Open & upcoming calls

Organisations can apply for a share of £1 million to identify innovative new technologies that improve security for the Internet of Things. The ‘internet of things’ is a network of sensors that communicate with their environment. This creates security problems and challenges. The aim of this competition is to identify new ways of meeting these challenges. Up to £1 million is available for phase 1 of this competition. Successful organisations will receive between £60,000 and £90,000 for projects lasting around 3 months. A further £1 million will be available for phase 2. The Centre for Defence Enterprise is funding this competition on behalf of UK intelligence agencies. This includes the Security Service (MI5), Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) (MI6). Proposals should show how they can: pull together data from a diverse environment operating across different protocols and standards show how 2 events/users/devices connect, based on the data gathered Competition information this competition is open now the deadline for applications is 5pm on 29 October 2015 we expect projects to last up to 3 months and range in value from £60,000 to £90,000 applicants can attend a briefing event in London on 1 October 2015 there will be a webinar on 8 October 2015 Find out more about this competition and apply Find out more about SBRI

Businesses are being challenged to come up with new ways to minimise the use of animals when researching skin metabolism and gene therapies. Under the CRACK IT challenge programme led by the National Centre for the Replacement Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) there are 2 challenges: the Metaboderm Challenge – a search for modelling techniques to establish absorption, distribution and metabolism properties of chemicals in skin the InMutaGene Challenge – to devise a new platform to assess the risks of gene therapies Successful new tests under the Metaboderm Challenge could help in the design and risk assessment of drugs and cosmetics applied to the skin. A new platform devised under the InMutaGene Challenge could help in the successful development of gene therapies for many disorders. The competition for 100% SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) contracts is funded by NC3Rs and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). Multinational pharmaceutical and consumer product companies will sponsor the competition with in-kind contributions and support for the challenges. Business will be asked to explore approaches in the first phase of the competition. The most promising ideas could attract further funding for development in phase 2. Up to £2 million is available across both challenges. Competition information the competition opens on 14 September 2015 and the deadline for registration is noon 4 November 2015 up to 3 contracts of up to £100,000 are available for phase 1 projects under each challenge phase 1 projects should last 6 months and phase 2 projects 3 years projects are open to businesses working in collaboration with other businesses and academics a launch meeting takes place in central London on 10 September 2015 at which potential applicants can meet sponsors and learn more about the challenges Find out more about this competition and apply Find out more about SBRI

Organisations can apply for funding of up to £1 million for projects that help to replace, refine and reduce the use of animals in research. A new challenge-led funding competition aims to help replace, refine and reduce the use of animals in research. The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research ( NC3Rs ) runs annual CRACK IT Challenges to: minimise the use of animals in research fund collaborations between industry, academics and SMEs support the development of marketable products and/or improved business processes This year, NC3Rs and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) are funding two challenges: Metaboderm The challenge aims to develop new capability to understand and interpret human relevant skin metabolism. This includes rates of metabolism in the skin and approaches towards metabolite identification. InMutaGene This challenge aims to develop a new platform to address the risks of insertional mutagenesis / oncogenesis. It also aims to improve the efficiency of translational research in gene therapy. Each challenge offers a research contract through the SBRI programme with up to 3 years to complete the project. More information on these challenges can be found on the CRACK IT website . Competition information this competition is open now the registration deadline is noon on 4 November 2015 Find out more about this competition and apply Find out more about SBRI

Businesses can get an Innovation Voucher worth £5,000 to pay for an external expert to help them with cyber security. Innovate UK is offering businesses Cyber Security Innovation Vouchers worth up to £5,000. They can use these vouchers to pay for an external expert to give them advice on protecting their business against cyber attacks and on potential accreditation to Cyber Essentials. They can also use this advice to protect new business ideas and intellectual property in cyber security. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is investing £500,000 in the scheme with equal funding from Innovate UK. How Cyber Essentials certification works The Cyber Essentials programme helps organisations develop a secure platform for their business activities. They can also get accreditation to show that they’ve taken these precautions. Suppliers bidding for a government contract may need this accreditation. Since 2014, all suppliers handling certain sensitive and personal information need Cyber Essentials accreditation. There are 2 levels of certification available through the scheme: Cyber Essentials – an external assessor reviews the organisation’s responses to a questionnaire Cyber Essentials PLUS - an external assessor carries out tests of the organisation’s IT security systems Details of the Cyber Security Innovation Voucher competition This round of Cyber Security Innovation Vouchers closes at noon on 5 January 2016. Eligible applications will be entered into a draw and the winners chosen at random. To qualify for a Cyber Security Innovation Voucher organisations must: be starting up or running a micro, small or medium-sized UK business have not worked with this expert before need help with something that’s a real challenge for their business, not just a small improvement or change have not had an Innovation Voucher from Innovate UK or the Technology Strategy Board before Innovate UK will help winners access an expert from one of the following: universities and further education colleges research and technology organisations technical consultancies Catapult centres design advisers intellectual property advisers Find out more about this competition and apply

Innovative organisations can apply for a share of up to £1 million to develop new ways of improving aviation security screening. The Department for Transport and the Home Office are to invest up to £2 million in improving aviation security screening. As the aviation sector continues to grow, the threat to aviation security continues to evolve. The aim of this competition is to develop new technologies and approaches to enhance threat detection. At the same time, they should reduce the inconvenience of undergoing screening and of carrying out that screening. There should be a positive impact on the customer and the operator. Solutions should be in line with the government’s aim of creating a safer, more secure and sustainable transport system. This will help the government, the Civil Aviation Authority and the aviation industry continue to improve airport security processes. It will help them stay ahead of evolving threats and maintain a high level of confidence in threat detection. This competition seeks proposals to the following 2 challenges: screening people and their hand luggage screening aviation cargo and hold luggage The Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE) is running this Small Businesses Research Initiative (SBRI) competition, which is part of the £25.5 million Future Aviation Security Solutions (FASS) programme. By 2021, the FASS programme aims to have made significant improvements to existing aviation security capabilities. It will do this by developing and exploiting technology, capabilities and knowledge. This competition is in 2 phases: phase 1 – funding of between £40,000 and £80,000 per project with total funding of £1 million available. We expect projects to last up to 6 months and be complete by the end of October 2017 phase 2 – £1 million will be available. Only projects funded in phase 1 will be eligible to take part Competition information phase 1 of this competition opens on Thursday 20 October 2016 the application deadline is 5pm on Thursday 19 January 2017 there will be a briefing for potential applicants on Thursday 17 November 2016 Find out more about this competition and apply online Get guidance from the CDE website on how to submit your proposal

The Defence and Security Accelerator's enduring competition for research funding accepts innovative proposals to a wide range of challenges. The enduring competition, previously run by the Centre for Defence Enterprise ( CDE ) was paused on 25 October 2016. This pause was to allow the transition of CDE into the early operating capability of the new Defence and Security Accelerator - announced by Secretary of State for Defence, Sir Michael Fallon, on 16 September 2016 as part of the defence innovation initiative. The new Accelerator will focus on exploiting novel solutions, and we’re taking the opportunity to reshape the enduring competition to meet this. The enduring competition will continue to look for proposals that challenge our thinking and not iterative developments of current technologies. It will provide some direction on what MOD’s enduring research challenges are, while still remaining open to all highly innovative ideas that challenge existing conventions and have a high potential benefit for the defence and security end user. The competition is expected to re-launch in early 2017. Meanwhile, please see our themed competitions for current funding opportunities.

Organisations can apply for a share of £3 million to show and evaluate the benefit of using swarms of unmanned air systems for defence. The Ministry of Defence is to invest up to £3 million in this ‘Many drones make light work’ competition. The aim is to find technology solutions that show and evaluate the benefits of using drones for defence. The challenge is to operate swarms of more than 20 unmanned air systems (UAS), also known as drones. A single operator should be able to coordinate these drones to fly closely coupled. They must be usable for military purposes in a contested environment. They must be also usable across the electro-magnetic spectrum. This means ranging from visible frequencies through to low frequency radio waves. The competition challenges are: open, modular UAS mission management of UAS swarms development of technology enablers for UAS swarms As well as developing technology components, proposals should show integrated system solutions. These should comprise technology components from more than one supplier. The competition has 2 phases: Phase 1 Up to £1 million is available. We expect to fund several projects, allocating between £40,000 and £80,000 each. Projects should last up to 6 months. Phase 2 Up to £2 million is available. This phase is open only to projects funded through phase 1 of the competition. Competition information This competition is open now The application deadline is Thursday 3 November 2016 There will be a briefing for potential applicants at the CDE Innovation Network event on Thursday 22 September 2016 Find out more about this competition and apply online

Further information on this Defence and Security Accelerator competition for up to £750,000 phase 1 research funding. This competition opened on 10 November 2016 and was briefed at our Innovation Network event in London on Thursday 1 December 2016. Video slides are now available. This competition closes on Thursday 2 February 2017 at 5pm. Proposals must be submitted to the Defence and Security Accelerator online. Total funding for phase 1 of this competition is up to £750,000. Read the competition summary for more information.

Further information on this Defence and Security Accelerator competition for up to £750,000 phase 1 research funding. This competition opened on 10 November 2016. It was briefed at our Innovation Network event in London on Thursday 1 December 2016. Video slides are now available for those who could not make the event in London. This competition closes on Wednesday 1 February 2017 at 5pm. Proposals must be submitted to the Defence and Security Accelerator online. Total funding for phase 1 of this competition is up to £750,000. Read the competition summary for more information.

Further information on this Defence and Security Accelerator competition for up to £1 million phase 1 research funding. This competition is open. It was briefed at our Innovation networking event in London on Thursday 17 November 2016. This competition closes on 19 January 2017 at 5pm. Proposals must be submitted to the Accelerator online. Total funding for phase 1 of this competition is up to £1 million. This competition is part of the joint Department for Transport and Home Office Future Aviation Security Solutions ( FASS ) programme. Read the competition document for more information. Technical queries should be sent to: FASS -CDECall@dft.gsi.gov.uk .

Organisations can apply for a share of £6 million to investigate new ways of using data to improve decision-making in defence. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has up to £3 million to invest in innovative new technologies, processes and ways of operating that improve the ability of defence staff to analyse and exploit data in decision-making. A further £3 million could be invested to develop the best ideas in a second phase of the competition. The MOD is seeking solutions in 3 challenge areas: rapid and automated integration of new sensors freeing up personnel by the innovative use of machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence for military advantage effective use of operator cognitive capacity, particularly by human-machine teaming The MoD is making more and more use of sensors. This means there is an increasingly large volume of complex data available to military operators and decision-makers. It needs to increase its ability to analyse data and quickly use it to make informed and effective decisions. This funding competition is part of SBRI (the Small Business Research Initiative). A first phase seeks initial ideas. Winners of phase 1 funding will compete in a second phase to develop the idea further. The competition will also see projects split between a fast track and standard track approach. The aim is to achieve greater pace but also to allow smaller companies and low maturity solutions to take part. Find out more about SBRI. Competition information the competition is open, and the deadline for phase 1 proposals is midday on 21 March 2017 SBRI is open to any organisation, and projects will attract 100% funded development contracts phase 1 fast track projects could attract up to £150,000 and are expected to last up to 3 months phase 1 standard track projects could attract up to £100,000 and are expected to last up to 6 months briefing events for potential applicants will be held on 23 February 2017 and 27 February 2017 Find out more about this competition and apply.

Businesses can win a share of £14 million to either develop quantum technology prototypes or establish technical or market feasibility. Innovate UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are inviting business to apply for a share of up to £14 million to develop quantum technologies. Quantum technologies have the potential to significantly improve imaging and computing. We predict they will have a major impact on the finance, defence, aerospace, energy and telecommunications sectors. The competition aims to encourage collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects and feasibility studies that will either: develop prototype devices and demonstrators of quantum technologies or their component technologies improve the understanding of the technical, business or market challenges of taking a new device or service to market Find out more about Innovate UK’s work in the emerging and enabling technologies sector . There are 2 streams of the competition to support technologies at different stages of development. Feasibility studies This competition strand is seeking collaborative feasibility studies that will improve understanding of the technical or market feasibility of a product or service. Projects can be technical or non-technical projects and focus on understanding the business or market opportunity and challenges. They should last between 6 and 12 months with costs from £50,000 to £500,000. Collaborative R&D Projects in the collaborative research and development strand should be challenge-led. We are looking to fund projects that produce prototype devices and demonstrators with a clear commercial application or market need. They should last between 12 and 18 months with costs from £500,000 to £2 million. Competition information this competition is open and the deadline for registration is midday on Wednesday 29 March 2017 proposals must be collaborative and a UK-based business must lead the project there will be briefing events for potential applicants in Edinburgh (21 February) and Birmingham (2 March) Find out more about this competition and apply .

Further information on this Defence and Security Accelerator competition for up to £1.5 million phase 1 research funding. The decision conference for this competition is now being held on Monday 31 July 2017. If you’ve submitted to this competition, your bidder dashboard will be updated to reflect this change in date. The competition now enters assessment phase and the decision conference is due to take place at the end of July. All organisations who submitted successful submissions will be notified of the outcome within 24 hours of the decision. Total funding for phase 1 of this competition is up to £1.5 million. There is up to an additional £1.5 million for phase 2 of this competition. Read the competition document for more information. Queries should be sent to DSTLLastMile@dstl.gov.uk or accelerator@dstl.gov.uk .

Organisations can apply for up to £2 million SBRI funding for projects reducing the threat from terrorists and explosives in public spaces. The Home Office is to invest up to £2 million in ideas that will reduce the threat from terrorists and the use of explosives and weapons in public spaces by using the crowd as a sensor. Funding is available for the development of technologies that will use the crowd to identify a threat by: detecting the crowd’s conscious and sub-conscious reaction to threats training the public to spot threats enabling the crowd to report threats This competition seeks proposals for technologies, systems and behavioural sciences. This is a Defence and Security Accelerator and Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition. It’s part of the Home Office security-related science and technology programme. This is phase 1 of a 2-phase competition. Competition details this competition is open now the application deadline is midday on 20 September 2017 there will be an innovation network event on 27 July 2017 SBRI is open to any type of organisation successful projects will attract 100% funded development contracts up to £1 million is available for phase 1 of this competition up to £1 million will be available for phase 2 Find out more about this competition and apply online .

Organisations can apply for a share of £200,000 to examine ways of improving school transport for pupils in Northern Ireland. The Education Authority (EA) in Northern Ireland has up to £200,000 to invest in smart transport projects that improve the way it delivers home-to-school transport. Around 89,000 school-age pupils in Northern Ireland currently use school transport assistance provided by EA, including 50,000 that receive paid for passes for Translink public transport services and 25,000 that use authority-owned buses free of charge. Smart solutions for transport challenges The authority is looking for projects that examine ways of: improving convenience for pupils, for example, by replacing physical passes and loading lists with smart alternatives understanding usage patterns, for example, by facilitating data capture on each individual trip made by each pupil improving fleet logistics by analysing data received on routes used and vehicle telematics improving pupil safety and security, for example, through a system of alerts on bus timings or if a pupil unexpectedly fails to board a service linking with other transport providers Funding will be for feasibility studies under the SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) programme. Extra funding could be available to develop promising ideas under a second phase of the competition. Find out more about SBRI. Competition information the competition is open, and the deadline for submission of tenders is 3pm on 1 December 2017 we expect phase 1 contracts to range in size up to £50,000 and be completed by April 2018 SBRI is open to any organisation that can demonstrate a route to market for its idea successful projects will attract 100% funded development contracts a briefing event will be held on 1 November 2017 Find out more about this competition and register to apply.

Up to £10 million is available in loans to UK SMEs in a pilot programme offered by Innovate UK. Small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) working on late-stage infrastructure systems projects can apply for a share of £10 million in a pilot loans competition – the first opportunity to access Innovate UK’s new alternative financial support scheme. This loans competition aims to help businesses overcome barriers to scaling up innovation in infrastructure systems. It will do this by enabling them to demonstrate their ideas work as expected in real-world applications with users, and take their solutions to market. It was announced today at Innovate 2017 . Smarter, better infrastructure The growing, ageing population, increased urbanisation and urgent need to reduce carbon emissions calls for new and novel infrastructure solutions. But developing, testing and commercialising new ideas in this sector can be risky. You could get an innovation loan of up to £1 million for a first of a kind deployment of infrastructure technologies. Demonstrator projects must be in one of Innovate UK’s priority areas. These are: smart infrastructure, adding intelligence to improve physical infrastructure or the design process urban living, addressing the challenges people face in urban areas in order to improve user experience and lower costs. This could be: ‘hard’ systems, such as energy, transport, waste, water and communication ‘soft’ systems, such as security, law and justice (for example, public order and safety), health, wellbeing, social care and education ‘environmental’ systems such as green spaces and waterways energy supply and systems, specifically improving the value proposition, affordability, emissions and security of energy connected transport, looking at solutions that move people and goods more efficiently and sustainably, and make transport more secure, user-centric and accessible Find out more about how we support infrastructure systems . Introducing innovation loans This is the first time Innovate UK has run a loans competition. Innovations need different types of funding support depending on how close they are to market. Getting the right funding at the right time can scale up businesses’ productivity and growth. We believe that a patient, flexible loan scheme will be useful for innovations that are near to market, where there is less risk involved. A pilot loan scheme worth up to £50 million will be offered over the next 2 years. Loans will be made through Innovate UK Loans Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Innovate UK. Learn about innovation loans . About the infrastructure systems loan competition the loans competition is open, and the deadline for registration is 10 January 2018 you could get between £100,000 to £1 million to cover up to 100% of eligible project costs this opportunity is for UK-based SMEs applications can only be made by single SMEs loans are for late-stage experimental development only they are available for up to 10 years there is a briefing event for applicants on 16 November 2017 Find out more and apply for an infrastructure systems innovation loan .

Information on this Defence and Security Accelerator competition for which at least £1 million of funding is available. This competition was briefed at an Innovation network event in Bristol on 1 February 2018. View the event information pack for further details. This themed competition seeks to make a real difference in saving lives and reducing disabilities following serious injury. We’re looking for proposals that harness developments in regenerative medicine to offer practical approaches suitable for use, early after injury. This competition is open. Proposals for this competition must be submitted to the submission service by Wednesday 11 April 2018 at midday. Queries should be sent to accelerator@dstl.gov.uk .

Information on this Defence and Security Accelerator competition with £3 million of funding available. This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition seeks to introduce innovative solutions to how we manage our people, both military and civilian. Read the competition document for more information. This competition will open on Tuesday 27 March 2018 and close on Wednesday 16 May 2018 at midday. Proposals must be submitted to the Defence and Security Accelerator online. Technical queries should be sent to dasa-defencepeople@dstl.gov.uk General queries should be sent to accelerator@dstl.gov.uk

Digital and technology companies are invited to pitch innovative solutions to the challenge of identifying online still image propaganda created by Daesh. Daesh poses a threat to UK national security as it seeks to expand its terror network, using propaganda to radicalise and recruit citizens from the UK and across the world. The Home Office already has the technology to determine 94% of Daesh videos with 99.995% accuracy. However, 80% of Daesh media is still imagery. These images, tailored for local markets, rarely contain consistent features meaning innovation is needed to have the same success as for video. We are looking for concepts that can be developed into workable solutions. Winning companies will be awarded up to £50,000 to develop their ideas. A further £500,000 may be available to continue development and test the successful solutions in the public sector. There are 5 different challenge competitions in the first GovTech Catalyst round. This challenge competition closes on 27 June 2018. Registration for this competition closes on 20 June 2018. No late applications can be accepted. Why pitch a solution to a GovTech challenge competition The GovTech challenge is your opportunity to help improve vital public services while growing your business. We’re looking for firms to come up with smart solutions to fix public-sector problems. You’ll get the opportunity to work with high-profile public-sector partners and to raise your profile both nationally and internationally. How to pitch a solution Companies can pitch a solution to an open challenge competition on the Innovation Funding Service website . Each challenge competition page includes information on how to apply, the dates, funding available, project scope and challenge context. There will also be launch events for each challenge competition where interested companies can meet people from the public sector body responsible for the challenge (the challenge owner). Sign up to the GovTech community mailing list for dates and more information. You can also join the GovTech Catalyst team at monthly meetups to connect the GovTech sector to the public sector. Round 1 competition schedule Identifying Daesh still imagery (open 14 May to 27 June 2018) Tracking waste through the waste chain (open 11 June to 18 July 2018) Tackling loneliness and rural isolation (opening July 2018) Cutting traffic congestion (opening August 2018) Deploying smart sensors on council vehicles to improve services (opening September 2018) You can see an updated timeline of GovTech Catalyst competitions and challenges . About the GovTech Catalyst GovTech aims to encourage small, emerging technology businesses to create and develop innovative solutions to public services, that once proven can move to scale both to the advantage of markets and society. Read more about the GovTech Catalyst programme aims . GovTech Catalyst competitions help the public sector identify and work with cutting edge technology firms. They use the SBRI process , supported by Innovate UK . Read how public sector bodies submit challenges .

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) will be running a dial-in event to discuss the Invisible Battlespace competition DASA will be hosting a dial-in event on 11 September 2018, 10am to midday to provide a short briefing on the Invisible Battlespace competition followed by an open forum Q&A session. Also available will be the opportunity to book a one to one telecon meeting with the competition team to discuss questions specific to your proposal. Additional slots are also available on 12 September 2018. Further information about the competition can be found in the Invisible Battlespace competition document , where you will find links to register for the dial-in and one to one meetings.