Cymraeg

Commissioning opportunities

Innovation and Collaboration Fund

Our aim

Adnodd is launching a new Innovation and Collaboration Fund that is open to education practitioners, freelancers, suppliers, and organisations across Wales.

We have a long-term ambition for creating, developing and sharing bilingual educational resources that support and inspire the teaching and learning of the Curriculum for Wales.

This includes creating a more equitable, inclusive, and imaginative approach to education and learning.

Image of two young girls drawing on a whiteboard with colourful swirls and stars coming out from their pens. Delwedd o ddwy ferch ifanc yn tynnu ar fwrdd gwyn, gyda troellau lliwgar a sêr yn dod allan o’u pensiliau.

Our Innovation and Collaboration Fund has been launched to support and enable educational practitioners and suppliers to come together to explore, think and share their ideas and experiences with others.

To make sure we have the most impact from our work, in our Strategy, we have identified key focus areas that will underpin everything we do. They are:

Illustration of a smiling person holding a tablet, with colourful ribbons and stars flowing out of the screen. Darlun o berson yn gwenu’n dal tabled, gyda rhubanau lliwgar a sêr yn llifo allan o’r sgrin.

Literacy

Illustration of a group of children and an adult playing together. One child is lifted up while others hold hands and smile. Stars shine behind them. Darlun o grŵp o blant ac oedolyn yn chwarae gyda’i gilydd. Mae un plentyn yn cael ei godi tra bod y lleill yn dal dwylo ac yn gwenu. Mae sêr yn disgleirio y tu ôl iddyn nhw.

Equity and anti-racism

Illustration of a person with curly hair sitting peacefully with eyes closed, surrounded by swirling clouds, stars, and comets. Darlun o berson gyda gwallt cyrliog yn eistedd yn dawel gyda’i lygaid ar gau, wedi’i amgylchynu gan gymylau troellog, sêr a comedau.

Well-being

These focus areas represent themes of national importance that urgently need attention due to resource gaps, inequalities, and broader societal issues affecting schools and learners. This means that the resources we commission will positively impact one or more of the focus areas, which will allow us to respond cohesively to the many needs of the Curriculum for Wales.

The Innovation and Collaboration Fund

The Innovation and Collaboration Fund is aimed at inspiring and empowering learners and practitioners and has been purposefully designed to be open to your creative responses to our Strategy.

Taking place between July 2025 and October 2025, the first phase will offer up to ten projects a total of up to £5,000 each. The aim of this phase is to create opportunities to connect and explore ideas. A report on learning, findings and ideas will be required at the end of the phase.

We understand that not all explorations and new collaborations will be successful. Some ideas might not work, or the timing won’t be quite right. This is why we have created the Innovation and Collaboration Fund in two phases.

The second phase will give the successful projects supported in phase one an opportunity to apply for further funding of up to £10,000 to develop their ideas in order to deliver new educational resources. This takes place up to three months after the initial work has started, and if successful, the second phase funding will be awarded for work to take place between November 2025 and March 2026.

Illustration of a young woman working on a desk with four people on a video call. Surrounding her are images of people interacting with VR technology, stars and puzzles. Darlun o fenyw ifanc yn gweithio wrth ddesg gyda phedwar person ar alwad fideo. O’i chwmpas mae delweddau o bobl yn defnyddio technoleg VR, sêr a phosau.

Develop and deliver

The projects awarded phase two funding will receive funding of up to £10,000 to develop and publish their resource. The format of the final resource will be discussed with your Commissioning and Quality Manager at Adnodd, who will provide guidance on technical requirements, Welsh language standards and accessibility requirements.

Who we’ll fund

We encourage practitioners and organisations working in Wales to apply to this fund. Collaboration between schools, freelance practitioners or organisations is welcomed. For example, this could be a school partnering with a local charity or community group.

Applicants working with children, young people or vulnerable adults will need to provide us with their safeguarding and child protection policy.

The lead applicant will need to provide proof of Public Liability Insurance as part of the conditions of a successful award.

All reports and resources developed will be subject to Crown Copyright and will be made available for free by Adnodd on the relevant platforms.

We encourage applicants to consider using a Trio Writing approach. You will find a free Guide to Trio Writing here.

What we’ll fund

We welcome applications for costs covering:

  • Direct staff costs (including cover staff), and volunteer subsistence and expenses
  • Standard class travel within Wales, refreshments and venue hire
  • Incentives for community and individual involvement
  • Facilitation and workshop materials to support exploration and idea generation
  • Content creation costs, including skilled staff, designers, software and other technical costs, archivists, etc.

Exclusion criteria

We are here to enable and support innovation, so we do not have many exclusion criteria. However, projects/applicants that will not be considered are those:

  • Based outside of Wales
  • Only delivered in the English language
  • Involving existing projects or projects already in development

Application and evaluation

We hope that the application process is simple and user-friendly. Apply here through MS Forms.

We will work with people who have professional expertise and/or lived experiences to evaluate the applications. This group will collaborate with Adnodd’s Commissioning and Quality team to evaluate applications and award the funding.

Timeline

  • 3rd June 4pm or 5th June 11am: Launch and information sessions
  • 13:00 Fri 27th June 2025: Deadline for applications
  • Mon 7th July 2025: Assessment and evaluation
  • Fri 11th July 2025: Outcome communicated
  • End of July 2025: Work to commence (phase 1)
  • End October 2025: Progress report (phase 1)
  • Fri 28th Nov 2025: Optional phase 2 application deadline
  • Mon 10th November 2025: Assessment and evaluation of the application
  • Fri 14th November 2025: Outcome communicated
  • End of November 2025: Work to commence (phase 2)
  • End March 2026: Resources completed and published

Please contact comisiynu@adnodd.llyw.cymru with any fund-related queries.