UK Telecoms Innovation Network Competition
This page provides supporting documentation for applications to the UK Telecoms Innovation Network Competition.
Overview
UKTIN is an open competition, run by DCMS, that will allocate up to £10 million of funding to a single consortium to set up a public-facing body that support the goals of the government’s 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy, and delivers against the recommendations set out by the Telecoms Diversification Taskforce. UKTIN is aimed at supporting the telecoms industry to navigate the UK’s telecoms R&D ecosystem and drive the development of open networks.
What is the UK Telecoms Innovation Network (UKTIN)
The primary aim of the funding for the UKTIN will be to set up and deliver a body which will support innovative new companies and the wider telecoms ecosystem to access and navigate R&D funding and facilities, as well as to provide them with the requisite technical support to grow their businesses and to develop their products and solutions. This competition fulfils ambitions set out in the 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy, as well as the recommendations made by the Telecoms Diversification Taskforce.
Introduction
The 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy
The 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy (2020) set out the Government’s long-term vision for the telecoms access supply market. One where competition and innovation bring forward new deployment models based on open interfaces and interoperable standards, with flexible networks and comprising an array of suppliers. This is because such a market increases competition and choice, and ultimately introduces interchangeability of equipment into the supply chain, boosting resilience.
The strategy indicated that in order to start the process of diversification as soon as possible, the government is seeking to attract new suppliers into the UK market. The government recognises that this will require a twin track approach: removing barriers for suppliers where they exist, while also incentivising operators to take up and integrate new suppliers. We must also shape relevant R&D activity, in line with our long term vision to ensure both suppliers remain at the cutting edge of the telecoms market, lead innovation and enhance competitiveness. It is also critical to establish a UK wide R&D ecosystem to accelerate and pull forward the development of interoperable technologies, including a major Open RAN trial in the UK.
The Telecoms Diversification Taskforce Recommendation: a ‘front door’ to the telecoms R&D ecosystem
The Telecoms Diversification Taskforce was appointed by the government in 2020 to look at where the government should target measures to ensure effective, accelerated and sustainable diversification in the telecoms supply chain. The Taskforce was composed of leading figures across industry and academia, chaired by ex-BT CEO Lord Ian Livingston of Parkhead, and has been providing important, expert, independent advice and scrutiny to the Government as it takes action to rebalance the supply chain.
The Telecoms Diversification Taskforce Findings and Report highlighted that cross-government telecoms R&D activity and funding is currently fragmented, particularly in research and testing. The telecoms R&D ecosystem is vast, expanding and evolving, with the emergence of multiple suppliers and new entrants delivering open interfaces and interoperable equipment, while government funding and activity for R&D is fractured and lacking in coordination.
This fragmentation can result in negative impacts on diversification including potential overlap and duplication of work, lack of access to relevant funds and technical support and delays in driving innovations and outcomes. In addition, this fragmentation in the public sector has presented a challenge to the government planning a holistic roadmap of actionable interventions and investments which truly align with the telecoms industry.
To deliver a truly diverse supply chain, the Taskforce found that there is a need to enable and support new market entrants, vendors and innovators in navigating this fragmented telecoms R&D ecosystem. The Taskforce termed this a ‘front door’, which should steer suppliers and operators to the right place to assist them in ways that would be relevant to the diversification agenda. They argued that it should ease the burden on suppliers, particularly smaller organisations, and ultimately lead to more effective engagement and matching of suppliers and innovators with relevant government initiatives and funding or other commercial opportunities. It will require collaboratively working with, and gaining endorsement from, the private sector alongside international engagement to bring new players to the UK and to leverage activity already being undertaken by international partners. By funding a consortium out of the UKTIN competition, DCMS aims to fulfil this recommendation.
Boosting the wider telecoms R&D ecosystem
The telecoms ecosystem (encompassing the development and delivery of telecoms and where telecoms enables innovation and delivery in vertical industry sectors) forms part of the broader digital ecosystem including critical and emerging technologies that underpin many of the digital services that we use today, and which are also being developed further.
While DCMS retains the overall lead on telecoms policy, a significant proportion of R&D activity is led and funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and its external bodies such as UK Research and Innovation. Telecoms-relevant projects are also led by a number of central and local government organisations including in areas such as transport, health and care, smart city and community based services, energy, environment, agriculture and green technologies.
UKTIN also aims to build on the success of UK5G, the 5G innovation network funded by the DCMS 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme since 2018, which aimed to boost the development of the UK’s 5G ecosystem in order to maximise the benefits to UK businesses and consumers from the development of 5G in the UK. The winning consortium should expand on UK5G success in supporting the development of the 5G ecosystem, to cover all forms of digital communications networks with a specific focus on the diversification of the telecoms supply chain.
The telecoms innovation network should work alongside other bodies and groupings in the wider digital ecosystem. It is meant to be complementary not substitutional.
Objectives
The high-level objectives for the UKTIN in respect of diversification of the telecoms supply chain and boosting the wider telecoms ecosystem are:
Until March 2024: UKTIN will make the UK telecoms R&D and innovation landscape easier to navigate in order to broaden and accelerate market deployment. This should include easing the path to successful entry for new suppliers into the UK’s telecoms innovation landscape.
Until March 2025: UKTIN will enable the best use of public and private investment in R&D in line with the government’s objectives: this should enable knowledge to be shared more readily across industry, to create the right partnerships and minimise unnecessary duplication.
Until March 2025: UKTIN will engage and support all organisations participating in the open networks R&D programme to ensure their activities align and inform the government telecoms and R&D policy goals, including maximising the collective benefit of government investment in telecoms R&D.
Until March 2025: UKTIN will drive the telecoms ecosystem so that it has strengthened UK capability through aligning R&D to support advanced networking technology, creating a pro-investment environment.
Competition timeline and events
| Event | Date/Deadline |
|---|---|
| Competition opens | 22 March 2022 |
| Launch/briefing event | 7 April 2022 |
| Deadline for potential applicants’ clarification questions to DCMS | 13 May 2022 |
| Deadline for submission of applications and all the required supporting appendices to DCMS uktin@dcms.gov.uk | Noon, 20 May 2022 |
| DCMS assessment of applications. Including interviews with shortlisted applicants. | Late May to Early July 2022 |
| DCMS notifies applicants of the competition outcomes. For successful applicants, start of consortium set up and DCMS due diligence | July 2022 |
| Completion of consortium set up and DCMS due diligence. Subject to timely, satisfactory completion, grant funding agreement (GFA) signed and start of the DCMS grant funding | 10 weeks after applicants are notified by DCMS of success in this competition. (September 2022) |
Who can apply?
This competition is open to applications from consortia with two or more members with funding available for UK based organisations.
How to apply
Please read the Competition Guidance below, complete the Application Form and the Finance Forms provided and return to uktin@dcms.gov.uk before noon, 20 May 2022.
Funding
Up to £10m is available for the competition. However, applicants are required to submit two responses to all of the questions in the application, one which represents a delivery plan with a budget of maximum £5m, and another for a delivery plan with a budget of maximum £10m. DCMS officials reviewing the applications will then use their discretion to determine which bid represents the best value for money based on what they think is required to deliver UKTIN.
Required documents
Contact us
If you have any questions or would like more clarification, please contact us on uktin@dcms.gov.uk. Your question and respective answer will be aggregated, anonymised and added to a public Q&A document unless commercially sensitive.
Briefing Event Recording
We held a briefing event for the UKTIN competition the 7 April 2022. The event offered an opportunity for potential applicants to hear about the competition itself, the application process, eligibility criteria and much more. Answers to all questions asked can be found in the FAQ document attached to this page.
Updates to this page
Last updated 17 May 2022 + show all updates
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Updated FAQ doc.
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Updated FAQ document.
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Updated Q&A document.
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