Advance Market Commitments
Exploring how Innovate UK can leverage the power of Advance Market Commitments (AMCs) to accelerate the scale out of climate technologies. Providing both demand and supply side support and opportunities for investors interested in supporting innovative companies to commercialisation.
What are Advance Market Commitments?
Advance market commitments, or AMCs, are binding commitments to make a market for an innovative product/service that is not yet commercially developed. It does this on the basis of pre-agreed technical specifications that any new product must meet. Put more simply, an AMC is a means of incentivising R&D by promising to buy its outputs.
AMCs are part of a broader set of ‘Demand Led’ or ‘Market Shaping’ interventions, which can be made to promote innovation through a pull mechanism, as opposed to more traditional push mechanisms like R&D grants.
We need to rapidly accelerate the development and commercialisation of climate innovations. However, we recognise that for many climate innovations there are insufficient commercial incentives for solutions to meet the scale required quickly enough. AMCs are one tool that has the potential to provide this incentive, unlocking solutions faster, so we can meet our ambitions for scaling climate innovation in the UK.
Collaboration
Bringing together key players in supply chains to collaborate, including those who could agree an AMC
New solutions
Designing and agreeing an AMC to procure new solutions
De-risking solutions
Providing support to further de-risk delivery of new solutions
Delivery support
Working with supply chain, standards, skills, insurance and investor community to support delivery of solutions
Pilot project in the concrete sector
Innovate UK are funding a programme, with our partners Carbon Limiting Technologies, to explore how we can use AMCs as a tool to accelerate climate innovation. The overall aim is to test how AMCs can be used as an intervention mechanism to unlock investment into, and scaling of, new climate technologies.
Cement and concrete products are the target sector for testing the use of AMCs as part of the programme. However, a critical output will be recommending how AMCs can be used more widely as an intervention mechanism by Innovate UK.
Innovate UK launched the Concrete Commitment Cohort (CCC) in January 2024. The cohort forms part of our market initiation activities, by illustrating early interest in making an AMC for concrete and also supporting related innovation activities.
Concrete landscape map from Carbon Limiting Technologies
Concrete is an essential part of everyday life and is needed in helping us to reach our 2050 net zero carbon target. UK concrete and cement currently account for around 1.5% of UK carbon dioxide emissions and around 7% of emissions globally*. Decarbonising it is critical. Explore the opportunity to benefit from firm Advance Market Commitments.
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Making concrete commitments
Innovate UK is pleased to announce the formation of the Concrete Commitment Cohort (CCC) alongside the launch of a funding competition to accelerate commercial adoption of lower carbon concrete. The following organisations have expressed an interest in making a commitment to low-carbon concrete. Read more about the commitments.
Related sectors
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