Transforming foundation industries: fast start projects

Key Features

UK registered organisations can apply for a share of £5 million for fast start projects to improve the resource and energy efficiency of foundation industries. This funding is from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

Programme:     Innovate UK

Award:     Share of up to £5 million

Opens: 28th Oct 2019

Closes: 5th Feb 2020

! This scheme is now closed

Overview

Innovate UK, as part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £5 million in innovation projects for the foundation industries. These will be cross-sector, collaborative, fast start, short duration, industrial research and development (R&D) projects.

Scope

This competition aims to bring together businesses from different sectors within the foundation industries (cement, paper, glass, ceramics, metals and bulk chemicals) to work on common resource and energy efficiency challenges.

It will fund cross-sector and collaborative research and development projects aimed at improving the productivity and competitiveness of the sectors’ companies and supply chains, and encourage companies to stay in the UK.

Your project can focus on any part of the manufacturing process, including:

  • feedstock inputs
  • production
  • material product development

For example, you can include efficient use of feedstock, alternative feedstocks, waste utilisation, optimised processes, heat recovery, new resource efficient products, greater recycling of waste or industrial symbiosis.

Your project can also include techno-economic assessment of new products, services and business models.

Your proposal must:

  • address one or more resource or energy efficiency challenges that are common to more than one of the 6 target sectors
  • indicate how your project will help the UK’s foundation industries remain competitive

The technical scope of the competition is broad, encompassing any resource or energy efficiency activity for the foundation industries.

Examples of foundation industries cross-sectoral challenges include:

  • energy costs and optimisation such as heat or energy recovery and reuse
  • process measurement, optimisation and digitisation, such as sensor technology or digital tools
  • waste recycling, utilisation and symbiosis, such as reuse of waste or industrial symbiosis
  • new product and service development, such as new materials, new materials-based products and services, or new business models

Exclusions

Innovate UK are not funding projects that:

  • focus on fuel switching or greenhouse gas capture technology
  • do not focus on energy or resource efficiency
  • do not focus on foundation industries and their immediate supply chains
  • are only applicable to one foundation industry
  • respond only to the skills needs of foundation industries
  • are capital or infrastructure projects

Eligibility

To lead a project your organisation must:

  • be a UK registered business of any size or a research and technology organisation (RTO)
  • carry out its project work in the UK
  • intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

You do not need to be in the foundation industries to lead the consortium.

Whether a business of any size your consortium must include:

  • at least one micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
  • at least 2 businesses, of any size, from at least 2 foundation industry sectors

To collaborate with the lead organisation your organisation must:

  • be a UK registered business, academic institution, charity, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation (RTO)
  • carry out its project work in the UK
  • intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
  • be invited to take part by the lead applicant
  • enter its costs in the Innovation Funding Service

The lead and at least one other organisation must claim funding.

Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example non-UK businesses. Their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs.

Funding Costs

Innovate UK have allocated up to £5 million to fund collaborative research and development projects in this competition.

Your project must:

  • have total eligible costs between £50,000 and £500,000
  • last between 3 and 12 months and be ready to start in July 2020

If your organisation is primarily engaged in commercial or economic activity (‘selective advantage’) as part of the project you must ensure your request for funding does not exceed the limits defined below. This includes organisations that typically act non-economically but for the purpose of this project will be undertaking commercial or economic activity.

For industrial research projects, you could get 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

For experimental development projects which are nearer to market, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:

  • up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation
  • up to 35% if you are a medium-sized organisation
  • up to 25% if you are a large organisation

The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity in your consortium can share up to 50% of the total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them.