Tay5G Challenge Fund

Funding competition for innovative solutions using 5G open now

The Tay Cities Deal Tay5G Challenge Fund is a UK-wide grant funding opportunity worth £450,000. Funding is available for projects that demonstrate and validate innovative products and services which use 5G.

Tay5G Challenge Fund overview

£450,000 is available through the Tay5G Challenge Fund to support up to six applicants who can demonstrate impactful projects for products, services or solutions which use 5G. Tay5G seeks to fund up to six projects that explore 5G deployment and use cases from all sectors and industries. Applications which support the region’s focus areas listed below will be prioritised.

Applicants from across the UK are welcome.

Focus sectors for the Tay region:

Agriculture, Food and Drink
Digital & Creative
Energy & Renewables
Life Sciences
Manufacturing
Mobility / Transportation
Smart Cities IoT
Tourism

The Challenge Fund can provide grant funding of up to 70% of eligible costs depending on organisation size and status. Successful applicants are asked to provide match funding in cash or in-kind such as staff time, expertise, resources and facilities.

The Tay5G Challenge Fund is competitive and will involve a two-stage process. For stage 1 applicants are asked to complete a short Expression of Interest (EoI) outlining the proposed project. Successful applicants will be invited to Stage 2 to complete a full application. Submission of an EoI does NOT require a technical project plan. The technical requirements of your project will be refined in collaboration with our partners prior to Stage 2.

Projects must take place in the Tay Cities Region.

Challenge Expression of interest Opens - Wednesday 7th December 2022

Challenge Expression of interest Closes – Tuesday 31st January 2023

To discuss your project idea or request an Expression of Interest Form, please email tay5G@urbanforesight.org.

DROP-IN Support Sessions

We will be hosting a series of drop-in sessions through December 2022 to January 2023. These online sessions are a great opportunity for applicants to ask questions or discuss aspects of the fund or their application.

The sessions will be held on Microsoft Teams. Please select a date and click the link below to join:

Thursday 22 December 14:00 to 15:00 - Click here to join the meeting.
Thursday 12 January 11:00 to 12:00 - Click here to join the meeting.
Wednesday 18 January 14:00 to 15:00 - Click here to join the meeting.
Thursday 26 January 11:00 to 12:00 - Click here to join the meeting.

Background to Tay5G

Tay5G is a project that is part of Tay Cities Deal (TCD), a programme of projects to deliver strategic, economic development that is funded by the Scottish and UK Governments.

The Tay Cities Deal brings together public, private and voluntary organisations in the Scottish council areas of Angus, Dundee, Fife and Perth & Kinross to deliver a smarter and fairer region. Through initiatives like the Challenge Fund, Tay5G helps businesses, individuals, public sector and the third sector to engage with 5G technology. Tay5G promotes the exploration of the potential of 5G connectivity, unlocks access to word-class research and development expertise, state-of-the-art R&D resources and a diverse network of talent to develop impactful projects.

The rollout of 5G networks is of national and regional strategic importance to the Scottish Government. Tay5G is committed to ensuring that digital is at the heart of inclusive economic growth, public services reform and creating the future workforce. 

Tay5G aims to deliver a range of outcomes, including productivity growth, digital skills, and connectivity improvement and promote the region and Scotland’s innovation credentials. The key outcomes include:

Demonstration of which use cases and applications work
Disseminating evidence and lessons learnt during project delivery which will reduce costs/barriers to 5G deployment – and identify barriers
Increased and/or accelerated 5G R&D Investment in TCR
Increased commercial certainty about 5G opportunities in the TCR and beyond
Increased participation/collaboration with 5G ecosystems across SMEs, academia, larger companies, public and third sector
Enhanced perception of 5G in the TCR, greater awareness of 5G capability
Creating new opportunities for local businesses, including SMEs, to develop new applications and services they can market at home and overseas

Projects supported by the Tay5G Challenge Fund are required to contribute to these outcomes.

The Tay5G Challenge Fund - Specifics

The Tay5G Challenge Fund is an opportunity for organisations from anywhere in the UK with an innovative product or service which uses 5G, to explore its potential. High-level stipulations to successfully secure funding are as follows:

The 5G element

The product or service being trialled must benefit from one or more of the below 5G characteristics:

Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB)
Ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC).
Massive machine-type communications (mMTC)

Location of the funded projects

The project must take place in the Tay Cities Region. We acknowledge that some remote work may be required.

Use of Dundee’s 5G testbeds

Applications may incorporate the use of one of the three (3) 5G test beds in the Tay Cities Region.

Slessor Gardens Outdoor Testbed – managed by Dundee City Council/AWTG
Abertay Indoor Testbed – managed by Abertay University
S5GC/Abertay Cyberquarter Testbed – managed by S5GC

Focus sectors for the Tay region

It is not a requirement for the project to provide a product, service or solution in relation to one of the Tay City Region’s eight focus sectors (see list below) but applications that do will be viewed favourably.

Agriculture, Food and Drink
Digital & Creative
Energy & Renewables
Life Sciences
Manufacturing
Mobility / Transportation
Smart Cities IoT
Tourism

Detailed challenge guidelines and full terms and conditions will be made available after launch from the resource section at the bottom of this page.

To discuss your project idea please email tay5G@urbanforesight.org.

Entry Requirements

The Challenge Fund is open to all UK registered organisations.

If there is only one applicant, they must be an SME registered in Scotland.

Consortia can apply, which may include organisations from the public, private, third or research sectors.  Rules for applications from consortia;

Consortium members can be any type of UK-registered organisation.
At least one consortium member must be a business registered in Scotland.
The consortium must have the resources (identified/committed) to complete the project.

The Challenge Fund can provide grant funding for your eligible project costs of:

up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation
up to 50% if you are a large organisation

Successful applicants are asked to provide match funding in cash or in kind such as staff time, expertise, resources and facilities. Overheads can be used as a cost match.

The applicant's product, process or service must have a Technology Readiness Level between 5 and 9. Please refer to the European Union definitions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_readiness_level

To discuss your project idea please email tay5G@urbanforesight.org.

Competition and award

The Tay5G Challenge Fund officially opened on Wednesday the 7th of December 2022 at an event in Dundee held by Challenge Fund partner, the Scotland 5G Centre.

The Tay5G Challenge Fund is a competitive funding opportunity and will involve a two-stage application process.

Stage 1

Please submit a short Expression of Interest (EoI) outlining your proposed project.

Submission of an EoI does NOT require a technical project plan. The technical requirements of your project will be refined in collaboration with our partners prior to Stage 2.

Stage 2

Successful applicants will be invited to complete a full application.

Stage 2 is when you will have to opportunity to collaborate with our technical partners to refine your detailed project plan and budget (funding request).

All funded projects need to be completed by 31st March 2024.

To discuss your project idea or request an Expression of Interest Form, please email tay5G@urbanforesight.org.

Key Dates

Challenge launch and open day - Wednesday 7th December 2022
Stage 1 application deadline – Tuesday 31st January 2023
Applicants notified - Friday 3rd February 2023
Stage 2 deadline – Friday 24th February 2023
Winners notified – Friday 17th March 2023
Projects begin - May 2023
Projects complete - 31st March 2024

To discuss your project idea please email tay5G@urbanforesight.org.

Who is managing this challenge?

Urban Foresight, the UK’s leading place based innovation consultancy, is managing the Tay5G Challenge on behalf of Dundee City Council and the Tay5G Board.

Urban Foresight has deep expertise in running challenge-based innovation programmes. As part of its role, Urban Foresight will work to identify potential applicants and support the development of their proposals to ensure they are in line with the goals of the Tay Cities Deal and have the best chance of success.

Resources

Full challenge outlines will be added to this section when the challenge launches on the 7th of December.

Contact

Email: tay5g@urbanforesight.org

Please note that Urban Foresight is managing the Tay5G Challenge on behalf of Dundee City Council and the Tay5G Board.

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