Contracts for Innovation: ProQure - Scaling UK Quantum Computing

Who can apply

Your project

Projects must:

• start on 1 October 2026

• end by 30 September 2028

• last between 18 and 24 months

• have total costs of no more than £14 million, inclusive of VAT

• intend to exploit the capabilities and results from or in the UK

Projects must always start on the first of the month, even if this is a non-working day. You must not start your project until your Contract has been approved by Innovate UK.

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

Applicant

To lead a project you can:

• be an organisation of any size, including those based in the EU, EEA or internationally

• work alone or with the subcontracted skills and expertise of others from business, research organisations, research and technology organisations, or the third sector (charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups)

Contracts will be awarded to a single legal entity only. The majority of the project work and key deliverables must be completed by the applicant and be carried out in the UK. Subcontractors can be used, but only for specialist skills.

You must clearly identify subcontractors and academic partners in the proposal with their respective defined roles, deliverables and resource commitments. Innovate UK may ask you to change your project plans or cost breakdown during due diligence and contract setup, before we award the contract.

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).

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.

Funding

Innovate UK will fund contracts up to £14 million, inclusive of VAT, for projects lasting between 18 and 24 months.

Funding will be in the form of a contract. We expect to fund up to 10 phase 1 contracts. This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications.

We reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions. This may be in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations or broader government funding decisions.

The total funding available for the competition can change. The funders have the right to:

• adjust the provisional funding allocations between the phases

• apply a portfolio approach

The contract is completed at the end of phase 1, and the successful organisation is expected to pursue commercialisation.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

You must select whether you are VAT registered before entering your eligible project costs.

VAT is the responsibility of the invoicing business. We will not provide any further advice and suggest you seek independent advice from HMRC.

VAT registered

If you select you are VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT. As part of the application process VAT will be automatically calculated and added to your project cost total. Your total eligible project costs inclusive of VAT must not exceed £14 million.

Not VAT registered

If you select you are not VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT and no VAT will be added. You will not be able to increase total project costs to cover VAT later should you become VAT registered. Your total project costs must not exceed £14 million.

Research and development (R&D)

Your application must have at least 50% of the contract value attributed directly and exclusively to R&D services, including solution exploration and design. R&D can also include prototyping and field testing the product or service. This lets you incorporate the results of your exploration and design and demonstrate that you can produce in quantity to acceptable quality standards.

R&D does not include:

• commercial development activities such as quantity production

• supply to establish commercial viability or to recover R&D costs

• integration, customisation or incremental adaptations and improvements to existing products or processes

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

Subsidy control

Contracts for Innovation competitions involve procurement of R&D services and are not subject to subsidy control criteria. This competition is run by the Authority under the Procurement Act 2023 (R&D exemption).

Your project

The key aims of this phase 1 competition are to:

• validate technologies and architectures to scale performance of the current state of the art quantum computers

• deploy operational testbeds for independent evaluation and verification

• accelerate the growth in user adoption and developer ecosystem

• accelerate the growth of enterprise operations and industrial capabilities to deliver economic and societal impact in the UK

Your phase 1 project must include a credible technical, commercial and investment roadmap that shows how you will:

• deliver step improvements to your quantum computing system, fix key hardware dependencies, and scale performance for the target workloads and application outcomes

• build and evaluate software stack, including system software, instruction sets, compilers, error correction approaches and practical algorithms for high impact end user applications

• set specifications needed for build, integration and commercial deployment of your quantum computing resource

Your phase 1 project must also define an operational testbed access solution that would be delivered for independent verification and assurance before July 2028 (three months before the end of phase 1).

The operational testbed must:

• operate at system level as a programmable testbed for running quantum algorithms or analogue quantum processes

• provide users with a defined software environment that allows experienced users of gate based or analogue quantum computing to operate and programme the system at firmware, pulse, gate or algorithm level

• feature a live system monitoring dashboard with functional and technical performance indicators

• be supplied and supported by system definition, build and delivery report, performance specifications, user training documentation and guidance

The phase 1 contract milestones must include clear deliverables and reports demonstrating functional and technical designs, verification methods and test results with measurable targets. The evidence and submissions will be assessed against the following criteria:

• how well the project aligns with the aims of this competition and the wider quantum computing mission

• the quality of your contract delivery performance and organisation capability

• the balance of scientific, technical, industrial and commercial performance at the intermediate and final milestones

Contracts will be given to successful applicants.

You must define your goals and outline your plan for phase 1 in your application.

You must demonstrate a credible and practical route to market, so your application must include a plan to commercialise your results.

At this stage contracts will only be given for phase 1.

In phase 2 we will ask successful applicants from phase 1 to continue to develop their solution.

Portfolio approach

We want to fund a variety of projects across different technologies, market readiness and locations. We call this a portfolio approach.

Contract phase description

The focus of phase 1 will include:

• the validation of technologies and architectures to scale performance of the current state of the art quantum computers

• the deployment of operational testbeds for independent evaluation and verification

• accelerating growth of user adoption, enterprise operations and industrial capabilities

The phase 2 development will involve demonstrating advanced production readiness, scalability, and adoption of the next generation of quantum computers.

The objective of this effort is to realise a full-stack quantum computer build, capable of solving high impact practical applications.

The programme’s early phases will help inform a future public procurement of large scale quantum computers beyond 2030.

Projects we will not fund

We will not fund projects that:

• do not use ‘second generation’ quantum technologies, defined as those involving the generation and coherent control of quantum states, resulting in phenomena such as superposition or entanglement

• do not deliver access to an operational testbed three months before the end of phase 1

• would directly duplicate scope and costs from other UK Government or international initiatives you have already been funded to deliver

• are covered by existing commercial agreements to deliver the proposed work programme

• propose disproportional use of material, capital and other costs

• are not mature in their overall development and delivery capability

• do not evidence the positive economic and societal impact outcomes for your innovation

• do not have complete freedom to undertake, operate, develop and exploit the R&D in the UK

• do not demonstrate the necessary resources to develop, operate, upgrade and maintain a complete quantum computing system in the UK

• do not include delivery of significant and critical activities in the UK

• do not develop a viable supply base for future development and operations in the UK

27 March 2026

Competition opens

8 April 2026

Online briefing event: register to attend

Briefing slides will be available to download from supporting information after the event

6 May 2026

Quantum Computing Programme networking event: register to attend

29 May 2026

Competition closes

20 July 2026

Interview panel starts

3 August 2026

Interview panel ends

11 August 2026

Feedback

11 August 2026

Applicants notified

17 September 2026

Contracts awarded

1 October 2026

Project start from

Before you start

By submitting an application, you agree to the terms of the draft contract which is available once you start your application. The terms of the contract are non-negotiable and are included in the draft contract. We reserve the right to change the terms and conditions if necessary.

The final contract will include any milestones you have agreed with the funding authority and will be sent to you if your application is successful. The contract is binding once it is returned by you and signed by both parties.

When you start an application, you will be prompted to create an account as the lead applicant or sign in as a representative of your organisation. Using your account, you will be able to track your applications progress.

As the applicant you are responsible for:

• collecting the information for your application

• representing your organisation in leading the project if your application is successful

You will be able to invite colleagues from your organisation to contribute to the application.

What happens next

A selected panel of assessors will review and score your application. You will be notified of the outcome and feedback will be provided.

If you pass the written assessment stage you may be invited to attend an interview, where you must give a presentation. Your interview will take place at a designated location. The date and time of your interview will be included in your invitation.

Contracts for this phase 1 will then be issued to all successful applicants.

What we will ask you

The application is split into four sections:

1. Project details.

2. Application questions.

3. Finances.

4. Project Impact.

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.

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 at least 15 working days 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).

Note that Innovate UK will be closed from 2 April to 7 April.

Project details

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

Application details

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

Who made you aware of the competition?

Select a category to state who made you aware of the competition. You cannot choose more than one.

How long has your organisation been established for?

Select a category to state how long has your organisation been established for. You cannot choose more than one.

What is your organisation’s primary focus area?

Select a category to state your organisation’s primary focus area. You cannot choose more than one.

Project, scope and deliverables summary

Provide a short summary of your project.

Describe your project briefly. Be clear about what makes it competitive and how it relates to the scope of the competition. How does it tackle different aspects of the challenge and how will it provide an integrated solution?

Give details of the lead organisation. Before you submit, we expect you to have discussed your application within your organisation.

Your answer for this section can be up to 1000 words long.

This section is not scored, but we will use it to decide whether the project fits the scope of the competition. If it does not, it may be rejected.

Public description

Provide a brief description of your project. If your application is successful, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project. This question is mandatory, but we will not assess this content as part of your application.

Describe your project in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. We have the right to amend the description before publication if necessary but will consult you about any changes.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Applicant locations in and outside the UK

You must state the name of your organisation along with your full registered addresses in and outside the UK.

You must also state the name and full registered address of any potential or confirmed subcontractors.

We are collecting this information to understand the geographical location of all participants of a project.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

2. Application questions

The assessors will score all of your questions except questions 1 to 5 which are not scored. You will receive feedback for each scored question. Find out more about how our assessors assess and how we select applications for funding.

Do not include any URLs in your answers unless we have explicitly requested a link to a video. If you do, your application will be made ineligible.

Question 1. 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 2. 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 3. International collaboration (not scored)

Does your proposed work involve any international collaboration, engagement or supply chain partners?

You must provide details of the expected international collaboration, engagements and tier 1 and 2 supply chain subcontractors.

You must include a list of the names and the countries where international project team, partners, subcontractors, researchers, collaborators and tier 1 and 2 suppliers are based.

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 1000 words long.

Question 4. 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 5. 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 6. Proposed solution and works programme

How does the project meet the challenge described in the competition scope? You must define product, architecture, technologies and build specifications.

Provide a summary description of your relevant development and build objectives for the two year, phase 1 project.

Include a concise description of the current state of development and delivery readiness.

Define the operational testbed access solution that would be delivered before July 2028 (or three months before the project end date, whichever is earlier).

Define the technical solution research and engineering work plan for advancing solution feasibility, technical design, key function, performance and impact.

Your answer can be up to 800 words long.

You can submit a single appendix as a PDF containing images and diagrams to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 25MB. It can be up to ten A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

This question will be scored against this assessment criterion: How well does the proposal meet the challenge and UK’s quantum computing mission?.

Question 7. Summary business case for tasks and deliverables

What are the main challenges you are solving for the product roadmap, including proposed technology, architecture, application performance and use case value?

Explain:

• scientific, technical and commercial merit of the project

• your technical, commercial and investment project roadmap

• what the key research, design and build challenges are that you will be solving in phase 1

• main technical and business deliverables

• what the key constraints and risks are at strategic, technical and operational level

• how your solution stack is structured, why you selected your architecture and how it will achieve performance at scale

• how the proposed activities, combined with your capabilities, subcontractors and suppliers will improve feasibility of economic production and runtime performance of your solution stack at scale

• what the specific benefits and advantages are of your proposed approach

• what impact will be achieved by your work plan

Your answer can be up to 800 words long.

This question will be scored against this assessment criterion: How valid are the technical foundations and feasibility of the approach?

You can submit a single appendix as a PDF containing images and diagrams to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 25MB. It can be up to ten A4 pages, and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 8. Current state of the art and intellectual property

How is your proposal differentiated from other globally competing full stack and system solution roadmap?

What parts of your solution are commercially available on the market for purchase or access?

You must include details of:

• any existing intellectual property (IP) assets

• results from relevant scientific experiments

• prototypes and results

• its significance to your freedom to operate

• novel concepts you develop or employ

• new approaches or technologies you use

• new tools or technologies

You must explain how you would handle any intellectual property (IP) issues which might arise and risk contract delivery of your project.

If you are working with subcontractors , include details of how you will maintain freedom to operate and fulfil the IP requirements detailed in the contract.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

You can submit a single appendix as a PDF containing images and diagrams to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to four A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

This question will be scored against these assessment criteria: How innovative is this project? How much does the project develop or employ novel concepts, approaches, methodologies, tools or technologies for this area. Does the project have sufficient freedom to use, develop and exploit the necessary IP assets in the UK?

Question 9. Project plan and methodology

Describe your project plan and identify the main milestones.

The plan for this phase 1 must be comprehensive. The emphasis throughout should be on practicality.

Provide evidence that the technology works, can be made into a viable product and can achieve the proposed benefits.

You must:

• describe resources that will be needed to deliver the project

• describe what the main success criteria will be

• identify the project management processes that will ensure you achieve the milestones

• provide a clear plan for establishing technical and commercial feasibility

• describe the main technical, commercial and environmental risks and what you will do to mitigate them

• provide a clear roadmap and plan of action

Your answer can be up to 250 words long.

You must upload a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix in PDF format along with the baseline costs and success criteria for the respective milestone deliverables. It must be a PDF no larger than 20 MB. It can be up to four A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Your milestones must:

• be clear

• be defined using SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) criteria

• be associated with the appropriate deliverables, success criteria and payments

• indicate your payment schedule by month

This question will be assessed against these assessment criteria:

• does the proposal show a clear plan for establishing technical and commercial feasibility

• is there a clear management plan

• what are the main technical, commercial, and environmental risks to the project’s success

• how will these be effectively managed

• are the milestones and evaluation procedures appropriate

Note, information from the finances section will be used to support the assessment of this question. Proposed milestones and associated payments stated in this section must match those entered in the finance summary on your application.

Question 10. Technical team and expertise

Who is in your technical team, including subcontractors?

What expertise and value do they offer?

Provide a summary description of your technical and management team, including subcontractors.

Describe:

• the technical and management labour resource allocated to your project

• how each organisation has the skills, capabilities, and experience to deliver the intended benefits, and where these capabilities are based

• how much of their time will be spent on the project

Your answer can be up to 250 words long.

You can submit a single appendix as a spreadsheet in PDF format. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

This question will be scored against this assessment criterion: Does the applicant have the skills, capabilities and experience to deliver the intended benefits?

Question 11. Costs and value for money

How much will the project cost for phase 1? How does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer?

Describe:

• the total costs inclusive of VAT (if applicable) you are requesting in terms of the project goals for phase 1

• the proportional value of material, subcontractors, capital and labour resources relative to deliverables

• how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer

Proposed costs stated in this section for phase 1 must match those entered in the finance summary.

All costs quoted must reflect actual costs at a fair market value and not include profit.

You must have sufficient evidence and justification for high confidence in the stated costs of your budget items. In case costs of the budget items also include any redundancies and risk weighted tolerances, they must be clearly identified in the item description.

Your answer can be up to 250 words long.

You can submit a single appendix as a spreadsheet in PDF format. It must be a PDF or spreadsheet no larger than 10MB. It can be up to four A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Indicate your potential costs and action plan for phase 2. Progression to phase 2 depends on your success in phase 1.

Note that all payments are made in arrears on submission of an invoice. The invoice must be submitted within 30 days of the end of each monitoring period for all completed milestones.

Full Economic Cost (FEC) calculations are not relevant for Contracts for Innovation competitions. Contracts for Innovation is a competitive process, and applications will come from a variety of organisations. Whatever calculation you use to arrive at your total eligible project costs your application will be assessed against applications from other organisations. Bear this in mind when calculating your total eligible project costs. You can include overheads but remember that this is a competitive process.

The assessors are required to judge the application finances in terms of value for money. They will score your finances against this assessment criterion: Are the budget and costs realistic, justified and appropriate for the aims and methods?

Note, the information from the finances section will be used to support the assessment of this question.

Question 12. Commercial opportunities and revenue forecast

What commercial opportunities would be unlocked by the outcomes of your project from the perspective of your proposed customers’ needs?

Describe your:

• timescales

• commercial potential from industry, public sector, education and research use case customers and third parties

• commercial potential for a marketable product, process or service

• delivery plan and revenue forecast

• expected route to market

Describe the competitive advantage that your project has over existing or alternative technologies that meet market needs.

Describe any existing commercial relationships relevant to the project.

With the focus on your proposed customer’s needs, you can also mention the future commercial potential across the public or private sector and international markets.

This question will be scored against these assessment criteria:

• is there a clear commercial potential for a marketable product, process or service

• is there a clear plan to deliver that and a clear route to market

• how significant is the competitive advantage of this technology over the nearest currently available solutions to the challenge identified

Your answer can be up to 800 words long.

3. Finances

Enter your phase 1 project costs, organisation details and funding details. You must select whether you are VAT registered before entering your eligible project costs. We advise you answer the VAT registered question first before entering your eligible costs. Your total eligible project costs must not exceed £14 million.

If you select you are VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT. As part of the application process VAT will be automatically calculated and added to your eligible project cost total.

If you select you are not VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT and no VAT will be added. You will not be able to increase total project costs to cover VAT later should you become VAT registered.

VAT is the responsibility of the invoicing business. We will not provide any further advice and advise you to seek independent advice from HMRC.

All milestones must have clear deliverables and success criteria. Evidence that these have been achieved must be provided at each quarterly review meeting. The costs for your milestones should be representative of the level of effort required to complete each milestone.

We will not make any advance payments, so you should consider how you will manage your cashflow throughout the life of the project. Agreed milestones will form part of your contract and will be used to monitor the progress of the project.

Full Economic Cost (FEC) calculations are not relevant for Contracts for Innovation competitions. Contracts for Innovation is a competitive process and applications will come from a variety of organisations.

Whatever calculation you use to arrive at your total eligible project costs your application will be assessed against applications from other organisations. Bear this in mind when calculating your total eligible project costs. You can include overheads but remember that this is a competitive process.

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.

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. These cover the technical, industrial, social, economic and market impacts of your project.

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 five independent assessors 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 can find out more about our assessment process in the General Guidance.

Your submitted application will be assessed against these criteria:

Contracts for Innovation ProQure Scaling UK Quantum Computing - Assessor guidance for applicants.pdf (opens in a new window)

Interviews

If your application passes the first stage of assessment, you may be invited to attend an interview, where you must give a presentation. Your interview will take place either online or at a designated location. The interviews will be held between 20 July and 3 August, 2026.

If you require reasonable adjustments for your interview, we recommend you contact us within three working days of receiving your invite 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 interview.

Before the interview and by the deadline stated in the invitation email, you:

• must send a list of who will attend the interview

• must send your interview presentation slides

• can send a written response to the assessors’ feedback

List of attendees

Up to six people from your organisation, including subcontractors if appropriate, can attend. They must all be available on all published interview dates. We are unable to reschedule slots once allocated.

Presentation slides

Your interview presentation must:

• use Microsoft PowerPoint

• be no longer than 40 minutes

• have no more than 20 slides

• not include any video or embedded web links (technical model animations can be included)

You cannot change the presentation after you submit it or bring any additional materials to the interview.

Written response to assessor feedback

This is optional and is an opportunity to answer the assessors’ concerns. It can:

• be up to four A4 pages in a single PDF or Word document

• include charts or diagrams

Interview

After your presentation the panel will spend up to 70 minutes asking questions. You will be expected to answer based on the information you provided in your application form, presentation and the response to feedback.

After your interview

The panellists will individually score your application and these will be averaged for your overall interview score. This score will supersede the one you received from initial assessment unless stated otherwise in the competition brief. We will notify you whether you have been successful or not by email and you will receive feedback on your interview within a week of notification.

Background and further information

About Contracts for Innovation competitions

Contracts for Innovation provides innovative solutions to challenges faced by the public sector. This can lead to better public services and improved efficiency and effectiveness.

The Contracts for Innovation programme:

• supports economic growth and enables the development of innovative products and services through the public procurement of R&D

• generates new business opportunities for companies

• provides a route to market for new ideas

• creates opportunities to work directly with the public sector

Contracts for Innovation competitions are open to all eligible organisations that can demonstrate a route to market for their solution. Developments are 100% funded and focused on specific identified needs, increasing the chance of exploitation.

Contracts for Innovation encourages the creation and protection of new intellectual property (IP). Applicants retain all the rights to both foreground and background IP but will be expected to grant certain royalty-free licences to the funder for use of the foreground IP.

Contracts for Innovation is a procurement of R&D services. If successful, you will receive a contract to deliver the proposed activity. Costs quoted must reflect actual costs at a fair market value and not include profit.

You will be asked to input your milestones with monthly completion dates as part of your application, but payments will only be made quarterly and in arrears for completed milestones. This is in line with standard Innovate UK monitoring.

You must submit invoices for all work undertaken and these must be submitted within 30 days of the end of each quarterly monitoring period for all completed milestones. Any invoices submitted outside of this time may not be paid until the end of the next monitoring period.

You should consider how this may affect your cash flow throughout the project and what impact this could have on your subcontractors.

If you are VAT registered, your total costs are expected to include VAT that you would charge as a service provider. VAT is the responsibility of the invoicing business and applicants should ensure that VAT has been calculated correctly as part of their application. You will need to confirm your VAT status as part of the application process

Note: we are seeing a rise in double counting of VAT during the application process, making some applicants ineligible. To avoid this, it is important you input your costs minus VAT. VAT is added on by us in the Innovation Funding Service (IFS).

Suppliers for each project will be selected by an open competition process and retain the intellectual property generated from the project, with certain rights of use retained by the contracting authority. This is an excellent opportunity to establish an early customer for a new technology and to fund its development.

Broader Information

ProQure - Scaling UK Quantum Computing

Quantum Computing Programme networking event: register to attend

Briefing recording and slides

Briefing recording and slides will be available to download here after the briefing event.

Setting up your project

You will be notified by email on the date published for this competition. Notifications may be sent any time up to 5pm.

You must follow the unique link embedded in your email notification. This takes you to your Innovation Funding Service (IFS) Set Up portal, where we gather the information to set up your project.

You will have 30 days (including weekends and bank holidays) to complete all of your project set up. Within this time, you will also be required to submit:

• project location

• any answers to financial or milestone queries we have requested

• any requested documentation to support your project

Your funding offer may be withdrawn if project setup is not completed within this or an alternative timeframe as advised by Innovate UK.

In order for us to process your invoices, you must make sure you have a valid business bank account. It can take several weeks for a new account to be created if required. We recommend starting this process as early as possible to avoid any delays to your project start date.

The bank account which milestone payments are to be paid into must:

• be a business account in the same name as the organisation listed in IFS

• have a cheque and credit clearing facility

Online accounts are eligible as long as they meet the above criteria. UK bank accounts must be regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). International bank accounts may be subject to additional financial checks.

Your Contract

Once you have successfully completed project setup, we will issue your contract. The contract will be made available on your IFS portal. You will need to sign and upload this for us to approve. The contract is final and the terms are non-negotiable. Once approved we will send you an email with permission to start your project on your confirmed start date.

You must not start your project before the date stated on your email and contract. Any costs incurred before your agreed start date cannot be claimed as part of your project.

Your contract start date is provided in the dates and eligibility sections. This cannot be varied and all contracts must start on that date.

If your application is unsuccessful

If you are unsuccessful with your application this time, you can view feedback from the assessors. This will be available to you on your IFS portal following notification.

Sometimes your application will have scored well, and you will receive positive comments from the assessors. 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.

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 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 and feedback on the application

• information received during the management and administration of the contract, such as Monitoring Service Provider 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.

Further help and guidance

If you want help to find a subcontractor to work with, contact Innovate UK Business Connect.

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).

Note that Innovate UK will be closed from 2 April to 7 April.

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.