This competition is open to single applicants only. To apply your organisation must:

• be a UK registered micro, small or medium sized business (SME)
• carry out its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
• be invited to apply by your investor partner
• have discussed and agreed your proposal with your investor partner before submitting your application

Subcontractors are allowed. An SME can only submit one application into this round of the competition.

The eligibility criteria will depend on your research category.

For feasibility studies projects:

• your total project costs must be between £50,000 and £300,000
• the project duration must be between 6 and 12 months
• Innovate UK will fund up to 70% of eligible project costs for micro or small organisations, or up to 60% for medium sized organisations
• the absolute minimum aligned investment led by the investor partner must always be at least equal to the grant funding

For industrial research projects:

• your total project costs must be between £100,000 and £1 million
• the project duration must be between 6 and 24 months
• Innovate UK will fund up to 70% of eligible project costs for micro or small organisations, or up to 60% for medium sized organisations
• the absolute minimum aligned investment led by the investor partner must always be at least equal to the grant funding

For experimental development projects:

• your total project costs must be between £250,000 and £2 million
• the project duration must be between 12 and 24 months
• Innovate UK will fund up to 45% of eligible project costs for micro or small organisations, or up to 35% for medium sized organisations
• the absolute minimum aligned investment led by the investor partner must always be at least twice as much as the grant funding

The aligned investment does not need to be spent directly on the project.

(E.g. for an experimental development project from a medium sized organisation costing £1m, Innovate UK could fund up to £350,000 and aligned investment of at least £700,000 would be required.)

The aim of this competition is to provide you with support for research and development and access to the capital investment you need to develop and commercialise your innovations.

Your proposal must have a clear route to market, a clear link to innovation and evidence that you can create a team to deliver your proposal and must focus on one of the following scope themes and at least one associated sub-theme.

You must be:

• registered in the UK as an SME by the time the award is contracted
• able to complete the aligned investment led by the investor partner needed to qualify for the award, through the issue of new shares or convertible debt

You must also demonstrate that if your project is funded, it will:

• have significant market impact
• be scalable
• be attractive to equity investors

Innovation and ideas can come from anyone and anywhere. We want to see investments unlocked for the diverse and extraordinary talent in the UK.

We encourage innovation involving communities that are typically under represented, including:

• from regions that have historically accessed lower levels of investment (outside London, Oxford and Cambridge)
• ethnic minority groups
• women and other marginalised genders
• disabled people
• people with non-traditional education backgrounds

Your project must focus on one of the following themes and at least one associated sub-theme.

We are seeking material innovation projects focused on advanced materials and material systems that enable the generation, conversion, storage, transport, management, or efficient use of energy.

Net zero energy materials and material systems are defined as those whose primary function is to improve the performance, efficiency, durability, sustainability, or deployment of net zero energy technologies.

Applications under this theme must demonstrate how the material innovation contributes to, for example, reduced emissions or environmental impact, enhanced energy security or supply chain resilience, improved resource efficiency or circularity, reduced deployment or operational costs, improved performance, efficiency, or operational lifetime.

Projects must address one or more of the following sub-themes:

• next generation battery materials
• electrochemical energy conversion materials
• hydrogen materials
• heat exchange, heat storage and waste heat recovery materials
• energy harvesting materials
• advanced nuclear and fusion materials

We are seeking material innovation projects focused on advanced materials and material systems for healthcare applications.

Healthcare materials and material systems are defined as those designed to safely interact with biological systems and deliver improved prevention, diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, rehabilitation or regenerative healthcare outcomes. This includes materials intended for use in medical devices, diagnostics, therapeutic delivery systems, regenerative medicine products and bioelectronic healthcare technologies.

Applications under this theme must demonstrate how the material innovation contributes to, for example, improved biological performance or functionality, improved patient outcomes or quality of life, enhanced diagnostic, monitoring or therapeutic capability, improved manufacturability, scalability or clinical adoption, reduced treatment burden or healthcare costs.

Projects must address one or more of the following sub-themes:

• biocompatible and regenerative materials
• bioelectronic materials

We are seeking material innovation projects focused on high value, high performance structural materials and material systems.

Structural materials and material systems are defined as those whose primary function is to bear load, maintain structural integrity and deliver reliable performance throughout their operational life. This includes multifunctional materials where structural integrity is the primary enabling function. These materials are typically deployed in applications where failure, degradation or loss of performance would have significant economic, operational, safety or environmental consequences.

The following structural material classes are within scope:

• advanced concretes and geopolymers
• speciality steels, including high strength, corrosion resistant, wear resistant and high temperature steels
• advanced non-ferrous metals and high performance metallic alloys
• fibre reinforced structural composites where fibre reinforcement provides the primary load bearing function
• advanced technical ceramics
• advanced structural glasses and glass ceramics
• high performance structural engineering polymers used in load bearing applications

Only the structural material classes listed above are within scope under this theme.

Applications under this theme must demonstrate how the material innovation contributes to, for example, improved structural performance, durability or operational lifetime, reduced environmental impact or embodied carbon, improved resource efficiency, reuse, repair, remanufacture or recycling, enhanced performance in demanding or extreme operating environments, enabling capability within strategically important UK sectors and technologies.

Projects must address one or more of the following sub-themes:

• sustainable structural materials, for example, built environment
• sustainable non-built environment structural materials
• high performance structural materials
• bulk structural materials for extreme environments

We are seeking material innovation projects focused on advanced surface technologies, coatings and durability enhancing material systems.

Surface technologies, coatings and durability enhancing material systems are defined as those whose primary function is to protect against surface or bulk degradation, improve surface performance, extend operational lifetime or enhance reliability.

Relevant material innovations may include coatings, surface treatments, tribological materials, corrosion protection technologies and other material systems designed to improve durability and resistance to degradation.

Applications under this theme must demonstrate how the material innovation contributes to, for example, extended asset, infrastructure or technology lifetime, improved durability, reliability or resilience, reduced maintenance or whole life costs, improved operational efficiency or performance, reduced environmental impact through longer service life or improved resource efficiency.

Projects must address one or more of the following sub-themes:

• surface protection and durability materials
• tribological materials and surface technologies
• surface technology materials for extreme environments
• materials for degradation monitoring and lifetime management

We are seeking material innovation projects focused on advanced electronic, photonic and communication materials and material systems.

Electronic, photonic and communication materials and material systems are defined as those that enable the generation, conversion, transmission, processing, sensing or thermal management of electrical, optical or electromagnetic signals. This includes semiconductor, photonic, optoelectronic, dielectric, electromagnetic and thermal management materials used within advanced electronic, communication, sensing and quantum technologies.

Applications under this theme must demonstrate how the material innovation contributes to, for example, improved device or system performance, improved energy efficiency or power density, enhanced sensing, communication or computing capability, improved reliability, manufacturability or scalability, enabling capability within strategically important technologies and sectors.

Projects must address one or more of the following sub-themes:

• wide and ultra-wide bandgap materials
• materials for quantum
• advanced connectivity and communication materials

We are seeking material innovation projects focused on sustainable polymer, packaging and elastomeric materials and material systems.

Sustainable polymer, packaging and elastomeric materials are defined as materials that deliver the required functional performance while reducing environmental impact, improving resource efficiency and supporting circularity throughout their lifecycle.

Applications under this theme must demonstrate how the material innovation contributes to, for example, reduced environmental impact or carbon footprint, improved resource efficiency or circularity, improved recyclability, recoverability or end of life outcomes, improved material performance, durability or functionality.

Projects must address one or more of the following sub-themes:

• sustainable polymer and packaging materials
• sustainable elastomeric materials

We are seeking material innovation projects focused on the development, scale-up, commercialisation and adoption of metamaterials and metasurfaces, enabling growth, productivity and dual use opportunities across strategically important sectors.

For the purposes of this theme, projects must demonstrate that they meet the definition of a metamaterial or metasurface as developed by the metamaterial community and the UK Metamaterials Network, which are:

• a metamaterial is a three dimensional structure with a response or function arising from the collective effect of engineered meta-atom elements that cannot be achieved conventionally by any individual constituent material
• a metasurface is a two dimensional version of a metamaterial in which the engineered structural elements are confined to a planar surface

The response or function of a metamaterial or metasurface results from the collective behaviour of designed and engineered meta-atom elements. These responses may include electromagnetic, photonic, RF and microwave, terahertz (THz), acoustic, magnetic, mechanical, structural, thermal or chemical functionality.

Applications under this theme must address relevant aspects of the value chain and must demonstrate how the material innovation contributes to, for example, technology concepts for market adoption, overcoming technical barriers to scale-up and manufacture, developing enabling design, metrology and characterisation tools and methods.

Projects must address one or more of the following sub-themes:

• future telecommunications and advanced connectivity
• convergent electronic photonic technologies
• thermal, acoustic and mechanical metamaterials
• energy security and net zero
• healthcare

We are not funding projects that are:

• not carried out by SMEs
• collaborative R&D projects
• not part of a company’s growth plan
• unable to prove there is potential for return on investment and growth
• large capital infrastructure
• not invited by a specified investor partner
• do not align with any of the themes and sub-themes listed in the specific themes section
• are focused on chemical or raw material synthesis rather than on materials innovation toward an end application
• are focused on enabling areas such as regulations, educational resources, behavioural sciences, policy, skills, and relationships
• primarily focused on the development, adaptation or validation of digital tools or technologies for materials innovation, for example, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) or Large Language Models (LLM) software and tools

However AI, ML or LLM software and tools may be used where they support the material innovation that is the primary focus of the project.

Innovate UK Business Connect will host an online briefing on Thursday 5 November at 10am: click here to register for a place. A recording and slides will be available afterwards.

You will need to establish a relationship and a level of investment traction with one of our approved investor partners before you apply for funding. A full list of selected investor partners is provided at Innovate UK Business Connect investor partnerships websites.

You should also contact Innovate UK Business Connect to establish if there are specific programmes for connecting businesses in your sector to relevant investors. Support and connections to sector specific investors may also be provided by the relevant catapult centre.

If you would like help to find an investor partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Materials team.