Entrants to this competition must be:

• established businesses, academic institutions, start-ups, SMEs, or individual entrepreneurs
• UK based or have the intention to set up a UK base

Applications will be assessed on:

• relevance to the defined challenge
• benefit of implementation
• feasibility/economic viability
• innovative nature
• ability to launch in line with expected timescales
• credibility of applicant company
• coherence of the proposed business model
• development potential
• maturity of the solution
• suitability for the intended geographic market

• Launch of the competition: 20 October 2026
• Deadline for applications: 1 December 2026
• Selection and notification of finalists: w/c 11 January 2027
• Pitch Day: w/c 1 February 2027

Successful applicants will have the opportunity to pitch to Cadent. However, capability to service the French and other European markets will be of benefit to our overseas collaborators. Selected organisations may receive feedback and participate in structured technical discussions, workshops or trial-design activity. Their solutions may be considered for future Cadent innovation projects or relevant NIA, SIF or other funding opportunities, subject to governance, funding, procurement and business-case approval.

The benefits package for a successful applicant may include:

• support from Innovate UK Business Connect
• support in the development of a prototype or pilot
• technical support
• invitation to attend or present at Innovate UK Business Connect events
• a potential business collaboration
• investor introductions (if investment is required)
• support if any Innovate UK or similar competitions are relevant

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.

Respondents are required to declare the extent of IP ownership in their proposal, clearing stating if it is their own or licenced from another party.

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 should:

• enable authorised parties to update the controller remotely when electricity or gas tariffs change – including tariff values, schedules and associated control parameters – without requiring a site visit, which must then use the updated information for optimisation across static, time-of-use, dynamic and half-hourly tariffs
• switch intelligently between the heat pump, boiler or combined operation
• support secure remote switching and remote configuration by authorised parties, while maintaining appropriate access controls and customer safeguards
• optimise customer costs
• protect space-heating comfort, minimum temperatures, hot-water needs and reasonable response times
• provide a simple and safe customer override
• maintain reliable heating if data feeds, communications or optimisation inputs fail
• integrate relevant tariff, consumption, device, temperature and weather data and, where appropriate, occupancy, carbon, network or flexibility signals
• support performance monitoring, energy reporting and switching-event logging
• be usable by customers who may need additional support or have limited digital confidence

Technical requirements

Applicants should provide information on:

• the hardware, software, control architecture, data inputs and outputs, and communications requirements
• compatibility with UK heat pumps, boilers, smart meters, thermostats, sensors, home energy-management platforms and relevant protocols
• any reliance on smart meters, consumer access devices, home area networks, cloud platforms, supplier data or third-party APIs
• fail-safe operation, installation, maintenance and support requirements
• cyber security controls, certifications or roadmap, including secure development, access control, encryption and incident response
• compliance with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, including what personal data is required, how it is processed and stored, who can access it, and how it is protected, deleted or anonymised
• existing trial or deployment evidence, constraints, assumptions and readiness for a future UK field trial

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.

Optionally, up to 3 supporting documents can be attached to the application. We recommend that supporting documents are limited to those which are directly relevant to the application. Please note that applications with no supporting document will not receive any penalty in assessment. Supporting documents which the Assessment Panel deems to be superfluous may be disregarded. Examples of useful additional documents include product images or short specification sheets, slide decks detailing the solution and/or company background, or solution case studies.

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.