Overview
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £3 million from Innovate UK to deliver innovative quantum technology projects in collaboration with German partners. The competition aims to strengthen UK–Germany R&D partnerships to accelerate the commercialisation of quantum technologies, with proposals required to demonstrate genuine co-innovation, strong commercial potential, a clear technological challenge, and a global market exploitation plan.
UK businesses must partner with at least one separate, German-registered business applying to the equivalent programme run by the Federal Ministry of Technology, Research and Space (BMFTR). UK applicants apply via the Innovation Funding Service, while German partners apply separately to BMFTR and are funded by the German side. Projects must be independently approved by both Innovate UK and BMFTR to receive funding.
Scope
The aim of this competition is to strengthen collaborative research and development towards commercialising quantum technologies, through German and UK partnerships.
Proposals must plausibly demonstrate co-innovation, high potential for commercialisation, address a technological challenge and global market exploitation plan.
Key themes and topics
The co-innovation project must focus on development, prototyping and testing of commercial quantum technologies in one or more of the following themes:
- technologies, for example, qubit processor, switching, networking or control systems, to scale practical quantum computing
- commercial quantum computing software solutions and services
- industrial products, processes, or services to advance scalable solutions, for example, chip scale quantum, photonic and optoelectronic systems for applied quantum technologies
- quantum sensing for applications such as clocks, industrial instrumentation, clinical devices, imaging, resource mapping, geological or oceanographic survey applications
Projects that will not be funded
- market research, road mapping or landscape studies
Project duration
Between 18 and 24 months
Must start by 1 November 2026
End by 31 October
Award value
Grant funding request of between £750,000 and £1 million allocated to UK organisations
Funding rates
For feasibility studies, which evaluates a project’s potential by uncovering key factors and informing confident, well-founded decisions about moving forward, 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
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
No one country or project partner can represent more than 70% of the total project cost.
Eligibility criteria
- The UK based project co-lead must be an eligible business organisation registered in the UK. The project lead is responsible for managing the entire project.
- The lead applicant, is the organisation that starts the application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS). This must be a UK organisation.
- To lead a collaborative project and start an application on IFS your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.
- You must work with at least one German registered business applying for German Federal Ministry of Technology, Research and Space (BMFTR) funding, which must be a separate legal entity from UK partners.
- UK collaborators can be a UK registered business of any size; an academic institution; or a research and technology organisation (RTO).
- Your Germany based partner will not receive any of this UK competition funding.
- Germany based partners do not need to be invited into Innovate UK’s application on IFS.
- Germany based partners will be funded by the BMFTR programme following a parallel submission and assessment.
- Subcontractors must be preferably UK-based with fully justified and appropriate costs, up to a maximum of 20% of the total eligible costs
- UK project partners must carry out their work in the UK intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
- Subsidy control and state aid rules apply
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