Accelerating adoption of quantum enabled sensing and PNT

Key Features

UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £14.3 million to accelerate the adoption of quantum enabled position, navigation, and timing (PNT) and sensing technologies by addressing specific technical and commercial barriers.

Programme:     Innovate UK

Award:     Share of up to £14.3 million

Opens: 4th Aug 2026

Closes: 16th Sep 2026

TBAT

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Grant Overview

Innovate UK is investing up to £14.3 million from UKRI to accelerate the adoption of quantum enabled position, navigation, and timing and sensing technologies.

Grant Scope

The aim of this competition is to accelerate the adoption of quantum enabled position, navigation and timing and sensing technologies by addressing specific technical and commercial barriers.

Projects must focus on one of the following specific themes:

  • Quantum enabled sensing for healthcare
  • Quantum enabled PNT
  • Quantum enabled sensing for transport, telecoms, energy or defence

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for this competition, your project must have a grant funding request of between £1 million and £3 million. Projects must start by 1st December 2026 and end by 30th November 2028 and last between 12 and 24 months.

Lead Organisation: To lead a collaborative project your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size. Consortiums must contain at least one UK registered micro, small or medium sized enterprise claiming grant funding on this application. Academic institutions cannot lead.

Project team: To collaborate with the lead, organisations must be a UK registered business of any size, academic institution, charity, not for profit, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation. Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service by the lead to collaborate on a project.

Non-funded partners: Projects can include organisations that do not claim funding for their work on the project. These costs must be covered by their own resources and can include UK, EU and other non-UK organisations. Non-UK partners are permitted to carry out project work from within their home countries and exploit results outside the UK.

Subcontractors: Subcontractors are allowed in this competition and can be from anywhere in the UK. Overseas subcontractors can be used, but you must state why UK subcontractors could not be used in your application.

Number of applications: Business can only lead on one application. If leading an application, eligible organisations can be included as a collaborator in two further applications. If not leading an application, eligible organisations can collaborate in any number of applications. If you submit more than one application, you must calculate funding awarded for projects that are for the same or similar activities. The total must not exceed £3 million.

Previous applications: Previously submitted applications can be used in this competition.

Grant Exclusions

The following projects will not be funded:

  • Projects that do not aim to accelerate adoption of quantum technologies
  • Projects that do not identify specific barriers to adoption for a specific use case
  • Projects that do not focus on specific quantum enabled sensing or PNT technology
  • Projects that are not in original scope or duplicate someone else’s work
  • Projects that are not covered by existing commercial arrangements
  • Projects that do not use second generation quantum technologies

Grant Funding

Innovate UK has allocated up to £14.3 million to fund innovation projects in this competition. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

Under the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Route rules, no more than £3 million can be awarded in the form of a grant to any one enterprise in any one competition for projects that are for the same or substantially the same activities or purpose within the last three financial years.

You can claim up to £3 million per project where each project is materially different.

If your organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically but for the purpose of this project will be undertaking commercial or economic activity.

Category 2: Industrial research projects

For industrial research you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:

  • up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
  • up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation
  • up to 50% if you are a large organisation

Research participation

The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them. Of that 30% you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:

  • 100% of your eligible project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not for profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation
  • 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you an academic institution

Eligibility criteria for claiming 80% of FEC funding

  1. Research organisations must use the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) method as the Je-S form has now been decommissioned.
  2. We pay 100% of the 80% Full Economic Cost (FEC). On IFS only enter the 80% being claimed.

For further information on this competition, please see full details.

Full competition details

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Book an appointment to speak to one of our advisors to discuss your eligibility to apply for this Grant Funding opportunity.