Innovate UK has announced the TechLocal: Connecting Local Talent to Local Tech Jobs call, which offers funding from £100,000 to £225,000 for collaborative projects to resolve the barriers for tech talent across the UK to access entry level roles in frontier technology sectors. The call aims to fund local initiatives that bridge the gap between training and employment in areas such as AI, cyber, advanced computing, and engineering biology. Projects must involve external partners, be delivered in one of the specified geographic areas and contribute to the target of 1,000 new tech jobs: demonstrating clear impact in one or more frontier technologies by enabling local talent into entry level tech jobs and helping SMEs adopt these technologies through skilled workforces. This is round 1 of a potential 4-round competition. For further details, please see the call pages.
Institutions can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in a further two applications. Therefore, this call will be managed according to the University’s restricted calls procedure.
Your Department’s Research Grants Team and/or Departmental Administrator (or equivalent) must be made aware of your internal application, and a support letter signed by the Head of Department is required.
You will need the following documents and information to complete the Form:
Please note that the assessment of internal applications will focus on the following core funder criteria:
Funder deadline: 11am, 18th March 2026
If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact researchstrategy@admin.cam.ac.uk.
Posted on 12/02/2026
