Business10 min read
How to write an Innovate UK grant application with AI, question by question
The Draimo team
Short answer
Innovate UK applications are scored question by question by independent assessors, usually one, three or five of them, who cannot see each other's scores; applications are then ranked by the average score. So every answer has to stand alone and hit the scoring guidance in the competition brief. AI helps most by pulling the scored questions and criteria out of the brief, drafting each answer from your notes and checking it against the criteria.
Try it in Draimo
Start from the brief
- Read this Innovate UK competition brief and list every scored question with its word limit and what the scoring guidance says a top answer must show
- Draft our answer to the innovation question from these technical notes, in the word limit, and tell me which scoring criteria it does not yet meet
- Files
- Attach a PDF, Word file, slides or a photo and ask about it.
- One file per message on every plan; several at once on paid plans
- Documents
- Writes reports, proposals and bids from your brief and files, and downloads them as Word, PDF, PowerPoint or Excel.
- Draimo Pro
- Agent Mode
- Researches current public information and cites every source, so the facts going into a document can be checked.
- Monthly and yearly plans
How Innovate UK assesses an application
UKRI's guidance explains the process. Depending on the competition, your application may be assessed by five, three or one assessor. Assessors work independently and cannot see each other's scores or feedback. Each submits a score for each scored question, and their comments become your feedback.
Applications are ranked by their average assessor score. The ranking is reviewed by the competition's Innovation Lead and moderated by the Competition Manager, and Innovate UK may take a portfolio approach, so a lower-scoring proposal can be funded to balance the portfolio. Some competitions add an interview, whose score overrides the written one unless the brief says otherwise. Decisions are final, with no right of appeal.
What this means for how you write
Three consequences follow, and they shape every good application.
- Each answer is read and scored on its own. Never rely on another answer to make your point; repeat the essential fact.
- The scoring guidance in the brief is the marking scheme. Write each answer to its top band, using its own terms.
- Assessors are experts in your field, but busy. Lead with the claim, then the evidence, then the detail.
Pull the questions and criteria out of the brief
Every competition brief sets its own scope, questions, word limits and scoring guidance, and they change between competitions. Start there. Attach the brief and ask Draimo for a table of every scored question, its word limit and what the guidance says a strong answer must show. That table is your plan, and your checklist at the end.
Check scope first. UKRI is clear that a project out of scope is not sent for assessment at all, so a strong application to the wrong competition scores nothing.
Write the innovation as a problem, not a product
The weakest answers describe the product. The strongest describe the problem, why current solutions fall short, what is genuinely new in your approach, and the technical risk the project will resolve. State that risk in one sentence before you write the answer, then make every paragraph serve it.
Give Draimo your technical notes and ask it to name the riskiest assumption in your approach, then argue with it until the sentence is precise. Ask it to turn your work plan into milestones with a measurable result, a month and a fallback for each.
| A claim | Evidence that scores |
|---|---|
| "There is strong demand" | Letters of intent from two named customers, and the market size with its source |
| "Our approach is novel" | What exists today, why it fails, and the specific step no one has made work |
| "We have a strong team" | Who does each work package, and the directly relevant result each has delivered |
| "We will manage risk" | A risk table: likelihood, impact, mitigation and an owner for each |
Market and commercial answers with sources
Market sizes, competitors and prices need sources an assessor can trust. Run the market research in Agent Mode, which cites every source, then press Make a document under the answer to carry it into your draft. Keep the figures conservative and the sources primary.
How to do it with Draimo
For the shape of a finished grant proposal, see an NSF SBIR Phase I proposal and a Horizon Europe proposal made on Draimo, each with the prompt that produced it. The same method applies to an Innovate UK application.
- Put the brief, your technical notes, team details and any letters of support in one project.
- Ask for the table of scored questions, word limits and criteria, and confirm the project is in scope.
- Research the market in Agent Mode, with sources.
- Draft each answer against its criteria and word limit, from your own notes.
- Ask Draimo to score each draft against the guidance and list what is missing, then fix it.
- Read every claim against your evidence, and paste the final answers into the Innovation Funding Service yourself.
What it costs
Agent Mode research is included on monthly and yearly plans. Writing the application as a document is part of Draimo Pro, £20.99 a month in the UK, with a 7-day trial on the monthly plan.
Questions people ask
- Can I use AI to write an Innovate UK application?
- AI can structure your answers, tighten them to the word limits and check them against the scoring guidance, working from your own notes. You remain responsible for every claim, so check each one against your evidence.
- How many assessors score an Innovate UK application?
- UKRI says an application may be assessed by five, three or one assessor, depending on the competition brief. Assessors work independently and cannot see each other's scores.
- How are Innovate UK applications ranked?
- By the average assessor score. The ranking is reviewed by the Innovation Lead and moderated by the Competition Manager, and a portfolio approach may apply.
- Can I appeal an Innovate UK decision?
- No. UKRI says decisions are final and there is no right of appeal against the feedback.
- What if my project is out of scope?
- UKRI says projects that are not in scope are not sent for assessment. Check scope against the brief before you write anything else.
- Does Draimo submit the application?
- No. Draimo helps you write and check the answers; you submit them through the Innovation Funding Service yourself.
Sources we checked
Checked October 21, 2026. Dates and amounts change every year. Ask Draimo for this year's figures, grounded in official sources.
Attach the competition brief and get every scored question in one table.
Read the brief
