Funding Competition: Europe Quantum Technology CR&D 2024 – UK

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £3 million in collaborative research and innovation projects. This programme is funded by the UK Government’s International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF). ISPF is managed by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and is delivered by a consortium of the UK’s leading research and innovation bodies, including UKRI. The £337 million fund supports collaboration between UK researchers and innovators, and their peers around the world, on the major themes of our time: planet, health, technology and talent.

The aim of this competition is to facilitate collaboration between the UK and international organisations, and in particular entities in the EU, in order to accelerate research and innovation in quantum technologies and remove technological and market barriers to their successful commercialisation and adoption in the UK and internationally.

UK registered businesses must collaborate with at least one non-linked registered organisation from a European Union Member State. You may also invite organisations from other countries to join your project. UK registered organisations must apply through the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) portal to Innovate UK. Your international partner will not receive any funding from Innovate UK.

Your project must demonstrate:

• a clear game-changing or disruptive innovative idea leading to new products, processes or services
• a strong and deliverable business proposal within your application that addresses and documents, market potential and needs
• sound, practical financial plans and timelines
• good value for money
• how you intend to deliver significant economic impact, return on investment (ROI) and growth through commercialisation, within two to three years of project completion
• clear potential to significantly benefit the UK economy or national productivity
• the benefit of participants from the countries working together and how this adds value
• a clear definition of where intellectual property (IP) can be used and shared between the participants and countries
• a clear route to market within two to three years of project completion

Specific Themes

Your project must focus on one or more of the following:

• quantum sensing for applications such as industrial instrumentation, clinical devices, imaging, resource mapping, geological or oceanographic survey
• industrial products, processes, or services to advance scalable solutions such as chip scale quantum, photonic and optoelectronic systems for applied quantum technologies
• technologies for scaling quantum compute, for example, but not limited to, qubit processor, switching, networking, control systems, cryogenics

Project Size

• UK partners grant funding request can be up to £600,000 per project.

Projects they will not fund

They cannot fund projects that:

• depend on export performance, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country
• depend on domestic inputs usage, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product
• work on non-civilian applications
• are not in scope
• do not meet Innovate UK’s eligibility criteria
• do not submit all mandatory documentation

Who can apply?

• Your project
  • Your project must:
    • start by 1 December 2024
    • end by 31 May 2026
    • last between 12 and 18 months
  • To be eligible for grant funding from Innovate UK you must:
    • include at least one UK registered SME
    • be collaborating with at least one European Union Member State-registered organisation of any size
  • You may choose to invite organisations from other countries outside of the European Union Member States.
  • UK project partners must carry out the majority of their project work in the UK and intend to exploit the results from or in the UK and the European Union.
  • The consortium must include at least one business registered in a European Union Member State that is a separate legal entity and not linked to the UK partners. This is to ensure that projects encourage genuine international collaboration, not internal company research. Linked companies are considered a single entity under the parent company.
  • Your project must demonstrate a balanced technological contribution by the participants from both countries and must be equally significant to all participants.
• UK lead applicant
  • To start an application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS), your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.
  • To be eligible to claim grant funding from Innovate UK your collaboration must:
    • be or involve at least one grant claiming micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
    • collaborate with at least one European Union Member State registered organisation, which must be a separate legal entity, not linked to the UK partners
  • You may choose to invite organisations from other countries outside of the European Union Member States.
• UK Project team
  • To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:
    • business of any size
    • academic institution
    • charity
    • not for profit
    • public sector organisation
    • research and technology organisation (RTO)
  • Only UK registered partners must be listed in the Project Partner section of your application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS).
• Non-funded partners
  • Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding. Their costs will count towards the total project costs.
• International partners
  • International partners do not need to be invited into Innovate UK’s application on the Innovation Funding Service.
• Subcontractors
  • Subcontractors are allowed in this competition, but they are limited to no more than 20% of the total eligible costs of the UK participation.
  • Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.
  • You can use subcontractors from other countries but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use suppliers from the countries providing grant funding for the project.
  • All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.
• Number of applications
  • A UK registered business can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in two further applications.
  • If an organisation is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications.

For more information, visit Innovate UK.