GRTD (Discovery Seed)
Connects United Kingdom and global teams with GRTD innovation opportunities through active discoverability support and route guidance.
The Global Research and Technology Development (GRTD) programme is the FCDO's consolidated research and innovation funding umbrella, formally established in 2025 and set out in a 40-page approach paper published on 14 May 2026 by Baroness Chapman of Darlington, Minister for Development. GRTD replaces and consolidates several legacy FCDO research funding mechanisms, including the wound-down Newton Fund, and defines the strategic direction for all FCDO-linked research and technology calls from 2026 onward. The programme is organised around two strategic objectives: supporting mission-driven research and innovation that addresses shared global challenges and reduces poverty, and producing global public goods that can be adopted widely across development systems and international partnerships.
GRTD calls are managed through a dedicated funding portal at grtd.fcdo.gov.uk/funding. Thematic priority areas signalled in the approach paper include clean energy, health, agriculture, digital development, and climate adaptation. Award sizes and eligibility conditions vary by individual call, as each call specifies its own submission route, eligible applicant types, and co-funding requirements. For-profit technology companies are acknowledged as potential participants in principle; in practice, FCDO technology funding for commercial entities has historically been routed through delivery partners such as UKRI and Innovate UK — for example, via clean energy programmes analogous to the former Ayrton Fund.
Organisations with development-technology solutions in clean energy, agri-tech, digital infrastructure, or health innovation should monitor the GRTD portal directly for live calls. The absence of a centralised application system means each call must be tracked individually. Calls issued by UKRI and Innovate UK as FCDO delivery partners represent an important parallel channel for commercially oriented applicants.
Mission-driven research and innovation addressing global development challenges, with thematic signals across clean energy, health, agriculture, digital development, and climate adaptation, delivered through FCDO-managed or FCDO-backed calls.
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