£1 million up for grabs for 5G projects

5G infrastructure is likely to open up many new opportunities for applications which just aren’t possible with 4G, thanks to its increased speeds and high levels of connectivity.

But those opportunities are useless if businesses don’t jump on them, which is why Innovate UK is investing up to £1 million in projects designed to stimulate innovative 5G use cases. As it’s a UK-based competition it could also help the UK in particular get a head start on 5G.

Projects could focus on any number of things, from the Internet of Things, to new handset services, new mobile applications, connected media services, the tactile internet, mission-critical applications, immersive or interactive content, content distribution and more besides. So the scope is broad, opening the competition up to a large number of potential projects and businesses.

Proposals can be made by small, medium or large businesses, but they must be collaborative and led by a business working in tandem with academic or research institutions and/or communications service providers. However public sector organisations and charities involved in research can also participate.

Small businesses could get up to 70% of their project funded, medium sized ones up to 60% and large ones up to 50%, with projects expected to range from £150,000 to £220,000 in cost and to last for 9 to 12 months.

If you want to submit a proposal you’ll be able to from December 7^th 2015, with the deadline for registration closing on January 20^th 2016 and the deadline for applications occurring on February 3^rd 2016.

£1 million might not go far, but it’s a good start, especially given that we’re still a way off seeing 5G in any commercial capacity.

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