VocTech Activate grant fund

Applications open on 6 January and close on 3 February 2026.

Lady using tablet in factory

Introducing VocTech Activate

Key information

Overview

Grant status: Applications open on 6 January and close on 3 February 2026.

Purpose of the fund: VocTech Activate is our test bed where the first spark of an idea to solve a vocational learning problem can be scoped and tested in the supportive environment that Ufi funding provides. We grant fund projects that are at a relatively early stage, helping to trial truly novel ideas, prove their potential and support your journey from innovative idea to market-ready, scalable solution.

How much funding is available? VocTech Activate provides grants of £30,000 to £60,000 for projects lasting between 3 to 12 months.

Key dates

6 January 2026
VocTech Activate open for Stage 1 applications.

3 February 2026
Deadline for submission of Stage 1 applications, 5pm GMT.

Early March 2026
Feedback from Stage 1. Successful applicants will be invited to proceed to Stage 2.

24 March 2026
Deadline for submission of Stage 2 applications, 5pm GMT.

Mid-May 2026 Ufi’s board of Trustees will reach final decisions and successful applicants will be informed.

How to apply

Applications must be submitted online via the MyUfi online portal.

Once you have registered and created an account, you can log-in, access the application form, save your draft application and return to it at any time while the funding round is open.

We do not accept late applications. If you experience technical problems while completing or submitting your application, you must tell us as soon as possible via info@ufi.co.uk.

My Ufi

Eligibility checker

Our eligibility checker acts as an early indicator of whether your project could be eligible for VocTech Activate grant funding.

This checker does not act as an indicator of whether a grant application will be successful or not. Click the button to begin.

Check your eligibility

Pre-application workshops

To help you prepare your application, we are running five online workshops to introduce the VocTech Activate grant fund and help ensure it is right for you. Each session provides an opportunity for you to ask questions of members of the Ufi team. Applicants who attend one of our workshops are much more likely to be successful.

  • VocTech Activate workshop 1

    Wednesday 7 January 2026 - 10am to 11am

  • VocTech Activate workshop 2

    Thursday 8 January 2026 - 2pm to 3pm

  • VocTech Activate workshop 3

    Tuesday 13 January 2026 - 1pm to 2pm

  • VocTech Activate workshop 4

    Wednesday 14 January 2026 - 10am to 11am

  • VocTech Activate workshop 5

    Monday 19 January 2026 - 11am to 12pm

About VocTech Activate

Explore the resources below to find out more about the grant fund.

Ufi’s mission is to harness the power of technology to improve skills for work, opening-up access and achieving positive lasting outcomes for those furthest from opportunity.  While talent is everywhere, opportunity is not. VocTech Activate supports our ambition to demonstrate the art of the practically possible, to support innovators and innovation in vocational technology, to inspire action and to grow impact and evidence.

VocTech Activate is our test bed, where the first spark of an idea can be developed, tested and deployed in the supportive environment that Ufi funding provides. This grant fund supports early-stage innovative projects focused on adapting, adopting, developing and designing products that put adult vocational skills first. Activities can include new technical development, or adaptation and implementation of existing technology in a new market or new community of learners.

Crucially, we are looking for ideas with the potential to transform vocational learning, rooted in real-world understanding of the sector’s problems and opportunities. Ufi focuses on learners aged 16+, especially those in underserved sectors and locations, and projects must clearly show why their target learners have been overlooked by mainstream provision.

Applicants to VocTech Activate must also demonstrate how their idea is novel and why it’s better than existing solutions, showing clear understanding of their learners and their market. We can support ideas for new tech, new markets and new communities of learners – our emphasis is on the ‘new’. We’re comfortable with risk and committed to sharing it, providing the support to mitigate those risks together.

Grants of between £30,000 to £60,000 are available for projects of between 3 and 12 months duration.

The funding offered for any individual project depends on the problem being addressed, and the nature and scale of the proposed solution. Each is considered on its merits and the costs assessed against the proposed work plan and timetable.

We want to see innovative and creative digital vocational learning ideas which are:

  • Genuinely innovative in their overall approach, their technology, or the sector or community of learners to which they will be applied.
  • Clear in their access to and understanding of a defined learner group/test group of users, with a clear evidenced knowledge and experience of their challenges.
  • Projects that are aware of their learners/users’ barriers to learning, and any barriers to adoption of technology-based approaches.
  • Tackling specific vocational skills gaps, with good connections to sectors, employers and potential employment.
  • Ideas where people are really thinking differently about how to use technology to deliver effective vocational learning at scale.
  • Projects that look at any and every aspect of vocational learning, including (but not limited to) adoption, design and development of learning tools, new delivery models, evaluation and assessment, accreditation and recording evidence of achievement.
  • Projects targeted at extending learning provision to sectors, industries and communities of learners that currently lack good access to vocational learning due to factors including market/sectoral structures, cost, time, distance or language.

We are keen to draw upon the insights we have gathered from our experience, market intelligence work and engagement with stakeholders. These have highlighted areas where we feel there is both a need for innovation in adult vocational skills and opportunity for scale. Approaches, for example, might focus on:

  • Innovation in assessment, enabling learners to access feedback and content tailored to them, when they need it.
  • Innovative use of data, including AI and big data to improve outcomes for learners.
  • Making it easier and cheaper for trainers and teachers to develop their own high quality, interactive e-learning content for vocational learners.
  • Working with relevant employers and learning organisations to create new ways for people to validate their skills and create pathways to work, or to allow people in work to transition to new opportunities.

VocTech Activate can fund the design, development and testing and adoption of new VocTech approaches to vocational learning, helping to take ideas through prototyping to the next stage of development by delivering and implementing a proof of concept or an MVP, planning a route to market, through to scaling and sustainability. We are interested in how the innovation in the approach, using digital tools, improves outcomes for learners. Projects could include:

  • Design, development, and prototyping with learners.
  • Refining learning design.
  • Testing with users.
  • Planning a route from MVP to a sustainable, scalable product.
  • Planning a route to market & strategies for scaling.
  • Project Management.
  • Evidencing impact, demonstrating value and what works.

Projects must:

  • Focus on adult vocational learning in the UK (be aimed at adults 16+).
  • Offer new learning tools, not just new learning content.
  • Show a clear understanding of the vocational learning market, have evidence of a defined learning need and describe how they expect the tech will improve outcomes for learners, in addition to the technical advances.
  • Show real innovation to achieve a step change beyond normal business development to justify Ufi funding.
  • Have a strong evidenced connection to a clearly defined learner group, and a clear understanding of their challenges, barriers to learning and barriers to adoption of technology-based approaches.
  • Have plans for testing with relevant learners/trainers/employers and for incorporating feedback from testing into product development.
  • Show ambition and vision for how the project could get to market and be eventually scaled up to reach a large number of learners, if the proof of concept proves successful.

  • Projects which address generic ‘access to work’ skills, such as time management, CV building or interview skills training.
  • Basic digital skills training aimed at enabling generic digital capability and overcoming digital exclusion. However, we can fund specific digital vocational skills required in the workplace.
  • Skills that are above level 3 or equivalent.
  • Projects in HE, but HEIs can be involved in project delivery where the project beneficiaries are adult workplace learners.
  • Research projects.
  • Projects in schools, unless these can demonstrate that they are addressing specific workplace skills provision to those aged over 16, where there is an identifiable employer need.
  • Projects for which the majority of the costs are equipment purchases.
  • Standard content development work that aims, for example, to simply digitise existing content or add further content to an existing platform. However, we will fund the development of content where this is necessary to develop, test and demonstrate an innovative approach.
  • Generic enterprise or entrepreneurship skills to support people to set up or run a business.
  • Projects aimed at improving the mental health or well-being of the workforce. Our position is that good mental health and well-being are not, for our purposes, vocational skills.
  • Training places for individuals
  • Careers advice or matching. Our focus is on opening-up access and opportunity for people to develop vocational skills.
  • Projects that don’t represent a step change in how vocational learning happens – it is not sufficient for a project to describe an incremental improvement in vocational learning.

Ufi funding is open to all organisations, including charities, trade bodies, learning providers, employers, private companies, community interest companies and other not for profit organisations. Individuals can apply, but must become an incorporated organisation before funding can be awarded.

VocTech Activate is particularly suitable for organisations with strong evidenced links to their user/learner group, who have access to them for input into design and testing, and who are looking to test new digital approaches on a small scale with a view to wider adoption of VocTech.

Ufi funds projects involving charities, private companies, community interest companies and other not for profit organisations. As a charity itself, Ufi must ensure that any grant given to any organisation that is not also a charity demonstrates public benefit.

This means being able to see evidence of how the proposed approach will benefit learners, how the community of learners has been defined and the total size of the group the project could reach. Projects must always explain clearly why they need Ufi funding to support their project and how Ufi’s charitable funding will make a difference. Finally, we need to make sure that our funding is not more than is necessary to deliver the project and is not replacing private funding. The questions we ask in our application forms help us understand how your proposal can have a beneficial public outcome, both immediately and in the longer term.

Organisations supported by VocTech Activate

You can explore all the organisations we have supported through grant funding in the Ufi VocTech Directory.

Is your company looking for investment rather than a grant?

Talk to our investment team at Ufi Ventures, the UK’s specialist investors in technology for skills and the future of work.

Ufi Ventures

How to apply

To apply for a Ufi grant fund, you will need to create a MyUfi account where you can access the application form, save your draft and return to it at any time while the funding round is open.

Two stage process

Ufi has a two-stage online application process. Access to Stage 2 is by invitation only, following success at Stage 1.  Evaluation at each stage is undertaken by an expert panel, selected to represent experience and expertise relevant to the fund. Final funding decisions are made by the Ufi Board of Trustees.

Stage 1

Requires you to complete an online application form which outlines the problem in vocational learning your idea aims to address, the intended audience/market and potential for scale. You will also need to tell us about your organisation and the funding requested. Applications are assessed on how well the project fits with Ufi’s overall mission and the specific objectives of the funding call.

Stage 2

Requires you to provide more detailed information about how you intend to deliver your project. You will be invited to respond to some feedback questions from your Stage 1 application so that we can find out more about your idea. You will also need to provide a technical description of your idea, additional information in the form of a project plan and budget.

Application guidance

To support your application, we have gathered some background resources, tips for applying and Frequently Asked Questions.

What happens if you are successful?

All projects will need to agree to the Ufi Terms and Conditions of Grant. Your Project Account Manager will work with you to create a Project Plan which sets out how the project will be delivered and the milestones which need to be achieved for funding to be drawn down. It is for you to determine how your project is best delivered and to work with your Project Account Manager to agree a monitoring plan. The funding milestones will be set as part of this process. Each project is unique, and we will work with you to agree what is most reasonable for your project.