Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund round 5 Discovery C7

Captured cycle: This page is retained for historical guidance. Confirm whether the program has reopened before planning an application.

Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund round 5 Discovery C7

The Round 5 Discovery C7 competition is open for collaborative proposals addressing one of the seven Ofgem Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) challenges. Innovate UK delivers the competition with the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem). The call opened on 21 September 2026 and closes on 21 October 2026 at 11:00am UK time. The lead applicant must submit through the Innovation Funding Service (IFS). This is a live application window; the dates, limits, and process below describe C7, not the earlier C6 call.

SIF supports network innovation intended to help deliver net zero at lowest cost to consumers and support innovative businesses to grow and scale. Discovery is the initial phase. It defines the network problem, establishes the value of solving it, and builds a common understanding of consumers’ and network users’ needs and constraints. Successful Discovery applicants may be invited to apply for Alpha, where proposed solutions are prepared and tested. An invitation is not an award of further funding: later phases require their own applications and assessment.

At a glance

The £30 million is a total allocation for the Discovery phase across all seven challenges. It is not a per-project award or a promise that all applications will receive funding. Ofgem may use a portfolio approach and can adjust funding allocations. Each proposed project may request up to £200,000 in SIF funding, exclusive of VAT. The applicant must provide a compulsory contribution from private funds equal to at least 10% of total project costs. Contributions above that minimum may be assessed as better value for money, but do not replace the other assessment criteria.

Which problems are in scope

A proposal must address network innovation that can benefit Great Britain’s energy network infrastructure, consumers, network operation, or network utilisation. Applicants should explain the users and their context, constraints affecting the issue, opportunities for improvement, and environmental impacts. The case for support should connect a defined problem to plausible consumer benefits such as lower network or energy costs, reduced emissions, revenues for network users, or new products, processes, and services for the UK energy market.

C7 covers these Round 5 Innovation Challenges:

1. Advanced energy transmission and networks
2. Dynamic modelling
3. High energy demand point integration
4. Consumer centric grid expansion
5. Enhanced system visibility and control
6. Green gas
7. Whole system optimisation

Each challenge has specific aims and focus themes. Examples include semiconductor technologies, superconducting transmission and wireless power; grid simulation and coordination of flexible resources; demand forecasting, flexibility and connection acceleration; technical grid expansion and public acceptance; automated monitoring and control-room operations; green-gas infrastructure, balancing, storage and injection; and whole-system modelling. Applicants must select the challenge and primary theme that fit the project. Applications cannot be transferred between competitions and an out-of-scope proposal will not be assessed, so teams should check the full C7 IFS brief before choosing a theme.

The proposal should also address cross-cutting SIF concerns: customer focus and inclusion, scalability and replicability, data and digitalisation, shared learning, skills and capability, supply-chain development, and resilience. These concerns should be tied to the project design. For example, a team can explain which customers or network users will shape requirements, what evidence would permit the method to be repeated in another region, what data practices are needed, and how useful findings will be shared even if a solution does not progress.

Who can apply

This is a collaboration-only competition. The lead must be an Ofgem-licensed gas or electricity distribution network, a gas or electricity transmission operator, or NESO, and it must work with at least one other organisation as a project partner. The lead network is the funding recipient and is responsible for submitting the application. At least one other organisation must participate as a partner; partners enter their own costs in IFS and should have a clear role and deliverable. C7 also sets additional partner requirements for particular challenge themes. Teams must read the theme-specific provisions rather than assume that a general consortium meets them.

The project partners may include start-ups, small and medium-sized businesses, suppliers, academics, independent researchers, other energy network companies, and other relevant organisations. A partner that is not claiming funding may also take part, including a non-UK organisation, subject to the brief’s conditions. The application should explain why each organisation is needed, what capability it contributes, who will lead each output, how stakeholders and consumers will be involved, and how project governance will handle delivery and risk.

The competition is designed to provide funding on a no-subsidy basis under the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Innovate UK will determine eligibility for an award on that basis after submission, and the lead must ensure collaborators remain compliant. EU State aid rules may apply in limited circumstances under the Windsor Framework. Applicants uncertain about their legal position should obtain independent advice; Innovate UK and Ofgem do not determine individual legal obligations in advance.

Project period and delivery expectations

C7 projects must start after 1 January 2027, finish by 31 May 2027, and complete their deliverables within the five-month window. Projects must start on the first day of a month, even if it is not a working day, and applicants must state the proposed start date. A funded project cannot begin until the Project Direction has been received and approved. The award at this stage covers Discovery only. The lead and partners must meet monitoring requirements, including end-of-phase meetings and project show-and-tells.

The competition schedule lists applicant notifications for 17 November 2026 and the Project Direction issue and project start-after date as 1 January 2027. Applicants should use the date in their own IFS notification and final Project Direction when planning, because the Direction confirms the applicable conditions, deliverables, costs, and milestones. No costs incurred before the approved project start date can be claimed as part of the funding.

Discovery is expected to produce a clear problem definition and evidence of the value in solving it. A credible work plan should explain how the project will learn about users, test assumptions, assess feasibility, understand environmental and network constraints, and prepare for potential live testing in Alpha. The proposal should describe a route through Alpha, Beta demonstration, and deployment into business as usual without implying that later-phase funding is guaranteed.

How to apply

Applications are submitted in IFS by the eligible lead network licensee. Before drafting, read the C7 competition overview, the current SIF Governance Document and IFS application guidance. Confirm that the project is a fit for the Round 5 Discovery C7 competition rather than the parallel competition for the Strategic Innovation Fund Challenges launched in 2026. The competition organisers say applications cannot be transferred between competitions. If the correct scope is unclear, contact the SIF team using the details in the official brief well before the closing date.

The online application has three parts: Project details, Application questions, and Finances. Invite partner organisations into IFS so they can complete their assigned information and costs. The lead should select the Lead Network, enter the project title and planned dates, choose one challenge and theme, and provide a public one-line description of up to 30 words and a project description. The detailed brief allows the public description answer up to 150 words. Write public material so it can be published if the project is funded, and do not include commercially sensitive information.

Applicants must answer every question. Each answer may be up to 400 words, and URLs should not be included unless a question asks for one. The questions collect information such as the lead network, animal testing, international collaboration, export controls, Trusted Research and Innovation, the problem statement, strategic alignment, team and partner capability, NESO involvement, project management and delivery, outputs and dissemination, intellectual property, and value for money. Treat the current IFS question set as authoritative if the ordering or wording displayed in an application differs from a summary.

The project-management question requires a completed Project Management Template (PMT). It should set out work packages, objectives, tasks, milestones, outputs, owners, funding allocations, and stage-gate success criteria. Its risk register should cover relevant technical, political, policy, regulatory, supply, commercial, management, and environmental uncertainties, with mitigation actions and responsible owners. A Gantt chart must be included on a separate tab in the PMT. Upload the completed workbook as an appendix to the specified IFS question; it must be an Excel spreadsheet no larger than 10MB, with legible text at 100% zoom. The brief makes the required templates available through the link in the relevant question.

For the finances section, each organisation completes its own project costs, organisation details, and funding details exclusive of VAT. Explain the full project cost, SIF request, distribution of costs and funding across partners, each partner’s financing contribution, subcontractor costs, other innovation funding, and any existing assets or facilities that will be used. Explain how the project offers value for money to consumers and how the work could move toward commercialisation or business-as-usual use. The lead should ensure that partner entries are complete and consistent with the PMT and the requested private contribution.

Before submission, the lead is responsible for checking that all information is correct, the project satisfies scope and eligibility criteria, every section is marked complete, and all partners have completed their assigned sections and accepted the terms and conditions. IFS permits a submitted application to be reopened before the deadline, but any reopened application must be resubmitted before the competition closes. The official C7 closing time is 11:00am UK time on 21 October 2026. Applicants needing accessibility adjustments should contact Innovate UK early; the brief recommends at least 15 working days before the deadline so suitable support can be arranged.

Assessment and award setup

Three independent assessors review submitted applications against the SIF eligibility criteria, and applicants are provided with feedback. The application should make its claims traceable to the work plan, partner roles, consumer value, costs, and planned outputs. It must also satisfy the relevant Governance Document requirements, including knowledge sharing and project monitoring. An application can be well written and still fail if the lead is ineligible, the collaboration is incomplete, the selected theme is out of scope, or the project does not demonstrate adequate consumer benefit and value for money.

If the application passes initial assessment and receives a funding offer, the lead follows the unique link in its IFS email to complete Project Setup. The team will be asked for project-manager and finance-lead contacts, partner finance contacts, project location, and answers to any requested financial queries. It must also provide a simple quarterly breakdown of overall project costs. After setup is complete, Ofgem issues the Project Direction through IFS; the lead must sign and upload it for approval. Work must not begin before the date stated in the approved Direction.

Current status

Round 5 Discovery C7 is open, with a closing time of 11:00am UK time on 21 October 2026. The listed allocation, £200,000 request cap, private contribution, lead-applicant rules, project period, and application steps in this page refer to C7. The earlier C6 competition has closed and its terms should not be substituted for this call. The Strategic Innovation Fund has separate competitions for other challenges and phases; always use the live IFS brief for the particular competition you intend to enter.

Official sources: UKRI C7 listing, Innovation Funding Service C7 brief, and Ofgem SIF application guidance.