solving — and why now?
• The innovation: what’s truly new or significantly improved (and by how much)?
• The traction: users, pilots, revenue, partnerships, repeatability — show evidence
• The growth plan: what you’ll unlock with grant funding + support in the next 12 months
• Investment readiness: if you plan to raise in 12–24 months, make that pathway visible

👇 Your one BIG action (I mean it)
Find ONE brilliant woman founder in your network and send her this link — or tag her in the comments. That single tag can become a turning point.

KEYWORDS
Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards 2025/26, Women in Innovation Celebration, women founder grant UK, female founder funding UK, women entrepreneur award, women-led innovation, UK innovation funding, startup grant funding, late-stage startup support, scale-up programme, bespoke business support, training and networking, role modelling, Advanced Manufacturing innovation, Digital and Technologies startup, Life Sciences startup funding, UK SME grant, MVP prototype funding, Suitability Checker.


#womeninnovate #innovateuk #drmarynakuzmenko

DR. MARYNA KUZMENKO
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