Digital solutions for energy transition and manufacturing – now closed

Challenge one

The Scottish textiles industry is looking for a secure, scalable, low-resource digital solution to meet EU Digital Product Passport (DPP) requirements. This needs traceability and sustainability data throughout the product lifecycle.

Your solution must be adaptable to work with diverse business needs and evolving regulations. It should also integrate seamlessly with existing systems.

It should be intuitive for internal users and enable both business to business (B2B) secure data exchange and business to consumer (B2C) storytelling. It should also empower brands to share their authenticity and Scottish provenance with consumers – ensuring transparency across complex supply chains.

Challenge two

A renewable energy company is seeking a unified, trustworthy method for measuring, verifying, and sharing energy performance data across any installation. 

Challenge three 

Energy operators and supply chain need a secure way to share and analyse decarbonisation and other performance and maintenance data across the offshore energy industry. This will improve benchmarking, reduce costs and optimise operations without compromising data confidentiality, commercial sensitivity or regulatory compliance. 

Challenge four

A renewable technology manufacturer needs a digital solution to consolidate and optimise shared performance and maintenance data within an integrated renewable energy heating system.

As part of the solution, a bespoke sensor bus system with more than 100 sensors to track flow rates, temperatures and pressure is also needed.

Challenge five

An electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure provider needs a scalable, tamper-proof monitoring system to manage a growing network of high-power, edge-connected chargers deployed at remote, low-connectivity fleet sites.

The system will need secure provisioning, safety monitoring, and software updates that preserve uptime and local autonomy. It also needs to track the status of each charger, deliver updates under intermittent connectivity conditions, and maintain immutable records for compliance and audit.

You'll need a bespoke solution for this challenge. You'll also need to work with embedded systems teams and delivery a domain-aware, field-proven system designed for real-word EV charging conditions.

Challenge six

An electronics manufacturer requires a robust digital solution to authenticate and track components across increasingly distributed supply chains, ensuring end-to-end transparency throughout the product lifecycle.

Your solution must enable secure data sharing among multiple supply chain partners, support the verification of product authenticity to combat counterfeiting, strengthen regulatory compliance, and enhance supply chain resilience. Ultimately, it will drive greater efficiency and trust across operations.

You can find more information on each of the challenges in our phase 2 additional information document.

Download additional information (PDF, 364 KB) opens in a new window 

Experience is important, but it's just one of the criteria we'll consider during the assessment process. 

Your application will also be assessed on factors such as innovation, the quality of the project plan, and commercial potential. Even if you don't meet all the experience requirements, you're still encouraged to apply if you can demonstrate strength in these other areas. 

We'll score all the applications, taking into consideration the specific requirements outlined by the challenge holders. Once scoring is complete, we'll let the challenge holders know which company has scored highest. This will allow any potential conflicts of interest to be identified before the successful solution provider is notified.

There's up to £50,000 available to each project.

This is in line with the UK subsidy control rules on Minimal Financial Assistance (MFA), as these will apply when funding is awarded to you.

You'll be asked to provide details of any other recent funding received as MFA or as de minimis.

In line with UK subsidy control rules, we can't award you any grant that would cause you to exceed your minimal financial assistance allowance of £315,000 (or your de minimis threshold, if applicable). This relates to the period covering the current and previous two financial years.

You must also not have started the project, or committed to any project costs, before a grant funding contract is signed.

The amount you receive will depend on the solution your company provides.

Learn more about Minimum Financial Assistance for companies 

This grant can cover up to 100% of your eligible project costs. Eligible costs include:

• Salary costs
• Materials
• Sub-contract charges
• Consultancy fees
• Essential hardware

For more details, check our guidance on eligible project costs.

The funding will be paid in two instalments. The first will be issued mid-project (around December 2025) to cover any costs you've incurred up to that point. The second will be paid when the project finishes.

The dates by which you need to submit your claims will be set out in your contact.

Projects must be completed in full by 31 March 2026, and all costs should be paid for by that date. 

We're looking for digital companies that can provide a solution to the challenges presented by energy and manufacturing companies. 

Each digital company will work with an assigned phase one company during the project to conduct assessments based on: 

• Design
• Technical feasibility
• Financial feasibility 

These assessments will help inform the creation of products and services that can provide a solution to the challenge presented.

We'll send you a grant offer letter that sets out all terms and conditions of the grant. Our expectation is that you and the challenge holder will agree and document how you will work together before the project starts and provide confirmation that such an agreement is in place.  

At the end of the proof of value project, you'll have to produce a case study detailing the value and outputs of the project. You'll also be encouraged to showcase the results at an industry facing event to demonstrate the value of the digital solution to the industry challenge – but this will not be mandatory. 

If you and the challenge holder wish to enter into financial, licensing, or other legal relationship (for example, exclusive licences or confidentiality agreements) when the project is finished, you should draw up a separate contractual agreement.

Your solution

Your focus must be on developing an innovative solution to the challenge that's in line with the call criteria. To do this, you may choose to build upon or integrate existing software if suitable.

Your application must include, but doesn't need to be limited to, a blockchain-based solution. In fact, the effective combination of blockchain with other complementary technologies may enhance the overall quality, functionality, and impact of your proposed solution. 

Your project can focus on developing innovative systems and/or sub-systems solutions at a technology readiness level (TRL) of 4 to 7. This ensures that they are beyond idea stage and are on course for testing and demonstration within the timescale for completing the project. 

Any foreground intellectual property (IP) created will be owned by your digital company. During the project, the challenge holder has an exclusive right to use this.

If any hardware is essential to the delivery of the solution, you should include it in your eligible project costs. If the challenge holder wishes to take ownership of the hardware at the end of the project, this should be set out in a separate agreement between the solution provider and challenge holder.