Semiconductors and components for smart electronic platforms

Overview

Innovate UK is investing up to £18.5 million in collaborative R&D projects to accelerate the development of semiconductor-enabled components for Smart Electronic Platforms.

The competition focuses on reusable hardware subsystems, such as secure processors, AI accelerators, integrated sensors and power management components, that enable automation and autonomy across industrial and tactical environments.

Projects must deliver commercially adoptable components in a consumable format for integration into next generation platforms. AI model development, communications modules and end applications are out of scope.

This is a competitive call with portfolio balancing across technologies and maturity levels.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to drive forward the availability of a UK anchored catalogue of components, ready for integration and delivery into next generation smart electronic platforms. The target sectors for these platforms will be across industrial and tactical edge environments for automation and autonomy.

Smart Electronic Platforms are the integrated printed circuit boards whose purpose is to deliver the automation and autonomy in our modern digital world. These platforms consist of multiple integrated components, that include semiconductors and novel technologies, delivered through a packaged part or for use on a printed circuit board (PCB).

Typical components may include the secured processing and memory components, components for AI acceleration, integrated power management components, integrated sensors or the interfaces to drive actuators. Together they support a Sense, Decide, Act pipeline typical of smart electronic platforms.

Component development within the project may also require software development to enable the use of the developed component within a smart electronic platform.

Projects must ensure these components are made ready for integration into a smart electronic platform’s Sense, Decide, Act pipeline.

Operating environment

Industrial Edge

Refers to high reliability environments such as:

• energy grids

• manufacturing

• critical infrastructure

These are where decisions must be made with energy efficient, low latency and verifiable resilience and security. These environments demand high duty cycle performance and long term reliability.

Tactical Edge

Refers to environments where:

• connectivity is intermittent, contested or denied

• intelligence must be delivered locally

The Tactical Edge requires the delivery of complex, real time processing within the physical and operational boundaries of a platform for example, autonomous vehicle, drone, robot or mobile tactical hub.

Projects must have components that will:

• be ready for integration into a package for example, system in-package, multi-chip modules

• deliver an in-package part ready for integration onto a smart electronic platform

Applications must:

• define a target use case supporting industrial automation or autonomy

• describe what the proposed component is needed for and how it will contribute to the smart electronic platform required in the target use case

• describe why your proposed component USP will address the market need

In addition, your application must:

• describe how the project will increase the integration readiness of the proposed component

• define the reusability approach for the proposed component, including its interfaces and any external dependencies required for integration into a smart electronic platform

• explain how the proposed component can be adopted by a third party for example, system integrator, for subsequent integration into a final product with commercial practices for supply, supportand maintenance

Your project must satisfy the following integration readiness criteria by project completion:

• functional readiness: your project must provide evidence, physical or digital, that the component performs its intended task within the smart electronic platform environment

• interface readiness: the component must meet the reusability requirements needed to connect to the target smart electronic platforms

• consumable format: the component must be delivered in a fixed format, physical or digital, that is ready to be consumed or used by a third party for example, system integrator, for integration into a smart electronic platform

Specific themes

Your project must focus on the development of components ready for integration within smart electronic platforms used in industrial automation and autonomy.

Examples of components across the Sense, Decide, Act pipeline and platform enablement components include the following (non-exhaustive list):

Sense - Sensing components

Components used for providing sensors with the physical world delivered for integration through for example:

• in-package for example, system in-package or multi-chip modules

• placement on the smart electronic platform’s PCB

• as an interface component to connect to an external sensor to the smart electronic platform

Decide - Processing, AI acceleration, storage and memory components

Processing elements tailored for real time analysis, decision making, command and control, including:

• the secure processors and hardware components for AI acceleration

• integrated memories and storage

• integrated communications where the primary purpose is the ‘Decision’ component

Act - Actuation and physical drive components

Component drivers required for off platform actuation and platform power regulation, including:

• integrated processing

• interface units

Platform - Enablement and ancillary components

Components may include:

• components required for in-package and in-platform data movement and routing

• hardware security modules, for example, Root of Trust, eSIM, secure enclaves

• power management and control components which will be integrated in-package or whose primary purpose is to operate on the smart electronic platform

Project duration

Between 12 and 18 months

Must start by 1 August 2026

End by 31 January 2028

Award value

Grant funding request must be between £500,000 and £2 million

Funding rates

For industrial research projects, purposeful research that builds new knowledge and skills to improve or develop products, processes, or services—often through prototypes or system components that validate ideas in realistic settings, you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:

• up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation

• up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation

• up to 50% if you are a large organisation

Research organisations can share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs

Eligibility criteria

• Projects must be collaborative and led by a UK registered business of any size

• Projects must include at least one grant claiming SME  

• Collaborators can be a UK registered business of any size; an academic institution; a charity; a not for profit; a public sector organisation; or a research and technology organisation (RTO)

• Subcontractors must be preferably UK-based with fully justified and appropriate costs  

• All funded project work must be carried out within the UK

• Intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

• Subsidy control and state aid rules apply