DRIVE35 Innovation Fund: Demonstrate 2

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

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 on the number of applications an organisation can be involved in.

Your project must:

• lead to a demonstrator product or process to enable new commercial opportunities or secure follow on investment
• have total eligible grant funding request of between £500,000 and £1.5 million
• be a minimum of 50% match funding, for example, if you are asking for £500,000 in grant your total eligible project costs need to be a minimum of £1 million
• align to at least one of the three scope themes
• be achieving TRL 5-6 or MRL 4-5 by completion, based on published Automotive Technology and Manufacturing Readiness Levels
• last between 9 and 12 months
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
• start from 1 September 2026
• end by 31 August 2027

As a key component of the dissemination requirements for this competition, there will be an opportunity to showcase your project outcomes at the 2027 CENEX Expo. All projects must be prepared for potential selection to represent themselves at this event.

The aim of DRIVE35 Innovation Fund is to support R&D projects that design, develop and manufacture strategically important technologies in the automotive sector. Your project will support the UK’s transition to zero emission vehicles and a pathway to a net zero automotive industry.

The aim of strand 2 (this strand) is to develop a product or process demonstrator, to show increased capability and commercial exploitation opportunity as a result of the project.

Your proposal must fall within one or more of the following:

Theme 1: Promote Zero Emission Vehicle Technologies

Theme 2: Enhance Manufacturing Competitiveness

Theme 3: Future Vehicle Innovation – Software Defined Vehicles (SDV) and Electrical/Electronic (E/E) Architectures

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

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.

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

We are not funding projects that are:

• requesting more than 50% grant for total project costs
• focused on business processes not directly involved in the design, test, validation, recycle or reuse or manufacture of vehicles, for example, company back office systems and infrastructure
• including the design, development, integration, use, test or direct manufacturing of automated driving systems (ADS)
• are only focussed on the development of clean fuels
• not aligned with the UK net zero research innovations framework
• developing solutions such as e-Scooters or e-Bikes

A pre-recorded briefing event for strand 2 is available to watch here.

A live Q&A session for strand 2 will be held on Friday 16 January at 12.30pm: click here for the joining link (Zoom required).

If you want help to find a project partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Transport team.