Contracts for Innovation: Advanced Connectivity Technologies (ACT) – Call 1 – Competition Briefing

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will invest up to £15 million in this Contracts for Innovation competition to grow a strong UK Advanced Connectivity Technologies (ACT) ecosystem of UK and international companies that attract private investment.
When

08/04/2026 10.00 - 11.30
Register for this event

Join our competition briefing on 8 April to learn more about the opportunity, eligibility and full scope, and have the chance to ask the team any questions you may have.

UK registered organisations can apply to this challenge to develop near term, testable solutions that advance the UK’s Secure & Resilient and Sustainable Network Grand Challenges through deployable prototypes on UK testbeds. This competition is funded by Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

 

Competition details

This competition is part of the ACT R&D Programme, announced in the Digital and Technologies Sector Plan under the UK’s Industrial Strategy.

The ACT R&D Programme is a key part of delivering this ambition and it will use a range of interventions to:

  • support the UK’s world leading academic research base and keep the UK at the forefront of ACT research
  • provide early stage, pre-commercial funding to help move ideas from research towards commercial viability
  • support challenge focused solution development so government funding tackles real world needs, drawing on UK industry expertise and investment to develop ACT products and services
  • support the growth and scale up of industrial solutions by helping UK SMEs attract private capital and expand the UK’s global ACT footprint.

Where relevant it is recommended that projects will utilise the national labs and facilities that are available and relevant to the projects. This includes, but is not limited to the Catapult Network and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funded Future Connectivity Hubs and the Joint Open Infrastructure for Networks Research (JOINER) testbed.

Learn more about the competition and read the full brief here.

We warmly recommend attending the briefing event to explore the full details of the competition, and learn more about the scope and eligibility of this opportunity.

Accessibility and Inclusion

We are committed to ensuring our events are accessible for all.

If you experience any barriers to registering, for any reason, please contact us by email: enquiries@iukbc.org.uk or phone: +44 03333 403250 and we will support your registration.

Programme

This Event is part of Contracts for Innovation.

Enabling innovators to work directly with the public sector to develop new technologies and processes.

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