Internet of Things Cities Demonstrator

Due date: 23rd September 2015
Funding limit: up to £10 million

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is to invest up to £10 million* in a single collaborative R&D project to demonstrate the capability of the Internet of Things (IoT) in a city region. This competition (delivered by Innovate UK on behalf of DCMS) is part of a wider £40 million government investment in IoT announced in March 2015.

*Note funding is only guaranteed for the 2015-16 financial year (ending 31 March 2016) and further funding is subject to decisions in the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

The aim of this demonstrator is to show how the large-scale deployment of IoT – where everyday objects are connected to a network in order to share their data – can benefit citizens by offering environmental improvements, economic opportunities, and more efficient and effective delivery of services such as transport, healthcare and energy.

Projects must be collaborative and led by a local authority or local enterprise partnership (or an equivalent body outside England). Projects should involve at least one local authority, one local enterprise partnership and several businesses.

We expect to fund one project of mainly industrial research. Local authorities, public bodies, third sector organisations and academic institutions could receive up to 100% of their eligible project costs (up to a maximum of 30% of total project costs), small businesses 70%, medium- sized businesses 60% and large businesses 50%. The maximum grant available is £10 million, and we expect the project to run for up to two years.

This is a two-stage competition that opens for applicants on 13 July 2015. The deadline for registration is at noon on 23 September 2015 and the deadline for applications is at noon on 30 September 2015.

Apply here