Contracts Finder vs Find a Grant vs UKRI vs Innovate UK: which to use
UK climate opportunities are spread across several official portals, each with a distinct purpose. Using the wrong one means missing whole categories of funding. Here is what each covers and when to use it.
Find a Grant
The cross-government GOV.UK service that lists grant funding from across UK departments. Best for non-repayable grants and subsidies — start here for net-zero, energy and innovation grants open to businesses.
Contracts Finder
Where the public sector publishes contracts and tenders (typically above £12,000) in England. Best if you sell services — consultancy, engineering, retrofit works, infrastructure — to government bodies.
Public Contracts Scotland
The equivalent tender portal for Scottish public bodies. Use it alongside Contracts Finder for UK-wide procurement coverage.
UKRI Funding Finder
UK Research and Innovation’s listing of research and innovation funding across its councils. Best for projects with a research partner or a strong R&D component.
Innovate UK (Innovation Funding Service)
Innovate UK runs business innovation competitions — milestone-based grants to develop and demonstrate new technology. Best for companies commercialising climate tech.
Gateway to Research
A database of already-funded projects. Not a source of open calls, but invaluable as market intelligence — who is funded, in what, and who could be a partner.
Which should you use?
- Want grant money? Find a Grant, then UKRI and Innovate UK.
- Sell to the public sector? Contracts Finder and Public Contracts Scotland.
- Commercialising technology? Innovate UK competitions.
- Researching the market or partners? Gateway to Research.
In practice, climate teams need to watch all of them — which is exactly what a single filtered feed is for.