Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), is offering a funding opportunity for UK registered businesses with a total allocation of up to £14.3 million. This initiative is designed to accelerate the adoption of quantum enabled position, navigation, and timing (PNT) and sensing technologies. The program aims to support collaborative, business-led projects that address specific technical and commercial barriers, thereby fostering innovation across critical sectors such as healthcare, transport, energy, and defence.
Program Details
• Opportunity Type: Collaboration, Funding
• Organisation: Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
• Total Funding: Up to £14.3 million
• Award: Project grant funding requests must be between £1 million and £3 million, covering up to 70% of costs depending on business size.
• Target Sectors: Digital, Energy, Health, Photonics, Quantum, Security & Defence, Sensors, Transport
• Geographic Focus: East Midlands, East of England, London and the South East, North East (England), North West (England), Northern Ireland, Scotland, South West (England), Wales, West Midlands, Yorkshire and The Humber
• Estimated Success Rate: Experience from similar competitions suggests a potential success rate of 30%.
Application Timeline
• Registration Opens: 04/08/2026
• Registration Closes: 16/09/2026 at 11:00
Eligibility Criteria
• Lead Organisation: To lead a collaborative project, your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.
• Consortium Requirements: The consortium must include at least one UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) claiming grant funding.
• Collaborators: To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be a UK registered business, academic institution, charity, not-for-profit, public sector organisation, or research and technology organisation (RTO).
• Application Limits: A business can lead on only one application but can be included as a collaborator in two further applications. An organisation not leading a project can collaborate in any number of applications.
Project Scope and Focus
• Primary Aim: To accelerate the adoption of quantum enabled PNT and sensing technologies by addressing specific technical and commercial barriers.
• Technological Themes: Projects must focus on one of the following: quantum enabled sensing for healthcare; quantum enabled PNT; or quantum enabled sensing for transport, telecoms, energy, or defence.
• Core Proposal Requirements: Your proposal must identify one or more barriers to adoption for a specific quantum technology, propose an innovative solution, and demonstrate the feasibility and commercial viability of that solution.
• Encouraged Activities: Proposals should consider field trials, proof of concept demonstrations, and other methods of facilitating end-user engagement as primary objectives. Projects that propose new use cases, co-develop solutions with end-users, integrate with existing platforms, or deploy technologies in representative settings are encouraged.
• Technology Requirement: Projects must exploit second-generation quantum technologies, defined as those involving the generation and coherent control of quantum states, such as superposition or entanglement. Technologies involving single photon generation and detection are considered in scope.
Project Requirements
• Grant Funding Request: Must be between £1 million and £3 million.
• Project Duration: Must last between 12 and 24 months.
• Project Timeline: Must start by 1 December 2026 and end by 30 November 2028.
• Location of Activities: Any organisation receiving funding must carry out its project work in the UK, intend to exploit the results in the UK, and spend the majority of the funding within the UK.
• Funding Distribution: No single organisation is permitted to claim more than 70% of the total project costs.
Exclusions
• Projects that do not aim to accelerate the adoption of quantum technologies.
• Projects that do not identify a specific barrier to adoption for a specific use case.
• Projects not focused on a specific quantum enabled sensing or PNT technology.
• Projects that are not original in scope or duplicate the work of others.
• Projects covered by existing commercial agreements, including those from UK Government or international initiatives.
• Projects that do not utilize second-generation quantum technologies.
Support and Resources
• Applicant Briefing: An applicant briefing was held on 10 August, and a recording will be made available.
• Collaboration Support: Businesses seeking assistance in finding a collaboration partner can contact the Innovate UK Business Connect’s Quantum team.
This funding competition represents a significant opportunity for businesses to lead collaborative efforts in overcoming the adoption barriers for advanced quantum technologies. By focusing on specific use cases and demonstrating commercially viable solutions, successful projects will play a crucial role in advancing the UK's capabilities in quantum-enabled sensing and PNT across multiple industries.