Funding of up to £2.5 million for UK-registered organisations to develop vocational robotics skills courses.
This competition opens on 2 February 2026 and closes at 11am on 25 March 2026.
Who it is for
This competition is open to single applicants or collaborations.
To lead a project or work alone your organisation must be a UK-registered business of any size, research organisation, research and technology organisation (RTO), academic institution, charity, not for profit, or public sector organisation.
If the lead organisation is not a business it must collaborate with at least one business of any size.
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
- RTO
Your project must
- have a grant funding request of between £100,000 and £500,000
- start by 1 August 2026
- end by 31 January 2027
- last between three and six months
Support you can get
This competition aims to create and deliver course content and materials that will support skills, talent and training in robotics. This will bridge the skills gap to address the lack of skilled workers able to specify, procure, integrate, operate and maintain robotics.
For this competition, robotics is defined broadly. It includes drones operating on land, sea and air; autonomous plant and service robots; and industrial robots or automated machinery that use sensors, actuators and control software. Robotics does not include systems that are only software based.
You can get funding for your eligible project costs of
- up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation
- up to 35% if you are a medium-sized organisation
- up to 25% if you are a large organisation
Support organisers
- Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)
- Innovate UK
Contact
Innovate UK
Phone
0300 321 4357
Next Steps
on the Innovation Funding Service website
Published
02 February 2026
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