Accelerated Knowledge Transfer Partnerships 6 (AKT 6) 2026 (Closed)

Accelerated Knowledge Transfer Partnerships 6 (AKT 6) 2026 (Closed)

Accelerated Knowledge Transfer Partnerships 6 (AKT 6) was an Innovate UK grant opportunity listed by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The official UKRI opportunity page now marks the competition Closed. Its closing date was 15 July 2026 at 11:30am UK time, so this entry is a historical reference to the 2026 competition and is not a live invitation to apply.

The record is retained because the call has useful, specific information for organisations studying the Accelerated Knowledge Transfer Partnerships model or preparing for a future announcement. UKRI lists a total fund of £2,500,000. It says that UK registered academic institutions, research and technology organisations (RTOs), or Catapults could apply for a share of that fund for innovation projects with businesses. The business partner had to contribute at least 10% of project costs. Those are the central financial and partnership facts that remain confirmed for AKT 6.

No successor round or replacement deadline is confirmed on the official UKRI opportunity page reviewed for this update. This page therefore does not invent a new date, imply that applications remain open, or turn the old application route into a current checklist. Anyone looking for a new opportunity must wait for Innovate UK or UKRI to publish a separate announcement with its own dates and requirements.

Key details at a glance

The dates in this table describe the completed 2026 cycle. They are not a forecast of the next AKT round. The metadata keeps 15 July 2026 as the real deadline because a historical entry needs the actual closing date, while historicalReference = true tells the site that the date belongs to an archive record rather than an overdue live listing.

What AKT 6 was designed to connect

The official summary describes AKT 6 as support for innovation projects involving businesses. That wording points to a partnership structure rather than a stand-alone award for an individual or a business applying without a knowledge partner. The lead organisation was expected to come from a defined UK knowledge and research base: a higher education institution, a further education institution, an RTO, or a Catapult. The project also needed a UK registered business partner.

This division of roles is important when reading the archived call. The lead applicant category and the business-partner requirement were separate conditions. A business could bring a practical innovation need, operational knowledge, and a setting in which the work could matter, but the UKRI summary does not describe a business-only route. Likewise, an eligible academic or research organisation could not treat the opportunity as an individual research award with no business collaboration. The confirmed structure was a lead institution or organisation working with a qualifying UK business.

The 10% contribution rule reinforces that partnership design. UKRI states that the business must contribute a minimum of 10% to project costs. This is not the same as saying that the total fund paid for every cost connected with a project, nor is it a promise that every applicant would receive the same amount. The published £2.5 million figure is the total fund available across the competition. It should not be rewritten as a guaranteed award for each partnership or as an amount reserved for a particular organisation.

For historical analysis, the useful question is therefore not simply “How much money was available?” It is “Could the lead organisation and business partner form a credible project with a documented contribution from the business?” That question follows directly from the published eligibility and funding summary. A team reviewing the call should separate three things: whether its lead organisation fits one of the stated categories, whether its business partner is a UK registered business with at least four full-time employees, and whether the business can make the required minimum contribution to project costs.

Eligibility recorded for the closed cycle

UKRI’s eligibility summary gives a short set of hard gates. To lead a project, an organisation had to be a UK registered higher education or further education institution, an RTO, or a Catapult. The summary does not present these as examples of possible applicants; it states them as the lead-organisation categories. A team should not assume that a different organisation type can substitute for one of them merely because it has relevant technical expertise.

The lead organisation also had to collaborate with a UK registered business. UKRI specifies that the business could be of any size, but it had to have four or more full-time employees. That combination matters. “Any size” does not remove the employee threshold, and the threshold does not remove the UK-registration requirement. Both parts belong in a historical eligibility check.

The business contribution was another explicit condition. The business had to contribute at least 10% of project costs. The wording concerns project costs, not a general expression of interest or an informal promise to participate. For a future call, the detailed finance rules would need to be read from the new competition guidance, because a successor could define eligible costs, payment timing, or evidence requirements differently. For AKT 6, the confirmed fact is the minimum 10% contribution stated on the UKRI opportunity page.

The official summary does not say that every organisation satisfying these basic conditions would automatically receive funding. It says eligible organisations could apply for a share of the total fund. That distinction is important for anyone using this page as a case study. Eligibility is the entry condition; it is not a funding decision. A historical account should not imply that a qualifying partnership was guaranteed an award or that the £2.5 million total was divided equally among applicants.

The recorded timeline

UKRI published the AKT 6 opportunity on 21 May 2026. The page says that applications opened on 26 May 2026 at 9:00am UK time. The closing date was 15 July 2026 at 11:30am UK time. The page now labels the opportunity Closed, so the final date is a completed deadline rather than a date readers can still meet.

The opening and closing times are retained here because they explain the status change precisely. They also prevent a common archive error: replacing a passed deadline with a vague label such as “ongoing” when the official opportunity used a fixed application window. AKT 6 was not described on the verified page as a continuously accepting programme. Its recorded cycle had a published opening date and a published closing date, and that window has ended.

There is no confirmed next date to add. The absence of a successor announcement does not prove that Innovate UK will never run another knowledge-transfer competition. It means only that this entry cannot responsibly state when a future round will open or whether a future round will use the same name, eligibility, fund size, or contribution rule. A later announcement should be treated as a new source of truth rather than silently attached to the closed AKT 6 record.

Application information for historical reference

There are no current application steps for AKT 6. The official UKRI page directs readers to the full opportunity details on the Innovation Funding Service, but the recorded competition has closed. A visitor should not be told to start a new application, invite contributors, complete a finance form, or submit materials under this cycle. Those instructions would falsely suggest that the 2026 window remains available.

The historical route can still be understood at a high level. UKRI’s opportunity page served as the public notice and linked to the Innovation Funding Service for full competition details. That separation is useful context for researchers reviewing the call: the UKRI page supplied the funder, dates, fund total, and short eligibility summary, while the linked service carried the detailed competition guidance. The presence of a link to an application service does not by itself mean that the service accepts submissions after the UKRI page marks the opportunity Closed.

For a future Innovate UK call, a prospective applicant should use the new official opportunity page as the starting point, confirm its status and dates, and then read the linked competition guidance before preparing a proposal. The applicant should not copy AKT 6’s dates or assume that its partner rules will be repeated. The only safe preparation advice for this archived record is to understand the partnership logic, retain evidence of organisational status where relevant, and monitor the official UKRI and Innovate UK channels for a formally published successor.

How to read the £2.5 million figure

The £2.5 million amount is the total fund listed by UKRI for the competition. It is not described on the summary page as a per-project award, a personal stipend, or a guaranteed amount for every eligible lead. The phrase “a share of up to £2.5 million” means that the competition’s funded projects would be considered against the available total. A historical page should preserve that wording rather than compressing it into “AKT 6 pays £2.5 million.”

The business contribution should be read alongside the total-fund figure. Since UKRI requires the business to contribute at least 10% of project costs, the fund is not presented as a completely cost-free arrangement for the business partner. That requirement signals that the business had a financial stake in the project as well as a role in the collaboration. The official summary does not provide enough information here to calculate a universal cash amount for every possible project, so this page does not invent one.

This distinction also protects readers from a misleading comparison with ordinary grants. The defining facts available from UKRI are the grant classification, the competition-wide fund, the eligible lead categories, the qualifying business partner, and the minimum business contribution. Other features should be taken from the detailed competition guidance for the closed round or from a new official notice if Innovate UK announces another programme.

Why this remains useful as an archive entry

A closed opportunity can still help an institution understand how a funder frames collaboration. AKT 6 placed the lead role with UK academic institutions, RTOs, or Catapults and required a UK business partner. It also made the business’s financial participation explicit. Together, those details show that the opportunity was aimed at a structured relationship between a knowledge organisation and a business, not at an isolated application from one side of the partnership.

The archive can also help teams avoid misreading funder language. “A share of up to £2.5 million” is different from a fixed award. “Business of any size with four or more full-time employees” is different from an unrestricted business criterion. “Closed” is different from a delayed or rolling deadline. Keeping those distinctions visible is more valuable than filling the page with generic advice about innovation grants.

The page is especially relevant to a partnership that wants to compare future calls. It provides a reference point for questions such as: Which organisation types were allowed to lead? Was a business partner mandatory? Was there a minimum employee threshold? Did the business need to contribute to costs? How large was the competition-wide fund? A future call may answer those questions differently, but this record preserves the answers for AKT 6 without presenting them as current rules.

Frequently asked questions

Can an organisation apply to AKT 6 now?

No. UKRI marks the opportunity Closed, and the 15 July 2026 closing date has passed. This page does not provide a live submission route.

Has a successor round been announced?

No successor round or replacement deadline is confirmed on the official UKRI opportunity page reviewed for this update. Do not infer one from the fact that Innovate UK runs other funding competitions.

Who could lead the recorded competition?

The UKRI summary names UK registered higher education or further education institutions, RTOs, and Catapults.

What business partner was required?

The lead had to collaborate with a UK registered business of any size with four or more full-time employees.

How much was the total fund?

UKRI listed a total fund of £2,500,000. That was a competition-wide total, not a guaranteed amount for each project.

What did the business have to contribute?

The business had to contribute at least 10% of project costs.

Where were the detailed competition rules hosted?

The UKRI opportunity page linked to the full opportunity details on the Innovation Funding Service. Because AKT 6 is closed, that link should be treated as historical context rather than as proof that applications remain available.

Official reference

The authoritative source for the archived status and core facts is the UKRI opportunity page for Accelerated Knowledge Transfer Partnerships 6 (AKT 6). It identifies Innovate UK as the funder, classifies the opportunity as a grant, lists the £2,500,000 total fund, records the 21 May 2026 publication date, the 26 May 2026 opening date, and the 15 July 2026 closing date, and states the lead-organisation, business-partner, employee-count, and 10% contribution requirements.

Until a new official announcement appears, this entry should be read as a historical record of the closed AKT 6 cycle. It preserves the real deadline and the verified partnership and funding facts, while making clear that no application can be submitted through this archived listing and that no successor date has been invented.