National Materials Innovation Programme: CR&D Rd1

Key Features

UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £12 million for collaborative industrial research to speed the translation of advanced materials innovations in three prioritised high growth themes and one strategic opportunity theme.

Programme:     Innovate UK

Award:     Share of up to £12 million

Opens: 1st Sep 2026

Closes: 28th Oct 2026

TBAT

Interested in applying?

Book a 1-2-1 appointment with our Grant Funding expert today

Click here

Grant Overview

Innovate UK will invest up to £12 million into materials innovation projects. This funding is part of the National materials Innovation programme.

Grant Scope

The aim of this competition is to accelerate the translation and adoption of material innovations through collaborative industrial research.

Projects must focus on one of the following themes and at least one associated sub-theme:

Theme 1: Future Healthcare Solutions

  • Biocompatible and Regenerative Materials
  • Bioelectronic Materials

Theme 2: Structural Materials Innovation

  • Sustainability
  • Surface Engineering
  • Design and Deployment
  • Extreme Environments

Theme 3: Power Electronics and Connectivity

  • Wide and Ultra Wide Bandgap Materials
  • Advanced Connectivity Materials

Theme 4: Metamaterials and Metasurfaces

  • Future Telecommunications and Advanced Connectivity
  • Convergent Electronic-Photonic Technologies
  • Thermal, Acoustic and Mechanical Metamaterials
  • Energy Security and Net Zero
  • Healthcare

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for this competition projects must have a grant funding request of between £500,000 and £1 million with projects lasting between 18 and 30 months. Projects must start by 1st February 2027 and end by 31st July 2029.

Lead organisation: To lead a collaborative project, organisations must be a UK registered business of any size. Consortiums must contain at least one UK registered micro, small or medium sized enterprise claiming grant funding on this application.

Project team: To collaborate with the lead, organisations must be a UK registered business of any size, academic institution, charity, not for profit, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation.

Non-funded partners: Projects can include organisations that do not claim any funding for their work on the project. These costs must be covered from their own resources and can include UK, EU and other non-UK organisations. Non-UK partners are permitted to carry out project work from within there home country so long as results are exploited outside the UK.

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. Overseas subcontractors can be used but you must state why UK subcontractors could not be used in your application.

Number of applications: A business can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in a further two applications. Businesses not leading any application can collaborate in any number of applications. Academic institutions, charities, not for profits, public sector organisations, or research and technology organisations can collaborate on any number of applications.

Previous applications: Previously submitted applications can be used in this competition.

Exclusions

Innovate UK are not funding the following projects:

  • Projects that do not align with any of the themes and sub-themes listed in the specific themes section
  • Projects that are focused on the development or application of digital tools and technologies to support or enable materials innovation.
  • Projects that do not name and describe and end user and their role within the project
  • Projects that do not demonstrate the IS-8 sector being targeted and applications within the chosen sector
  • Projects that do not demonstrate a clear and realistic sector and application opportunity for later adoption
  • Projects that are focused on chemical or raw materials synthesis, rather than adoption of materials innovations in an end application
  • Projects focused solely on the defence sector, dual use material innovations with the primary focus on civil applications will be recognised
  • Projects focused on enabling areas such as regulations, educational resources, behavioural science, policy, skills and relationships

Grant Funding

Innovate UK have allocated up to £12 million to fund innovation projects in this competition. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

Under the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Route rules, no more than £3 million can be awarded in the form of a grant to any one enterprise in any one competition.

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 industrial research 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

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:

  • 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 an academic institution

Eligibility criteria for claiming 80% of FEC funding

  1. Research organisations must use the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) method as the Je-S form has now been decommissioned.
  2. We pay 100% of the 80% Full Economic Cost (FEC). On IFS only enter the 80% being claimed.

For further information on this competition, please see full details.

Full competition details