Open to businesses in County Durham, including schemes for the wider region and the whole country.
County Durham's page: people to ring, events nearby and what is only for County Durham
Digital Catapult, Digital Catapult North East Tees Valley (NETV)
An 8-month structured programme for UK startups and SMEs to develop energy efficiency solutions for Open RAN technology, with access to testbed facilities, training, and commercialisation support.
Innovate UK
Grants of up to £500,000 for UK registered micro and small businesses to develop adoptable and investable innovations in communication networks.
North East Screen, BBC
Support for production companies to develop digital content for online platforms, delivered by North East Screen in partnership with the BBC.
Building Digital UK
Eligible homes and businesses in rural areas can apply for up to £4,500 to cover the costs of a gigabit-capable broadband connection as part of a group project.
Creative UK
Equity investments of up to £150,000 in commercially viable, growth-minded cultural and creative businesses in the North East.
Creative UK
Loans of £50,000 to £150,000 for commercially viable, growth-minded businesses in the cultural and creative sectors in the North East.
Creative UK
A 5-month business development programme with 6 intensive workshops and 4 coaching sessions for screen sector companies looking to scale, including film/TV, games, immersive and createch businesses.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
National programme led by UKRI investing up to £500 million over five years to develop and scale high-potential innovation clusters. The North East has been allocated at least £30 million over 5 years to support commercially viable products, services and technologies ready for private investment.
Creative UK
A programme for high-growth creative businesses between seed and scaling stages, offering business support and help to access finance and investment.
Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II
Finance to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the North West, Yorkshire, the Humber and Tees Valley
Open to businesses across England or the UK, including County Durham.
Creative UK
Grants of up to £2,500 to subsidise working with a consultant on business planning, strategy, marketing, IP monetisation or international operation. For companies working in moving image for storytelling, including film, television, games, animation and immersive industries.
CoSTAR National Lab, CoSTAR
UK-based creative or technology companies can apply for R&D support to develop innovations in advanced production workflows and tools, including AI-powered pipelines, motion capture, and democratised production techniques.
European Innovation Council
Grants and support for high-risk, demand-driven deep tech innovation with transformative potential, especially where there is extensive research but lack of commercial uptake.
UK Defence Innovation
Funding for later-stage research and development and commercialisation of innovative ideas that could improve UK defence and security. Open to businesses of all sizes, including SMEs, and companies new to defence.
Tech Nation
A cohort-based programme of mentorship, masterclasses, site visits and investor access for early-stage UK DeepTech founders at post-spin out and Series A stage. Runs twice a year with 10 to 15 companies per cohort over six months.
ESA BIC UK
Business incubation support for UK-registered companies less than 5 years old with a demonstrable connection to space technology or the space sector.
Rural Payments Agency
The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) aims to help farmers manage land in a way that improves food production and is more environmentally sustainable.
Building Digital UK, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
Small vouchers of up to £4,500 each for residents and businesses in areas without Project Gigabit contracts or commercial coverage, to help them upgrade to gigabit-capable broadband connections.
ESA Business Applications
A non-competitive BASS Call for Proposals made up of three sub-calls supporting space-enabled services for resilience, safety, sustainability and security in the Arctic.
The Fore
The Fore's funding rounds for charities, with registration and applications run in set rounds. Registration for the Autumn 2026 round is closed.
Innovate UK
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £1 million as part of a pilot. This is to support high potential businesses developing a technology, product or service in measurement, instrumentation or sensing for UK manufacturing.
VisitBritain
Financial assistance to nationally-accredited Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (England) or regional Destination Management Organisations (Scotland and Wales) to deliver marketing activity in the United States.
Innovate UK, Innovate UK Business Connect
UK organisations can join a delegation to Battery Innovation Days 2026 in Stockholm to build relationships and develop consortiums for Horizon Europe battery funding calls. Innovate UK covers flights and accommodation.
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Talan (Delivery Partner)
Grants for improvements to existing district or communal heating projects in England and Wales that are operating sub-optimally. Revenue grants fund Optimisation Studies; capital grants part-fund installation of improvement measures.