CfI: Innovation in play to improve child outcomes

Who can apply Your project Projects must: - start on 1 February 2027 and end on the 31 January 2028 - last 12 months - have total costs of between £200,000 and £500,000, inclusive of VAT Projects must always start on the first of the month, even if this is a non-working day. You must not start your project until your Contract has been approved by Innovate UK. You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs. If your project does not meet our criteria your application will be made ineligible and it will not be sent for assessment. Applicant To lead a project, you can: - be an organisation of any size, including those based in the EU, EEA or internationally - work alone or with the subcontracted skills and expertise of others from business, research organisations, research and technology organisations, or the third sector (charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups) Contracts will be awarded to a single legal entity only. The majority of the project work and key deliverables must be completed by the applicant and be carried out in the UK, and most of the funding spent within the UK. Subcontractors can be used, but only for specialist skills. 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 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. Funding Up to £3 million inclusive of VAT has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this phase 1 competition. Contracts will be between £200,000 and £500,000, inclusive of VAT, for each project of 12 months. We expect to fund up to 15 projects. This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications. Funding will be in the form of a contract. 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. Successful projects from phase 1 may be invited to a potential phase 2 to further develop their solution. The total funding available for the competition can change. The funders have the right to: - adjust the provisional funding allocations between the phases - apply a ‘portfolio’ approach The contract is completed at the end of phase 1, and the successful organisation is expected to pursue commercialisation of their solution. Value Added Tax (VAT) You must select whether you are VAT registered before entering your eligible project costs. VAT is the responsibility of the invoicing business. We will not provide any further advice and suggest you seek independent advice from HMRC. VAT registered If you select you are VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT. As part of the application process VAT will be automatically calculated and added to your project cost total. Your total eligible project…

- have total costs of between £200,000 and £500,000, inclusive of VAT You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs. Up to £3 million inclusive of VAT has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this phase 1 competition. Contracts will be between £200,000 and £500,000, inclusive of VAT, for each project of 12 months. We expect to fund up to 15 projects. You must select whether you are VAT registered before entering your eligible project costs. If you select you are VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT. As part of the application process VAT will be automatically calculated and added to your project cost total. Your total eligible project costs inclusive of VAT must not exceed £500,000. If you select you are not VAT registered, you must enter your eligible project costs exclusive of VAT and no VAT will be added. You will not be able to increase total project costs to cover VAT later should you become VAT registered. Your total project costs must not exceed £500,000.

15 September 2026: Competition opens 21 September 2026: Live briefing event: watch the recording Briefing slides are now available to download from Supporting Information. 28 October 2026 11:00am: Competition closes 4 December 2026: Applicants notified 1 February 2027: Contracts awarded 1 February 2027: Project start from