Advanced manufacturing supply chain innovation FS

Key Features

UK registered businesses and research and technology organisations (RTOs) can apply for a share of up to £5 million for feasibility studies. These will make supply chains more resource efficient and resilient through addressing cross cutting challenges.

Programme:     Innvoate UK

Award:     Share of up to £5 million

Opens: 2nd Feb 2026

Closes: 11th Mar 2026

! This scheme is opening soon

Overview

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will invest up to £5 million into supply chain innovation projects. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received.

Scope

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

This will be achieved by addressing cross cutting challenges faced by the six Industrial Strategy’s growth driving sectors and the Advanced Manufacturing frontier industries in scope.

Your proposal must be aligned to at least two of the following six high growth sectors defined in the Government’s Industrial Strategy. Alternatively, it must be aligned to at least two of the advanced manufacturing frontier industries identified in the Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan.

High growth sectors in scope:

  • Advanced Manufacturing
  • Clean Energy Industries
  • Creative Industries
  • Defence
  • Digital and Technologies
  • Life Sciences

Advanced manufacturing frontier industries:

  • 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

Your project must:

  • be a feasibility study
  • focus on solutions that are either new or not yet widely used
  • address improvements in supply chain resilience and resource efficiency that are transferable across sectors or industries
  • identify the growth-driving sectors or the advanced manufacturing frontier industries you are targeting
  • clearly identify the critical cross-cutting challenges being addressed and demonstrate how your project addresses these critical challenges
  • address supply chain validation through involvement of at least one end user in the project

The involvement of the end user can be in the form of, but is not limited to:

  • being on a project advisory board
  • being a non-funded project collaborator or a funded project collaborator

In this competition, we will not accept letters of support from the end user.

Within your application you must:

  • demonstrate a clear route to scale in the UK
  • assess commercial, technical and operational viability of your innovation
  • explain how this project delivers growth to your company as part of future UK resource efficient and resilient supply chains in UK manufacturing

Portfolio approach

Innovate UK want to fund a variety of projects across different high growth sectors in scope, advanced manufacturing frontier industries, and technologies. Innovate UK call this a portfolio approach.

Eligibility

Your project

Your project must:

  • have a grant funding request between £50,000 and £100,000
  • be up to nine months in duration
  • start on 1 July 2026
  • end by 31 March 2027

Any funded organisation needs to carry out their project work in the UK and must intend to exploit the project results from or in the UK.

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 collaborative project your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size or a UK registered RTO. The consortium must contain at least one UK registered business of any size claiming grant funding on this application.

To work alone your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size. RTOs cannot work alone.

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)

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 the IFS. They are responsible for entering their own project costs and completing their Project Impact questions in the application.

To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and at least one other organisation must:

  • apply for funding when entering their costs into the application.
  • include rationale for the collaboration and describe the structure in your application
  • ensure any one partner does not account for more than 70% of the total eligible costs

Non-funded partners

Your project can include organisations who do not claim any funding for their work on the project. Their costs will be covered from their own resources. These can include UK, EU and other non-UK organisations. Non-UK partners are permitted to carry out project work from within their home countries and exploit the results outside the UK.

Where non-funded partners have been invited to the application on IFS, their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs.

Subcontractors

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition and are limited to no more than 30% of the project’s total eligible costs.

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 eligible project costs.

Number of applications

A business can only lead on one application and can be included as a collaborator in a further two applications. If a business is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications.

An RTO can only lead on one application and can be included as a collaborator on any number of applications.

An academic institution, charity, not for profit, public sector organisation can collaborate on any number of applications.

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.

Exclusions

Innovate UK are not funding projects that are:

  • not focusing on cross cutting issues faced by the Industrial Strategy’s growth driving sectors in scope for this competition or the 6 advanced manufacturing frontier industries
  • focussed on only one of the Industrial Strategy’s growth driving sectors or only one advanced manufacturing frontier industry
  • failing to demonstrate end user involvement within the project

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 £5 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

Innovate UK reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions under exceptional circumstances, for example, in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations, or broader government funding decisions.

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.

For feasibility studies in Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:

Category 1 Feasibility studies

  • 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 more information on company sizes, 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.

Innovate UK may revoke our decision to provide funding without notice if government commitment for this initiative is withdrawn.

Research participation

The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 70% 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 70% you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:

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

Eligibility criteria for claiming 80% of FEC funding

  1. Research organisations using the Je-S system must submit their costs through the Je-S system which calculates the 80% FEC figure.
  2. On IFS, only the 80% FEC output should be entered at 100% funding.
  3. Applicants do not need to show the remaining 20% on the finance table.

To find out more see our: Cost Guidance for Academics.

Interested in applying for this competition?

Book an appointment to speak to one of our advisors to discuss your eligibility to apply for this Grant Funding opportunity.