ATI Programme strategic batch: EoI – June 24

Key Features

The ATI Programme funds industrial research and investment aid for research infrastructures to make the UK civil aerospace sector more competitive.

Programme:     ATI Programme

Award:     Share of up to £685 million

Opens: 3rd Jun 2024

Closes: 19th Jun 2024

! This scheme is now closed

Overview

The ATI programme is co-ordinated and managed by:

  • the Department for Business and Trade (DBT)
  • Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
  • the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI)

All three organisations work in partnership, offering support to deliver a portfolio of projects. Your project must meet the objectives and priorities of the UK Aerospace Technology Strategy, to maintain and grow the UK’s competitive position in civil aerospace.

The ATI Programme has been allocated £685 million from the government for the financial years 2022 to 2023 through 2024 to 2025.

This is phase 1 of a strategic batch competition within the ATI Programme. There are two phases to each strategic batch competition. The whole assessment process takes at least six months.

Overview

This is an expression of interest (EoI) competition. You must have a successful application in this competition before you can be invited to apply to the full stage competition.

Your project must have a potential application within the civil aerospace sector. This can include dual use technologies.

Your proposal must align with the UK Aerospace Technology Strategy, Destination Zero and is split into these areas:

Zero-Carbon Emission Aircraft Technologies: Zero-carbon emission technologies are focused on propulsion and infrastructure development to enable zero-carbon tailpipe emissions. This encompasses battery, hydrogen, and fuel cell technologies, much of which are in early stages of development.

Ultra-Efficient Aircraft Technologies: Ultra-efficient technologies are focused on improving energy efficiency and hence impact CO2 emissions, NOx and noise. Continued development of crucial high value, sustainable, high productivity manufacturing technologies will position the UK to be a first-choice location for the industry.

Cross-cutting Enabling Technologies: To enable both the zero-carbon and ultra-efficient opportunities, the UK must develop cross-cutting enabling technologies and capabilities for whole aircraft design and analysis. These capabilities should extend to the aircraft lifecycle from design, through manufacture and assembly, operation and end of life.

Non-CO2 Technologies: Developing technologies and scaling up solutions to reduce the negative effects of non-CO2 emissions. Complimenting and in some instances spanning across the existing Destination Zero roadmaps, it covers three main research areas: fuel characteristics, aircraft technologies, and knowledge data and operations.

Full stage competition

If you are successful in this EoI competition, you will be invited to apply for the appropriate Research or Capital strand of the next full stage Batch competition of the ATI Programme.

The ATI Programme partners will monitor changes between your phase 1 and phase 2 submissions. We will not accept unjustified major changes in the consortium or costs.

Research Categories

In the full stage phase 2 competition, we will fund industrial research projects as defined in the guidance on categories of research and investment aid for research infrastructure.

Eligibility

To lead a project or work alone your organisation must:

  • be a UK registered business of any size for research projects
  • be a UK registered business of any size, a research and technology organisation (RTO), research organisation or academic institution for capital infrastructure projects
  • carry out your aerospace research or capital infrastructure project work in the UK
  • intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
  • address the specific requirements of the UK’s Aerospace Technology Strategy
  • sign up to the Aerospace Technology Institute framework agreement
  • claim funding

Projects must always start on the first of the month and this must be stated within your application. Your project start date will be reflected in your grant offer letter if you are successful.

You must only include eligible project costs in your application.

Under current restrictions, this competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian or Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian or Belarusian source.

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)

Your organisation must:

  • 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
  • sign up to the Aerospace Technology Institute framework agreement

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 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.

Your business does not have to be registered with Companies House when you apply, but it must be registered before you can receive funding.

Non-funded partners

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 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 suppliers 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.

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

ATI are not funding projects that are:

  • focused solely on defence, space or other industrial sectors, but we will recognise dual use technologies providing the primary application is in civil aerospace
  • for fundamental research, early-stage technologies or experimental development

ATI 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

The ATI Programme has been allocated £685 million from the government for the financial years 2022 to 2023 through 2024 to 2025 to fund innovation projects.

Your project cannot be a mixture of industrial research and capital infrastructure investment.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) know that demand is high for the ATI Programme. To manage this financial pressure, the DBT has applied an overall cap of 60% on project level funding for industrial research projects.

Industrial research projects

The total grant request in your application cannot exceed 60% of the total eligible project costs. This is regardless of the individual partners’ grant claims.

Of that 60%, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically.

Individual partners that are conducting commercial or economic activities as part of the project, which may include research organisations, can request grant funding of up to:

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

The total grant funding limit for any individual organisation is £18 million.

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, non-profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation

Capital infrastructure projects

Your project must focus on the construction or upgrade of research infrastructures that perform economic activities.

Each infrastructure project can request total grant funding of up to £18 million and the total project grant funding must not exceed 50% of the total eligible project costs.

In a collaborative capital infrastructure project between business and research organisations, the research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can claim up to 100% of their own costs. However, the total project grant funding must not exceed 50% of the total eligible project costs.

Research organisations and academic institutions acting alone or collaboratively and conducting non-economic activities can claim up to 100% funding, however you must obtain written consent from the DBT prior to submission. Contact Aerospace Technology Institute for ways to contact the DBT. The DBT’s consent to request 100% funding does not guarantee funding and funding would be awarded on a no-subsidy basis.

Your total eligible project costs must be the investment costs in intangible and tangible assets.

If the research infrastructure pursues both economic and non-economic activities, you must:

  • account for the financing, costs and revenues of each type of activity separately
  • use consistently applied and objectively justifiable cost accounting principles

Access to the research infrastructure for its operation or use must be open to several users without discrimination and be granted on a transparent basis. Users must be charged the market price.

If an organisation has financed at least 10% of the investment costs of the project infrastructure, it can be granted preferential access under more favourable conditions.

The access must be in proportion to the organisation’s contribution to the investment costs and access conditions must be made publicly available.

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.