Robotics Adoption Central Convening Body summer 2026

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will work with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to invest up to £2 million. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received. The funding will support the creation of a central convening body for the Robotics Adoption Hubs that are being allocated through a separate competition. The aim of this Robotics Adoption Central Convening Body competition is to close the knowledge gap that slows down the adoption of robotics. By accelerating adoption, the convening body should help improve productivity, safety, competitiveness and sustainability. It should also support better health outcomes, stronger infrastructure and contribute to economic growth. Central convener will at a minimum: share knowledge across the network of physical hubs through collecting and sharing success stories and lessons learned create a website for the programme as a landing page or front door for the hubs and forward enquiries to the physical hubs publicise the robotics adoption programme to end users act as a secretariat to convene regular meetings of the robotics adoption hub project leads coordinate the robotics adoption hubs in creating materials and guides with standardised branding aim to be self-sustaining beyond the programme support all physical adoption hubs equally across the range of regions and sectors incorporate learnings from international activity, including technology trends, market developments and adoption barriers be a source of information and guidance on robotics developing and sharing knowledge of the UK ecosystem of suppliers, integrators and courses 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. Your proposal must: detail how you will convene the network of Robotics Adoption Hubs nationally and act as secretariat for hub leader meetings demonstrate how you will develop a self-sustaining central convening body by the end of the project Our experience from similar competitions suggests that you could have a 25% chance of success. This competition is being re-run following an unsuccessful competition earlier in 2026. Eligibility terms have been widened to allow a wider range of grant funding size, with £500k to £2M over a project of up to 42 months. RTOs are also now eligible to work alone and claim 100% of costs.