The programme seeks applications from technology innovators from the UK ecosystem who will be interested in developing technology solutions to some of the UK’s core industrial challenges. Designed for startups and scaleups, here are the requirements for applications to the Made Smarter Innovation Sustainability Accelerator:

• The lead company* must be registered with Companies House in the UK (or equivalent, for example establishment in the UK and the majority of work must be carried out in the UK. In the case of international co-productions, the work carried out outside the UK must be proportionate to the amount of funding brought in by the international company)
• The lead company* must have a UK business bank account
• The team must have one or more team members with expertise with at least one of the advanced digital technology stack:
  • Future networks and advanced digital infrastructure (5G and the internet of things including; low powered wide area networks, NB-IoT, LIFI etc. including sensors, edge devices, wearables etc.)
  • Immersive technologies (Extended reality – virtual, augmented, mixed reality and haptics)
  • Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI & ML)
  • Distributed ledger technologies (blockchain)
  • Quantum technologies
    
• Experience within the manufacturing sector is not essential, however knowledge of how to apply this to industry and relevance to the challenge is required.
• The team must be able to attend all the key dates (for example, Kick-off event, the workshops, Midpoint Development Review and Final Showcase for the duration of the programme). Please note dates are subject to change:

• Programme Kick-off event (in-person): 19 June 2024
• Prototype development and workshops: June 2024 – February 2025
• Midpoint Development Review (online event): w/c 14 October 2024

• Final Showcase event (in-person):  February 2025

Note: Lead company

• You may enter as a collaborative team, but there must be a lead company that will contract with us and get paid.
• All other collaborators involved must be named in the application process. It is the responsibility of the lead company to arrange any collaboration agreements or subcontracts as necessary and to comply with the Made Smarter Innovation Sustainability Accelerator terms and conditions.
• Your collaborators may be with international companies.
• You can be named as a collaborator on more than one application but can only be a ‘lead’ company once.
• We may carry out due diligence on the lead and any collaboration companies so they must be willing to submit documentation upon request (including but not limited to, bank account statements for the business and personal references).