Dates:
Competition opens: 7 April 2025
Competition closes: Wednesday 28 May 2025 11:00am
Contracts awarded: 1 September 2025
Feedback: 1 September 2025
Applicants notified: 30 June 2025
Project start date & duration: 1 September 2025/ between 3 and 7 months/completed by 31 March 2026.
Scope
The FOAK Programme addresses industry challenges by running innovation competitions. The competitions focus on collaboration with industry and deliver high maturity demonstrations, enabling efficient integration into the railway system. This competition aims to support innovative suppliers for market readiness.
Specific Themes
Platform Train Interfaces
personal safety
bridge strikes
AI for complex processes (this competition)
Projects that will not be funded
If you have previously been funded for the same or similar innovations, you will not be eligible for this competition. Applications for this competition need to be materially different from previously funded innovations. The decision of Innovate UK and the DfT on this matter will be final.
Eligibility
• Contracts for Innovation competitions involve procurement of R&D services at a fair market value and are not subject to subsidy control criteria that typically apply to grant funding.
• To lead a project, you can be an organisation of any size and/or work alone or with the subcontracted skills and expertise of others from businesses, research organisations, research and technology organisations or the third sector (charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups)
• Portfolio approach is applied
• We expect to fund a minimum of two projects per theme and up to 23 projects across all four themes.
• 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.
Funding Rates
• Must not exceed total eligible project costs up to £200,000 inclusive of VAT (£4.7M pot).
How PNO can support you
The UK team has a strong track record in securing some of the most competitive national and European grants on behalf of its clients, with a full understanding of how a project should be presented to stand the highest chance of success. Each year in the UK alone, we are responsible for the submission of more than 100 funding applications across all sectors and priority areas. Based on this extensive experience, through careful project selection and using key insight into how a project should be best positioned, we consistently achieve success rates that are more than 5 times the typical success rates for UK national schemes and EU programmes.
For further information or to discuss a project idea please contact PNO Consultants
0161 488 3488 | info.uk@pnoconsultants.com
