APCUK: ARMD4 Advanced Route to Market Demonstrator 4

Overview

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) and the automotive industry and academia, to invest up to £25 million of DBT grant funding in the Advanced Route to Market Demonstrator 4 (ARMD4) competition.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to develop a product or process demonstrator to show increased capability and commercial exploitation opportunity, as a result of the project. The project will utilise future zero emission powertrain technology as a key element in the UK’s transition to a zero emission automotive industry.

Your project must work towards delivery of zero emission on-vehicle technologies for on-road or off-road vehicles.

Vehicle applications in scope must include:

on-highway including last mile
off-highway including agriculture and mining

In the case of on-road solutions, we will only support project proposals which aim to achieve zero harmful tailpipe emissions.

Capability demonstration can be through:

a physical vehicle or subsystem
a process demonstration in the relevant environment
an equivalent digital demonstrator

Technology maturity expectations for this competition should be achieving TRL 5-6 or MRL 4-5 by completion, based on published Automotive Technology and Manufacturing Readiness Levels.

As a key component of the dissemination requirements for this competition, there will be an opportunity to showcase project outcomes at the 2026 CENEX Expo. All projects should be prepared for potential selection to represent the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) at this event.

Your project must demonstrate the advancement of on-vehicle technologies in one or more of the following areas:

energy storage, batteries and their components and integration systems
fuel cell systems and their components and integration systems
electric machines and their components and integration systems
power electronics and their components and integration systems
internal combustion engines (ICE) for on-road applications, we will only fund project proposals which aim to achieve zero harmful tailpipe emissions utilising non-fossil fuels
internal combustion engines (ICE) for off-road applications, we will fund project proposals that support a transition to zero emissions, utilising non-fossil fuels lightweight materials, methods and processes
hydrogen storage and management systems

Projects can include:

design for circular economy and sustainability, including the disassembly, recovery, and reuse of materials used in the project technologies
digitalisation of design for manufacture and recycling, development of zero emissions vehicle innovation, manufacture of vehicle systems and subsystems, data analytics, redesign, test and validation and verification

You will be required to provide a close-out report and case study at the end of your funded project.

Portfolio approach

Innovate UK want to fund a variety of projects across different technologies, vehicle applications, markets, technological maturities and research categories which are aligned to policy and regulatory deadlines to enabling automotive transformation. This includes the transition to fully zero emission vehicle manufacturing. We call this a portfolio approach.

Eligibility

Your project must:

have a grant funding request of between £500,000 and £1.5 million
be a minimum of 50% match funded, for example, if you are asking for £500,000 in grant your total eligible project costs need to be a minimum of £1 million
utilise 65% of the grant budget by 31 March 2026
last between 9 and 12 months
carry out all of its project work in the UK
intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
start by 1 October 2025
end by 30 September 2026

Projects must always start on the first of the month, even if this is a non-working day. You must not start your project until your Grant Offer Letter has been approved by Innovate UK. Any delays within Project Setup may mean we need to delay your project start date.

You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs. For specific guidance, see the eligibility section in this competition.

Lead organisation

To lead a project or work alone your organisation must:

be a UK registered business of any size
have an active registered business base in the UK
be a grant recipient

More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.

Academic institutions cannot lead or work alone.

Project team

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

business of any size
academic institution
charity
not for profit
public sector organisation
research and technology organisation (RTO)

Non-UK registered businesses and research organisations are only eligible to apply for funding if:

they set up an active UK registered business where the funded project work will be carried out by the start of the project
provide evidence of an intention to expand their R&D activity in the UK during and after the project

Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once partners have accepted the invitation, they will be asked to login or to create an account in IFS. They are responsible for entering their own project costs.

To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and at least one other organisation must apply for funding when entering their costs into the application.

Non-funded partners

Your project can include non-UK partners, including partners based in the EU, who bring their own funding. Non-UK partners are permitted to carry out project work from within their home countries and exploit results overseas. Their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs.

Subcontractors

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.

Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.

You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you cannot use subcontractors from the UK.

You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.

All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.

Number of applications

There are no limits on the number of applications an organisation can be involved in.

Sanctions

This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions. For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups.

Use of animals in research and innovation

Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.

Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process. This information will be reviewed before an award is made.

You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.

If you have previously submitted an application that reached our assessment stage, you can re-apply once more with the same proposal.

If there are minor differences to the proposal, but it is judged by us to be ‘not materially different’, the same rule applies.

Exclusions

Innovate UK are not funding projects that are:

focused only on the development of clean fuels
not aligned with the UK’s net zero research innovations framework
requesting more than 50% grant for total project costs
predominantly off-vehicle
developing either e-Scooters or e-Bikes

Innovate UK cannot fund projects that are:

dependent on export performance, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country
dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product

Funding Costs

Up to £25 million has been allocated by DBT to fund innovation projects in this competition. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

A minimum of 70% of your total project costs must be incurred by commercial organisations.

If your organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically but for the purpose of this project will be undertaking commercial or economic activity.

The balance between your total eligible project costs and the amount of grant awarded must be funded by the organisation receiving the grant.

For industrial research projects, you can 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 can 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

For more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance.

If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.

Research participation

The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 30% 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. Of that 30% you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:

80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are a Je-S registered institution such as an academic
100% of your eligible project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not for profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation

The Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC)

A 3.5% industrial contribution is payable to the APC by all partners on grant received.

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