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UK grant calls with deadlines from 6 October to 16 December 2026: semiconductors and connectivity, efficient AI systems, North Wales wireless, Japan and Singapore

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By TrustList Editorial

Six UK funding calls with dates: Japan-UK connectivity (6 October), Investor Partnerships for semiconductors (14 October), North Wales wireless (19 October), quantum with AI and HPC (3 November), AI systems (18 November) and UK-Singapore (16 December).

About UK grant calls with deadlines from 6 October to 16 December 2026: semiconductors and connectivity, efficient AI systems, North Wales wireless, Japan and Singapore

UK grant calls with deadlines from 6 October to 16 December 2026: semiconductors and connectivity, efficient AI systems, North Wales wireless, Japan and Singapore

2 October 2026 — These are the UK public funding calls for technology companies and their research partners that we found open, or about to open, on 2 October 2026, in order of deadline. All times are UK time as the funders state them. Our earlier items covered the calls that opened on 29 September and the UK–Germany round. Note that Innovate UK's funding service is offline from 2 to 5 October for maintenance.

Not yet independently verified. Each call is described from the funder’s own page on GOV.UK Find a grant or the Innovation Funding Service. No independent report was checked. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

Closing in October

  • Japan–UK joint call on advanced connectivity, closes 6 October, 4:00pm. EPSRC and Japan's NICT fund UK–Japan research partnerships on AI in networks, non-terrestrial networks and optical and photonic technologies. UK applicants must be at research organisations eligible for EPSRC funding, so companies take part as partners. About three projects are expected; the UK side is up to £897,000 at 80% of full economic cost.
  • Investor Partnerships: advanced connectivity technologies and semiconductors, closes 14 October, 11:00am. Up to £15 million for UK-registered SMEs, as single applicants, invited by an approved investor partner. Industrial research projects cost £250,000 to £1 million (grant up to 70% for micro and small firms, 60% for medium), experimental development £500,000 to £2 million (45% and 35%), lasting 6 to 18 months. Matching investment is required: equal to the grant for industrial research, twice the grant for experimental development. Without an invitation you cannot apply, so speak to the investor partners first.
  • Advanced Wireless Technology Grant Fund, North Wales, full applications close 19 October, 10:00am. Up to £18.8 million of capital funding (2026–2030) from Ambition North Wales for 5G, IoT, Wi-Fi and satellite connectivity upgrades for organisations in North Wales. Only organisations with an approved expression of interest may apply, and at least 50% match funding is required.

Closing in November and December

  • UKRI: integrating quantum computing with AI and high-performance computing, closes 3 November, 4:00pm. Up to £3.75 million full economic cost per project for hybrid quantum–classical workflows with named use cases. The lead must be at an EPSRC-eligible research organisation and projects need at least 1:1 match funding, which is where industry partners come in.
  • Efficient, Structured and Controllable AI Systems, opens 12 October, closes 18 November, 11:00am. Up to £1.66 million for UK-registered SMEs to research reusable AI mechanisms (efficient learning, causal models, modular computation) with experimental validation. Eligible costs £50,000 to £150,000; projects of one to three months, starting by 1 April 2027 and ending by 30 June 2027. Online briefing on 16 October at 11:00am. Innovate UK warns that similar competitions suggest a "4% chance of success".
  • UK–Singapore collaborative R&D 2026, closes 16 December, 11:00am. Up to £3 million on the UK side, £100,000 to £900,000 per UK organisation, for projects with at least one Singapore business that applies to Enterprise Singapore. Digital and frontier technologies are among the four focus sectors; projects run 24 to 36 months from no earlier than 1 May 2027.

What to do

  • Check eligibility first: three of these calls are led by research organisations and one needs an investor invitation.
  • Plan around the funding-service outage from 2 to 5 October if you are applying to an Innovate UK competition.
  • For the AI systems call, a low success rate means a sharp, testable research question matters more than a broad product plan.

Sources

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