The Lord Stafford Awards are open to public and private sector businesses or clearly identifiable business divisions (of larger organisations), who have collaborated on a defined project with one or more of the regions Universities or Higher Education Institutions. The purpose of the project must have been to improve the business's performance through the use of resources or capabilities of the University.

All projects must be collaborative. A collaborative project is a project where an eligible partnership has been defined.

The purpose of the project is to improve the business performance of the company innovation, at least partly through the use of the resources and capabilities of the University. 

The collaborations must be current and active at some time during the year prior to the closing date, however they may well have started prior to this period.

The collaborations must also be covered by some form of formal agreement between the partners, which sets out the terms of the collaboration, including funding arrangements.

The project must be able to demonstrate that there is some evidence of a financial or 'in kind' commitment to the project from the company.