Innovate UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) have announced a new competition to support feasibility projects exploring use cases and business cases for quantum sensing technologies in the transport sector.

The aim of the competition is to improve the transport sector by accelerating the development of innovative quantum sensing technologies to solve transport challenges, increasing the efficiency and resilience of transport critical national infrastructure and transport platforms.

• Funding available: up to £40,000 (incl. VAT) per project
• Project duration: January – March 2026
• Application deadline: 15 October 2025, 11:00am (UK time)

Projects will benefit the UK transport sector by developing use cases and business cases for quantum sensing technologies to improve the efficiency and resilience of transport critical national infrastructure and transport platforms. Projects need to cover one or more of the challenge areas:

• Infrastructure testing, monitoring and fault prediction
• Ground and below-ground mapping for transport construction
• Health and maintenance of transport platforms (road, rail, maritime and air)

Projects must deliver both of the following:

1. A use case based on one or more of the above challenge areas.The use case could consider, for example only, technical requirements, user requirements, operational guidelines, system architecture, security considerations and standards. The main outcome is to strengthen understanding of the practical applications of quantum sensing technologies in the challenge areas to provide a foundation for further development.
2. An outline business case based on the chosen use case.The business case could include, for example only, the business need, market analysis, commercialisation strategy, stakeholder mapping or engagement, supply chain mapping, strategic alignment, economic viability, commercial barriers to adoption. The main outcome is to improve the understanding of the commercial viability for the use case.

Successful projects will be expected to attend a programme event to engage with the community and provide progress updates.

Your project must focus on a second generation quantum technology, defined as involving the generation and coherent control of quantum states, resulting in phenomena such as superposition or entanglement. Single photon generation and detection technologies are in scope.

This Phase 1 call is intended to develop robust use cases and commercial pathways for quantum sensing, providing the groundwork for potential future prototyping and demonstration stages.

Further details and application guidance can be found here.

(Pic: DfT)