Innovate UK is to invest up to £1 million in collaborative R&D projects to stimulate innovative 5G use cases.

Innovate UK are seeking proposals to develop innovative applications and services that leverage the future 5G infrastructure. In the context of this competition, a service is defined as an application delivered as a service by a communications service provider. Proposals must be collaborative and led by a business. The competition is open to businesses of any size working in tandem with academic or research institutions and/or communications service providers. Public sector organisations and charities involved in research can also participate in this competition. Projects may combine a technical feasibility study and industrial research. Small businesses could receive up to 70% of their eligible project costs, medium-sized businesses 60% and large businesses 50%. We expect projects to range in size from total costs of £150,000 to £220,000, although we may consider projects outside this range. 

Scope

 This competition will fund projects that explore innovative applications or services that leverage the anticipated benefits of 5G. Projects may combine a technical feasibility study and industrial research, but the technical feasibility study must make up at least 50% of the total project costs. The objective of the technical feasibility study should be to analyse and evaluate the potential of these applications or services, objectively assessing their prospects for success under various configurations and conditions, as well as identifying the resources required to carry them through to market. 

Out of scope

 In this competition Innovate UK are not funding projects that cover 5G infrastructure- related technologies.