International Supply Chain Accelerator FAQs

How co-investment works: we are providing programme participants with £100,000 worth of funding and they need to demonstrate that the solution they are developing will be worth (cost) £100,000 x 2 = £200,000 (50:50 split). That value could come from various sources such as resources, materials, licences.

There are various categories of co-investment which can be considered: 

Labour & Overheads 

Establish the day rate for staff contributing to DSCH. This is calculated by the number of working days per user less bank holidays and your organisation’s annual leave entitlement. 

You can also contribute 20% of your labour costs as overhead. This includes both direct and indirect overhead.   

Materials 

The costs of materials to be used directly on your project are eligible costs if they are purchased from third parties. 

Software that will be used in the project you may only claim the additional costs incurred and paid between the start and end of your project. 

Subcontracting 

You can contribute costs relating to work carried out by third-party organisations that are not part of your project team. The work must: 

• Involve expertise that does not exist within the project team 

• Involve skills that it is not practical to develop in-house for your project
  

Travel & Subsistence 

You can contribute reasonable travel and subsistence costs for those individuals identified in the labour tab. Costs must be necessary and incurred exclusively for the progression of your project. Travel costs must be at economy travel only.

Other Costs 

This category can be used for any direct project costs which are not covered in the other categories. Examples of other costs include: 

• Workshop or laboratory usage charge outs 

• Preparation of technical reports 

• Licensing in new technologies 

Open Call – Applications Open – 3rd/4th September 2025

Open Call – Application Deadline – 23rd/24th September 2025

Participant selection process – 28 September to 17 October 2025

Intended notification of all Applicants – 20th October 2025

Intended public announcement of successful Participants – November 2025

Programme:
Start Date: 3rd November 2025
End Date: 27th March 2026

Note: Dates and activities can be subject to change. Digital Catapult will endeavour to provide as much notice as possible to applicants/participants should any changes arise.

All dates and activities can be subject to change. Digital Catapult will endeavour to provide as much notice as possible to applicants/participants should any changes arise.

Funding will be awarded in pounds sterling (GBP) into a UK business bank account associated with the entrant organisation.

Each company is funded with £100,000 to develop solutions that address the Industry Challenge Owners challenges.

The funding will be allocated to each successful onboarded applicant based on the conditions outlined in the Programme T&Cs.

Participants shall receive the grant as Minimal Financial Assistance (“MFA”), or to the extent applicable under the Northern Ireland Protocol, the de minimis aid regulations (COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 1407/2013), collectively referred to herein as “State Assistance.

The total State Assistance received or due to be received by an individual Participant (including any associated companies e.g. subsidiaries), originating from a United Kingdom source, must not exceed £315,000, or €200,000 (approximately £165,000) for Northern Ireland Companies (or any other company subject to the Northern Ireland Protocol), each in aggregate across the Participant’s current fiscal year (as at the Agreement Date) and the previous two fiscal years.

Unfortunately not, to ensure a fair judging process and due to the high volume of applications we expect to receive, we are not able to work with you or feedback on applications prior to completion. Please refer to our selection criteria to understand what we expect to see from applications.

If your application is not successful for the programme, we cannot provide feedback to all our applicants, but we will let you know the outcome either way.

If you have taken part in the interview phase but your application is unsuccessful then yes. The companies which do not qualify for the prototype development but went through the interview selection process will receive relevant feedback from Digital Catapult on the scoring and technical requirements.

No. International Supply Chain Accelerator is equity-free and there are no fees associated with participation.

Collaborations may include international contributors, but to complete the programme (i) the team must have an establishment in the UK, and (ii) the majority of work should be carried out in the UK and teams need to be able to commit to attending the workshops, kick-off event and final showcase.

Participating or having participated in accelerator or other technology adoption support programmes does not exclude you from taking part in the International Supply Chain Accelerator, as long as the timings do not cause a conflict of interest and you are eligible to receive the state aid as outlined in the T&Cs.

If you have been part of any previous Digital Catapult programme you are welcome to join. For other programmes, your participation will be dependent on the terms of the programme itself and what you have agreed to in the terms and conditions.

Startups and SMEs should have an early-stage solution at the TRL 4-5 and be able to progress to the TRL 6-7 within the timeline of the programme. 

A key objective of the International Supply Chain Accelerator is to support innovators to progress through this TRL framework, as well as prepare the programme cohort to further scale their solutions beyond the Challenge, for example by providing a pathway to working directly with industry challenge owners or getting investment ready after the programme. 

The International Supply Chain Accelerator Open Call 2:  Product Carbon Footprint Measurement is aimed at supporting UK technology innovators and startups to identify and address industry challenges that will move the market towards greater adoption of carbon accounting. The Partnership for Carbon Transparency (PACT) is the global leader in driving for an harmonised approach to carbon measurement across supply chains and convene more than 1000 companies in mainstreaming a common approach.  With support of the members of the PACT Technical Working Group and sponsored by Unilever, this project aims to develop solutions that will unlock the business case for carbon accounting for thousands of businesses.   

It is intended that the solutions of the tech innovators would leverage the cutting edge technology available in the industry. These technology areas are (including but not limited to): artificial intelligence; distributed ledger technology; advanced (distributed) identity solutions.  

Startups and SMEs should have an early-stage solution at the TRL 4-5 and be able to progress to the TRL 6-7 within the timeline of the programme. 

Key sectors that we are targeting include: Sustainability , SaaS, Carbon Accounting, Product IDs

Within your application form, you will submit a concept / proposed solution to the challenge. This is the application form that will be used to select the ideas that progress and join the programme. Applications will be judged and selected by a team of technology and industry experts from across Digital Catapult and the industry challenge owners. If selected, once on the programme you will be able to work with your sponsored industry challenge owner to further understand the problem and develop your solution.