To lead a project, you can:

• be an organisation of any size, including those based in the EU, EEA or internationally
• work alone or with the subcontracted skills and expertise of others from business, research organisations, research and technology organisations, or the third sector (charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups)

Contracts will be awarded to a single legal entity only. The majority of the project work and key deliverables must be completed by the applicant and be carried out in the UK, and most of the funding spent within the UK. Subcontractors can be used, but only for specialist skills.

Projects must:

• start on 1 February 2027 and end on the 31 January 2028
• last 12 months
• have total costs of between £200,000 and £500,000, inclusive of VAT

The majority of the project work and key deliverables must be completed by the applicant and be carried out in the UK, and most of the funding spent within the UK.

Your application must have at least 50% of the contract value attributed directly and exclusively to R&D services, including solution exploration and design. R&D can also include prototyping and field-testing the product or service. This lets you incorporate the results of your exploration and design and demonstrate that you can produce in quantity to acceptable quality standards.

The aim of this competition is to support organisations to develop practical solutions that reignite the importance of play and increase access to real world play environments and experiences, enhancing the quality and impact of play in improving outcomes for children and young people.

We are seeking evidence informed, innovative solutions that meet one or more of the following criteria:

• leverage play as a mechanism to improve children’s learning, development, health, happiness and wellbeing
• reduce inequalities in access to enriching play experiences and environments
• support families, caregivers, educators and communities to engage in and facilitate play
• strengthen the role of play across home, education, and community environments. There should be a particular focus on opportunities that encourage different types of play, including social, imaginative, constructive, sensory and physically engaging play

We are open to a broad range of projects using intervention programmes or services, behaviour change approaches, new delivery or partnership models, or design led and place based innovations to improve the quality, accessibility and impact of play.

Your projects will need to improve face to face interaction between children, families and communities and increase access to real world play environments and experiences. Your project will need to strengthen the quality and accessibility of play as a pathway to improving measurable child development and learning outcomes.

The definition of play within this competition incorporates what children and young people do when they follow their own ideas, in their own way, and for their own reasons. Play is an activity which is freely chosen, personally directed, and intrinsically motivated. We recognise that it is not just children in the early years who benefit from play, but also older children and teenagers. Therefore, this competition includes children and young people up to the age of 18.

Your project must have:

• a clearly identified target audience with evidenced rationale for why this group has a specific need for the proposed solution
• a clear theory of change, highlighting how the play intervention will lead to improved children’s learning and development outcomes
• a well articulated and feasible delivery model
• a robust monitoring and evaluation plan to measure associated child level outcomes
• strong safeguarding plans and protocols when working with children and families
• established partnerships for effective testing, delivery, spreading, scaling of the solution within the contracted period, where required

Projects funded through this competition must have a clear and credible route to real world use. Applications should demonstrate how the proposed work will move beyond concept development and into delivery, adoption and impact. In particular, applicants must:

• demonstrate a credible and practical route to market, including plans to commercialise or otherwise embed the solution within existing systems or services
• develop a tangible output, such as a product, tool, framework, service model or platform, rather than undertaking purely exploratory or conceptual work
• set out clear plans for delivery and spreading, and scaling, including who the end users are and how they will access or adopt the solution
• show readiness to work with delivery partners, including public services, education or community organisations, where relevant
• commit to working collaboratively with UKRI and Department for Education (DfE) colleagues to support potential adoption, integration and wider take up of the solution following the project

You must define your goals in your application and outline your plan for phase 1. At this stage contracts will only be given for phase 1. In a potential phase 2 we will ask successful applicants from phase 1 to continue the development of their solutions.

Your project will be reviewed internally by the UKRI team before being sent for assessment. Your project may be rejected if you cannot clearly justify how it aligns with the specific themes and how you will achieve measurable child development and educational outcomes.

Note that applications submitted without a clear theory of change will be unable to proceed to assessment.

Your project must focus on one or more of the key themes:

Expanding Access to Play

• reducing structural, environmental or socioeconomic barriers to play
• designing inclusive play opportunities for underserved, disadvantaged or marginalised groups, or those with additional needs or disabilities
• reimagining play in urban, rural, community and outdoor environments, including approaches that increase children’s access to safe and stimulating places, spaces and opportunities for play

Enhancing the Quality of Play Experiences

• developing tools, interventions or environments that promote rich, developmentally appropriate play that includes face to face interaction and social connection
• supporting different types of play including active play, social play, imaginative play, outdoor play, sensory play, exploratory play, age appropriate risk taking play
• creating play opportunities that boost learning and foster creativity, problem solving and emotional development
• placing children and young people at the centre of the design of play spaces and experiences

Empowering Caregivers, Educators and Communities

• building confidence, skills and understanding of the value of play among parents, carers and professionals
• supporting adults to integrate play into everyday interactions and learning, and strengthening relationships between children, families, peers, educators and communities
• strengthening community based approaches to play provision

Play and Key Life Transitions

• supporting play during key developmental stages for example, early years, starting school, adolescence
• addressing disruptions to play during life transitions, for example, family changes, moving schools

Systems and Service Innovation

• integrating play into education, health, and family support services
• developing new delivery models, partnerships or frameworks that embed play in systems or services
• improving cross sector collaboration to support children’s play
• supporting schools, community organisations, local authorities and family services to create indoor and outdoor play friendly environments
• embedding play opportunities within everyday community settings rather than relying on digital engagement tools

We will not fund projects that:

• are not original in scope
• duplicates someone else’s work
• use Artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, including AI companions, AI assistants, AI powered parenting tools, AI generated play experiences or large language model based interventions
• use applications, software platforms or digital products where screen use is the primary mechanism for delivering play
• use mobile apps, online platforms, gamified interventions, virtual worlds or digital reward based systems
• use Augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR) or immersive screen based play experiences
• are primarily focused on increasing children’s or parents interaction with digital devices
• include entertainment technologies whose primary purpose is screen engagement rather than play
• are consumer toys, toy development or toy commercialisation
• are solutions which could reasonably be delivered through existing parent, caregiver or practitioner interactions without requiring technological intervention
• would directly duplicate other UK Government or EU funded initiatives you have already been funded to deliver
• are covered by existing commercial agreements to deliver the proposed solutions
• do not have UK families as direct or indirect beneficiaries
• lack a piloting, delivery or practical intervention component

We recognise that technology may support administration, monitoring, communication, evaluation or operational delivery of a project. However, technology must not be the primary mechanism through which children experience play or by which play is administered.

Innovate UK will hold an online briefing at 10.30am on Monday 21 September: click here for the joining link (Zoom required). A recording and slides will be available afterwards.

If you would like help to find a subcontractor or advice on your application, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Creative Industries team.