Innovate UK closed Smart Grants but kept its loan running

The record

Innovate UK, the UK's national innovation agency within UK Research and Innovation, has run two flagship non-equity instruments for UK-registered businesses: Smart Grants and Innovation Loans. UKRI's own current guidance page states plainly, “Smart grants are now closed for new applications as funding is being aligned to Innovate UK's new strategic direction,” pointing applicants instead to a published impact evaluation report and to Innovate UK's current open opportunities. Innovation Loans remain active: UKRI's own loans guidance, last updated 8 May 2026, states the loans “aim to provide flexible and patient capital,” are delivered through Innovate UK Loans Ltd, “a wholly-owned subsidiary of UK Research and Innovation,” and are awarded only through a competitive process.

What the documents establish

A 2019 gov.uk announcement described Smart, at that time, as “Innovate UK's open grant funding programme,” with up to £25 million available across any technology area, a historical figure that the current closure notice supersedes rather than confirms. UKRI's own loan repayment guidance is separately specific about terms: it states borrowers pay interest “at the rate set out in the competition brief,” gives a worked example of a 7.4 percent rate split into a payable and a deferred portion, and states repayment runs on a fixed schedule to Innovate UK Loans Ltd. None of the current UKRI guidance describes either instrument as a grant in the general sense; the loan is explicitly repayable with interest, and the grant instrument it once ran alongside is explicitly not accepting new applications as retrieved on 16 September 2026.

The operating read

A founder citing Innovate UK's non-dilutive Smart Grant as a live funding option is citing a closed programme; UKRI's own page states the closure directly rather than leaving it to inference from an outdated competition calendar. This is editorial: a founder should treat any third-party description of Smart Grants as a historical or evaluative reference rather than a current application path, and should instead check UKRI's live opportunity listings for whatever successor mechanism reflects its “new strategic direction.” Innovation Loans, by contrast, carry real repayment obligations, including interest accrued during a project's availability period even before full drawdown, that a founder should model as debt service, not as funding that simply arrives.

What to check before you decide

Before relying on either instrument, check the following against UKRI's current pages:

• Is Smart Grants still closed, or has UKRI opened a successor programme under its new strategic direction?
• What interest rate and repayment schedule does the specific competition brief set for an Innovation Loan, rather than the illustrative rate in general guidance?
• Does the business meet Innovation Loans' UK-registration and stage-of-development eligibility as UKRI's current guidance states it?

This describes UKRI's own published status and terms as retrieved on 16 September 2026, not financial advice; independent advice is warranted before taking on a repayable innovation loan.