UKRI Translation: EPSRC ACT Proof of Concept (invite only)

UKRI Translation: EPSRC ACT Proof of Concept (invite only)

The UKRI Translation: EPSRC ACT Proof of Concept opportunity is open to invited applicants. It supports early to mid-stage commercialisation of research in Advanced Connectivity Technologies (ACT). The current round accepts applications until 3 September 2026 at 4:00pm UK time. This is the full stage of the process: an applicant must first have been invited after a successful outline application.

The fund is run by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Its purpose is to help eligible UK research organisations move an existing engineering or physical sciences result toward a product, service, process, licence, or other credible route to use. The proposal must explain what has already been achieved, what translation gap remains, and how the requested work will produce evidence that matters to users or commercial partners.

At a glance

The opportunity page was published on 3 July 2026 and opened on 6 July 2026. Those dates describe this current invitation round; they should not be confused with the earlier deadline that appeared on an older version of this listing.

What the fund is designed to do

This is translation funding rather than a standard research project. EPSRC is looking for work that applies an existing research output to a real use case and reduces the technical, user, or commercial risk standing between that output and adoption. Examples include proof of concept for a product, tool, or service; prototype validation; market exploitation; and work that examines environmental impact or benefits where that analysis is important to translation.

Projects should be primarily within EPSRC remit and should build on relevant engineering and physical sciences outputs. The earlier work may have been supported by EPSRC, another UKRI council, Horizon Europe, a government department, industry, an international funder, or a similar source. The prior award must have started on or after 1 January 2020, and the application must provide evidence of a direct follow-on relationship. Research grants, fellowships, and training grants can all be relevant examples.

The proposal should also show how it will contribute to economic, societal, policy, or environmental benefits for a more sustainable and resilient UK. A technically sound idea is not enough by itself. The application needs a credible route to users, a clear understanding of the problem those users face, and a team that can move the work beyond a research result.

Scope: Advanced Connectivity Technologies

The project must address ACT and should align with one or both of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) connectivity challenge themes.

Secure and resilient networks

This theme covers solutions that support trustworthy communications and critical infrastructure. Relevant work may address protection from interception or cyber threats, data confidentiality within legal frameworks, integration of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks, continuity during disruption, or network resilience. The application should identify the network performance characteristics it will improve and explain how those improvements benefit users or infrastructure operators.

Sustainable networks

This theme concerns innovation that reduces the environmental impact of telecommunications while using finite spectrum effectively. Possible directions include lower operational energy use, real-time optimisation of energy and spectrum, shared infrastructure that extends coverage while reducing cost and environmental footprint, or cross-sector pilots involving areas such as energy, transport, or healthcare. The proposal must connect the technical work to a measurable sustainability or network-efficiency benefit rather than merely naming sustainability as a general ambition.

Whichever theme is selected, the application should identify the beneficiary, the current limitation, the proposed development step, and the evidence that will show progress. Business partners who can enable or facilitate commercialisation are strongly encouraged. The fund is intended to complement other support, not duplicate a route that is already more appropriate or a project that a commercial partner could take forward without public funding.

Eligibility

The project lead is responsible for the intellectual leadership, project management, and application. They must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for EPSRC funding, and that organisation must submit the grant application to UKRI. The lead must hold a lecturer or equivalent position at a UK higher education institution, research council institute, or UKRI-approved independent research organisation. Their contract must be permanent or fixed term with an end date beyond the proposed project.

Project co-leads are expected to meet the principal-investigator eligibility requirements except for the requirement that their contract extends beyond the end of the proposal. The Funding Service also allows roles such as researcher co-lead, specialist, technician, and research and investment strategy manager where those roles are needed for delivery. Only one person should be listed as project lead.

This opportunity is not restricted to projects whose earlier award came from EPSRC. The important tests are that the previous award is relevant to engineering and physical sciences, started on or after 1 January 2020, and is clearly connected to the proposed follow-on work. Cite the award, publications, datasets, prototypes, or other outputs that establish that connection. A general statement that a team is experienced will not replace that evidence.

International researchers cannot be added as project co-leads through the UKRI-RCN Money Follows Cooperation Agreement for this opportunity: an IIASA or Norway-based project co-lead cannot be included. International organisations, including EU-based organisations, may participate as project partners where appropriate. Name those collaborators, explain their contribution, and address any trusted-research, export-control, or national-security considerations that apply.

There is no requirement for host institutions to provide matched funding beyond the standard 20% of FEC. Direct or in-kind contributions from third-party project partners are encouraged, but they do not remove the need for the host organisation to provide an appropriate research environment and infrastructure.

Funding and eligible costs

The project can have an FEC of up to £500,000, with the expected range stated as £100,000 to £500,000. EPSRC will fund 80% of FEC, subject to business case approval. The award can last up to two years and must start by 1 January 2027. The budget should therefore be tied to a deliverable translation plan rather than a broad research programme.

Costs that EPSRC says it will fund include contributions to the project lead and co-lead salaries, specialist and technical staff, research consumables, travel, collaboration and stakeholder engagement, impact and knowledge exchange, estates, indirect costs, and equipment costing between £25,000 and £400,000 per item. Equipment quotations do not need to be submitted with the application, but quotations for items costing more than £138,000 should be retained because EPSRC may request them after the panel and before funds are released.

The opportunity will not fund fundamental, curiosity-driven, or discovery research; public engagement activities; intellectual-property filing such as a patent, trademark, or registered design; projects focused solely on training; student costs; applied or contract research carried out on behalf of commercial organisations; work that is already ready for commercial funding; projects more suited to existing critical-mass investments such as centres, hubs, or institutes; or applications primarily outside EPSRC remit. Limited incremental research may be justified when it directly supports the translation objectives, but it should not be the main activity.

How to apply

Applications are made through the new UKRI Funding Service, not Je-S. The organisation should be registered before the team begins the final submission. The project lead completes the application, while team members and partners contribute the evidence and supporting material. Only the lead research organisation can submit to UKRI.

The current process is:

1. Confirm that you are the invited project lead and that the host organisation is eligible.
2. Select Start application on the official opportunity page, then sign in or create a Funding Service account. Account creation requires selecting the organisation, verifying an email address, and setting a password.
3. Answer the application questions in the Funding Service. Responses can be saved, prepared offline, and pasted into the service. Upload documents only where the service requests them.
4. Review the application in read-only view, checking the project plan, costs, partner details, and required declarations before sending it onward.
5. Send the completed application to the host research office for checking. The research office may return it for edits.
6. The research office submits the checked application to UKRI. EPSRC must receive it by 3 September 2026 at 4:00pm UK time; applications cannot be submitted after that time.

The application is a full-stage submission following a successful outline. The vision cannot change significantly between the outline and full stages, and costs may change by only 10% for essential updates, without exceeding the programme maximum. A withdrawn application or one rejected by the office for substantive errors cannot be resubmitted to this opportunity.

Required application content

The Funding Service asks for a plain-English summary, a core team, and detailed responses covering the proposed work and its route to market. The main assessment areas are:

• Vision: the market or stakeholder need, the proposed product, service, or technology, its benefits, and why the work is timely and aligned with the opportunity.
• Approach: outputs, outcomes, route-to-market work, technical evidence, risks, translation milestones, access to facilities, and a detailed project plan such as a Gantt chart.
• Applicant and team capability: evidence that the team has the skills, leadership, relationships, and relevant previous contributions needed to deliver the project. UKRI asks for the Résumé for Research and Innovation format.
• Project partners: each partner’s organisation, contact, contribution, and value. Partners should provide a single PDF containing letters or emails of support, with each letter no longer than two sides of A4. Host and co-lead research organisations should not supply partner letters.
• Facilities: prior agreement and the information requested for any named facility from the Funding Service facility list.
• Resources and cost justification: justification for staff, major travel, equipment over £25,000, unusual consumables, facilities, infrastructure, and exceptional costs.
• Stakeholder engagement: an ongoing two-way plan covering partners, beneficiaries, intellectual assets, IP management, dissemination, future investment, and feedback into project decisions.
• Added value: evidence of the DSIT challenge fit, the previous research outputs, and why those outputs are now ready for proof-of-concept support.
• Ethics and responsible research and innovation: potential benefits, unintended harms, misuse, human or animal involvement where relevant, genetically modified organisms where relevant, and the controls that will be used throughout the project.

Applications may use visual material where it adds information that is difficult to express in words. Images require captions, must be on separate lines, and must meet the Funding Service file requirements. Text-heavy images, tables embedded as images, and excessive image use are not permitted.

Practical preparation checklist

Before submitting, confirm the invitation and host eligibility with the research office. Identify the prior award that started on or after 1 January 2020 and assemble links to its grant record and outputs. Write the translation gap in one paragraph: what the research has already established, what remains uncertain, and what this project will demonstrate for a user or commercial partner.

Then map the work to secure and resilient networks, sustainable networks, or both. Name the stakeholders who will shape or use the result. Agree partner contributions and support letters early, confirm access to facilities, and build a budget around the milestones rather than around available staff time. Allow enough time for read-only review, finance checks, and the host research office’s submission process before the 4:00pm UK deadline.

The official page lists future assessment activity as an autumn panel, with funding outcomes expected in November 2026. That is useful for planning, but it is not a promise of funding or a project start date. Successful proposals still need to satisfy EPSRC’s quality threshold and any business-case requirements.

Common fit questions

Can an organisation apply without an invitation?

No. This page is for the full stage and says that only applicants invited after a successful outline application may apply.

Can a company submit directly?

No. The lead research organisation submits the application. A company can be a project partner where its involvement is integral and documented.

Is this a general networking grant?

No. The work must be primarily within EPSRC remit, build on prior research outputs, and fit ACT. It should address the secure and resilient networks theme, the sustainable networks theme, or both, while showing a route to real-world implementation.

Can the budget include patent filing or student costs?

No. EPSRC lists IP filing and student costs among the items this opportunity will not fund.

Where should applicants ask questions?

Questions about the specific opportunity should go to future.communications@epsrc.ukri.org. Costing and proposal-writing questions should first go to the host research office. Funding Service technical queries should go to support@funding-service.ukri.org or the helpdesk contact listed on the official page.

Official source

Check the live opportunity page before preparing or submitting an application: UKRI Translation: EPSRC ACT Proof of Concept (invite only). It is the source for the current status, deadline, eligibility rules, Funding Service questions, and any later updates.