Funding available to trial freight and logistics innovations

Funding to help you trial new solutions in the freight sector

Connected Places Catapult has opened applications for cohort 5 of the Freight Innovation Fund Accelerator, funded by the Department for Transport.

The Accelerator aims to fast-track the adoption of commercial-ready solutions to address four challenges in the UK's freight and logistics sector:

• renewable energy supply
• autonomy in freight and logistics
• supply chain resilience
• solutions around environmental impact, efficiency or safety (open challenge)

In Phase 1 of the Accelerator, up to 12 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will receive up to £10,000 to develop a trial proposal to test their solution in real-world environments.

In Phase 2, up to eight SMEs will be selected by the DfT and Connected Places Catapult to receive further funding of up to £100,000 to deliver their trial via a pre-commercial contract.

Eligibility

To be eligible, you must be a UK-registered SME, VAT-registered and able to fund at least 30% of your total project costs. Your solution must be innovative, at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 or above, and suitable for testing in a real-world environment. It must also address one of the programme's challenge areas.

To secure access to appropriate testbed facilities, you have two options when applying to the Accelerator. You can:

• apply with your existing industry partner
• ask to be matched with an industry partner

Potential applicants can join a support webinar on 7 May 2026 to learn more about the programme offering, challenges, application and assessment process, and scoring criteria.

Freight Innovation Fund Accelerator closes for applications at midday on Monday 1 June 2026.

Supporting documents, including application guidance, challenge document and FAQs, are available on the Connected Places Catapult website.

First published 22 April 2026