History of the Grants Office

The Grants Office of the Velocity Interoperability Network is a young institution. The milestones below record how grant-giving in the Network moved from separate arrangements at each member organisation to a single fund, published criteria and a public register, and will be extended as the Office's programmes are decided and paid.

1. Before August 2026

   Grant-giving by member organisations

   Before the Office existed, each member organisation of the Network funded interoperability work from its own budget, on its own terms. There were no common criteria, no published award ranges and no public record of what had been funded; work of value to the whole Network was paid for, where it was paid for at all, many times over or not at all.

2. 10 August to 5 September 2026

   The interim arrangements

   In the four weeks before establishment, grant applications were assessed under interim arrangements by a panel drawn from the member organisations, against interim criteria published at the outset. Ninety-six applications were received and thirty-seven awards made, totalling 412,500 credits. Every award was recorded in a provisional register, the ancestor of the register the Office keeps today.

3. 6 September 2026

   Grants Office established

   The Grants Office of the Velocity Interoperability Network was formally established, with responsibility for the grant programmes of the Network: setting the terms of award, assessing applications, making and paying grants, monitoring the work they fund and publishing the register of awards. The thirty-seven interim awards were transferred to the Office on the day of its establishment.

4. 6 September 2026

   Official website launched

   The Office launched grants.gov.vin, carrying press releases and official statements, the terms of every open programme, guidance on how to apply, the conditions attached to an award and the register of awards made.

5. 6 September 2026

   Six programmes, conditions and the first register

   On the day of its establishment the Office published the terms of its first six programmes, with a combined provision of 1.86m credits for the period to 31 December 2026, the conditions of grant attaching to every award, the arrangements for applying and the first register of awards together with its first statistical release.

6. 14 September to 5 October 2026

   Programmes open to application

   The six programmes open to application in turn, beginning with the Interoperability Development Grants, the Community Connectivity Grants and the Small Project Grants on 14 September, and ending with the Shared Facilities Grants on 5 October.

7. Forthcoming

   First decisions and quarterly reporting

   Decisions on the first four programmes are due between 11 December 2026 and 29 January 2027, with first payments following within fifteen working days of acceptance. The first quarterly register and statistical release, covering the quarter ending 31 December 2026, will be published in January 2027, and provision for 2027 will be announced in the Newsroom when the estimates are settled.

Announcements are published in the Newsroom. For the Office's present responsibilities, see About the Grants Office; for the awards made to date, see the Register of Awards; for its reporting on applications and provision, see Statistics.