Advanced manufacturing supply chain innovation FS

Overview

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), is investing up to £5 million to support feasibility studies that explore new ways to make supply chains more resource efficient and resilient.

This competition focuses on early-stage projects that address cross-cutting supply chain challenges shared across multiple sectors.

Projects must demonstrate credible potential to strengthen UK supply chains and support future growth within manufacturing and industrial sectors.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to support feasibility studies that explore new ways of making supply chains more resource efficient and resilient.

This will be achieved by addressing cross-cutting challenges faced by the government’s Industrial Strategy growth driving sectors and the advanced manufacturing frontier industries in scope.

Projects must be aligned to at least two of the six high growth sectors defined in the Industrial Strategy, or alternatively to at least two of the advanced manufacturing frontier industries identified in the Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan.

Key themes and topics

High growth sectors in scope are:

• Advanced manufacturing
• Clean energy industries
• Creative industries
• Defence
• Digital and technologies
• Life sciences

Advanced manufacturing frontier industries in scope are:

• Automotive
• Batteries and energy storage
• Aerospace
• Advanced materials, including composites, metals, polymers, ceramics, glass and smart materials
• Agri-tech, manufacturing and processing technologies for the agri-food value chain
• Space

Projects must be feasibility studies that focus on solutions which are new or not yet widely used, improve supply chain resilience and resource efficiency, and show potential to be transferable across sectors or industries.

Projects must:

• Address critical cross-cutting challenges faced by multiple sectors or industries
• Focus on improving supply chain resilience and resource efficiency
• Clearly identify the growth driving sectors or advanced manufacturing frontier industries being targeted
• Include supply chain validation through the involvement of at least one end user

End user involvement can include, but is not limited to:

• Participation on a project advisory board
• Involvement as a funded project collaborator
• Involvement as a non-funded project collaborator

Letters of support from end users will not be accepted.

Projects that focus on only one sector or one advanced manufacturing frontier industry, or that fail to demonstrate end user involvement, are out of scope.

Project duration

• Up to nine months
• Must start on 1 July 2026
• Must end by 31 March 2027

Projects must start on the first day of the month and must not begin until the Grant Offer Letter has been approved by Innovate UK.

Award value

• Total eligible grant funding request must be between £50,000 and £100,000

Up to £5 million is available across the competition, subject to a sufficient number of high-quality applications being received.

Funding rates

For feasibility studies, which evaluate a project’s potential by uncovering key factors and supporting confident, well-founded decisions about progressing, you can receive funding for your eligible project costs of:

• Up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
• Up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation
• Up to 50% if you are a large organisation

Research organisations undertaking non-economic activity can share up to 30% to 50% of the total eligible project costs, depending on the composition of the consortium and funding rules.

Eligibility criteria

Projects must:

• Be collaborative and led by a UK registered business of any size
• Include at least one grant-claiming SME
• Include collaborators that are a UK registered business of any size, an academic institution, a charity, a not for profit organisation, a public sector organisation, or a research and technology organisation (RTO)
• Use subcontractors that are preferably UK-based, with fully justified and appropriate costs
• Carry out all funded project work within the UK
• Intend to exploit the project results from or in the UK

Funding is limited and subject to the quality of applications received, meaning not all high-scoring projects will be funded. Based on previous competitions, applicants should expect an approximate 20% chance of success.

This competition is awarded under the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme. Subsidy control and state aid rules apply.