Cyber Security Academic Startup Accelerator Programme Y10 Phase 1

Who can apply

This award has been designed to be provided on a no subsidy basis, as defined in the Subsidy Control Act 2022.

This means to be eligible, the award will not give an economic advantage to one or more organisations, and you must not be acting economically as an organisation within the meaning of the act.

In limited circumstances, EU State aid rules may apply under the Windsor Framework and a ‘No Aid’ award may be given in accordance with the R&D&I Framework.

Your project

Your project must:

• have total costs between £2,500 and £16,000 allocated to each phase

• carry out its project work in the UK

• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

• start on 1 April 2026

• end by 31 July 2026

Projects must always start on the first of the month, even if this is a non-working day. You must not start your project until your Grant Offer Letter has been issued by Innovate UK. Any delays within Project Setup may mean we need to delay your project start date.

You must only include eligible project costs in your application. Eligible costs for this competition are the salaries of the academics participating in the programme and will include travel and subsistence to the CyberASAP Yr 10 phase 1 events only.

The funding is for commercialisation activities and there is no funding available at this phase for:

• project research

• consumables

• Technology Transfer Officer (TTO)

• marketing

• hardware and software

• equipment

• overheads and estate costs

This list is not exhaustive.

If your project’s total costs or duration falls outside of our eligibility criteria, you must provide justification by email to support@iuk.ukri.org at least 10 working days before the competition closes. We will decide whether to approve your request.

If you have not requested approval or your application has not been approved by us, you will be made ineligible. Your application will then not be sent for assessment.

Lead organisation

This competition is open to single applicants and collaborations.

To work alone or lead a collaborative project you must:

• be based in a UK registered academic institution

• have a cyber security idea

• be interested in the commercialisation of your idea

• have the support of your academic institution’s technology transfer office or equivalent

• not act in any way to gain selective commercial or economic advantage from the outputs of this project

More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.

Project team

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must:

• be a UK registered academic institution

• be interested in the commercialisation of your idea

• have the support of your academic institution’s technology transfer office or equivalent

Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once partners have accepted the invitation, they will be asked to login or to create an account in IFS. They are responsible for entering their own project costs in the application.

To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and at least one other organisation must:

• apply for funding when entering their costs into the application.

• include rationale for the collaboration and describe the structure in your application.

All individuals based in a UK academic institution are eligible, including but not limited to early career researchers and senior academic researchers.

The grant will be paid to the academic institutions after each stage of phase 1. Each academic institution in the consortium will be funded individually, but the total funding for all academic partners must be no more than £32,000 for each application.

Non-funded partners

Your project can include organisations who do not claim any funding for their work on the project. Their costs will be covered from their own resources. These can include UK, EU and other non-UK organisations. Non-UK partners are permitted to carry out project work from within their home countries and exploit the results outside the UK.

Where non-funded partners have been invited to the application on IFS, their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs.

Subcontractors

Subcontractors are not allowed in this competition.

Building value proposition and market validation activities

Participants in phase 1 with ideas that demonstrate the most potential for commercialisation will be invited to apply to participate in phase 2, where funding is available to develop a proof of concept for the product or service.

If we award you funding, the project leader must be dedicated to the project for the two month value proposition building activity from 1 April 2026. If we decide the project leader can continue to the market validation activity they must be dedicated for the additional two months until 31 July 2026.

Dedicated to the project means the project leader must:

• attend two days of in person events and three days of online events as part of the initial value proposition activity

• be able and permitted to work on your project for at least two days a week in order to make it a success

You will be contacted by Innovate UK Business Connect with full details of events relevant to you, including confirmed dates.

The planned dates for the value proposition phase are:

• 15 and 16 April 2026: in person value proposition bootcamp

• 17 April 2026 from 11:30 am to 12:30pm: webinar for Technology Transfer Officers or equivalent

• 6 and 7 May 2026: online value proposition mid-stage review

• 28 and 29 May 2026: online value proposition pitch to selection panel, teams must pitch at a slot on one of these two days

Innovate UK Business Connect will hold regular informal online drop in sessions during the value proposition stage. Project teams will be informed of the schedule when the programme commences.

Before the formal start of the programme an informal online introduction session is provisionally planned for Wednesday 8th April. Innovate UK Business Connect will advise all participants of the time in due course.

If selected to undertake the additional market validation phase you must commit to attend three days of in person events and three days of online events.

The planned dates are:

• 2 to 4 June 2026: attend InfoSec at ExCel London: optional

• 9 and 10 June 2026: in person market validation bootcamp

• 11 June 2026: in person meet the mentor day

• 30 June 2026: online market validation mid-stage review

• 1 July 2026: online meet the entrepreneur day

• 22 and 23 July 2026: online market validation pitch to selection panel, teams must pitch at a slot on one of two day

Number of applications

You can submit more than one application if you have multiple ideas, but we will not select more than one for funding.

Sanctions

This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions. For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups.

Use of animals in research and innovation

Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.

Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both that in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation.

Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process. This information will be reviewed before an award is made.

Previous applications

You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.

If you have previously submitted an application that reached our assessment stage, you can re-apply once more with the same proposal.

If there are minor differences to the proposal, but it is judged by us to be ‘not materially different’, the same rule applies.

We will not award you funding if you have:

• failed to exploit a previously funded project

• an overdue independent accountant’s report

• failed to comply with grant terms and conditions

• previously led a CyberASAP funded project

Innovate UK may withhold a grant payment at any time if you have any outstanding sums due to us in relation to other projects.

No subsidy (and non-aid where applicable)

No subsidy

This competition has been designed to provide funding that is not classed by Innovate UK as a subsidy.

Your eligibility to be given an award on a ‘No Subsidy’ basis will be determined by Innovate UK after you have submitted your application.

You should still seek independent legal advice on what this means for you, before applying.

Further information about the Subsidy Control Act 2022 requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk)

It is the responsibility of the lead organisation to make sure all collaborators in the project remain compliant with the ‘No Subsidy’ status they are awarded.

It is important to note that it is the activity that an organisation is engaged in as part of the project and not its intentions, that define whether any support provided could be considered a subsidy.

EU State aid rules now only apply in limited circumstances. See the Windsor Framework to check if these rules apply to your organisation.

In the ‘Project details’ section of your application you will be asked questions to indicate if State Aid or Subsidy applies to your organisation.

Further Information

If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 regime you should take independent legal advice. We cannot advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations.

Funding

A maximum of £800,000 has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

No more than £16,000 can be allocated to the initial two months of the programme for the phase 1 value proposition building activity.

No more than £16,000 can be allocated to the following two months for the phase 2 market validation activity.

We reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions under exceptional circumstances, for example, in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations, or broader government funding decisions.

Your total eligible project costs will be 100% funded. Total eligible project costs detailed within your application must not exceed the maximum project size. If your total eligible project costs do exceed the maximum then your application will be made ineligible.

You must only include eligible project costs in your application. Eligible costs for this competition are the salaries of the academics participating in the programme and will include travel and subsistence to the CyberASAP Yr 10: phase 1 events only.

The funding is for commercialisation activities and there is no funding available at this phase for:

• project research

• consumables

• Technology Transfer Officer (TTO)

• marketing

• hardware and software

• equipment

• overheads and estate costs

This list is not exhaustive.

You can make reference to any additional voluntary contribution in your application answers. It must not be detailed in the finance section.

Innovate UK may revoke our decision to provide funding without notice if government commitment for this initiative is withdrawn.

Your proposal

The aim of this competition is to identify the most promising commercial opportunities in academia relating to cyber security.

We define cyber security to mean protecting any or all the following from unauthorised access, harm or misuse:

• information systems including hardware, software and associated infrastructure

• data on information systems

• services provided by information systems

This includes harm caused intentionally by the operator of the system, or accidentally, as a result of failing to follow security procedures.

Your proposal must include:

• the area of your research

• the problem you are solving

• your proposed solution

• your initial market validation plan

Portfolio approach

We want to fund a variety of projects across different technologies, themes, regions and diversity. We call this a portfolio approach.

Specific themes

We encourage applications that respond to the below cyber security challenges:

• Security and Resilience of Operational Technology (OT)

• Software Supply Chain Security and Resilience, including compliance with Software Code of Practice and security of cloud services

• Emerging Opportunities and Technologies: this can include AI in cyber security (access management, change management, threat detection and reporting), drones and robotics.

This list is not exhaustive and we welcome applications that address other cyber security challenges, including online harms.

Projects we will not fund

We are not funding projects:

• that are not related to cyber security

• from academic institutions outside the UK

• that have an academic lead that has already led and completed a previous CyberASAP project

• which are classed as State aid under EC regulations or a subsidy under the EU-UK TCA with undertakings which gain a selective economic or commercial advantage from the funding

• which are classed as State aid under the Windsor Framework or a subsidy under the Subsidy Control Act 2022

20 January 2026

Online briefing event: watch the recording

Briefing slides are available to download from supporting information.

26 February 2026

Applicants notified

3 March 2026

Successful applicant briefing for project setup

1 April 2026

Project start from

Before you start

You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.

Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure:

• that all the information provided in the application is correct

• your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria

• all sections of the application are marked as complete

• if collaborative, that all partners have completed all assigned sections and accepted the terms and conditions (T&Cs)

You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline. You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline.

What we ask you

The application is split into three sections:

1. Project details

2. Application questions

3. Finances

Accessibility and Inclusion

We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.

You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance.

We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline.

You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

1. Project details

This section provides background for your application and is not scored.

Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers.

Application team

If collaborative, decide which organisations will work with you on your project and invite people from those organisations to help complete the application.

Application details

Give your project’s title, start date and duration. Projects must start on 1 April 2026 and last for four months.

Research category

Select the type of research you will undertake.

Project summary

Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it an innovative cyber security solution.

We use this section to assign the right experts to assess your application.

Your answer can be up to 50 words long.

Public description

Describe your project in detail, and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Scope

Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition. If your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why.

Your answer can be up to 200 words long.

2. Application questions

The assessors will only score the answers to questions 9 to 13. Unsuccessful applicants will receive a summary of feedback. Find out more about how our assessors assess and how we select applications for funding.

You must answer all questions. Your answer to each question can be up to 400 words long.

You must not include any website addresses or links (URLs) in your answers. If you do, your application will be made ineligible.

Question 1. Applicant location (not scored)

You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation and any partners working on your project.

We are collecting this information to understand more about the geographical location of all applicants.

Question 2. Animal testing (not scored)

Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing?

You must select one option:

• Yes

• No

We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare.

Further information for proposals involving animal testing is available at the UKRI Good Research Hub and NC3R’s animal welfare guidance.

Question 3. Permits and licences (not scored)

Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project?

We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date.

You must select one option:

• Yes

• No

• In the process of being applied for

• Not applicable

Question 4. Export licence (not scored)

You must indicate whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance.

You must select one option:

• Yes

• No

Question 5. Trusted Research and Innovation (not scored)

You must explain if your proposed project work relates to UKRI’s Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) Principles, including:

• a list of any dual-use (both military and non-military) applications to your research

• a list of the areas where your project is relevant to one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act

• whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance and the status of any applications

• a list of any items or substances on the UK Strategic Export Control List

If your proposed work does not relate to UKRI’s TR&I Principles, your answer must confirm this.

We may ask you to provide additional TR&I information at a later date, in line with UKRI TR&I Principles and funding terms and conditions.

Question 6. Select which cyber security challenge your application fits into (not scored)

You must type in full which challenge area you are applying for:

• Security and Resilience of Operational Technology (OT)

• Software Supply Chain Security and Resilience, including compliance with Software Code of Practice and security of cloud services

• Emerging Opportunities and Technologies: this can include AI in cyber security ( access management, change management, threat detection and reporting), drones and robotics

• other: describe the challenge

Question 7. Costs (not scored)

What are your costs for the four month programme? How are these costs split between the two stages of this competition? Note the only eligible costs are salary, travel and subsistence.

Explain:

• the total costs for your involvement in this programme

• the salary, travel costs within the UK and subsistence costs to specified CyberASAP events required for the programme, that you will incur

• how the costs will be split into the value proposition and market validation stages of the programme

Question 8. Previous involvement with CyberASAP (not scored)

Indicate whether any member of your team has been previously involved in a CyberASAP project. If so, state who was involved, when, and which project.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 9. Team and resources

Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

You must include:

• who the project leader is

• the roles, skills and experience of all members of the project team that are relevant to the approach you will be taking

• the resources, equipment and facilities needed for the project and how you will access them

• the person responsible for academic commercialisation who supports this application, such as your Technology Transfer Officer or equivalent role, and include their name and contact details, if possible

• any other people directly or indirectly involved or relevant to the research, their roles, skills and experience

• if your project is collaborative, the current relationships between project partners and how these will change as a result of the project

• any roles you will need to recruit

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 10. Need or challenge

What is the business need, technological challenge or market opportunity behind your innovation?

Explain:

• the main motivation for the project

• the business need, technological challenge or market opportunity

• whether you have identified any similar innovation and its current limitations, including those close to market or in development

• any work you have already done to respond to this need, for example, if the project focuses on developing an existing capability or building a new one

• the wider economic, social, environmental, cultural or political challenges which are influential in creating the opportunity, such as incoming regulations

Question 11. Approach and innovation

What approach will you take and where will the focus of the innovation be?

Explain:

• how you will respond to the need, challenge or opportunity identified

• how will you improve on the similar innovation that you have identified

• whether the innovation will focus on existing technologies in new areas, the development of new technologies for existing areas or a totally disruptive approach

Question 12. Commercialisation

How do you intend to commercialise your idea? Have you got support from your academic institution’s technology transfer office or equivalent?

Describe or explain:

• what your approach to commercialisation is

• what your academic institution’s approach to intellectual property (IP) and commercialisation is

Confirm that you have got support from your academic institution’s technology transfer office or equivalent and that they will engage with the programme including attending the commercialisation webinar.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 13. Market Validation

What is your plan for market validation? Who do you intend to work with?

Explain:

• your plan for market validation, including objectives, important milestones and how you will measure the success of the market validation

• how you will determine whether your target market likes your product or service, or your concept for a product or service

• what evidence there is that the market will be willing to buy your product or service

• which companies or organisations you plan to approach to ask for support with your market validation

• how you will find the right contacts and whether they will give you the necessary access to continue your market validation

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

3. Finances

Each organisation in your project must complete their own project costs, organisation details and funding details in the application.

For specific guidance of what costs you can claim, see the eligibility section in this competition.

Assessment

Your application will be reviewed by assessors from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Innovate UK and Innovate UK Business Connect based on the content of your application and their skills or expertise relevant to your project. All of the scores awarded will count towards the total score used to make the funding decision unless you are notified otherwise.

You can find out more about our assessment process in the General Guidance.

Your submitted application will be assessed against these criteria:

CyberASAP Yr10 Phase 1 Assessor guidance for applicants.pdf

Background and further information

The UK Digital Technologies Sector Plan (2025) sets out a vision to make the UK a global leader in technology by 2035, focusing on frontier technologies such as AI, quantum, and advanced connectivity. A critical enabler of this vision is cyber security, which underpins trust in digital systems and protects intellectual property and data.

The Cyber Security Academic Startup Accelerator Programme (CyberASAP) directly supports the UK Digital Technologies Sector Plan by aiming to increase the amount of academic research being commercialised within UK universities through a bespoke programme of support. This contributes to the plan’s goals of driving economic growth, building a skilled workforce, and strengthening regional clusters, as CyberASAP nurtures startups, creates jobs, and fosters collaboration between academia and industry.

For more details on the programme please go to: www.cyberasap.co.uk or email cyberasap@iukbc.org.uk .

Briefing recording and slides

Online briefing event: watch the recording

Briefing slides are available to download here:

APPLICANT BRIEFING Cyber ASAP Yr10 P1 v2.pdf (opens in a new window)

What happens if you receive a grant offer

If you have passed your initial assessment and have received an email with a grant offer, you will be asked to complete the project setup process on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS). Watch our video on what steps are there before a project starts.

We will ask for information that will allow us to undertake mandatory checks on your organisation and the eligibility of your costs, as well as review the documentation for your project.

You must follow the unique link embedded in your email notification. This takes you to your project's dedicated IFS Set Up portal, where we gather the information required to set up your project, for example your bank details. Watch our video on how successful applicants receive their funding.

If your application is unsuccessful

If you are unsuccessful with your application this time, you can view a short summary of feedback from the assessors. Detailed feedback on each application question will not be provided. The feedback will be sent to you via email following notification.

Sometimes your application will have scored well, and you will receive positive comments from the assessors. You may be unsuccessful as your average score was not above the funding threshold or your project has not been selected under the portfolio approach if this is applied for this competition.

Protecting your innovation

A Secure Innovation campaign has been developed to help founders and leaders of innovative startups protect their technology, competitive advantage, and reputation.

This was developed by UK’s National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

Data sharing

This competition is jointly operated by Innovate UK, and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) (each an ‘agency’).

Any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application can be shared by one agency with the other, for its individual storage, processing and use.

This means that any information given to or generated by Innovate UK in respect of your application may be passed on to DSIT and vice versa. This would include, but is not restricted to:

• the information stated on the application, including the personal details of all applicants

• scoring and feedback on the application

• information received during the management and administration of the grant, such as Monitoring Service Provider reports and Independent Accountant Reports

Innovate UK and DSIT are directly accountable to you for their holding and processing of your information, including any personal data and confidential information. Data is held in accordance with their own policies. Accordingly, Innovate UK, Innovate UK Business Connect and DSIT will be data controllers for personal data submitted during the application.

Innovate UK’s Privacy PolicyInnovate UK Business Connect Privacy PolicyDSIT Privacy Policy

Innovate UK complies with the requirements of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is committed to upholding data protection legislation, and protecting your information in accordance with data protection principles.

The Information Commissioner’s Office also has a useful guide for organisations, which outlines the data protection principles.

Contact us

If you need more information about how to apply or you want to submit your application in Welsh, email support@iuk.ukri.org or call 0300 321 4357.

Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

Innovate UK or any of our partners will not tolerate abusive language in any written or verbal correspondence, applications, social media or any other form that might affect staff.