Dates:
Competition deadline: 30th June 2021, 11am
Invite to interview: 30 August 2021 (interviews commencing 13th September 2021)
Applicants notified: 01 October 2021
Project start date & duration: Projects must start by 1st February 2022 and last between 18-36 months
Scope
Projects must be supply chain focused, with innovations that enable future improvements in: Productivity, Capacity; Quality; and Efficiency.
Specific Themes
Manufacturing process development, such as:
- innovations and approaches to improve manufacturing productivity
- implementation of an innovative new tool into a process line
- automation of a specific process
- reconfiguring a process line in an innovative way to improve productivity or flexibility
Design for manufacture, such as:
- designing, redesigning, prototyping a product for more efficient and cost effective manufacture
- specification of a manufacturing process
- virtual process development (VPD) including improvements in modelling and simulation software
- developments which enable products to be manufactured with recycling taken into consideration
Innovative end-of-line testing and product validation processes:
- scale-up and/or automation of testing and validation processes, with an aim of increasing productivity
- supply chain improvements
Circular economy, including:
- scale-up of processes for the recycling and recovery of materials from end-of-life PEMD products
- lifecycle and embedded carbon analysis with a view of process improvement
- waste reduction and process energy efficiency improvements
Projects that will not be funded
- projects that do not demonstrate a credible return on investment
- projects focussed around batteries
- projects dependent on export performance or domestic inputs usage
Eligibility
- State aid funding rules apply
- Must be collaborative and led by a UK registered business of any size
- Project work must be carried out in the UK with results exploited from or in the UK
Funding Rates
- Total eligible project costs between £500,000 and £5 million
| Project maturity (up to but not including commercialisation) | ||
| Organisation size | Industrial Research (TRL3-5) | Experimental Development (TRL 6-7) |
| Micro/small business | Up to 70% | Up to 45% |
| Medium sized business | Up to 60% | Up to 35% |
| Large business | Up to 50% | Up to 25% |
- Research organisations will be funded up to 100% and can share up to 30% of the UK total eligible project costs.
