Advanced Connectivity Technologies: New Innovators

Who can apply

Your project

Your project must:

• have total project costs and a grant funding request of between £25,000 and £50,000

• have total project costs that equal your grant funding request

• start by 1 November 2026

• end by 30 April 2027

• last between three and six months

Any organisation receiving funding must carry out its project work in the UK, intend to exploit the results in the UK, and spend most of the funding within the UK.

Projects must always start on the first of the month. You must not start your project until your Grant Offer Letter has been approved by Innovate UK. Any delays within Project Setup may mean we need to delay your project start date.

You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs.

If you exceed the total project costs of £50,000 you will be ineligible and your application will not be sent for assessment. If your grant funding request does not match your total project costs, you will be ineligible and your application will not be sent for assessment.

You will be made ineligible if you exceed the Minimal Financial Assistance limit. You must submit a complete declaration as part of your application.

Lead organisation

To lead a project your organisation must be a UK registered micro or small business.

If your business has been funded directly by Innovate UK previously, you are not eligible to apply for this competition. If however, you have received funding in an academic capacity (pre-company formation) directly from Innovate UK Business Growth or a Catapult scheme, or the ASAP (Academic Start-up Accelerator Programme), you are still eligible to apply for this competition.

If you are unsure, contact our customer support team by email as soon as possible before the submission deadline.

Subcontractors

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.

Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.

You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you cannot use subcontractors from the UK.

You must also provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you.

We expect all subcontractor costs to be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.

Number of applications

An eligible UK business can submit one application only. We will only award grant funding to one project per business.

Sanctions

This competition will not fund you or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions. For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups.

Use of animals in research and innovation

Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.

Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation.

Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process. This information will be reviewed before an award is made.

Previous applications

You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.

If you have previously submitted an application that reached our assessment stage, you can re-apply once more with the same proposal.

If there are minor differences to the proposal, but it is judged by us to be ‘not materially different’, the same rule applies.

We will not award you New Innovator funding if you have:

• been previously funded by Innovate UK as a business; this does not apply to funding received in an academic capacity, prior to company formation

• failed to comply with grant terms and conditions

Innovate UK may withhold a grant payment at any time if you have any outstanding sums due to us in relation to other projects.

Minimal Financial Assistance (and de minimis where applicable)

Grant funding in this competition is awarded as Minimal Financial assistance (MFA). This allows public bodies to award up to £315,000 to an enterprise in a three year rolling financial period.

In your application, you will be asked to declare previous funding received by you. This will form part of the financial checks ahead of Innovate UK making a formal grant offer.

To establish your eligibility, we need to check that our support added to the amount you have previously received does not exceed the limit of £315,000 in the ‘applicable period’.

The applicable period is made up of:

(a) the elapsed part of the current financial year, and

(b) the two financial years immediately preceding the current financial year.

You must include any funding which you have received during the applicable period under:

• Minimal Financial Assistance (previously referred to as Special Drawing Rights)

• de minimis Regulation

You do not need to include aid or subsidies which have been granted on a different basis, for example, an aid award granted under the General Block Exemption Regulation.

Further information about the Subsidy Control Act 2022 requirements can be found in the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk).

EU Commission rules now only apply in limited circumstances. See the Windsor Framework to check if these rules apply to your organisation.

In the ‘Project details’ section of your application you will be asked questions to indicate if State Aid or Subsidy applies to your organisation.

Further information

If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022, you should take independent legal advice. We cannot advise on individual eligibility or your legal obligations.

Funding

Up to £500,000 has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

We reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions under exceptional circumstances, for example, in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations, or broader government funding decisions.

Your total project costs will be 100% funded. Total project costs detailed within your application must not exceed the maximum project size. If your total project costs are below the minimum of £25,000 or exceed the maximum of £50,000 then your application will be made ineligible.

Your grant funding request must match your total project costs. If your grant funding request is not 100% of your total project costs, then your application will be made ineligible.

You can make reference to any additional voluntary contribution in your application answers. It must not be detailed in the finance section.

We will aim to pay:

• 50% of your grant request within a month of your agreed project start date

• a further 40% in arrears, after approval of your 50% claim and the evidence of spend made, submitted with your claim

• the remaining 10% of the grant 10 to 14 days after Innovate UK approve your final claim

For more information on company sizes, refer to the Company accounts guidance.

If you are applying for an award funded under European Commission Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.

Innovate UK may revoke our decision to provide funding without notice if government commitment for this initiative is withdrawn.

Your proposal

The aim of this competition is to accelerate the development, demonstration, and commercialisation of next generation communications technologies that strengthen the UK’s security, resilience, sustainability, and long term competitiveness.

This will help to address the UK Government’s Advanced Connectivity Technologies (ACT) R&D Programme’s objective, namely, to foster a thriving ecosystem that supports ACT companies to grow, scale, compete internationally and strengthen the sector’s contribution to UK economic performance.

Your project must demonstrate innovation that leads to new products, processes or services that are significantly ahead of others currently available, or propose an innovative use of existing products, processes or services. It can also involve a new or innovative business model.

In your application, you must demonstrate that you:

• have an innovative idea

• need public funding

• have the capability to deliver the project

We are particularly interested in how your proposal will help you:

• develop both your ambitious idea and your business

• create a new revenue stream, for example, new products, services or IP

• evidence and enable your market, funding and commercialisation plans

• show what is feasible in helping you decide whether to pursue your idea further

• catalyse further innovation on your path to commercial success

• respond to changing market conditions

Portfolio approach

We want to fund a variety of projects across different technologies, markets, themes, locations and technological maturities. We call this a portfolio approach.

Specific themes

Your project must align with one of the following ACT Grand Challenges. You must be able to demonstrate measurable improvements against existing technical solutions as well as a credible integration route and pathway for commercialisation and adoption of your solution.

ACT Grand Challenges

Challenge 1: Secure and Resilient Networks

This challenge focuses on development of solutions that will position the UK as a leader in secure communications, underpinning critical national infrastructure and economic sectors.

Solutions will protect networks against interception and cyber threats, ensuring data confidentiality within legal frameworks. This includes the integration of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks to expand coverage and provide resilience.

The key outcome is to create networks that are trustworthy, reliable, and able to withstand disruption, while preparing for emerging risks.

You must demonstrate how your technology addresses at least one of the following network challenges:

• reliability, availability, and continuity: ensure uninterrupted service during faults, cyberattacks, natural disasters, and extreme events, including power outages and climate related shocks

• rapid recovery and adaptability: reduce recovery times through self healing, automation, AI driven detection or response, and adaptive reconfiguration of networks and spectrum during disruption

• end to end security and zero trust: strengthen security across devices, access points, open interfaces, and core infrastructure, including disaggregated or open architectures

• future threat readiness: prepare for advanced threat environments, including quantum safe cryptography, contested environments, and evolving cyber risks

• secure supply chains and interoperability: assure hardware and software provenance and enable secure multi-vendor interoperability

• spectrum security and robustness: detect and mitigate interference, spoofing, and jamming; improve spectrum resilience for critical services

Challenge 2: Sustainable Networks

This challenge will drive innovation in technologies that reduce the environmental impact of telecoms while ensuring that finite spectrum is used as effectively as possible.

The key outcome is to create sustainable, energy efficient networks that contribute to the UK’s clean power commitments.

You must demonstrate how your technology addresses at least one of the following network challenges:

• energy efficiency, cost reduction, and carbon impact: reduce energy consumption per bit of data transmitted, lower operational costs, and minimise emissions, for example, kgCO₂e per site year, across network infrastructure

• maximising use of finite spectrum: improve spectral efficiency (more data per Hz) and enable multi-functional use of spectrum, for example, Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) where spectrum supports both connectivity and sensing, alongside scalable spectrum sharing approaches

• adaptive and renewable energy use: dynamically scale energy use with demand and integrate renewable energy sources, for example, solar, wind, into network sites

• thermal and infrastructure efficiency: reduce the energy required to operate and cool networks through more efficient system design, including improved cooling techniques, advanced semiconductors, and selective use of photonic technologies in place of electronic processing to reduce heat generation

• efficient and multi-functional transport networks: develop transport solutions, for example, fibre and backhaul, that reduce loss and latency, while enabling additional functions such as combined data and power transmission or more efficient shared infrastructure use

• material efficiency and lifecycle transparency: reduce material use and waste through efficient design, lightweighting, and extended component lifetimes, supported by lifecycle reporting, for example, digital product passports

Projects we will not fund

We are not funding projects that:

• do not meet the competition eligibility or scope requirements

• purely result in reports, academic papers or similar

• do not evidence potential for the proposed innovation to lead to significant and positive economic or societal impact

• do not evidence value for money

We cannot fund projects that:

• involve primary production in fishery and aquaculture

• involve primary production in agriculture

• are not allowed under de minimis regulation restrictions

• are not eligible to receive Minimal Financial Assistance

• are dependent on export performance: giving a subsidy to an organisation on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of its products to another country

• are dependent on domestic inputs usage: giving a subsidy to an organisation on the condition that it uses a set percentage of UK components in their product

9 July 2026

Online briefing event: watch the recording

Briefing slides are available to download from Supporting Information

2 September 2026

Applicants notified

1 November 2026

Project start from

Before you start

You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.

Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure:

• that all the information provided in the application is correct

• your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria

• all sections of the application are marked as complete

You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline. You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline.

What we ask you

The application is split into four sections:

1. Project details.

2. Application questions.

3. Finances.

4. Project Impact.

Accessibility and Inclusion

We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.

You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance.

We recommend you contact us as soon as possible before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline.

You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

1. Project details

This section provides background for your application and is not scored.

Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers.

Application team

Decide which people from your organisation will work with you on the project and invite those people to help complete the application.

Application details

Give your project’s title, start date and duration.

Project summary

Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign experts to assess your application.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Public description

Describe your project in detail, and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Scope

Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition. If your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

2. Application questions

Questions 1 to 10 are not scored and an assessor will score questions 11 to 14. Find out more about how our assessors assess and how we select applications for funding.

Where a group of applications share a score at the budget cut off point, they will be prioritised in order of:

• the idea

• the impact and added value

• business resources and capabilities

• work plan and costs

• a balanced portfolio across the UK

The resulting funding list will be validated by a senior Innovate UK official.

You will then receive email notification to offer grant funding or to inform you that your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

You will not receive any feedback on your application following assessment, whether successful or unsuccessful in receiving grant funding.

You must answer all questions.

You must not include any website addresses or links (URLs) in your answers. Any website addresses or URLs included, will not be viewed or opened.

Question 1. Applicant location (not scored)

You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation and any subcontractors working on your project.

We are collecting this information to understand more about the geographical location of all applicants.

Your answer can be up to 100 words long.

Question 2. Minimal Financial Assistance declaration (not scored)

You must download the declaration template. You must complete this, declaring any funding received under Minimal Financial Assistance (previously referred to as Special Drawing Rights) or de minimis awards, (from any source of public funding) in the applicable period.

You must complete all the fields on your form before uploading.

You must write ‘declaration attached’ in the question text box.

You must upload the completed declaration as an appendix. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

You must keep all documentation relating to Minimal Financial Assistance (previously referred to as Special Drawing Rights) and other de minimis awards for a period of six years and be prepared to release it to any public funding body which requests it.

Your answer can be up to 5 words long.

Question 3. Animal testing (not scored)

Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing?

You must select one option:

• Yes

• No

We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare.

Further information for proposals involving animal testing is available at the UKRI Good Research Hub and NC3R’s animal welfare guidance.

Question 4. Permits and licences (not scored)

Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project?

We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date.

You must select one option:

• Yes

• No

• In the process of being applied for

• Not applicable

Question 5. Export licence (not scored)

You must indicate whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance.

You must select one option:

• Yes

• No

Question 6. International collaboration (not scored)

Does your proposed work involve any international collaboration or engagement?

You must provide details of any expected international collaboration or engagement. You must include a list of the names and the countries, any international project co-leads, project partners, visiting researchers, or other collaborators are based in. You must also include details of any subcontractors or service providers.

If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration or engagement, your answer must confirm this.

Your answer can be up to 100 words long.

Question 7. Trusted Research and Innovation (not scored)

You must explain if your proposed project work relates to UKRI’s Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) Principles, including:

• a list of any dual-use (both military and non-military) applications to your research

• a list of the areas where your project is relevant to one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act

• whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance and the status of any applications

• a list of any items or substances on the UK Strategic Export Control List

If your proposed work does not relate to UKRI’s TR&I Principles, your answer must confirm this.

We may ask you to provide additional TR&I information at a later date, in line with UKRI TR&I Principles and funding terms and conditions.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 8. Where did you hear about this competition? (not scored)

Select one of the options from the list below:

• UKRI website

• Innovate UK Facebook

• Innovate UK Instagram

• Innovate UK LinkedIn

• Innovate UK Twitter

• Innovate UK employee

• Gov.UK website

• Innovate UK Business Connect

• Innovate UK Business Growth

• Northern Irish, Scottish or Welsh government agencies

• Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)

• Third party website

• Innovate UK newsletter

• Events

• Other

Question 9. Your innovation area (not scored)

Select your Innovation area from the list below. You can only select one.

• challenge 1: Secure and Resilient Networks

• challenge 2: Sustainable Networks

Question 10. Funding plans (not scored, but will be used to assess financial viability)

How will you fund the 50% of your project costs that are not being paid in advance?

You must include:

• the source of the funds currently available, such as the company’s own funds, for example, management accounts

• your funding strategy and how you will continue to support the development of the innovation following completion of the project, with a view towards its eventual commercialisation

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 11. The idea

We will score this question out of 25.

What is the problem you wish to solve and why is your proposed approach a good and innovative solution?

You must consider the following in your answer:

• the specific innovation you propose to develop and how this is different and better than alternative solutions

• the specific need and size of opportunity

• why your solution is affordable and investable

• any barriers to adoption and how they could be overcome

Your answer can be up to 600 words long.

Question 12. Impact and added value

We will score this question out of 25.

What will be the impact of receiving the grant to your business?

You must consider the following in your answer:

• why public funding is necessary and value for money, for example, is there currently a lack of investment, or market failure

• the impact on your business

• the tangible outputs of the project in terms of specific deliverables and how they will benefit the UK

• what are the expected impacts on society, the economy and the environment

Your answer can be up to 600 words long.

Question 13. Business resources and capabilities

We will score this question out of 25.

Explain why your business is capable of delivering this project.

You must consider the following in your answer:

• what resources you can access, including the main people involved, relevant track records, and any external resources

• your capability to deliver in the required timeframe given your existing business activities or constraints

• how you will deliver outcomes and impact beyond the life of the project

• your route to market

• how equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) is incorporated into your proposed project or business activities, for example, in the development of your innovation, accessibility of project results, team composition, work environment

Your answer can be up to 600 words long.

Question 14. Work packages and costs

We will score this question out of 25.

What activities will you spend the grant funding on? How will you manage the project and risks effectively?

You must consider the following in your answer:

• what the funding will be spent on, referring to costs for the main work packages

• project risks and how you will mitigate them

• your freedom to operate for example, patents, intellectual property (IP)

Your answer can be up to 600 words long.

3. Finances

You must complete your project costs, organisation details and funding details in the application.

Both your projects total cost and grant funding request must be between the minimum of £25,000 and the maximum of £50,000. If your grant funding request falls outside of this range then your application will be made ineligible.

You can make reference to any additional voluntary contribution in your application question answers but these must not be detailed in this finance section.

For an overview on what costs you can claim, see our project costs guidance. Note this is general guidance, for specific guidance see the eligibility section in this competition. You can also view our application finances video.

4. Project Impact

This section is not scored but will provide background to your project.

You must complete the Project Impact questions before being able to submit the application.

More information can be found in our Project Impact guidance and by viewing our Impact Management Framework video.

Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.

Assessment

Your application will be reviewed by one independent assessor based on the content of your application and their skills or expertise relevant to your project. All of the scores awarded will count towards the total score used to make the funding decision unless you are notified otherwise. You will not receive any feedback on your application following assessment.

You can find out more about our assessment process in the General Guidance.

Your submitted application will be assessed against these criteria:

Advanced Connectivity Technologies - New Innovators - Assessor guidance for applicants .pdf (opens in a new window)

Background and further information

This competition is part of the Advanced Connectivity Technologies (ACT) R&D Programme, announced in the Digital and Technologies Sector Plan under the UK’s Industrial Strategy.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s ambition is for more technologies developed in the UK to be used in networks around the world. We aim to grow a strong UK ACT ecosystem of UK and international companies that attract private investment.

The ACT R&D Programme is a key part of delivering this ambition. Delivered through UKRI, it will use a range of interventions to:

• support the UK’s world leading academic research base and keep the UK at the forefront of ACT research

• provide early stage, pre-commercial funding to help move ideas from research towards commercial viability

• support challenge focused solution development so government funding tackles real world needs, drawing on UK industry expertise and investment to develop ACT products and services

• support the growth and scale up of industrial solutions by helping UK SMEs attract private capital and expand the UK’s global ACT footprint

This New Innovators competition specifically focuses on supporting the growth and scale of UK ACT micro and small businesses.

Briefing recording and slides

Online briefing event: watch the recording

Briefing slides are available to download:

ACT New Innovators Applicant Briefing.pdf (opens in a new window)

What happens if you receive a grant offer

If you have passed your initial assessment and have received an email with a grant offer, you will be asked to complete the project setup process on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS). Watch our video on what steps are there before a project starts.

We will ask for information that will allow us to undertake mandatory checks on your organisation and the eligibility of your costs, as well as review the documentation for your project.

You must follow the unique link embedded in your email notification. This takes you to your project's dedicated IFS Set Up portal, where we gather the information required to set up your project, for example your bank details. Watch our video on how successful applicants receive their funding.

If your application is unsuccessful

You may be unsuccessful as your average score was not above the funding threshold or your project has not been selected under the portfolio approach if this is applied for this competition. You will not receive any feedback from the assessors on your application.

Support for SMEs from Innovate UK Business Growth service

Innovate UK Business Growth helps innovation focused businesses make the best strategic choices and access the right resources, in order to grow and ultimately achieve scale.

Visit the service’s website to learn about how you might benefit as a winner.

Protecting your innovation

A Secure Innovation campaign has been developed to help founders and leaders of innovative startups protect their technology, competitive advantage, and reputation.

This was developed by UK’s National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

Data sharing

This competition is jointly operated by Innovate UK, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) (each an ‘agency’).

Any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application can be shared by one agency with the other, for its individual storage, processing and use.

This means that any information given to or generated by Innovate UK in respect of your application may be passed on to DSIT and vice versa. This would include, but is not restricted to:

• the information stated on the application, including the personal details of all applicants

• scoring on the application

• information received during the management and administration of the grant, such as Monitoring Officer reports and Independent Accountant Reports

Innovate UK may also share any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application with Innovate UK’s national and regional UK third parties and partners who may contact you. For more information see how we handle grant applicant and grant holder data.

Innovate UK and DSIT are directly accountable to you for their holding and processing of your information, including any personal data and confidential information. Data is held in accordance with their own policies. Accordingly, Innovate UK, Innovate UK Business Connect and DSIT will be data controllers for personal data submitted during the application.

Innovate UK’s Privacy Policy

Innovate UK Business Connect Privacy Policy

DSIT's Privacy Policy

Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.

The Information Commissioner’s Office also has a useful guide for organisations, which outlines the data protection principles.

Contact us

If you need more information about how to apply or you want to submit your application in Welsh, email support@iuk.ukri.org or call 0300 321 4357.

Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

Innovate UK or any of our partners will not tolerate abusive language in any written or verbal correspondence, applications, social media or any other form that might affect staff.