Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund Discovery C6: 2026 Closed Discovery Competition

Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund Discovery C6: 2026 Closed Discovery Competition

The Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) Discovery C6 competition is a closed 2026 funding opportunity for collaborative innovation projects in Great Britain’s energy networks. The official UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) listing records Innovate UK as the funder and the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) as co-funder. The competition opened on 27 May 2026 and closed on 24 June 2026 at 11:00am UK time. The official page does not announce a subsequent C6 discovery round, so this page is retained as a historical reference rather than presented as an opportunity that can still accept applications.

The competition formed the Discovery stage of a four-phase Strategic Innovation Fund pathway: Discovery, Alpha, Beta and Deployment. Its purpose was to help eligible energy-network leads define an important problem, understand users and network constraints, and establish the value of pursuing a solution before later testing, demonstration and deployment stages. Successful Discovery applicants were to be invited to apply for the Alpha phase, but that later invitation was not an open substitute for the closed Discovery application window.

Historical key details

The dates and amounts above describe the C6 competition published by Innovate UK and Ofgem. They should not be read as a live deadline or a promise that the programme is currently taking submissions. The historicalReference flag in the front matter deliberately keeps the real closing date while allowing the site to explain why the listing is archived.

What Discovery C6 was designed to support

SIF Discovery C6 sought proposals that could benefit GB energy-network infrastructure, consumers, network operations or network utilisation. The official competition brief connected the fund to net zero, lower costs for consumers, reliable service and the growth of innovative businesses. It was not a general-purpose technology grant. A proposal needed to address a defined network problem and select the appropriate Innovation Challenge.

The five Discovery challenges were:

1. Industrial and business connection acceleration: work related to making it faster or simpler for industrial and business users to connect to energy networks.
2. Faster build and maintenance: innovation that could reduce the time, disruption or cost associated with building and maintaining network infrastructure.
3. Instant-use domestic energy devices: approaches connected with domestic devices and their rapid, useful integration into the energy system.
4. Eliminating energy outages: work aimed at preventing outages, improving resilience or reducing the effects of network interruptions.
5. Decentralised system balancing: innovation supporting a more distributed and flexible energy system.

The competition required applicants to consider the problem from the Discovery stage through possible commercialisation after Alpha, Beta and Deployment. That did not mean a Discovery application had to deliver a live, large-scale solution immediately. It did mean the proposal needed a credible route from problem definition to later live testing, large-scale demonstration and eventual deployment into business as usual.

The brief asked applicants to address users and their context, constraints affecting the problem or wider context, opportunities for improvement and environmental impacts. It also expected a clear explanation of how the Project could deliver a net benefit to consumers. Examples in the official guidance included reducing financial costs, reducing emissions, creating access to revenues for network users, or introducing new products, processes and services to the UK energy market.

Who could lead and who could participate

This was a collaboration-only competition. The lead organisation had to be an Ofgem-licensed electricity or gas distribution network, a transmission operator, or the National Electricity System Operator. The source also describes the Project Direction as being awarded to a single legal entity, the lead network or Funding Party. A startup, academic group, supplier or independent researcher could not use this competition as a standalone lead application outside that structure.

Project Partners could include start-ups, SMEs, suppliers, academics, independent researchers, disruptors and other licensed energy-network companies. Ofgem encouraged applicants to involve the stakeholders needed for the proposed innovation, including suitable SME technology developers and growth companies. The partner list was not exhaustive, but partnership had to be substantive: Project Partners were expected to be responsible for at least one Discovery Phase deliverable.

Each Project Partner organisation had to be invited into IFS by the lead. After accepting the invitation, a partner had to log in or create an IFS account. This arrangement made the lead responsible for coordinating the application while giving participating organisations a formal place in the Project and its costs, responsibilities and deliverables.

The award was designed to be provided on a no-subsidy basis under the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Innovate UK determined the applicable status after submission, and the competition guidance advised applicants to obtain independent legal advice if they were unsure about their obligations. EU State aid rules could apply in limited circumstances under the Windsor Framework. These points were part of the eligibility and governance context, not optional wording to leave until after an award.

Funding and delivery limits

The overall Discovery Phase allocation was up to £30 million exclusive of VAT across the five challenges. That was the competition-wide allocation, not an amount available to every applicant. Each Discovery Phase Project could request no more than £200,000 of SIF funding, also exclusive of VAT.

Projects generally had to provide a compulsory contribution from private funds equal to at least 10% of total Project costs. The official guidance made a specific exception for a Project completing an initial Discovery phase to develop an Innovation Charter. Contributions above the mandatory minimum could be assessed as better value for money, but additional contribution did not guarantee selection.

The published delivery window was short and specific. A successful Project had to start after 1 September 2026, complete its deliverables within five months, and end by 31 January 2027. The application therefore needed a realistic Discovery scope rather than a budget and schedule intended for Alpha or Beta. The work should have produced a well-defined problem, a shared understanding of consumer and network-user needs, identified constraints, and a sound basis for deciding whether to pursue later phases.

Application process used for the closed round

Applications were made through the Innovation Funding Service. Before drafting, a lead needed to decide which of the five Innovation Challenges best matched the Project. The official guidance warned that an application could not be transferred to another challenge and would not be assessed if it was out of scope.

The lead then had to decide which organisations would work on the Project and invite those partners in IFS. The application included basic Project details such as the title, start date and duration, a public one-line description of up to 30 words, and a short public description of up to 100 words. Applicants also had to provide a fuller description of the Project, up to 200 words, written on the assumption that it could be published and without commercially sensitive information.

The scored application questions required answers of up to 400 words each, and all questions had to be answered. The guidance specifically said not to include website addresses or links in those answers because they would not be viewed or opened. Each organisation in the Project had to complete its own Discovery Phase costs, organisation details and funding details in IFS, exclusive of VAT.

The application needed to connect the chosen challenge to the actual network problem, the users affected, the constraints, environmental impacts and consumer benefit. It also needed to show what each partner would deliver, how the five-month Discovery work would be managed, how the requested amount fitted the scope, and how any compulsory private contribution would be provided. A weak application would have treated the partner list as decorative or used the £30 million programme allocation as though it were a project budget.

Independent Expert Assessors reviewed submissions. The competition page stated that each application would be reviewed by three independent assessors with relevant skills or expertise, and that scores would count toward the funding decision unless an applicant was notified otherwise. Applicants were to receive feedback. The brief also said that a show-and-tell presentation would be considered as part of a submission for the next phase, which is different from describing such material as a current Discovery application requirement.

Published timeline and what happened after closing

The official competition timeline listed the online briefing event and opening on 27 May 2026. The application deadline was 24 June 2026 at 11:00am UK time. Applicants were due to be notified on 22 July 2026, Project Directions were due to be issued on 20 August 2026, and successful Projects could start after 1 September 2026. The delivery end point was 31 January 2027.

Those milestones belong to the closed C6 round. They are useful to someone reviewing the competition’s structure or tracking a submitted application, but they are not a new application window. The official UKRI page and the linked IFS competition page continue to identify this named round and do not publish a later C6 deadline. Readers looking for a new SIF competition should verify a separate official announcement rather than reuse this page’s deadline.

Practical lessons for a future SIF application

Although this C6 page is historical, its requirements show the level of preparation expected in a similar SIF Discovery call. A prospective lead should first confirm that it is an eligible licensed network organisation or National Electricity System Operator. It should then select the challenge before assembling the consortium and make sure every Project Partner has a genuine Discovery deliverable.

The problem statement should be written around network users and consumers, not around a technology looking for a use case. The proposal should explain why the problem matters, what limits current practice, what evidence the Discovery work will produce, and how a later Alpha project could test a solution. Costs should be entered per organisation and should match the defined Discovery work. The lead should also confirm the private contribution and the no-subsidy or limited State aid implications early enough to obtain advice.

Finally, a future applicant should use the official IFS instructions for the live competition rather than assume that every C6 field, date or attachment will be repeated. The live UKRI listing is the primary reference linked from this archive entry, while the IFS page contains the detailed competition brief for the closed round.

Official links

• UKRI opportunity listing
• Innovation Funding Service competition page

For the closed round, Innovate UK listed [email protected] for SIF questions and [email protected] for IFS support. Those addresses are retained here as historical contact details from the competition page; readers should confirm current contact arrangements before using them for a later competition.