Projects must be collaborative.

To lead a collaborative project your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size. 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)

You must ensure no single partner accounts for more than 70% of the total eligible costs.

A UK registered business can lead on one application and be included as a collaborator in any number of applications. An academic institution, research and technology organisation (RTO), charity, not for profit or public sector organisation can collaborate on any number of applications.

Your project must:

• have grant funding request of between £500,000 and £4 million
• last between 12 and 36 months
• not start before 1 October 2026
• end by 28 September 2029

Any funded organisation needs to carry out their project work in the UK and must intend to exploit the project results from or in the UK.

Your project must demonstrate how the proposed innovation will do at least one of the following:

• enable consistent, high quality battery grade materials suitable for large-scale cell manufacturing
• reduce dependence on overseas materials processing and strengthen UK supply chain resilience
• support scale up from laboratory to pilot and pre-commercial manufacturing within the UK
• recover critical battery materials at a quality suitable for re-entry into UK manufacturing
• support industrial scale recycling and reprocessing
• integrate material circularity into future UK battery supply chains

Your project must demonstrate a credible pathway and deliver value-add to the UK such as:

• scale-up and manufacturing deployment in the UK
• creation or expansion of UK recycling and reprocessing infrastructure, enabling the recovery and reintegration of battery grade materials into UK manufacturing
• development or expansion of UK critical material mining and extraction capability, including refining and upgrading to battery grade materials
• creation or expansion of industrial capability, facilities or production capacity across the battery value chain
• strengthening UK supply chain resilience across both primary (extraction) and secondary (recycling) material sources
• delivery of long term economic and environmental benefits, aligned with net zero and critical minerals objectives

We encourage relevant R&D activities that include, but are not limited to:

• material extraction and processing activities, from mining and separation through battery grade specifications
• development and optimisation of battery grade electrode materials for scalable manufacturing
• control of particle morphology, surface chemistry and coatings to improve performance, yield and process robustness
• processing material innovations that reduce cost, energy use or environmental impact while maintaining manufacturability
• materials development that support manufacturing processes, especially where these are integrated with UK cell production requirements, supply chain needs and wider sector demand
• recycling process development focused on scale, throughput, and economic viability
• upgrading recovered materials to battery grade specifications suitable for UK manufacturers
• design for circularity approaches that simplify disassembly, recovery and reprocessing

Your project must clearly state which group your application aligns with:

1. Material Extraction

Innovations that strengthen sustainable, competitive access to raw materials. We encourage projects that:

• develop sustainable extraction methods with reduced environmental impact
• enhance efficiency, yield or purity of raw materials used in battery chemistries
• support substitution, diversification, or novel sources of critical minerals
• incorporate environmental monitoring, traceability, or responsible sourcing technologies
• integrate digital tools for resource mapping, process optimisation or environmental protection
• enable UK access to advanced materials crucial for next generation cells

2. Material Processing

Advancing processed materials required for high performance, cost effective cells. We encourage projects that:

• innovate in cathode, anode, electrolyte or separator materials
• scale up processing of active materials for next generation chemistries, for example, solid state, sodium ion, LFP, high nickel, silicon rich
• improve energy, water or reagent efficiency in material production
• enhance material consistency, purity and performance through improved processing routes
• apply digital tools, modelling, or automation to improve throughput and quality
• integrate sustainability, recycling feedstocks or circular inputs into the materials process

3. Recycling and Circular Economy

Strengthening UK capability in end-of-life processing, reuse, recovery and circularity. We encourage projects that:

• advance processes for dismantling, sorting and safe handling of end-of-life batteries
• develop improved recovery pathways for critical materials and black mass refining
• integrate recycled materials back into upstream production
• develop reuse, second life or remanufacturing technologies
• reduce waste and environmental footprint across the end of life system
• introduce digital tracking, provenance and circular economy systems across the lifecycle
• create business models or technologies that enable circularity at scale

Your project can target performance requirements for at least one of the listed sectors and can support emerging use cases or cross sector applicability including:

• automotive sector including on and off highway vehicles, motorsports and niche automotive
• aerospace
• battery energy storage systems
• rail
• maritime
• defence (Innovation must be dual use with clear relevance beyond defence application)

You must clearly demonstrate your understanding of the target sector and industry and market demand covering UK, Europe and global in your application.

Innovate UK Business Connect will hold an online briefing from 10am-noon on Tuesday 21 April: click here to register for a place. A recording will be available afterwards.

If you would like help to decide which strand to apply for, or to find a collaboration partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Energy team.