Funding competition UK Canada Quantum Technology Programme CR&D competition

UK businesses with Canadian partners can apply for a share of up to £2 million from Innovate UK for collaborative research and development projects

This competition is now closed.

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Competition sections

Description

NSERC, the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, will work with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, to invest up to £2 million in innovation projects. These will be to advance the development and application of quantum technologies.

The aim of this competition is to enable bilateral collaboration between UK and Canada. Your proposal must include at least one UK and one Canadian partner. In the UK collaborations must be led by a business, and in Canada by an RTO or university.

Canadian project team member organisations will be governed by NSERC's rules.

The competition closes at 5pm UK time on the deadline stated.

Funding type

Grant

Project size

The maximum grant available is £300,000.

Who can apply

State aid

Any UK business claiming funding must be eligible to receive State aid at the time we confirm you will be awarded funding. It is not possible to award grant funding to organisations meeting the condition known as undertakings in difficulty. If you are unsure please take legal advice. For further information see our general guidance on state aid.

Your project

Your project must:

  • start by 1 April 2021
  • end by 31 March 2024
  • last between 12 and 36 months
  • benefit the UK and Canada

If your project’s total eligible costs or duration falls outside of our eligibility criteria, or if a UK research and technology organisation (RTO) wishes to lead you must provide justification by email to support@innovateuk.ukri.org at least 10 working days before the competition closes. We will decide whether to approve your request.

UK lead organisation

To lead a project your organisation must:

  • be a UK registered business of any size
  • collaborate with other UK registered businesses, research organisations, public sector organisations or charities
  • involve a Canadian university research partner
  • carry out the majority of its project work in the UK
  • intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

The majority of work undertaken by each partner should occur in their home country.

No one country and/or organisation can represent more than 75% of the total project cost.

If the lead organisation is an RTO it must collaborate with 2 businesses (one SME, and one business of any size).

UK academic institutions cannot lead or work alone.

Find out which definition your organisation falls into.

Project team

To collaborate with the lead, a UK project organisation must:

  • be a UK registered business, academic institution, charity, not-for-profit, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation (RTO)
  • carry out the majority of its project work in the UK
  • intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
  • be invited by the lead organisation

The lead must claim funding by entering their costs into the Innovation Funding Service.

Canadian project team members will be governed by NSERC's rules. Canadian leads must submit a parallel application to NSERC on their online system by 8pm EST time on 29 July.

Each partner organisation must be invited into IFS by the lead to collaborate on a project. UK partners must enter their own project costs into IFS.

Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example non-UK businesses. Their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs.

Subcontractors

Subcontractors working for UK applicants are allowed in this competition. Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK/European Economic Area (EEA).

We expect subcontractor costs to be justified and they must not exceed 20% of total project costs.

Multiple applications

When a business or RTO leads on an application it can collaborate in a further 2 applications.

If a business is not leading any application, it can collaborate in up to 3 applications.

If an RTO is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications.

An academic institution can collaborate on any number of applications.

Previous applications

Resubmissions

You can use a resubmission to apply for this competition.

Failure to exploit

If you applied to a previous competition as the lead or sole organisation and were awarded funding by Innovate UK or UK Research and Innovation, but did not make a substantial effort to exploit that award, we will award no more funding to you, in this or any other competition. You will not be able to contest our decision. We will:

  • assess your efforts in the previous competition against your exploitation plan for that project
  • review the monitoring officers’ reports and any other relevant sources for evidence
  • document our decision, which will be made by 3 team members, and communicate it to you in writing

Previous projects

Under the terms of Innovate UK funding, you must submit an independent accountant’s report (IAR) with your final claim. If you or any organisation in your consortium failed to submit an IAR on a previous project, we will not award funding to you in this or any other competition until we have received the documents.

Funding

Innovate UK have allocated up to £2 million for UK applicants to fund innovation projects in this competition. NSERC have allocated c$4 million for Canadian applicants.

If your organisation’s work on the project is mostly commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically.

For industrial research projects, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:

  • up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisations
  • up to 60% if you are a medium-sized organisations
  • up to 50% if you are a large organisation

The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 50% of the total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them.

This competition provides State aid funding under article 25, ’Aid for Research and Development Projects’, of the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER). It is your responsibility to make sure your organisation is eligible to receive state aid.

Your proposal

The aim of this competition is to develop new knowledge and skills for developing new products, processes or services and bringing about a significant improvement in existing products, processes or services in the quantum technology sector in the UK and Canada.

Projects must advance the development and application of quantum technologies and build on existing strengths in quantum technology in the UK and Canada.

Your project must:

  • increase UK-Canada collaboration in quantum technology
  • increase the end-use potential of quantum technologies for both the Canadian and UK private, public or not-for-profit sector partners
  • generate economic benefits for the UK and Canada
  • enhance the innovative capacity of the participants
  • add value through the international collaboration
  • exploit second generation quantum techniques

Second generation quantum techniques are defined as the generation or coherent control and manipulation of quantum states, resulting in superposition and entanglement (single photon generation or detection and quantum computing are in scope).

The project must describe how project metrics will be collected. Such metrics must include:

  • investment in addition to the project partner matched funding
  • capital investment

The project must address at least one of the following:

  • quantum secure communications
  • quantum computing and simulation
  • quantum sensing and imaging

We want to fund a portfolio of projects, across a variety of technologies, markets, technological maturities and research categories.

Specific themes

We particularly encourage applications that:

  • build new, sustainable, collaborations in quantum technology between the UK and Canada or nurture existing collaborations
  • exploit existing research and industrial strength in quantum technology in the UK and Canada

Research categories

We will fund industrial research projects, as defined in the guidance on categories of research.

Projects we will not fund

We are not funding projects without both a UK and Canadian partner.

15 June 2020
Competition opens
22 June 2020
Online briefing event
29 July 2020 5:00pm
Competition closes
16 October 2020 3:51pm
Applicants notified

Before you start

You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.

Innovate UK is unable to award grant funding to organisations meeting the condition known as undertakings in difficulty.

What we ask you

The application is split into 3 sections:

  1. Project details.
  2. Application questions.
  3. Finances.

1. Project details

This section provides background for the assessors and is not scored.

Project summary

Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign experts to assess your application.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Public description

Describe your project in detail, and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This could happen before you start your project.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Scope

Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition. If your project is not in scope it will not be eligible for funding. Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

2. Application questions

The assessors will score your answers. You will receive feedback from them for each one.

Your answer to each question can be up to 400 words long. Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers.

Question 1. Need or challenge

What is the business need, technological challenge or market opportunity behind your innovation?

Describe or explain:

  • the main motivation for the project
  • the business need, technological challenge or market opportunity
  • the nearest current state-of-the-art, including those near market or in development, and its limitations
  • any work you have already done to respond to this need, for example if the project focuses on developing an existing capability or building a new one
  • the wider economic, social, environmental, cultural or political challenges which are influential in creating the opportunity, such as incoming regulations, using our Horizons tool if appropriate.

Question 2. Approach and innovation

What approach will you take and where will the focus of the innovation be?

Describe or explain:

  • how you will respond to the need, challenge or opportunity identified
  • how you will improve on the nearest current state-of-the-art identified
  • whether the innovation will focus on the application of existing technologies in new areas, the development of new technologies for existing areas or a totally disruptive approach
  • the freedom you have to operate
  • how this project fits with your current product, service lines or offerings
  • how it will make you more competitive
  • the nature of the outputs you expect from the project (for example report, demonstrator, know-how, new process, product or service design) and how these will help you to target the need, challenge or opportunity identified

You can submit one appendix. It can include diagrams and charts. It must be a PDF and can be up to 2 A4 pages long. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 3. Team and resources

Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Describe or explain:

  • the roles, skills and experience of all members of the project team that are relevant to the approach you will be taking
  • the resources, equipment and facilities needed for the project and how you will access them
  • the details of any vital external parties, including sub-contractors, who you will need to work with to successfully carry out the project
  • the current relationships between project partners and how these will change as a result of the project
  • any roles you will need to recruit for

You can submit one appendix. This can include a short summary of the main people working on the project to support your answer. It must be a PDF and can be up to 4 A4 pages long. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 4. Market awareness

What does the market you are targeting look like?

Describe or explain:

  • the markets (domestic, international or both) you will be targeting in the project, and any other potential markets
  • the size of the target markets for the project outcomes, backed up by references where available
  • the structure and dynamics of the target markets, including customer segmentation, together with predicted growth rates within clear timeframes
  • the target markets’ main supply or value chains and business models, and any barriers to entry that exist
  • the current UK position in targeting these markets
  • the size and main features of any other markets not already listed

If your project is highly innovative, where the market may be unexplored, describe or explain:

  • what the market’s size might to be
  • how your project will try to explore the market’s potential

Question 5. Outcomes and route to market

How are you going to grow your business and increase your productivity into the long term as a result of the project?

Describe or explain:

  • your current position in the markets and supply or value chains outlined, and whether you will be extending or establishing your market position
  • your target customers or end users, and the value to them, for example why they would use or buy your product
  • your route to market
  • how you are going to profit from the innovation, including increased revenues or cost reduction
  • how the innovation will affect your productivity and growth, in both the short and the long term
  • how you will protect and exploit the outputs of the project, for example through know-how, patenting, designs or changes to your business model
  • your strategy for targeting the other markets you have identified during or after the project

If there is any research organisation activity in the project, describe:

  • your plans to spread the project’s research outputs over a reasonable timescale
  • how you expect to use the results generated from the project in further research activities

Question 6. Wider impacts

What impact might this project have outside the project team?

Describe, and where possible, measure the economic benefits from the project such as productivity increases and import substitution, to:

  • external parties
  • customers
  • others in the supply chain
  • broader industry
  • the UK economy

Describe, and where possible, measure:

  • any expected impact on government priorities
  • any expected environmental impacts, either positive or negative
  • any expected regional impacts of the project

Describe any expected social impacts, either positive or negative on, for example:

  • quality of life
  • social inclusion or exclusion
  • jobs, such as safeguarding, creating, changing or displacing them
  • education
  • public empowerment
  • health and safety
  • regulations
  • diversity

Question 7. Project management

How will you manage the project effectively?

Describe or explain:

  • the main work packages of the project, indicating the lead partner assigned to each and the total cost of each one
  • your approach to project management, identifying any major tools and mechanisms you will use to get a successful and innovative project outcome
  • the management reporting lines
  • your project plan in enough detail to identify any links or dependencies between work packages or milestones

You must submit a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF and can be up to 2 A4 pages long. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 8. Risks

What are the main risks for this project?

Describe or explain:

  • the main risks and uncertainties of the project, including the technical, commercial, managerial and environmental risks, providing a risk register if appropriate
  • how you will mitigate these risks
  • any project inputs that are critical to completion, such as resources, expertise, data sets
  • any output likely to be subject to regulatory requirements, certification, ethical issues and so on, and how you will manage this

You must submit a risk register as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF and can be up to 2 A4 pages long. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 9. Added value

What impact would an injection of public funding have on the businesses involved?

Describe or explain:

  • whether this project could go ahead in any form without public funding and if so, the difference the public funding would make, such as a faster route to market, more partners or reduced risk
  • the likely impact of the project on the businesses of the partners involved
  • why you are not able to wholly fund the project from your own resources or other forms of private-sector funding, and what would happen if the application is unsuccessful
  • how this project would change the nature of R&D activity the partners would undertake, and the related spend

Question 10. Costs and value for money

How much will the project cost and how does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer?

In terms of the project goals, describe or explain:

  • the total eligible project costs
  • the grant you are requesting
  • how each partner will finance their contributions to the project
  • how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer
  • how it compares to what you would spend your money on otherwise
  • the balance of costs and grant across the project partners
  • any sub-contractor costs and why they are critical to the project

The Canadian partner(s) will need to download the finance form from the NSERC website, complete their finances here and upload it as an appendix to this question. If there is more than one Canadian partner, the finance forms will need to be submitted as a single PDF.

3. Finances

Each organisation in your project must complete their own project costs, organisation details and funding details in the application. Academic institutions must complete and upload a Je-S form. Canadian partners finances should be submitted as a separate PDF appendix as part of question 10.

For full details on what costs you can claim see our project costs guidance.

Background and further information

The UK and Canada both have recognised research strengths in quantum science and technologies, making this area of research ripe for collaboration. The UK’s National Quantum Technologies Programme, which started in 2014, has now reached £1 billion in investment. Canada has invested more than C$1 billion in quantum R&D.

This call will advance the development and application of quantum technologies. The potential benefits are multifaceted. Innovation in quantum technologies would allow Canada and the UK to access cross-cutting technologies and to function securely in a global ecosystem where the safe exchange and protection of data is paramount. It also aims to bring together dynamic consortia that will foster collaboration between established researchers and the next generation of young scientists in partnership with the private sector and/or government. This will help break down silos among disciplines and promote gender balance, diversity and inclusion. The research in these collaborations will provide demonstrable evidence of the impacts of quantum technologies for the economy and society.

Extra help

UK and Canadian collaborative partners can be found via the virtual matchmaking service.

If you need more information about how to apply email support@innovateuk.ukri.org or call 0300 321 4357 between 9am and 5:30pm, Monday to Friday.

Enterprise Europe Network

If you are a UK SME and successful in receiving an award, you will be contacted by your local Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) Innovation Advisor. They act on behalf of Innovate UK to discuss the growth opportunities for your business.

They offer bespoke business support services to help you maximise your project and business potential. This service forms part of your Innovate UK offer under our commitment to help UK SMEs grow and scale.

Please engage positively with your EEN contact so that, working together, you can determine the most appropriate form of growth support for your business.

Need help with this service? Contact us