Defence and Security Accelerator Themed Competitions
Defence and Security Accelerator Themed Competitions support innovators developing science and technology to address specific defence and security challenges and benefit UK armed forces and national security.
Funder: United Kingdom Ministry of Defence
Due Dates: September 10, 2024 (Operations Cycle 1) | October 22, 2024 (Operations Cycle 2) | December 3, 2024 (Operations Cycle 3)
Funding Amounts: Innovation in Support of Operations, Cycles 1–3: £2 million total; expected awards £50,000–£200,000, excluding VAT, for three months
Summary: Themed competitions fund innovative science and technology responding to defined defence and security challenges.
Key Information: Each competition has its own eligibility and contract terms; the collection lists past competitions.
Description
The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA), funded by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence and now part of UK Defence Innovation (UKDI), runs themed competitions addressing specific technical challenges. The programme seeks innovative, exploitable ideas that could benefit UK armed forces and national security while supporting UK prosperity. Themes span autonomous systems, communications, cyber risk, engineering biology, advanced materials, sensing, explosives detection, medical technologies, human performance, maritime capability, and testing and evaluation.
The themed competitions collection is an archive, rather than a single call with shared funding or eligibility rules. One archived competition, Innovation in Support of Operations, sought nearly ready, scalable technologies demonstrable within three months and potentially deployable within 12 months. Its Cycles 1–3 rules and funding are described below as a historical example, not as conditions for every themed competition.
