Competition Document: Security Open Call 2026 Cycle 1

Key Features

The Security Open Call is one of the funding competition mechanisms UK Defence Innovation uses to find proposals that address security challenges faced by government stakeholders.

Programme:     UKDI

Award:     Share of up to £350,000

Opens: 4th Jan 2027

Closes: 28th Jan 2027

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Grant Overview

The UK Defence Innovation Security Open Call is a funding competition to find proposals that address security challenges faced by government stakeholders.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to strengthen UK security while supporting growth and prosperity across the UK.

The competition has the following Challenge Focus Areas open:

  • Home Office Focus Area
  • National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) Focus Area

If your proposal is relevant to more than one Competition Focus Area, submit a separate Stage 1 proposal for each of them. Full details of the Challenge Areas can be viewed here.

Challenge Areas

UKDI are interested in the following areas:

  • Enhancing secure information sharing and collaboration across policing, government and partner organisations.
  • Developing new approaches to detect, prevent and respond to online harms and technology-enabled crime.
  • Strengthening the UK’s ability to maintain security and resilience in an evolving technological and threat landscape.
  • Improving responses to cyber, hybrid and other high-impact threats through innovative technologies and operational approaches.
  • Increasing the effectiveness of efforts to detect, disrupt and deter organised immigration crime.

Grant Exclusions

UKDI are not interested in the following projects:

  • Projects that directly address other UKDI competitions that are currently running at the point of cycle close
  • Projects that address more than one Competition Focus Area within the same proposal
  • Projects that have a TRL at end of project lower than TRL 6 or higher than TRL 7 or have a starting TRL less than TRL of proposing Testing and Trialling only
  • Projects that exceed the project duration of 12 months (6 months if proposing Testing and Trialling, 18 months in total duration if including Testing and Trialling)
  • Projects that exceed £350,000 in value
  • Projects that address challenges that are not aligned to the specific scope of a Focus Area
  • Projects that constitute consultancy, paper-based studies or literature reviews which just summarise the existing literature without any view of future innovation
  • Projects that are an unsolicited resubmission of a previous UKDI bid
  • Projects that offer demonstrations of off the shelf products requiring no experimental development or offer no real long-term prospect of integration into security capabilities
  • Projects that offer no real prospect of out competing existing technological solutions

Funding Costs

UKDI are funding up to £350,000 for standard projects or up to £150,000 for standalone testing and trialling projects.

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

Full competition details