Scaling Supply Chains for Quantum Enabled Sensing and PNT

Scaling Supply Chains for Quantum Enabled Sensing and PNT

Funds UK business-led consortia developing supply chains for quantum enabled sensing and positioning, navigation and timing technologies.

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), administers this competition as a collaborative grant under co-funding from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). The total fund is £32.8 million, distributed across multiple collaborative projects. Per-project award minimums and maximums are not published; the £32.8 million is a combined pool for all awards. Projects must develop supply chains for quantum enabled sensing and PNT — the hardware ecosystems, components, and manufacturing processes needed to bring these technologies from lab to commercial scale.

Grant amounts are not individually capped on the competition page. All projects are collaborations: the lead must be a UK registered business of any size, and every consortium must include at least one UK registered micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise (SME) claiming grant funding. Innovate UK competitions typically co-fund eligible project costs; the specific funding rate for this competition is not stated on the source page. Duration and cost-share terms are set out in the full competition guidelines on the Innovation Funding Service portal.

Only UK registered organisations may participate. The lead applicant must be a UK registered business. Non-profits, universities, and research organisations can participate as consortium members but a for-profit business must lead. Applications are collaborative by requirement — single-organisation applications are not accepted. At least one SME must be in the consortium and must claim grant funding.

Applications close on 8 July 2026 at 11:00am UK time via the Innovate UK Innovation Funding Service portal (apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk). Scoring follows Innovate UK's standard merit-review process, which typically assesses business case, technical approach, team capability, and impact. Specific scoring criteria weights for this competition are not published on the source page.

Key caveats: per-project award size is not stated — applicants should consult the full competition brief on the Innovation Funding Service. The competition accepts collaborations only; a single organisation cannot apply. The lead must be a UK registered business, not a university or research body. Consortium formation should be confirmed before applying, as the SME requirement is a hard eligibility gate.