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 a grant funding request of between £70,000 and £500,000
• last between 6 and 18 months
• not start before 1 October 2026
• end by 31 January 2028

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 technology must address at least one of the following outcomes:

• reduced cost, including total cost of ownership
• improved performance
• improved safety
• increased predictability and reliability
• reduced environmental impact
• alignment with relevant standards and regulatory requirements

Your proposed solutions can address the entire battery value chain and must consider the financial implications, sustainability targets, environmental impact and regulatory policies.

Your proposal can address one or more of the following areas:

• raw materials
• advanced cell materials
• cell design and components
• process and manufacturing tools
• quality control and diagnostics
• testing, simulation and digital tools

We are particularly interested in funding projects from the groups below:

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. Cell Production

Improving cell manufacturing capability, quality, cost and scalability.

We encourage projects that:

• advance electrode manufacturing, cell assembly and formation processes
• develop tools, equipment or automation solutions for improved production efficiency
• enable scale up from lab to pilot line to gigafactory levels
• introduce in line diagnostics, digital twins and modelling to improve quality and reduce scrap
• reduce energy demand, waste or environmental impacts in cell production
• support industrialisation of new chemistries or formats (pouch, cylindrical, prismatic)
• integrate design for manufacturing approaches for improved yield and reliability

4. Module and Pack Integration, Diagnostics and Use Phase

Enhancing system level performance, durability, safety and integration.

We encourage projects that:

• innovate in module and pack design, structural systems, or fast assembly techniques
• improve safety systems, early warning diagnostics and fault tolerant designs
• develop advanced BMS functionality, state of health or state of charge algorithms
• create thermal management innovations including new materials, architectures or control systems
• apply simulation, digital twins or data driven optimisation for real world performance
• enable circularity ready or end of life friendly design
• support application specific optimisation for automotive, aerospace, maritime, rail, defence or stationary storage

5. 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 sector as defence, aerospace and battery energy storage:

• 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.