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
• end by 31 March 2027
• last 2 months
• have total eligible project costs of between £40,000 and £80,000, inclusive of VAT

As part of this competition, you will be expected to bring your solution to a UK-based test facility across a maximum of four days through March 2027. During this, your solutions will be independently tested and validated across a set criteria.

Your proposed project’s costings must include your travel and subsistence to attend these test days to provide handover, set-up and other solution specific support that may be required during the assessment. We will confirm these dates by the start of your project.

The aim of the competition is to demonstrate and test an innovative, high technology readiness level (TRL), low cost, counter uncrewed aerial system (C-UAS) that can detect and track uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) to deter or defeat drone flights within UK prison estates.

As per The Air Navigation (Restriction of Flying) (Prisons and Young Offender Institutions) (England and Wales) Regulations 2023, it is an offence to fly drones within 400 metres of prisons and young offender institutions.

The successful solution will autonomously detect and track a wide range of UAVs as, or shortly before, they cross the prison estate perimeter. It will provide real time alerts to prison staff, notifying them to the presence of such UAVs.

Solutions must adopt Sensing for Asset Protection with Integrated Electronic Networked Technology (SAPIENT) architecture and connectivity to enable interoperability with a range of external sensors and non-kinetic effector countermeasure modules. SAPIENT is a Ministry of Defence (MOD) owned, open architecture that specifies the standards and protocols to enable multi-sensor fusion and management. The SAPIENT interface control document is freely available as British Standards Institute (BSI) Flex 335.

We particularly encourage solutions which can identify the drone type, where possible and solutions which have their own integrated non-kinetic effector countermeasures.

Successful applicants will propose solutions that will be affordable to purchase and operate, and will provide a robust, representative, working prototype by the end of February 2027, fit for independent test and evaluation trials planned for March 2027 (see below).

You must demonstrate a credible and practical route to market, so your application must include a plan to commercialise your results.

Contracts will be given to successful applicants.

Your project must:

• require minimal training and little or no intervention from prison staff to operate
• be capable of detecting and tracking a wide range of UAVs
• be easily installed and rapidly deployable
• have a high detection success rate and very low false detection rate
• be capable of detecting two, or more, drones in flight, simultaneously
• provide a means of alerting prison staff to the presence of drone flights
• be of rugged construction, able to reasonably withstand UK weather extremes and be resistant to casual vandalism or sabotage
• not interfere with legitimate communications equipment used within prisons and with limited collateral intrusion outside of the prison estate perimeter
• be compatible with SAPIENT architecture to facilitate wide interoperability
• adopt a modular approach such that it can be scaled to function within small and large prison estates
• be easily upgradable to keep pace with technology developments
• deliver a representative working prototype fit for assessment by March 2027
• be at a TRL of 6 or above, in line with UKRI definitions
• be supported by operating instructions and documented specifications
• be able to be used in a range of prison environments
• locally record date and timestamps of all drone detections, regardless of interception

Your project can:

• incorporate non-kinetic effector countermeasures to safely defeat UAV flights
• where possible, provide a means of identifying detected drones

As part of this competition, you will be expected to bring your solution to a UK-based test facility across a maximum of four days through March 2027. During this, your solutions will be independently tested and validated across a set criteria.

Your proposed projects costings must include your travel and subsistence to attend these test days to provide handover, set-up and other solution specific support that may be required during the assessment. We will confirm these dates by the start of your project.

Applicants are expected to have conducted their own self verification testing in advance of their March test date deadline to verify their innovation and to confirm correct and reliable functionality. Developers are also responsible for ensuring compliance with relevant standards, for example, Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC), electrical safety, ingress protection. This list is not exhaustive. Developers must also support our independent test partner, as required, throughout March’s test and evaluation.

In addition, the R&D Missions Accelerator Programme (R&D MAP) Safer Streets Mission will organise a final showcase event in April 2027. If you are successful, you may be required to demonstrate your solution to a closed cohort of government representatives. You must attend this event if your application is successful in receiving funding from this competition, and you are asked to participate. Further details will be shared nearer the time.

Your milestone payments must reflect both the development and self verification period throughout February and your ability to commit to and complete the testing and evaluation period within March.

We will not fund projects that:

• are not original in scope and duplicates someone else’s work
• focus solely on radio frequency detection solutions
• are not autonomous in operation
• have technologies below technology readiness level (TRL) 6
• use any form of kinetic defence mechanism for the countermeasure
• are overly complex to set up, install, maintain and calibrate

Innovate UK will hold an online briefing event on Monday 5 October at 11am: click here for the joining link (Zoom).
Briefing slides will be available to download from supporting information after the event.

If you want help to find an organisation to work with, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Security & Defence team.