Connecting innovators to funding for Innovate UK and Horizon Europe

Connecting innovators to funding for Innovate UK and Horizon Europe

Creating clear pathways for entrepreneurs and academics to secure UK and EU government grants.

Setting the scene

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, helps businesses across the UK turn innovative ideas into successful products, services, and processes.

As a long-standing partner, we’ve supported Innovate UK across a range of platforms and projects. Two recent highlights include building a new site for the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) programme and redesigning the user journey and content strategy for the Horizon Europe grant application process. Both initiatives involve complex funding pathways, and both required clearer, more intuitive journeys to ensure research teams could find the right opportunities to bring their ideas to life.

The challenge

The site also lacked flexibility. Staff couldn’t easily add case studies or update content, limiting their ability to explain the process and inspire applicants. What KTP needed was a new WordPress site with an intuitive journey — one that helped users understand their eligibility before seeking one-to-one support.

A screenshot of the "Horizon Europe" page on the Innovate UK Business Connect website. The page has a modern, purple-themed design. The main banner features a large, striking image of planet Earth viewed from space at sunrise, with the title "Horizon Europe" and a brief description overlaid. The header includes the UKRI and Innovate UK logos, along with a navigation menu. Below the main banner, the content begins with the heading, "Horizon Europe: what is it all about?".
A clearer path: The Horizon Europe programme page on the Innovate UK website. Built on the direction and wireframing foundation provided by SystemSeed.

Horizon Europe faced a similar problem. The grant process is notoriously complex, with strict rules around UK–EU collaborations. Information was buried within the Business Connect site, where the structure made it difficult to navigate. Advisors (National Contact Points) were again overloaded with support requests. The challenge was to reimagine the user journey using existing components, making it simpler for applicants to understand when and how to apply.

The solution

For both projects, we took a human-centred design approach. Through discovery workshops and ideation sessions, we worked closely with stakeholders — many of whom were advisors themselves — to map out the current journeys and identify blockers.

Visualising these tangled flows of websites, PDFs, and complex instructions allowed us to pinpoint what mattered most. Research and interviews confirmed that clear, visual guidance and a carefully scripted journey would make the biggest difference. We ensured users always knew where they were, with consistent labelling, plain language, and no dead ends.

Screenshot of an Innovate UK process screen.
Clusters: an example of how the complex myriad of funding categories were broken down into clear categories.

For KTP, we built a flexible WordPress system using modular building blocks. This gave editors freedom to create new pages, case studies, and job postings without relying on developers.

For both KTP and Horizon Europe, we wove in real stories of successful applicants. These case studies helped users relate to the process and stay engaged. Our illustrators and content strategists also worked together to bring the journeys to life in a way that SMEs, researchers, graduates, and jobseekers could all connect with.

A collage of screenshots from the Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) website. The images highlight key sections, including the homepage, an illustrated "How it works" guide, a success story, and a job search feature.

The outcomes

The new KTP site has transformed internal workflows. Staff can now publish new content in hours rather than days or weeks. Advisors are reporting that applicants arrive much better prepared, and more relevant projects are finding their way to the right funding opportunities. The communication style and illustrations have been so effective that KTP is now scaling them across its wider work.

Meanwhile, Business Connect has seen an increase in Horizon Europe event registrations, along with more eligible and informed applicants approaching their National Contact Points.

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