Milton Keynes will host one of eight Robotics Adoption Hubs funded from a £40m pot, chosen from 76 bids. It will be based at centre:mk and led by Smart City MK CIC. The grant itself is unpublished.
Milton Keynes has been picked to host one of eight Robotics Adoption Hubs, backed by £40 million of Government money. The hub will run from the Smart City Experience Centre inside centre:mk and is led by Smart City MK CIC, a community interest company.
The Government announced the eight hubs on 9 October. Milton Keynes City Council published its own release the same day. The council says the Milton Keynes bid was one of 76 applications.
Neither release says how much the Milton Keynes hub receives. The national pot is £40 million across eight hubs, and the split has not been published.
What a hub is for
The hubs are meant to be one-stop shops for firms that want to use robots but do not know where to start. Innovate UK’s competition page describes them as places offering “expert guidance” to end users of robotics and autonomous systems. The competition opened on 24 February 2026 and closed on 15 April. It advertised £38 million; the Government’s announcement now puts the figure at £40 million.
The Milton Keynes hub is the only one of the eight focused on public spaces. The Government describes it as a “Smart City Hub” for service robots, drones and self-driving vehicles across several sectors, “developed in Milton Keynes for worldwide application”.
The council’s release lists what it will offer:
- impartial advice and structured support for organisations of any size
- demonstrations of robots in use
- introductions to industry specialists
- help for schools to use robotics without buying expensive equipment
Who is involved
Smart City MK CIC leads the consortium. Companies House records it as company 14260334, incorporated on 27 July 2022, with a registered office in Woburn Sands.
The delivery partners named by the council are:
- Milton Keynes City Council
- Cranfield University
- The Open University
- Beverly Clarke Consulting
- Ohmio UK
- Smart City Consultancy
centre:mk is a founding partner and, the council says, is making a “significant investment” in the hub. No sum is given. The Experience Centre it will use opened in the shopping centre in 2024. The council’s smart city plan describes it as a joint initiative between private partners and the council, a “shop window” where people can try robots and digital technology.
Cllr Lauren Townsend, the council’s deputy leader, called the selection “a strong endorsement of Milton Keynes’ reputation as a centre for innovation”. Ian Pulford, chief executive of Smart City MK CIC, said it followed years of work with civic, business and education partners.
The other seven
| Hub | Focus |
|---|---|
| SHARP, National Surgical Robotic Adoption Hub | Surgical robotics in hospitals |
| Greater South West Robotics Adoption Hub | Business advice, demonstrations and industry links |
| HARVEST, Lincoln | Agri-food: arable, fruit, vegetables and food manufacturing |
| Hwb Llwybr Roboteg Cymru | Welsh manufacturers, including finance readiness |
| National Waste and Recycling Robotics Adoption Hub | Robots at waste and recycling sites |
| Yorkshire Robotics Adoption Hub | Vendor-neutral support for Yorkshire manufacturers |
| South Wales Robotics Adoption Hub | Test-before-invest, brokerage and skills |
Alongside the hubs, the Government is putting £1.7 million into a national convening body called AURA and £2.5 million into 12 skills projects.
How this fits what MK already has
This is the second Government robotics award to the city in a year. In October 2025 the council won £775,000 from the Regulators’ Pioneer Fund for RoboPASS, a licensing system for robots in public places, according to its release at the time.
RoboPASS is now consulting residents. The council is holding public workshops at MK Gallery on Tuesday 13 October as part of Milton Keynes Tech Week. Topics include whether the council should use robots for pavement inspections, weed control and gritting the Redways in winter.
What it means for you
- Running a business: the hub is meant to be free to approach for advice and demonstrations. The council has not yet published an opening date or a contact.
- Teachers: the stated aim is to bring robotics into the curriculum without schools having to buy kit. Beverly Clarke MBE, whose consultancy is a partner, said the hub would also cover “the social and ethical implications” of robotics.
- Everyone else: the robots the hub is about are the delivery robots, drones and self-driving shuttles already seen around the city. The 13 October RoboPASS workshops are the place to say what you think of them.
We will add the grant figure when Innovate UK or the council publishes it.
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