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Overview
Innovate UK and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) have launched the Contracts for Innovation (CfI) competition “Improving Outcomes for Children Experiencing Homelessness”, providing up to £2 million in funding for innovative projects that improve educational outcomes and wellbeing for vulnerable children and families.
The competition forms part of the UKRI Breaking Down Barriers to Opportunity Mission and focuses on strengthening the home learning environment for children experiencing homelessness or unstable housing situations. The programme recognises that temporary accommodation, insecure housing and homelessness can significantly disrupt children’s education, routines, emotional wellbeing and access to essential support services.
The funding opportunity seeks innovative, practical and evidence-informed approaches that help children and families overcome these challenges while supporting long-term educational development and school readiness. Projects funded through this competition must demonstrate a clear pathway towards real-world adoption and impact.
Scope of the Competition
The programme supports projects developing innovative interventions, technologies, frameworks or service models designed to improve learning environments and wellbeing outcomes for children experiencing homelessness.
Innovate UK is seeking solutions that may include:
The competition welcomes projects involving technology development, service redesign, innovative delivery models and integrated support systems. Applicants are encouraged to develop scalable and practical solutions capable of wider adoption across education, housing and public service systems.
Project Requirements
Projects must demonstrate:
Applicants must also show a credible route to market or implementation, including plans for adoption within existing systems or services. Solutions must move beyond conceptual research and produce tangible outputs such as products, frameworks, platforms or service models.
Eligibility Criteria
The competition is open to organisations of any size, including international organisations, provided that the majority of project work and deliverables are carried out in the UK.
Applicants can:
Funding and Commercialisation
Funding is delivered through the Contracts for Innovation procurement model, which provides 100% funding for eligible R&D activities. Successful applicants receive a contract rather than a grant.
Key funding details include:
The programme is designed to support commercialisation and practical implementation. Applicants retain ownership of foreground and background intellectual property while granting limited royalty-free rights of use to the contracting authority.
Key dates:
Opens: 19 May 2026
Closes: 8 July 2026 at 11:00am UK time
How Inventya can help
Applying for Contracts for Innovation competitions requires a strong balance of technical innovation, social impact and commercial viability. Successful applications must clearly demonstrate feasibility, implementation readiness and measurable outcomes.
Inventya can support organisations by:
With extensive experience supporting innovation funding applications across education, healthcare and social impact sectors, Inventya can help organisations maximise their chances of securing Contracts for Innovation funding and delivering meaningful outcomes for children and families experiencing homelessness.
