Key Features
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £6 million to collaborate on market demonstrator projects showcasing the use and adoption of digital security by design technologies. This funding is from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
Programme: Innovate UK
Award: Share of up to £6 million
Opens: 1st Mar 2021
Closes: 26th May 2021
Overview
ISCF will work with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, to invest £6 million in innovation projects.
The aim of this competition is to develop demonstrators of a product or service in which capability enabled hardware will be used to provide a more secure solution.
‘Capability enabled hardware’ includes security features or safeguards that are built in the processor architecture and hardware system so that it becomes more secure in the face of a range of security vulnerabilities.
The objectives of the competition are to:
Your project must use the DSbD technology platform prototype and specify the quantity of prototype hardware boards that are needed in your demonstrator.
This is phase 1 of a 2-phase competition. Phase 1 is an expression of interest (EoI) for which no funding will be allocated.
The success of phase 1 applications will be subject to the outcome of a scope check, and an interview process involving a panel of experts. Successful applicants in phase 1 will be invited to proceed to phase 2 and apply for funding.
In phase 2 short-listed consortia will be invited to prepare and submit a full project proposal. Phase 2 will involve a portfolio approach for the selection of demonstrator projects.
Scope
The ISCF Digital Security by Design (DSbD) challenge aims to update the digital computing infrastructure by creating a new, more secure hardware and software ‘ecosystem’. These new security capabilities will underpin future digital products and services.
The aim of this competition is to develop demonstrators of a product or service in which DSbD technologies will be used to provide a more secure solution. These demonstrators must showcase DSbD’s new security approach in a vertical industry segment(s) or in applications that may cut across several vertical industry segments.
This approach is expected to increase the breadth of use-cases against which DSbD technologies can be proven and ultimately increase pathways to market adoption and to economic impact.
Industry segments can include:
Your proposal must describe:
Funding Costs
Innovate UK have allocated up to £6 million to fund 2-3 demonstrator projects at the end of this two-phase competition. There is no funding available for this EOI phase.
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.
For industrial research projects, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:
Innovate UK may be in a position to offer higher intervention rates at phase 2.
The research organisations in your consortium undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 50% 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.
The consortium must be appropriately balanced to justify that the objectives and eligibility conditions of the competition are fully met and do not breach subsidy control rules.
Eligibility
Your project must:
If your project’s total eligible costs or duration falls outside of our eligibility criteria, you must provide justification by email to support@innovateuk.ukri.org at least 10 working days before the competition closes. We will decide whether to approve your request.
Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example non-UK businesses. Their costs will not count towards the total eligible project costs. You can include their additional costs and related activities in an appendix to question 4.
Lead organisation
To lead a project your organisation must:
Research organisations cannot lead or work alone.
The lead organisation must show one of the following:
Project team
The project team must consist of at least 2 partners, including the lead organisation.
To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must:
A typical consortium may be constructed with the involvement of:
Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once accepted, partners will be asked to login or to create an account in the Innovation Funding Service.
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 question 4 for why you could not use suppliers from the UK.
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
A UK registered business of any size can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in one further application..
A named individual at any academic institution, RTO, public sector organisation or charity cannot collaborate on more than 2 applications.
Any organisations taking part in 2 applications, as a lead and collaborator or as a collaborator must show that they are working on different topics.
Exclusions
Innovate UK are not funding:
You cannot use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.
Innovate UK will not award you funding if you have:
Call 
Back
