SBRI: Future Telecommunications Challenge

To lead a project, you can:

• be an organisation of any size
• work alone or with others from business, research organisations, research and technology organisations or the third sector as subcontractors

Contracts will be awarded to a single legal entity only. However, if you can justify subcontracting components of the work, you can engage specialists or advisers. The project and delivery against the project milestones will still be the responsibility of the main contractor.

All research, development and testing must take place within the UK.

Projects must:

• start by 1 March 2024
• end by 31 March 2025
• have a duration of between 6 to 13 months

This competition involves up to 20 contracts being awarded to organisations. Up to £7 million inclusive of VAT will be allocated for each contract.

Your application must have at least 50% of the contract value attributed directly and exclusively to R&D services, including solution exploration and design. R&D can also include prototyping and field-testing the product or service. This lets you incorporate the results of your exploration and design and demonstrate that you can produce in quantity to acceptable quality standards. R&D activity for completion of the project should take place in the UK where reasonably possible.

The competition aims to drive advancements in telecommunication technologies that can be integrated into functional prototypes and comprehensive system solutions.

Your proposal must demonstrate the development of innovative telecommunication technologies, fostering collaboration and innovation within the industry.

You must focus on close to market solutions, prioritising:

• performance
• coverage
• security
• resilience
• spectrum efficiency
• cost-effective deployment
• energy efficiency

You must show how your solutions will:

• drive advancements in telecommunication technologies
• lay the groundwork for the networks of the future
• generate protectable UK based intellectual property

You must demonstrate how your advancements in telecommunication technologies can be integrated into functional prototypes and comprehensive system solutions. This includes, enabling the evaluation of technological maturity for potential users, integrators, standards makers and regulators.

Openness is a key aspect of this competition, promoting the use of open standards to enhance interoperability and flexibility within telecommunication networks. Where relevant you must demonstrate how your solutions align with emerging telecoms standards.

You must demonstrate a credible and practical route to market, so your application must show how you will engage with potential end users and include a plan to commercialise your results.

Our goal for projects, is that through development and commercialisation of cutting-edge novel solutions, along with collaboration and innovation, the UK will:

• benefit as an early adopter of next generation networks
• strengthen UK capability
• boost the UK’s share of the global telecoms sector

Your project must focus on one or more of the following challenges:

Network of Networks

Solutions for this challenge can include virtualised and software-based solutions:

• with innovation and technological advancements in networking, developing a system that integrates terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks.
• enabling the delivery of high-speed connectivity to hard-to-reach areas, including densely populated urban areas, remote rural regions and maritime zones
• leveraging a combination of network segments, including some combination of segments such as terrestrial and non-terrestrial, indoor and outdoor, Wi-Fi and cellular, or public and private
• addressing the connectivity gaps and provide reliable, high-data-speed network access to underserved areas
• delivering additional resilience and service consistency to already-served areas

Advanced Optical Networks

Solutions for this challenge must drive innovation and technological advancements in the field of optical networking. They must focus on achieving step-changes in data rates, latency, and energy efficiency in both local and long-haul networks.

To support the demand for faster and more reliable communication networks, project outcomes must push the boundaries of optical networking technologies, including beyond fibre, for future generations of networks.

Next Generation Wireless

Solutions for this challenge must drive innovation and technological advancements in wireless communications, especially transformational access techniques. These include technologies such as:

• sub-terahertz
• wireless optical
• massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO)
• optical and sensing domains

This can include virtualised and software-based solutions.

Next generation wireless solutions will enable new applications in areas such as agriculture, manufacturing, logistics, crisis management. Application software and platform innovators must demonstrate the standardisation and benchmarking of the applications for the target industry as well as the market potentials to apply to other industries.

Innovate UK will hold an online briefing event at 1pm on Wednesday 11th October: click here for the joining link.

If you want help to find an organisation to work with, contact Innovate UK KTN’s Digital team.