CfI: Innovation in play to improve child outcomes
This Contracts for Innovation competition seeks evidence-informed, non-screen solutions to reignite real-world play, improve child development outcomes, and support the home learning environment. Projects must allocate at least 50% of the contract value to R&D services and run for 12 months.
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Competition Scope & Overview
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will invest up to £3 million from the UKRI Breaking Down Barriers to Opportunity Mission in this Contracts for Innovation competition.
This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications.
The aim of the competition is to support organisations to develop practical solutions that reignite the importance of play and increase access to real world play environments and experiences, enhancing the quality and impact of play in improving outcomes for children and young people.
Play is essential for children’s development, supporting cognitive, social, emotional and physical wellbeing. Evidence consistently shows that play is one of the most powerful tools to improve children’s health, happiness, learning outcomes, creativity, resilience, and long term life chances. However, access to rich, inclusive and developmentally appropriate play opportunities is uneven. Barriers to play include socioeconomic disadvantage, limited access to safe or stimulating environments, reduced time for unstructured play, and a lack of confidence or capacity among caregivers, educators and communities to facilitate play effectively. In addition, modern societal changes and trends, including increased traffic, technology, urbanisation and shifting family dynamics, are causing a decline in the opportunities children have to partake in meaningful and enriching forms of play. There is a growing need for innovative approaches that can respond to these challenges and support opportunities for children to engage in active, social, creative, imaginative and physically engaging forms of play, embedded across different settings and populations. This competition is focused specifically on the role of play in shaping the home learning environment (HLE); the everyday interactions, relationships and experiences outside the classroom that are known to strongly influence children’s development and educational outcomes. We are seeking evidence informed, innovative solutions that meet one or more of the following criteria:
leverage play as a mechanism to improve children’s learning, development, health, happiness and wellbeing reduce inequalities in access to enriching play experiences and environments support families, caregivers, educators and communities to engage in and facilitate play strengthen the role of play across home, education, and community environments. There should be a particular focus on opportunities that encourage different types of play, including social, imaginative, constructive, sensory and physically engaging play
The Opportunity Mission programme has identified a series of specific themes we wish to target within this competition.
We are open to a broad range of projects using intervention programmes or services, behaviour change approaches, new delivery or partnership models, or design led and place based innovations to improve the quality, accessibility and impact of play.
In accordance with recently published government guidance on screen use for young children, your projects must strengthen face to face interaction between children, families and communities and increase access to real world play environments and experiences. Projects centred on screen based play will therefore not be eligible for funding. Your solution should ultimately contribute to improved learning and developmental outcomes for children and young people through the enrichment of play across key stages of childhood.
The definition of play within this competition incorporates what children and young people do when they follow their own ideas, in their own way, and for their own reasons. Play is an activity which is freely chosen, personally directed, and intrinsically motivated. We recognise that it is not just children in the early years who benefit from play, but also older children and teenagers. Therefore, this competition includes children and young people up to the age of 18.
By the end of this phase of funding, projects must demonstrate robust evidence for practical approaches that can be delivered in real-world settings and adopted more widely by organisations, services and communities.
This is phase 1 of a potential 3 phase competition. The decision to proceed with subsequent phases will depend on the outcomes from previous phases and assessment of separate applications.
Only the successful applicants from phase 1 will be invited to apply to take part in phase 2.
In applying to phase 1 of this competition you are entering into a competitive process. This competition has a funding budget of up to £3 million, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects.
It may be the case that your project scores highly and receives positive comments from the assessors but we are still unable to fund it due to the portfolio approach we take.
Any adoption and implementation of a solution from this competition would be subject to a separate, possibly competitive, procurement exercise. This competition does not cover the purchase of any solution.
We expect to receive a high volume of applications and will not be able to fund them all. We expect to award a maximum of 15 contracts.
We consider a range of factors when determining whether to provide funding to applicants. This includes an assessment of prior conduct, such as any outstanding payments owed to Innovate UK or UKRI. Such factors may influence the funding decision, potentially resulting in a refusal of funding or an award subject to additional scrutiny.
We also reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions. This may be in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations or broader government funding decisions.
This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief. We cannot guarantee other government or third party sites will always show the correct competition information.
Official Applicant Guidance Documents
Applicant Briefing - CfI Innovation in play to improve child outcomes.pdf
This document contains the official applicant briefing slides for Innovate UK's "Contracts for Innovation" competition on improving child outcomes through play. It provides essential guidance on eligibility criteria, funding rules, scope requirements, and application procedures via the Innovation Funding Service (IFS).
Download Official DocumentCFI Innovation in Play to Improve Child Outcomes Assessors Guidance.pdf
This document is the official **assessor guidance for applicants** for a GOV.UK/Innovate UK "Contracts for Innovation" competition. It details all 13 application questions, eligibility requirements, and the specific scoring criteria (1–10) used by assessors to evaluate proposals.
Download Official DocumentApplication Questions & Guidance Brief
Every question below carries specific word limits and guidance criteria.
Project and scope summary
Official Guidance
Provide a short summary of your project. Describe your project briefly. Be clear about what makes it innovative and how it relates to the scope of the competition. How does it tackle different aspects of the challenge and how will it provide an integrated solution? Give details of the lead organisation. Before you submit, we expect you to have discussed your application within your organisation.
Public description
Official Guidance
Provide a brief description of your project. If your application is successful, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project. This question is mandatory, but we will not assess this content as part of your application. Describe your project in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. We have the right to amend the description before publication if necessary but will consult you about any changes.
Applicant location
Official Guidance
You must state the name of your organisation along with your full registered address. You must also state the name and full registered address of any potential or confirmed subcontractors. We are collecting this information to understand the geographical location of all participants of a project.
Themes (not scored)
Official Guidance
Select one or more of the main theme from the specific themes list in the ‘Scope’ section of this competition: Expanding Access to Play, Enhancing the Quality of Play Experiences, Empowering Caregivers, Educators and Communities, Play and Key Life Transitions, Systems and Service Innovation.
Animal testing (not scored)
Official Guidance
Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing? You must select one option: Yes, No. We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare.
Permits and licences (not scored)
Official Guidance
Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project? We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date. You must select one option: Yes, No, In the process of being applied for, Not applicable.
International collaboration (not scored)
Official Guidance
Does your proposed work involve any international collaboration or engagement? You must provide details of any expected international collaboration or engagement. You must include a list of the names and the countries, any international project co-leads, visiting researchers, or other collaborators are based in. You must also include details of any subcontractors or service providers. If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration or engagement, your answer must confirm this.
Export licence (not scored)
Official Guidance
You must indicate whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance. You must select one option: Yes, No.
Trusted Research and Innovation (not scored)
Official Guidance
You must explain if your proposed project work relates to UKRI’s Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) Principles, including: a list of any dual use (both military and non-military) applications to your research; a list of the areas where your project is relevant to one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act; whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance and the status of any applications; a list of any items or substances on the UK Strategic Export Control List. If your proposed work does not relate to UKRI’s TR&I Principles, your answer must confirm this.
Proposed idea
Official Guidance
How does the project meet the challenge described in the competition scope? Provide a description of your proposed idea. Include a description of the current state of development or readiness of the idea. You must submit a clear theory of change, highlighting how the play intervention will lead to improved children’s learning and development outcomes. This must be submitted as or part of an appendix for this question. You must submit a single appendix as a PDF containing images and diagrams to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.
Technical project summary
Official Guidance
What are the main technical challenges you are addressing? Explain: how you will address the challenge; what the innovation is; the main technical deliverables; the research and development that will prove the scientific, environmental and commercial merit of the project; what might be achieved by deploying the innovation to address the selected challenge.
Current state of the art and intellectual property
Official Guidance
Are similar products currently available in the market? How is your proposed project differentiated from them? You must include details of: any existing intellectual property (IP); its significance to your freedom to operate; novel concepts you develop or employ; new approaches you use; new tools. You must explain how you would handle any intellectual property (IP) issues which might arise during the project. If you are working with subcontractors (specialist skills only), include details of how you will maintain freedom to operate and fulfil the IP requirements detailed in the contract.
Project plan and methodology
Official Guidance
Describe your project plan and identify the main milestones. The plan for this phase 1 must be comprehensive. The emphasis throughout should be on practicality. Provide evidence that the solution works, can be made into a viable product or service and can achieve the proposed benefits. You must: describe resources that will be needed to deliver the project; describe what the main success criteria will be; identify the project management processes that will ensure you achieve the milestones; provide a clear plan for establishing technical and commercial feasibility; describe the main technical, commercial and environmental risks and what you will do to mitigate them; provide a clear plan for development of a working prototype, service or trial approach; describe your safeguarding plans and protocols when working with children and families, including effective and compliant policies, procedures and controls. You must upload a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix in PDF format. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom. Your milestones must: be clear; be defined using SMART criteria; be associated with the appropriate deliverables and payments; indicate your payment schedule by month.
Technical team and expertise
Official Guidance
Who is in the technical team? What expertise do they offer? Provide a brief description of your technical team, including any subcontractors. Describe: how each organisation has the skills, capabilities, and experience to deliver the intended benefits; how much of their time will be spent on the project in days.
Costs and value for money
Official Guidance
How much will the project cost for phase 1? How does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer? Describe: the total costs inclusive of VAT (If applicable) you are requesting in terms of the project goals for phase 1; how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer. All costs quoted must reflect actual costs at a fair market value and not include profit. You can submit a single appendix as a spreadsheet in PDF format. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.
Commercial potential
Official Guidance
What is the commercial potential of your project? You must focus on your proposed customer’s needs. Describe your: timescales; projects commercial potential for a marketable product, process or service; delivery plan; expected route to market. Describe the competitive advantage that your project has over existing or alternative solutions that meet market needs. Describe any existing commercial relationships relevant to the project. With the focus on your proposed customer’s needs, you can also mention the future commercial potential across the public or private sector and international markets.