Innovate UK Success Rate: The Official Figures
Most success rates you will read online are consultancy estimates. This page uses UKRI's own published data, says exactly what it counts, and says where no official figure exists.
What is the Innovate UK success rate?
Innovate UK's official award rate was 20.0 per cent in 2025-26: 1,121 awards from 5,603 applications assessed, according to UKRI's investments and outputs data published in July 2026. Across the six years from 2020-21 the rate has stayed between 16.4 per cent, in 2024-25, and 25.2 per cent, in 2022-23. That figure counts every kind of Innovate UK decision, including Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and university-led awards, which UKRI's data shows succeeding at roughly 57 to 96 per cent, so it overstates the chance of winning an open competition aimed at businesses. Innovate UK does not publish success rates for individual competitions, and it never published one for Smart Grants; the 2.8 and 4 to 5 per cent figures that circulate come from consultancies. For a competitive business grant, plan on odds well below one in five.
The figures, year by year
Applications assessed and awarded by Innovate UK, from Table 2.2 of UKRI's investments and outputs data 2015-2026. The rate column is awarded divided by assessed.
| Financial year | Applications assessed | Awarded | Award rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | 24,366 | 4,335 | 17.8% |
| 2021-22 | 11,163 | 1,931 | 17.3% |
| 2022-23 | 12,122 | 3,051 | 25.2% |
| 2023-24 | 16,757 | 3,766 | 22.5% |
| 2024-25 | 14,214 | 2,335 | 16.4% |
| 2025-26 | 5,603 | 1,121 | 20.0% |
The fall in applications in 2025-26, to 5,603 from 14,214 the year before, coincides with Smart Grants closing to new applications on 22 January 2025. Smart was the largest open, any-sector competition, and nothing open to every sector has replaced it.
Why your odds are probably lower
The headline rate mixes routes with very different odds. UKRI's data (Table 2.5) shows Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and university-led awards succeeding at roughly 57 to 96 per cent. Those are not open contests in the same sense: partners are matched and projects developed before anyone applies. Take them out, and the rate for open business competitions is lower than the blended figure, though UKRI does not publish it separately.
Two more things decide your chance in a given competition, and neither is published: the minimum quality threshold your average score must clear, and the portfolio Innovate UK wants to fund, which can mean a lower-scoring project is chosen over yours. See how Innovate UK scores an application.
What about the figures you read elsewhere?
“10 to 20 per cent.” The range most consultancy sites quote. It is close to the official overall rate, slightly below it, and is a fair rough guide to the whole of Innovate UK. It is not a figure for any one competition.
Smart Grants at 2.8 or 4 to 5 per cent. These come from consultancies and could not be traced to an official source. They are plausible for an open any-sector competition, but they are estimates.
Consultancy success rates of 60, 80 or 90 per cent. These measure something different: how often a firm's chosen clients win. A consultancy that turns away weak projects will always beat the competition average. The better firms say how they count; ask any provider that quotes a rate what the denominator is. That applies to us too: EchoGrant's 60 per cent is across the applications we have written, not a prediction for yours.
Improving your odds
You cannot change the threshold or the portfolio. You can change how each answer scores on the 1 to 10 scale, and whether a thin answer gets you rejected at the eligibility check before an assessor reads it. EchoGrant's £250 Full Assessment scores a drafted application against each of the competition's published criteria and tells you where it is losing marks, before you submit.
Questions people ask
What is the Innovate UK success rate?
UKRI’s own data puts Innovate UK’s award rate at 20.0 per cent in 2025-26, with 1,121 awards from 5,603 applications assessed, and between 16.4 and 25.2 per cent in every year since 2020-21. That figure covers every type of Innovate UK decision, including Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and university-led awards that succeed far more often, so the rate for an open competition aimed at businesses is lower. Innovate UK does not publish a success rate for individual competitions. Source: UKRI investments and outputs data 2015-2026, published 16 July 2026.
What was the Innovate UK Smart Grant success rate?
Innovate UK never published one. Figures that circulate, such as 2.8 per cent (46 of 1,645 applications) or 4 to 5 per cent, come from consultancies and could not be confirmed from any official source. They are plausible for an open, any-sector competition, but treat them as estimates. Smart Grants have been closed to new applications since 22 January 2025.
Is the Innovate UK success rate really 10 to 20 per cent?
The 10 to 20 per cent quoted on consultancy sites is close to, but slightly below, Innovate UK’s official overall award rate of 16 to 25 per cent a year since 2020-21. The official figure includes high-success routes such as Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, so for a competitive business grant a single-digit or low-teens rate is more realistic. No official figure exists for a specific open competition.
Why is my chance lower than the official success rate?
Because the official rate blends very different routes. UKRI’s data shows Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and university-led awards succeeding at roughly 57 to 96 per cent, which lifts the average. Open competitions that any business can enter attract far more applications per award. Your chance in a given competition also depends on the minimum quality threshold and the portfolio Innovate UK wants to fund, neither of which is published.
Sources, read on 12 October 2026: UKRI, investments and outputs data 2015-2026 (published 16 July 2026), Tables 2.2 and 2.5; UK Parliament written question 96113 (answered 9 December 2025) on the Smart Grants pause. We searched for an official Smart Grant success rate, a written answer giving an Innovate UK success rate and per-competition figures, and found none.
Explore More
How Innovate UK Scores an Application
The stages, the questions and the 1 to 10 scale.
Learn more →Smart Grants Are Paused
What replaced it and what a UK SME can apply to now.
Learn more →What Costs Can You Claim?
Cost categories, overheads, funding rates and match funding.
Learn more →How Long Does Innovate UK Take?
From the close to the decision, offer letter and start.
Learn more →