Manufacturing Digitalisation Innovation Programme: Innovation and Scale-up Hub

To lead a collaborative project, or work alone, your organisation must be a UK registered research and technology organisation (RTO) or academic institution.

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)

If your project is collaborative, no single organisation can claim more than 70% of the total project costs.

Your project must:

• have a grant funding request of between £3.8 million and £4 million
• last 36 months
• start on 1 April 2027
• end on 31 March 2030

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.

The aim of this competition is to establish an Innovation and Scale-Up Hub that will improve the targeting, quality and commercial impact of grant funded activity delivered through the UKRI Manufacturing Digitalisation Innovation (MDI) programme. This hub is part of a planned £35 million investment by UKRI in a Manufacturing Digitalisation Innovation programme which builds on previous investment of £175 million.

The Hub will identify and prioritise common industrial challenges affecting the following Advanced Manufacturing Frontier 5 manufacturing sectors:

• Advanced Materials
• Aerospace
• Automotive
• Batteries
• Space

The purpose of the Hub is to:

• define and focus, through market segmentation, the development and application of Industrial Digital Technology (IDT) development that will drive growth within manufacturing supply chains and in-factory production
• accelerate the scale-up of supply-side high-potential technology providers offering compellingly adoptable IDT solutions
• create an environment that will support demand-side advanced manufacturing business across the Frontier 5 sectors
• optimise the technical and commercial outcomes for recent and future grant funded activities in this space
• improve Resource Efficiency and Energy Efficiency (REEE) strengthening sustainability, resilience and productivity

The Hub must support the development of a balanced portfolio of opportunities across Frontier 5 sectors.

The portfolio should prioritise challenges and technology providers with the strongest potential to:

• deliver UK business growth
• address needs shared by of the greatest number of manufacturers
• create widely adoptable industrial digital technology stack solutions
• generate private co-investment and follow-on investment
• improve manufacturing productivity and resilience and deliver resource and energy efficiency benefits
• create routes into additional UK and international markets
• meet the security, trustworthiness and explainability requirements of regulated manufacturing environments

Your project

Your proposal must deliver a hub that will work with manufacturers that are representative of relevant Advanced Manufacturing Frontier 5 market sectors. The hub must also work with high potential technology providers that have the capability and commercial ambition to develop widely adoptable industrial digital technology stack solutions.

The Hub must define common industrial challenges experienced by manufacturers and not start with predetermined technologies or solutions in a challenge-led and technology-neutral approach.

For full detail on required Objectives, Activities & Outputs, please see the extensive full scope section.

Your project must engage with Industrial Digital Technologies (IDTs).

Eligible IDTs include:

• Data Analytics
• AI and Machine Learning
• Additive Manufacturing
• Robotics and Automation
• Internet of Things and Connectivity
• Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
• Digital Twin
• Distributed Ledger Technology including Blockchain and Immutable Data

This is not an exhaustive list, other IDTs can also be supported.

We are not funding projects that:

• focus on sectors outside of Advanced Materials, Aerospace, Automotive, Batteries and Space
• target solutions that are not Industrial Digital Technology focussed
• have a primary exploitation route that is not focussed on manufacturing supply chain or in factory production
• support activities focussed primarily on the needs of a single manufacturer
• support bespoke solutions with no credible route to wider adoption
• duplicate existing market intelligence, testbed or scale-up support without demonstrating additional value
• provide general networking activity without a clear connection to challenge definition, grant funding interventions, technology-provider growth and adoption acceleration
• prescribe specific technologies before the industrial outcomes and requirements have been properly established
• begin with a predetermined technology solution without evidence of a material industrial challenge
• lack a credible approach to managing conflicts of interest, confidentiality and fair access
• include significant capital expenditure on buildings
• include significant expenditure on facilities or equipment that replicate already existing and accessible facilities in the UK

Innovate UK will hold an online briefing event at 11.30am on Tuesday 6 October 2026: click here for the joining link (Zoom required). Slides will be available after the event.

If you would like help to find a collaboration partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Manufacturing team.