Key Features
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £7.6 million to enable career and growth opportunities in the tech sector. This funding is from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
Programme: Innovate UK
Award: Share of up to £7.6 million
Opens: 4th Feb 2026
Closes: 18th Mar 2026
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will work with Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to invest up to £7.6 million in innovation projects. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received.
These will be for collaborative projects to resolve the barriers for tech talent across the UK to access entry level roles in frontier technology sectors. This competition is part of the TechFirst programme.
The aim of this competition is to develop impactful local initiatives that enable tech talent to secure entry level tech jobs by bridging the gap between training and employment.
Your project must:
See the Support Information section for more details.
The six frontier technology sectors are:
The lead organisation must have a physical presence and be already operating in the geographical area where the project is going to be delivered.
The specific geographical areas are:
For the purpose of this competition, a physical presence is defined as having one or more of the following in the region:
Your project can:
See the Support Information section for more details.
We welcome applications that include intensive employer engagement and solutions that go beyond simple signposting.
We will prioritise applications that support women into the tech workforce of the six frontier technologies listed.
Portfolio approach
We want to fund a variety of projects across different geographical areas, technologies, markets, technological maturities and costs. We call this a portfolio approach.
Your project can focus on the following:
Your project must:
Any funded organisation needs to carry out their project work in the UK and must intend to exploit the project 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 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. For specific guidance, see the eligibility section in this competition.
Lead organisation
To lead a collaborative project your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size, a Research and Technology Organisation (RTO), charity, not for profit or public sector organisation.
Local Authorities cannot lead.
More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.
Project team
To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:
Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once partners have accepted the invitation, they will be asked to login or to create an account in the IFS. They are responsible for entering their own project costs in the application.
To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and at least one other organisation must:
Non-funded partners
Your project can include organisations who do not claim any funding for their work on the project. Their costs will be covered from their own resources. These 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 the results outside the UK.
Where non-funded partners have been invited to the application on IFS, their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs.
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 provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.
All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs.
Number of applications
A business, research and technology organisation (RTO), charity, not for profit or public sector organisation can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in a further two applications.
If an organisation is not leading any application, it can collaborate in two applications.
Local authorities cannot lead an application but can collaborate in any number of applications.
If these limits are exceeded, applications will be made ineligible. Where an organisation appears on more applications than permitted, only the first eligible applications submitted will be considered.
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.
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.
You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.
We are not funding projects that:
We cannot fund projects that are:
Up to £7.6 million 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.
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.
For industrial research you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:
Category 2 Industrial research projects
Funding available for your eligible project costs of:
Streamline Scheme Information
This scheme supports research or critical investigation to gain new knowledge and skills. The aim is to develop new products, processes or services.
It can also fund projects that make a significant improvement to existing products, processes or services.
This includes digital products, processes or services in any technology, industry or sector. Examples include:
For more information on company sizes, refer to the company accounts guidance.
If you are applying for an award funded under State aid 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.
Research participation
The research organisations 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. Of that 50% you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:
Eligibility criteria for claiming 80% of FEC funding
To find out more see our: Cost Guidance for Academics.
Book an appointment to speak to one of our advisors to discuss your eligibility to apply for this Grant Funding opportunity.
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