The new Transformative Technologies competition provides up to £20 million in financing to small and micro firms in the UK that have never received money from Innovate UK. With a rapid funding of £25-50k for 3-6 month projects for areas under semiconductors, future telecommunications, artificial intelligence, engineering biology, quantum technology, and sustainable materials & manufacturing. Applications will be accepted until March 29, 2023.
KTN, which was founded by Innovate UK, connects people and businesses to help them realize the full potential of their innovative skills. Its members include major and small businesses, government agencies, public funding groups, universities, and research institutes.
Future innovation communities are what they hope to mold. In order to prepare markets for the global possibilities and challenges that lie ahead, they actively establish communities around emerging breakthroughs and industries.
They have published a list of 32 active postgraduate training centers, including doctorate training centers, doctoral training programs, and training and skills hubs.
The financing will enable small and micro businesses across the UK to hasten the development of the systems, goods, and services that will support the country’s future economic growth.
Quantum Landscape
The UK’s quantum environment is mapped, from education and skills to research and operating enterprises. The Quantum Technologies Innovation Network at KTN recently compiled these capabilities into an interactive, searchable, open-access tool that maps existing firms, publically supported initiatives and research groups, UK national centers, and available postgraduate training programs. The quantum team at KTN hopes this tool will become a reference for quantum capabilities in the UK, allowing users to identify a suitable contact point from academics and/or industry.
The landscape map now includes 204 companies representing quantum technology developers, consultancies, end users, supply chains, and innovation networks.
The map also enables a more precise search based on areas of knowledge and competencies, funded organization, geography, and funding entity type. We’ve also compiled a list of 160 research organizations and universities in the UK, with links to their contact information and research interests.
Quantum Related Projects to look out for
Quantum-enabled positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) systems
The competition aims to produce quantum-enabled systems for PNT and quantum-enabled sensors for navigation applications such as magnetic or gravity field sensors. This is a one-phase competition for quantum-enabled systems and technologies already in advanced development. The proposal must have a realistic commercialization and delivery plan.
The study may specialize in one or more of the following topics: quantum technologies for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) and/or quantum-enabled sensing for navigation applications.
Moreover, the study can involve developing novel quantum-enabled PNT systems by prototyping, showing, piloting, testing, and validating in actual working environments or settings that can be used as significant substitutes. The main goal is to continue technical advancements on quantum-enabled solutions so they can be near deployment at the program’s conclusion and benefit from the acceleration offered by this Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) contract.
Organizations can apply for a share of £25 million, including VAT, to develop quantum-enabled systems for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) and quantum-enabled sensing applications for navigation. Innovate UK is funding this SBRI competition; the project length is up to 18 months, starting on July 01, 2023, to March 31, 2023.
Feasibility Studies in Quantum Computing Applications
UK-based companies can apply for a share of up to £8 million in funding for innovative solutions to industrial challenges utilizing Quantum Computing. The National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) initiative provided the financing. This project is intended for novel approaches to industrial challenges using quantum computing (QC) and research into the impact and viability of such applications.
In addition, the competition aims to bring together end customers from various industry sectors with quantum computing researchers (QC). They will find and build use cases in the UK demonstrating the technology’s potential and commercial benefits. The industry sectors include manufacturing, transport
and financial services.
The project can last up to 18 months, starting from September 2023 up to February 28, 2025.
Learn more about it here.