Contracts for Innovation: Net Zero Living Tech Trials, phase 3

To lead a project, you can:

• be an organisation of any size
• 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. Subcontractors can be used, but only for specialist skills.

Projects must:

• start on 1 September 2025
• end by 30 June 2026
• last between 8 and 10 months
• have total costs of between £75,000 and £100,000, inclusive of VAT

Your application must have at least 50% of the contract value attributed directly and exclusively to R&D services, including solution exploration and design.

The aim of this competition is to conduct extended field trials to evaluate and enhance any emerging technological solution focused on helping Local Authorities in the UK meet their net zero ambitions.

This will lead to insight and feedback from future users and customers to make final adjustments to the product or service, that will lead to successful commercialisation.

In this Phase 3 you must further develop your existing pre-commercial innovation, deploying, testing and iterating in a real world or representative environment. You must work closely with potential users and customers, conducting the R&D to progress your project toward commercialisation.

Your potential users and customers can claim funding support to facilitate their involvement in the project. Applications will be evaluated on the level of commitment to the project and the solution demonstrated by the Local Authority partner or partners. The strongest applications would likely be able to highlight the authority’s intention to procure the solution if it can be shown to be effective. During the project all Local Authority partners should work to develop a business case to procure the solution after the project concludes.

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 can focus on any area of net zero recognised as a priority by your collaborating Local Authority potential customers.

We will not fund projects that:

• are not original in scope and duplicates someone else’s work
• do not have an existing net zero innovation with a demonstrable need for real world research and testing ahead of commercialisation
• do not demonstrate the full engagement and support of at least one Local Authority as a potential future customer
• do not propose to work directly with potential future users to enhance the innovation based on their feedback
• result in a significant negative overall environmental impact
• have existing commercial agreements to deliver the proposed solutions

An online briefing will be held on Friday 23 May at 2pm: click here to register for a place.

If you want help to find an organisation to work with, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Net Zero team or our Place team.