Open Call
Connected Airport Living Lab: 2026/27 Programme
Now in its fourth year, the Connected Airport Living Lab is a six-month challenge-led opportunity for up to three UK-registered SMEs to receive up to £30,000 to develop, test or demonstrate innovative technological solutions in a live airport environment. Successful SMEs will also receive tailored commercial support to upskill and build capabilities that are essential for growth.
Overview
Connected Places Catapult is inviting applications for the fourth year of the Connected Airport Living Lab. Funded by Innovate UK, the programme is a collaborative partnership between Connected Places Catapult (the Catapult) and Glasgow Airport, through which UK-based SMEs can develop, test and demonstrate their late-stage innovative technology in a live airport environment.
By providing a structured, repeatable approach aligned to airport procurement and operational realities, the programme aims to accelerate innovation adoption and scaling across UK airports.
Connected Airport Living Lab objectives:
- Solve priority airport challenges through targeted trials
- Accelerate market readiness of innovative technologies
- Support UK-based high potential SMEs to scale
Challenges are co-developed annually with the airport partner and trials are planned and delivered within the programme run dates.
Why apply
Innovators selected for the programme will receive:
Up to £30,000 funding for a trial at the airport
Introduction to relevant key airport stakeholders and decision makers
Access to data and evaluation support
Access to airport facilities and support to plan the trial
Guidance on airport
procurement routes
Tailored commercial support
Participating SMEs will receive tailored commercial support based on a detailed business needs assessment. Support may include: Market targeting and sizing, stakeholder mapping, developing a value proposition, pricing and delivery, strategic execution, financial forecasting, valuation and funding, pitching and effective comms.
Challenge 1: Asset Performance Management
Large airport assets (such as escalators, lifts, scanners and car park barriers) are managed through a planned maintenance programme but still fail unexpectedly, causing significant impact to passenger journeys. How might we monitor these assets in order to better predict and maintain their performance so that passengers’ journeys are smooth and reliable?
Challenge 2: Understanding Passenger Sentiment – Live passenger feedback
Reliable and efficient data is imperative to support airports to prioritise their activities (either reactively or longer term) to improve passenger experience. How might we understand ‘live’ passenger sentiment at different stages of the airport journey in order to get an improved understanding of the passenger’s experience?
Challenge 3: Understanding Passenger Sentiment – Actionable Insights
How might we combine passenger sentiment and feedback data from a variety of sources (for example social media, intelligent voice recognition, formal complaints and other sources) in order to provide trend analysis and actionable insights so that the airport can proactively prioritise activities to improve passenger experience?
Who should apply?
To be eligible, applicants must:
- be a UK-registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
- have a solution which is technical readiness level (TRL) 5 – 8. This means that the solution has, at least, been tested or demonstrated in its intended environment and, at most, has been deployed as a first-of-a-kind commercial system
- have a solution which addresses at least one of the identified challenges
- be available to actively participate in the programme activities between 1 September 2026 and 31 March 2027
- be willing to travel on occasion to Glasgow Airport
- be willing to provide digital copies of formal ID to Glasgow Airport for temporary ID passes for airport visits
Applications open
Applications close
12pm
Application assessments: Phase 1 – due diligence and initial scoring
Application assessments: Phase 2 – interviews
Kick off meeting
Oct
Trial preparation
Trial delivery
Reporting deadline
Programme end
Application process
Applications are open until 17 August 2026, 12pm.
Supporting documents
Point of contact
If you have any questions about the programme and application, please contact:
Kirsty Murphy, Programme Manager, Kirsty.murphy@cp.catapult.org.uk
Partners
