To lead a project as a solution provider your organisation must be a UK registered:

• micro, small or medium sized enterprise (SME)
• academic institution
• research and technology organisation (RTO)
• community interest company (CIC) or charity

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition. They can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.

Your project must:

• have a grant funding request of up to £25,000
• last for three months
• must end by 31st March 2027

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.

• Challenge launch: 14 May 2026
• Deadline for applications: 25 June 2026
• Selection and notification of finalists: 7 July 2026
• Pitch Day: week commencing: 20 July 2026
• Confirm selected solution provider: 29 July 2026
• Submission to Innovation Funding Service (IFS): 4 August 2026
• Project length: projects must be completed in 3 months
• Start date: Not start before 1 June 2026

Successful applicants will be given an opportunity to pitch to Challenge Holder. The winning applicant, as selected by the company, will then be eligible to apply for a project that has a grant funding request of up to £25,000 to kickstart the development of the proposed solution through a 3-month project. Selected solutions will be trialled by the Challenge Holder with potential for further adoption if trials are successful.

Existing background IP associated with a potential solution will remain with Solution Provider(s). Where any new IP generation is envisaged, it will be subject to the mutual IP agreement of the solution provider(s) and challenge holder.

Any commercial deployment of a transferred solution or newly developed solution, through licensing, joint venture, partnership, or direct investment, will be subject to the commercial agreement between the solution provider(s) and challenge holder.

Where necessary, a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) may be signed to uphold confidentiality in the engagement between the solution provider(s) and challenge holder. (This would be expected to be after company selection, it is suggested that details of IP be not disclosed, focus on the outcomes of the technology proposed).

Innovate UK and Innovate UK Business Connect do not take any share of IP ownership or enter commercial ventures through the iX programme.

Functional requirements

The solution must / should:

• Be a site-level, behind-the-meter solution (i.e., implemented within the customer’s electrical system rather than on the distribution network).
• Improve ride-through / tolerance to grid voltage excursions (including very short events, down to ~200 milliseconds) to reduce the likelihood of protection trips and process shutdowns.
• Work within existing site constraints, including equipment protection settings/tolerances defined by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and any third-party ‘over-the-fence’ operated assets where settings are not under the challenge holder’s direct control.
• Be compatible with the site’s NGED grid connection parameters (including maintaining supply within the connection agreement tolerance band).
• Support a cost-effective implementation pathway, including an options appraisal and recommendation.
• Be deliverable as a focused feasibility/definition and pilot or demonstration plan within the 3-month, up to £25,000 funded project scope.

Be designed so their effectiveness is not dependent on, or undermined by, any future grid-side network mitigation.

Technical requirements

The solution must/should:

• Be suitable for managing voltage excursion events, including very short-duration events (to be defined and agreed with the challenge holder), and demonstrate the expected performance envelope (e.g., voltage ranges and durations it can tolerate without triggering trips).
• Define how the solution interacts with existing protection systems and controls, including any interfaces to site electrical distribution, PLC/SCADA, or protection relays (monitoring, alarms, event logs), without requiring changes to OEM-set protection settings for major assets.
• Specify data and inputs required to design/validate the approach (e.g., disturbance waveform/event logs, single line diagram, protection settings available to the site, critical load profiles), and the minimum monitoring/data quality needed during the project.
• Describe physical and electrical integration requirements (e.g., point of connection, footprint, auxiliary power, earthing, isolation, bypass arrangements) and any site outage requirements for installation or testing.

Demonstrate a safe and compliant design approach, including relevant UK electrical standards and the intended method for risk assessment and commissioning.

Operating conditions

The solution must/should:

• Be suitable for continuous operation in an industrial environment and capable of operating reliably during normal site operations.
• Be non-invasive where possible, with minimal disruption to critical operations during installation, integration, commissioning, and testing. Any required outages or operational impacts should be clearly defined and justified).
• Be compatible with existing site safety and access constraints (e.g., permit-to-work, site inductions, restricted areas) and designed for safe maintenance/inspection once installed.
• Tolerate typical industrial environmental conditions in plant/electrical rooms (e.g., temperature variation, dust, vibration, and electromagnetic interference) with appropriate enclosure/ingress protection where required.
• Operate alongside existing on-site generation and switching arrangements without introducing new stability or power quality issues.
• Include a practical monitoring and support approach for the pilot period (e.g., remote monitoring where permitted, event capture, clear fault/alarm reporting, and a named technical contact).

The application form for this challenge will require applicants to provide company information and answer 3 questions – Idea Summary, Technology Readiness and Intellectual Property – each with a limit of 300 words.

Additionally, the following documents must be attached for your application to be considered:

• Project plan
• Project costings – only eligible costs will be funded, please read the Innovate UK Costs guidance for further information

We recommend that you complete the application form in Google Chrome as other browsers may have compatibility issues. The application form does not need to be completed in one session and can be saved for future edits. Please ensure that you toggle “Stage Complete” for each section before submission. Note that you will no longer be able to edit your application once you have clicked “Submit Idea” at the bottom of the Summary page.