CONACYT Innovation Stimulus: How to Win MXN 20 Million for R&D in Mexico

If you’re running a Mexican company that’s investing in research and development to solve real technical challenges, CONACYT’s Innovation Stimulus Program can provide the funding you need to accelerate your innovation. This isn’t a small grant for exploratory research—we’re talking about up to MXN 20,000,000 (approximately $1.1 million USD) to finance substantial R&D projects that will make your company more competitive and productive.

Managed by Mexico’s National Council of Humanities, Science and Technology (CONACYT), this program is designed specifically to strengthen Mexican companies’ R&D capabilities and drive technological modernization across strategic industries. The emphasis is on projects that don’t just create interesting research, but that lead to real commercial implementation, productivity gains, and economic impact.

What makes this particularly valuable is the flexibility in how you can structure your project. You can lead the project as a single company, partner with other businesses in your sector to tackle shared challenges, or collaborate with universities and research centers to access technical expertise you don’t have in-house. CONACYT actively encourages academic-industry partnerships and offers additional tax incentives for projects that include research institutions.

The application deadline is October 29, 2025. Given the complexity of preparing competitive R&D proposals—especially ones that require partnership agreements and detailed technical plans—you should start working on your application at least 8-10 weeks before the deadline if you’re serious about competing.

Key Details at a Glance

What This Grant Actually Funds

CONACYT Innovation Stimulus is specifically for research and development that will make Mexican companies more innovative and competitive. Understanding what qualifies helps you structure a winning proposal.

Applied Research and Technological Development: The core funding is for R&D activities that address specific technical challenges your company faces. Maybe you need to develop a new manufacturing process that’s more efficient or environmentally friendly. Or create a new product that meets emerging market demands. Or adapt existing technology for Mexican market conditions. Your project should have clear technical objectives with measurable outcomes.

Prototype Development and Testing: Moving from concept to functional prototype is expensive and risky. This grant can cover the materials, equipment, personnel, and facilities needed to build and test prototypes at pilot scale. If you’ve validated an idea at lab scale, this funding can help you demonstrate it works in real production conditions.

Technology Acquisition and Adaptation: Sometimes innovation isn’t creating something entirely new—it’s acquiring foreign technology and adapting it for Mexican applications, or licensing technology and modifying it to work with your production systems. The grant can fund technology acquisition, adaptation, and the knowledge transfer processes needed to make it work in your facility.

R&D Personnel and Expertise: The grant can pay for the researchers, engineers, technicians, and specialized consultants who will execute the project. This includes your own employees dedicating time to the R&D project, new hires brought on specifically for the project, and external experts from universities or research centers who contribute technical knowledge.

Equipment and Infrastructure: If your R&D project requires specialized equipment, testing facilities, pilot production lines, or other infrastructure, the grant can cover these capital investments. The equipment must be directly necessary for the R&D objectives—general business equipment doesn’t qualify.

Intellectual Property Protection: Projects can include costs for patenting innovations developed during the research, registering industrial designs, or protecting other intellectual property generated by the work.

Commercialization Planning: While this isn’t a commercialization grant, projects should include planning for how the R&D results will be implemented commercially. This can include market studies, regulatory compliance work, or business model development.

What Doesn’t Qualify: The grant won’t fund routine production activities, basic operating costs unrelated to R&D, commercial marketing and sales activities, infrastructure not directly used for R&D, or activities outside Mexico.

Who Should Apply

This program is specifically for companies, not academic institutions or individuals. Understanding whether you’re the right fit saves time and increases your chances if you do apply.

You’re a Strong Candidate If:

You’re a legally constituted Mexican company (S.A., S. de R.L., or other recognized corporate structures) with a solid track record. CONACYT looks favorably on companies that have been operating for several years, have demonstrated financial stability, and have the organizational capacity to manage complex R&D projects.

Your project addresses a real technical challenge that’s limiting your company’s competitiveness or growth. The best proposals identify specific technical bottlenecks, market opportunities, or productivity challenges that can be solved through R&D, then present credible solutions backed by preliminary evidence.

You operate in or contribute to priority sectors for Mexican development. While CONACYT considers proposals across industries, they prioritize projects in health (pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biotechnology), energy (renewable energy, energy efficiency, oil and gas innovation), advanced manufacturing (automation, Industry 4.0, new materials), digital technologies (AI, software, telecommunications), and sustainability (environmental technology, circular economy, clean production).

You’re willing and able to co-invest significantly in the project. Companies typically need to contribute 30-50% of total project costs through cash or in-kind contributions (personnel time, equipment use, facilities). This co-investment demonstrates commitment and reduces risk in evaluators’ eyes.

You have or can build partnerships with research institutions. Projects that include collaboration with Mexican universities, CONACYT research centers, or other academic institutions receive additional scoring benefits and qualify for enhanced tax incentives. If you lack internal R&D capabilities, partnering with academia is almost essential.

Your team includes people with both technical expertise and project management capabilities. CONACYT wants to see that you can actually execute the proposed R&D work and deliver results, which requires strong technical leadership and solid project management.

You’re Probably Not Ready If:

Your company is brand new with no track record of operations or financial stability. CONACYT prefers funding companies that have demonstrated viability, not startups in their first year.

Your project is just a business idea without substantive R&D content. If what you’re proposing is standard business development, market expansion, or process improvement using existing technology, this isn’t the right program. There must be genuine technical uncertainty and innovation.

You can’t afford meaningful co-investment. If committing 30-50% of project costs would bankrupt your company or is simply impossible, you’re not in position to take on this project yet.

Your sector or project type falls outside CONACYT’s priorities. Projects in purely commercial services, trading, or industries with limited technological content face much longer odds.

Insider Tips for Winning Proposals

Having reviewed successful and unsuccessful CONACYT proposals, here’s what actually differentiates funded projects from also-rans.

Align Explicitly with CONACYT’s Strategic Priorities: CONACYT operates within Mexico’s National Development Plan and specific sectoral strategies. The current administration prioritizes technological sovereignty, health self-sufficiency, energy transition, and strengthening strategic value chains. Don’t just mention these generically—show specifically how your R&D project advances these national priorities with quantifiable contributions. “Our battery technology development will reduce Mexico’s dependence on imported energy storage systems, supporting the national energy transition while creating 50 high-skilled jobs” is the kind of connection that resonates.

Build Real Partnerships Before Applying: The weakest proposals are those where partnerships were clearly assembled just for the application. Strong proposals show evidence of ongoing collaboration—previous joint projects, shared research, or demonstrated working relationships. If you’re partnering with a university, show you’ve been working with specific researchers there, not just a generic letter of support from the university’s administration. CONACYT evaluators can spot token partnerships immediately.

Demonstrate Technical Feasibility with Preliminary Results: Don’t propose R&D that’s purely speculative. Show preliminary data, proof-of-concept experiments, literature research, or pilot tests that demonstrate your approach is technically sound. If you’re claiming a new process will improve efficiency by 40%, show preliminary lab results demonstrating 25% improvement, with your project aimed at scaling and optimizing to reach 40%. Evidence of feasibility dramatically strengthens your credibility.

Quantify Economic and Social Impact Precisely: Vague promises about “improving competitiveness” or “creating jobs” don’t cut it. Provide specific projections grounded in market data: “This technology will enable us to reduce production costs by MXN 15 per unit, which at our current production volume of 500,000 units annually represents MXN 7.5 million in annual savings starting Year 3. These savings will allow us to hire 12 additional skilled technicians and expand exports by 25%.” Precise, credible impact projections carry much more weight than general statements.

Show You Understand IP and Commercialization: Who will own the intellectual property generated? How will it be protected? What’s the commercialization path? Many proposals ignore these questions, creating concerns about whether research results will actually be implemented. Have a clear IP agreement with any partners, a plan for patent filings or trade secret protection, and a realistic commercialization timeline showing how R&D results will be deployed in your business.

Budget Realistically with Clear Justification: Every budget line needs clear justification tied to project objectives. CONACYT evaluators review hundreds of budgets—they know typical costs and can spot padding or unrealistic estimates. Get quotes for major equipment purchases. Break down personnel costs realistically based on actual time commitments. Show you understand true costs and have thought carefully about resource needs. Include your co-investment explicitly so evaluators see the total project investment, not just the grant request.

Address Compliance and Administrative Capacity: CONACYT funding comes with significant reporting requirements, financial controls, and compliance obligations including electronic invoicing (CFDI), regular technical reports, and financial audits. Your proposal should acknowledge this and describe your administrative capacity to handle it. Companies with experience managing other public funding or complex projects have an advantage—emphasize relevant experience if you have it.

Application Timeline and Process

Here’s a realistic timeline for preparing a competitive proposal, working backward from the October 29 deadline.

Early August (10-12 Weeks Before): Begin partnership development if you haven’t already. Identify potential academic or industry partners, have initial conversations about collaboration, and assess whether there’s basis for a joint project. Start researching CONACYT’s strategic priorities and review previously funded projects to understand what succeeds. Draft a one-page concept to test with potential partners.

Mid-August (8-10 Weeks Before): Finalize your partnership structure and get written commitments. Start gathering supporting materials: your company’s financial statements, technical capacity documentation, preliminary R&D results if you have them, and market data supporting your project’s commercial potential. If you need major equipment, begin getting quotes from suppliers.

Late August (6-8 Weeks Before): Draft your technical proposal. This includes problem definition and justification, proposed technical approach and methodology, work plan with clear milestones and deliverables, expected outcomes and their measurement, and risk analysis with mitigation strategies. Don’t aim for perfection on the first draft—get something complete that you can refine. Parallel track: develop your detailed budget with justifications.

Early September (4-6 Weeks Before): Circulate your draft to partners and any advisors for feedback. This is when you’ll identify gaps, unrealistic projections, or unclear explanations. Schedule a working session with partners to review feedback together and identify needed revisions. Refine your technical approach and budget based on input.

Mid-September (3-4 Weeks Before): Finalize all sections of your proposal. Polish the writing, ensure consistency between technical and budget sections, verify all numbers, and check that you’ve addressed all required elements from the call for proposals. Gather all required supporting documents: partnership agreements, company registration, tax compliance certificates, financial statements, technical team CVs, letters of support, and any other required attachments.

Late September (1-2 Weeks Before): Submit your complete application through CONACYT’s online portal. Don’t wait until October 29—give yourself buffer time for technical problems or last-minute requests. After submission, confirm receipt and that all documents uploaded correctly. Prepare for potential questions or requests for clarification during the review process.

Post-Submission: The review process typically takes 3-4 months. It includes technical peer review by experts in your field, evaluation by CONACYT staff, and final selection by a committee. Top proposals may be invited for presentations or interviews. Be ready to respond quickly to any requests for additional information.

Required Materials and Documentation

Prepare these elements for your application:

Technical Proposal: Comprehensive R&D plan including background and justification, state-of-the-art review, proposed methodology and work plan, expected results and their measurement, commercialization strategy, and risk analysis. Typically 25-40 pages.

Detailed Budget: Line-item budget for all project costs broken down by category (personnel, equipment, materials, services, travel, etc.), budget justification for each line item, clear documentation of company co-investment (cash and in-kind), and quotes for major purchases.

Company Documentation: Current legal registration and articles of incorporation, three years of financial statements (or since founding if newer), tax compliance certificates (constancias fiscales), organizational chart and descriptions of relevant departments, and previous R&D experience or projects if applicable.

Partnership Documentation (if applicable): Formal collaboration agreements with all partners, letters of commitment detailing each partner’s contributions, IP ownership and licensing agreements, and descriptions of partner organizations and their relevant capabilities.

Technical Team Information: Detailed CVs for all key personnel (principal investigator, technical leads, project manager), evidence of technical expertise through publications, patents, previous projects, or certifications, and time commitment estimates for each team member.

Supporting Documentation: Market research or industry data supporting commercial potential, preliminary R&D results or proof-of-concept data, letters of support from potential customers or industry associations, and environmental impact assessments if required for your project type.

What Makes Proposals Stand Out

Review panels evaluate dozens of proposals in each funding round. Here’s what catches their attention:

Clear Problem-Impact Connection: The best proposals make it immediately obvious what technical problem exists, why solving it matters for Mexican industry and economy, and how the proposed R&D addresses it better than alternatives. If evaluators have to work to understand your value proposition, you’ve lost them.

Strong Team with Complementary Skills: Winning teams demonstrate clear technical excellence, relevant industry experience, and project management capability. Highlight your principal investigator’s research credentials, your team’s industry track record, and your company’s history of successfully completing complex projects.

Rigorous but Achievable Technical Plans: Your methodology needs to be sophisticated enough to convince experts it will work, but realistic enough that evaluators believe you can execute it in the proposed timeframe and budget. Show you’ve thought through technical challenges and have mitigation strategies. Balance ambition with feasibility.

Quantified Economic and Social Benefits: Proposals that win provide specific, credible projections of commercial value creation, productivity gains, job creation potential, and environmental or social benefits. These projections are grounded in market data and reasonable assumptions, not wishful thinking.

Realistic Path to Implementation: Evaluators want confidence that R&D results won’t sit on a shelf. Show clear commercialization pathways, committed potential customers or markets, understanding of regulatory requirements, and realistic timelines for commercial deployment.

Common Mistakes That Sink Proposals

Avoid these pitfalls that doom otherwise promising applications:

Weak or Artificial Partnerships: Proposals where partners were obviously assembled just for the application, with generic letters of support and no evidence of real collaboration, are rejected regularly. Build genuine partnerships before applying, or apply solo and be honest about your capabilities.

Overly Ambitious Scope: Trying to do too much in too little time with too few resources signals naivety. Be realistic about what’s achievable in 18-36 months with the proposed budget and team. Better to have focused, achievable objectives than sprawling plans you can’t execute.

Insufficient Technical Detail: Generic proposals that don’t get into the technical specifics of the problem and solution make evaluators question whether you actually understand what you’re proposing. Provide enough technical depth to demonstrate expertise without making it incomprehensible to non-specialist reviewers.

Weak Commercial Justification: Pure research without clear path to commercial application doesn’t align with this program’s goals. This is about R&D that increases company competitiveness and productivity—show how research will be implemented in your business.

Budget Disconnected from Activities: Budgets that don’t align with proposed work plans, have unexplained line items, or show unrealistic costs undermine your credibility. Every peso requested should directly support a specific project activity.

Ignoring CONACYT Priorities: Proposals that don’t connect to national strategic priorities or priority sectors face much longer odds. Even if your project has merit, if it doesn’t align with where CONACYT is trying to drive Mexican innovation, it likely won’t be funded.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can startups apply, or only established companies? While new companies can technically apply, CONACYT strongly prefers funding established companies with track records of financial stability and operational capacity. If your company is less than 2-3 years old, your chances are significantly lower unless you have exceptional circumstances.

Is the MXN 20 million a maximum, or can some projects get more? MXN 20 million is typically the maximum for individual company projects. Larger consortium projects involving multiple companies and research institutions may sometimes exceed this, but those are exceptions requiring special justification.

What percentage co-investment is required? There’s no fixed requirement, but competitive proposals typically show company co-investment of 30-50% of total project costs. Higher co-investment strengthens your proposal by demonstrating commitment.

Can foreign companies with Mexican subsidiaries apply? Yes, if the Mexican subsidiary is a properly constituted Mexican legal entity with its own RFC (tax ID) and the R&D work will be conducted in Mexico. The Mexican entity must be the formal applicant, not the foreign parent company.

How are intellectual property rights handled? This is determined by the agreements between project partners. CONACYT doesn’t claim ownership of IP generated from projects it funds, but expects that IP will be protected and commercialized. If you’re partnering with universities, negotiate IP ownership and licensing upfront and document it in your partnership agreement.

Can we submit multiple proposals for different projects? Yes, companies can submit multiple proposals if they have several distinct R&D projects. However, each proposal will be evaluated independently, and CONACYT may not fund multiple projects from the same company in a single round if resources are limited.

What happens if we don’t achieve all proposed technical objectives? CONACYT recognizes that R&D involves uncertainty and risk. What’s important is making good-faith efforts, documenting your work thoroughly, and being transparent about challenges. Outright failure to try or misuse of funds is serious; encountering technical obstacles during research is normal and acceptable.

Can we use the grant for R&D work conducted outside Mexico? Generally no. The grant is intended to build R&D capabilities within Mexico. There may be exceptions for specialized testing or analysis that can only be done at foreign facilities, but the core work must occur in Mexico with Mexican personnel and facilities.

How to Apply and Get Started

Ready to develop a proposal? Here’s your action plan:

First, visit CONACYT’s official website at https://conacyt.mx/ and locate the current Innovation Stimulus Program call for proposals. Download the complete call guidelines, application forms, and any sector-specific requirements.

Second, assess your project readiness honestly. Do you have a clear R&D need? Technical capacity to execute? Financial ability to co-invest? Time to develop a strong proposal? If not quite ready, use this cycle to prepare and apply in a future round.

Third, if you’re seeking academic partners, identify researchers and institutions with relevant expertise. Reach out early to explore collaboration possibilities. Many Mexican universities have liaison offices specifically to facilitate industry-university partnerships—contact them.

Fourth, begin drafting your technical proposal and budget at least 8-10 weeks before the deadline. Build in time for multiple review cycles and partner feedback.

Fifth, engage with CONACYT staff if you have questions about eligibility or requirements. They hold informational webinars and can clarify program rules, though they can’t tell you whether your specific project will be funded.

For complex questions about project structure or partnership arrangements, consider engaging consultants who specialize in CONACYT funding. Many Mexican consulting firms have expertise in preparing successful R&D grant proposals.

This is one of Mexico’s most significant sources of funding for company R&D. If you have the technical challenge, the team to address it, and the commitment to co-invest, this grant can accelerate your innovation and competitiveness substantially.