Registered businesses in UK and Netherlands, can apply to collaborate on joint projects with application relevant partners and testbed facilities, to advance the development of quantum technologies and enable their commercial use cases.
Description
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £600,000 for innovative projects in quantum technologies. You must collaborate with a testbed provider in UK or Netherlands, and at least one Netherlands based business partner applying under the equivalent Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) programme.
We reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions under exceptional circumstances, for example, in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations, or broader government funding decisions.
The aim of this competition is to strengthen collaborative research and development (CR&D) through Netherlands and UK partnerships towards commercialising quantum technologies.
Your proposal must plausibly demonstrate co-innovation, high potential for commercialisation, address a technological challenge and global market exploitation plan. In applying for this public funding, you are entering into a competitive process.
UK registered businesses must collaborate with at least one Netherlands based business, which must be a separate legal entity, not linked to the UK partners applying under the equivalent RVO programme.
UK registered organisations must apply through the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) portal to Innovate UK.
Your Netherlands based partner will not receive any funding from Innovate UK
Netherlands based partners must apply to and will be funded by RVO for the Netherlands component of the project set out in this application.
Our experience from similar competitions suggests that you could have a 30% chance of success.
In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly but we are still unable to fund it.
This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief. We cannot guarantee other government or third party sites will always show the correct competition information.
The project must be independently selected by both Innovate UK and RVO to be awarded funding.
Project size
UK partners grant funding request can be between £150,000 and £300,000 per project.
Accessibility and Inclusion
We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.
You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance.
We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline.
You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).
Who can apply
Your project
Your project must:
The majority of the project work must be undertaken in the UK and Netherlands. UK project partners must carry out the majority of their project work in the UK and intend to exploit the results from or in the UK.
The consortium must include one business registered in Netherlands as project co-lead that is a separate legal entity and not linked to the UK partners. This is to ensure that projects encourage genuine international collaboration, not internal company research. Linked companies are considered a single entity under the parent company.
Your project must demonstrate a balanced technological contribution by the participants from both countries and must be equally significant to all participants.
No one country or project partner can represent more than 70% of the total project cost.
Your proposal must demonstrate a clear intention to commercially exploit the results of the project domestically or globally.
You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs. For specific guidance, see the eligibility section in this competition.
If your project’s grant funding request or duration falls outside of our eligibility criteria, you must provide justification by email to support@iuk.ukri.org at least 10 working days before the competition closes. We will decide whether to approve your request.
If you have not requested approval or your application has not been approved by us, you will be made ineligible. Your application will then not be sent for assessment.
Roles and terminology
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. This must be a UK organisation.
UK lead organisation
To start an application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS), your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.
You must work with at least one Netherlands registered business applying for Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) funding, which must be a separate legal entity from UK partners
More information on the different types of UK organisations can be found in our Funding rules.
UK Project team
To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:
Only UK registered partners must be listed in the Project Partner section of your application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS). Your Netherlands based partner will not receive any of this UK competition funding. Netherlands based partners will be funded by the RVO programme following a parallel submission and assessment.
Each organisation in your consortium will receive funding from its respective national funding body.
Each UK partner organisation must be invited into the IFS by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once accepted, partners will be asked to login or to create an account and enter their own project costs into the IFS.
To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and at least one other organisation must:
Non-funded partners
Your project can include non-UK partners, including partners based in the EU, who bring their own funding. Non-UK partners are permitted to carry out project work from within their home countries and exploit results overseas. Their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs.
Netherlands based partners
Netherlands based partners do not need to be invited into Innovate UK’s application on the Innovation Funding Service.
Netherlands based partners will be funded by RVO following a parallel application.
Subcontractors
Subcontractors are allowed in this competition, but they are limited to no more than 20% of the total eligible costs of the UK participation.
Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.
You can use subcontractors from other countries but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use subcontractors from the countries providing grant funding for the project.
You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK or Netherlands based contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use a subcontractor from a third country.
All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs.
Number of applications
A UK business can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in one further application.
A UK business that is not leading an application can collaborate on a maximum of two applications.
Academic institutions, National Labs or RTOs can collaborate in any number of applications subject to the availability of their respective resources and capacities.
If more than one application is submitted with the same UK business as lead, only the first application will be progressed, and any subsequent applications will be deemed ineligible.
If more than two applications are submitted with the same UK business as collaborator, only the first two applications will be progressed, and any subsequent applications will be deemed ineligible
Sanctions
This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions. For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups.
Use of animals in research and innovation
Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.
Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both that in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation.
Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process. This information will be reviewed before an award is made.
Previous applications
You cannot use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.
We will not award you funding if you have:
Innovate UK may withhold a grant payment at any time if you have any outstanding sums due to us in relation to other projects.
Subsidy control (and State aid where applicable)
This competition provides funding in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Further information about the Subsidy requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk).
Innovate UK is unable to award organisations that are considered to be in financial difficulty. We will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage.
EU State aid rules now only apply in limited circumstances. Please see the Windsor Framework to check if these rules apply to your organisation.
In the ‘Project details’ section of your application you will be asked questions to indicate if State Aid or Subsidy applies to your organisation.
Further Information
If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 or the State aid rules, you should take independent legal advice. We are unable to advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations.
You must always make sure that the funding awarded to you is compliant with all current Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom.
This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to, or actually distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries.
This award is classified as a Subsidy which does not form part of your Minimal Financial Assistance or De Minimis allowance.
Funding
A minimum of £600,000 has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications. Funding will be in the form of a grant.
We reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions under exceptional circumstances, for example, in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations, or broader government funding decisions.
Each country will fund its eligible participants according to their national procedure and funding rules. Funding conditions and eligibility criteria may vary between UK and Netherlands. The bilateral joint cooperation between the partners and its added value is an important aspect to be considered within the evaluation.
UK Partners
If your UK registered organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically but for the purpose of this project will be undertaking commercial or economic activity.
For feasibility studies and industrial research projects, you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:
For more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance.
If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.
Innovate UK may revoke our decision to provide funding without notice if government commitment for this initiative is withdrawn.
Research participation for UK Organisations
The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 40% 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. Of that 40% you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:
Eligibility criteria for claiming 80% of FEC funding
To find out more see our: Cost Guidance for Academics.
5 September 2025
Competition opens
22 September 2025
Online briefing event: register to attend
(Briefing slides will be available to download from Supporting Information after the event)
28 October 2025
Submission deadline - competition closes
28 November 2025
Applicants notified
1 December 2025
Successful applicant briefing
1 February 2026
Project start by
Before you start
You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.
Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure:
You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline. You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline.
What we ask you
The application is split into four sections:
Accessibility and Inclusion
We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.
You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance.
We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline.
You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).
1. Project details
This section provides background for your application and is not scored.
Application team
Decide which organisations will work with you on your project and invite people from those organisations to help complete the application.
Application details
Give your project’s title, start date and duration.
Research category
Select the type of research you will undertake.
Project summary
Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign the right 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 can 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 sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
2. Application questions
The assessors will score all your answers apart from questions 1 to 7. You will receive feedback for each scored question. Find out more about how our assessors assess and how we select applications for funding.
You must answer all questions.
You must not include any website addresses or links (URLs) in your answers. If you do, your application will be made ineligible.
Question 1. Applicant location (not scored)
You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation and any partners or subcontractors working on your project.
We are collecting this information to understand more about the geographical location of all applicants.
Your answer can be up to 100 words long.
Question 2. Animal testing (not scored)
Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing?
You must select one option:
We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare.
Further information for proposals involving animal testing is available at the UKRI Good Research Hub and NC3R’s animal welfare guidance.
Question 3. (UK applicants only) Permits and licences (not scored)
Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project?
We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date.
You must select one option:
Question 4. International Collaboration (not scored)
Does your proposed work involve any international collaboration or engagement?
You must provide details of any expected international collaboration or engagement. You must include a list of the names and the countries, any international project co-leads, project partners, visiting researchers, or other collaborators are based in. You must also include details of any subcontractors or service providers.
If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration or engagement, your answer must confirm this.
Your answer can be up to 100 words long.
Question 5. Does your proposed work involve application relevant testbed provider(s) in UK or Netherlands (not scored):
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Question 6. Describe the specific relevance of development platform(s) hosted at either a National lab, RTO or University research facility in UK or Netherlands to advance the testing, benchmarking or development of your commercial quantum technology solutions or application (not scored):
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
You must submit a letter of support from participating testbed provider(s). It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.
Question 7. Trusted Research and Innovation (not scored)
You must explain if your proposed project work relates to UKRI’s Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) Principles, including:
If your proposed work does not relate to UKRI’s TR&I Principles, your answer must confirm this.
We may ask you to provide additional TR&I information at a later date, in line with UKRI TR&I Principles and funding terms and conditions.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Question 8. Need or challenge
What is the business need, technological challenge, or market opportunity behind your innovation?
Explain:
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Question 9. Approach and innovation
What approach will you take and where will the focus of the innovation be?
Explain:
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It can include diagrams and charts. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.
Question 10. Team and resources
Who is in the project team and what are their roles?
Explain:
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
You can submit one appendix, with a short summary of the main people working on the project to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.
Question 11. Market awareness
What does the market or markets you are targeting look like?
Describe:
If your project is highly innovative, where the market may be unexplored, describe or explain:
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Question 12. Outcomes and route to market
How are you going to grow your business and increase long term productivity as a result of the project?
Explain:
If there is any research organisation activity in the project, describe:
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Question 13. 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:
Describe and, where possible, measure:
Describe any expected social impacts, either positive or negative, on, for example:
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Question 14. Project management
How will you manage your project effectively?
Explain:
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
You must submit a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.
Question 15. Risks
What are the main risks for this project?
Explain:
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
You must submit a risk register as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.
Question 16. Added value
How will this public funding help you to accelerate or enhance your approach to developing your project towards commercialisation? What impact would this award have on the organisations involved?
Explain:
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Question 17. 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 your project goals, explain:
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
3. Finances
Each UK organisation in your project must complete their own project costs, organisation details and funding details in the application. UK academic institutions must complete and upload a Je-S form.
For an overview on what costs you can claim, see our project costs guidance. Note this is general guidance, for specific guidance please see the eligibility section in this competition. You can also view our application finances video.
4. Project Impact
This section is not scored but will provide background to your project.
Each partner must complete the Project Impact questions before being able to submit the application.
More information can be found in our Project Impact guidance and by viewing our Impact Management Framework video.
Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.
Assessment
Your application will be reviewed by five independent assessors based on the content of your application and their skills or expertise relevant to your project. All of the scores awarded will count towards the total score used to make the funding decision unless you are notified otherwise.
You can find out more about our assessment process in the General Guidance.
Your submitted application will be assessed against these criteria:
UK-Nl QT Assessor guidance for applicants .pdf (opens in a new window)
Background and further information
Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO)
UK’s National Quantum Tech Strategy
Briefing recording and slides
Briefing recording and slides will be available to download here after the briefing event.
What happens if you receive a grant offer
If you have passed your initial assessment and have received an email with a grant offer, you will be asked to complete the project set up process on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS).
We will ask for information that will allow us to undertake mandatory checks on your organisation and the eligibility of your costs, as well as review the documentation for your project.
You must follow the unique link embedded in your email notification. This takes you to your project's dedicated IFS Set Up portal, where we gather the information required to set up your project.
Watch our videos on what steps there are before a project starts and how successful applicants receive their funding or read more about Project Setup in our General Guidance.
If your application is unsuccessful
If you are unsuccessful with your application this time, you can view feedback from the assessors. This will be available to you on your IFS portal following notification.
Sometimes your application will have scored well, and you will receive positive comments from the assessors. You may be unsuccessful as your average score was not above the funding threshold or your project has not been selected under the portfolio approach if this is applied for this competition.
We would like to remind you that eligible non-funded business can still benefit from fully funded and bespoke support from the Innovate UK Business Growth service.
Find a project partner
If you want help to find a project partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect.
Support for SMEs from Innovate UK Business Growth service
Innovate UK Business Growth helps innovation focused businesses make the best strategic choices and access the right resources, in order to grow and ultimately achieve scale.
Our innovation and growth specialists provide our fully funded and bespoke support to clients nationwide. Please visit the service’s website to discover whether you could benefit from this advisory support, which is available to Innovate UK funded and non-funded businesses alike.
Protecting your innovation
A Secure Innovation campaign has been developed to help founders and leaders of innovative startups protect their technology, competitive advantage, and reputation.
This was developed by UK’s National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
Data sharing
This competition is jointly operated by Innovate UK, and Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) (each an ‘agency’).
Any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application can be shared by one agency with the other, for its individual storage, processing and use.
This means that any information given to or generated by Innovate UK in respect of your application may be passed on to RVO and vice versa. This would include, but is not restricted to:
Innovate UK may also share any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application with Innovate UK’s national and regional UK third parties and partners who may contact you. For more information see how we handle grant applicant and grant holder data.
Innovate UK and RVO are directly accountable to you for their holding and processing of your information, including any personal data and confidential information. Data is held in accordance with their own policies. Accordingly, Innovate UK, and RVO will be data controllers for personal data submitted during the application.
Innovate UK Business Connect Privacy Policy
Netherlands Enterprise Agency Privacy Policy
Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.
The Information Commissioner’s Office also has a useful guide for organisations, which outlines the data protection principles.
Contact us
If you need more information about how to apply or you want to submit your application in Welsh, email support@iuk.ukri.org or call 0300 321 4357.
Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).
Innovate UK or any of our partners will not tolerate abusive language in any written or verbal correspondence, applications, social media or any other form that might affect staff.