Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July 2020 to Question 66895 on Business: Research, how he plans to allocate the £20 million of funding to double the number of businesses receiving funding through the Innovate UK call for business led innovation.

The Innovate UK call for business-led innovation in response to global disruption due to the pandemic was originally launched as a £20 million competition awarding grants of up to £50,000 to technology and research-focussed businesses. Due to the record breaking level of interest from across the UK, it was announced on the 20^th May that over 800 companies that applied to this would share grant funding of £40 million, double the amount first planned for this competition. The additional money was allocated according to the existing terms and reference of the competition, eligibility requirements and conditions can be found on the UK Research and Innovation and GOV.UK website.