To lead a collaborative project your organisation must:

• be a UK registered business of any size
• collaborate with other UK registered organisations
• be a grant claiming recipient
• include in your consortium a vehicle manufacturer or Tier 1 supplier who supplies parts directly to an original equipment manufacturer (OEM)

The consortium must contain at least one UK registered micro, small or medium sized enterprise (SME) claiming grant funding on this application.

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

There is no limit to the number of applications an organisation can be involved in. Successful applicants will be asked to confirm they have the capacity to run multiple projects simultaneously.

Your project must:

• have a total grant funding request of between £2.5 million and £20 million
• be late stage R&D targeting direct commercialisation at the end of the project
• be collaborative
• be a minimum of 50% match funded, for example, if you are asking for £2.5 million in grant your total eligible project costs must be a minimum of £5 million
• be in line with at least one of the three scope themes
• achieve TRL 7-8 or MRL 6-7 by completion, based on published Automotive Technology and Manufacturing Readiness Levels
• last between 18 and 36 months
• start from 1 May 2027

Any organisation receiving funding must carry out its project work in the UK, intend to exploit the results in the UK, and spend most of the funding within the UK.

A minimum of 70% of your project’s total project costs must be incurred by commercial organisations.

Your project must focus on one or more of the three themes.

For theme 1, you must focus on product and process innovations that contribute to achieving zero emissions for on board vehicle applications in one or more of the following areas:

• electrical energy storage: development of batteries, supercapacitors, their components, management, and integration systems
• electric machines and associated driveline
• power electronics including Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X)
• Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) for on road applications, we will only fund project proposals which aim to achieve zero harmful tailpipe emissions utilising non-fossil fuels
• Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) for off road applications, we will fund project proposals that support a transition to zero emissions, utilising non-fossil fuels
• lightweight vehicle and powertrain structures
• fuel cell systems and associated balance of plant
• hydrogen storage and management systems

Within the technology scope outlined above, your project can include:

• upstream supply chain for the above technologies including raw materials, component manufacturing, subassembly manufacturing
• circularity and Design for Disassembly: projects focused on the disassembly, remanufacturing, recovery, and reuse of materials
• digitalisation of validation, verification, and design: use of digital tools to enhance the design, validation, and verification processes for the listed technologies

Your project must focus on one or more of the three themes.

Theme 2 is for R&D projects which use innovations to enable productivity and cost competitiveness and reduce embedded carbon.

These will be across all aspects of zero emission vehicle and technology manufacturing and their associated supply chain in one or more of the following areas:

• digital transformation: integration of digital tools within the manufacturing process, for example, the use of AI, digital twins, vision systems and internet of things (IoT)
• manufacturing process decarbonisation: switching processes to use non fossil energy sources or innovations enabling reduced energy consumption within manufacturing processes including capture and reuse
• lean manufacturing: implementation of innovative lean principles to improve circularity of materials used in processes, reduce their environmental impact and improve efficiency including the use of advanced automation techniques
• supply chain development: initiatives for suppliers to improve their processes, capability and capacity for R&D and subsequent industrialisation, for example, flexible production lines to service multiple customers to lower capital investment as well as UK capability building to enable market access and sustainability

The technologies in scope within this theme apply to any component, sub assembly or system involved in the manufacture of zero emission vehicles.

Your proposal must have an outcome which increases the likelihood and competitiveness of manufacturing zero emission vehicles and their supply chain in the UK.

Your project must focus on one or more of the three themes.

Theme 3: Software Defined Vehicles (SDV) and Electrical/Electronic (E/E) architecture is focused on enabling features through software and involves a major paradigm shift and redesign across the electrical and electronic architectures.

This transformation is critical to supporting zero emission vehicle functionality and leveraging UK innovation strengths for global competitiveness.

This is system, vehicle and process level evolution in one or more of the following areas:

• delivering features faster, through a shift to rapid software native tools and processes adapted to meet automotive safety and security requirements (software factory)
• innovations in embedded software development and connectivity to enhance performance, safety, and time to market
• development of advanced control systems software and platforms, including software and control systems integration
• scalable and flexible future E/E architectures, communication systems, and high performance compute including their systems, components, sensors and actuators
• vehicle and system level simulation, including the use of digital twins and in the loop (xIL) innovations to enable rapid simulation, optimisation, and validation of interconnected systems
• innovations in the safe and secure use of AI in the functional software
• innovations in tools, processes and design practices for SDV and E/E architectures, including AI driven approaches for development, validation and optimisation

Innovate UK will hold an online briefing at 1pm on Wednesday 8 July: click here to register for a place. A recording and slides will be available afterwards.

If you would like help to find a collaboration partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Transport and/or Manufacturing teams.