Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A 1 million GBP Innovate UK SBRI award pays 25 percent on contract signing, 25 percent at proof-of-concept milestone, 25 percent at prototype, and 25 percent at final demonstration.
- Is an instance
A foundation pays 200,000 USD on completion of the first patient enrolment milestone in a clinical trial grant.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A standard cost-reimbursement grant with no milestone gating is not milestone-payment.
- Not an instance
A single end-of-project payment with no intermediate milestones is closer to fixed-price.
Editorial commentary
Milestone payments are common in industry-sponsored research, innovation funding (Innovate UK, SBIR/STTR), and some translational programmes. Milestones are typically defined at contract award (e.g., 'completion of preclinical efficacy study', 'first-in-human dosing achieved') and verified by deliverable submission or independent review. Payment percentages per milestone are agreed up front. The mechanism shifts risk to the recipient and incentivises clear scoping and accurate planning.
References
- Innovate UK milestone-based payment guidance; US SBIR/STTR programme rules.
Also known as
Milestone-based payment · Payment-on-milestone
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
<role vocab="credit"
vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
vocab-term="Milestone payment"
vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/milestone-payment" />{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"name": "Milestone payment",
"identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/milestone-payment",
"description": "A funding disbursement triggered by the achievement of a defined project milestone, used in fixed-price or hybrid funding mechanisms to align sponsor payment with verifiable progress.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/funding-lifecycle-and-financial-vocabulary/",
"url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/milestone-payment",
"sameAs": [
"Milestone-based payment",
"Payment-on-milestone"
],
"license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}
