Grants for Development of Solution for Advanced Connectivity Technologies

UK Funding Call: Next-Generation Connectivity

Up to £25 million is available to UK-registered organisations developing next-generation connectivity technologies. The competition is delivered by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), with funding provided by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

The programme is intended to speed up the development, demonstration, and commercial readiness of advanced communications technologies that can improve UK security, resilience, sustainability, and long-term competitiveness.

Projects must align with one of three priority areas:

• Secure and resilient networks
• Sustainable networks
• Sovereign telecoms components and applications

Collaborative R&D proposals are invited. Where relevant, applicants are encouraged to make use of national facilities such as the Catapult Network, EPSRC-funded Federated Connectivity Hubs, and the JOINER testbed.

Funding will depend on the number of high-quality applications received.

Closing date is announced as Wednesday 13 May 2026 11:00am