Net Zero Living Digital Accelerator round 1

Fund details

Your proposal must focus on two or more net zero challenges across:

• power
• heat
• mobility
• product manufacture and usage

Your digital product must be for domestic, commercial, industrial or public authority users. Links to other sectors are also welcome where relevant to the delivery of net zero.

Your project must be a software or data lead solution. It must make use of a number of open and shared data sets across a range of place-relevant topics, including, but not limited to:

• energy vectors and assets
• citizens and communities
• buildings
• geography
• transport
• carbon emissions
• industry
• economy

Your digital products or services must help places accelerate their journey to net zero, and be replicable and scalable. You can focus on decision-making tools, cost evaluation, reporting tools, prioritisation, or citizen engagement.

Your business is likely to be at least 2 years old. You may have a product being developed or available and have some customer engagement. You could be self-funded or have early investors and you may have accessed some public funding in your growth journey to date.

This competition will fund projects that demonstrate and drive forwards best practices in data sharing in Net Zero sectors. Your project must apply best practice principles around data governance and sharing and must demonstrate how you are adopting the Innovate UK Net Zero Living Data Guidance principles across the project. This includes taking a presumed open approach to data generated throughout the project.

Successful applicants will be provided with technical support in understanding and applying the Innovate UK Net Zero Living Data Guidance principles to your project and business. This will include at least 2 workshops to introduce the guidelines and principles. It will also include 20 hours of dedicated technical support for each project from an Innovate UK delivery partner.

You must publish at least one end-of-project summary report giving an overview of what was undertaken, learned and achieved during the project. This report must be openly published and accessible. You are also expected to partake in at least 2 project ‘show and tell’ events across the project period.

Innovate UK will not fund projects that are:

• focusing on large-scale national infrastructure solutions alone, for example, not tackling placed based challenges to net zero
• focusing on only one sector
• lead by a long-established business with modest growth record and ambitions
• not utilising a number of shared and open data sets relevant to place

Eligibility

Your project must:

• have a grant funding request between £150,000 and £300,000
• start by 01 November 2023
• end by 31 October 2024
• last between 9 and 12 months
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

To lead a project your organisation must:

• be a UK-registered micro or small business
• collaborate with at least one UK-registered business, organisation or public authority of any size
• collaborate with at least one potential customer or product user as part of the project.

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.

Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process. You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use suppliers from the UK.

You cannot use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.

Talk to us today if you would like to apply for this opportunity.