GrantRadar

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

National Materials Innovation Programme: CR&D Rd1

Innovate UK collaborative industrial research grants, the first collaborative R&D round of the National Materials Innovation Programme, to speed the translation and adoption of advanced materials innovations for the eight growth-driving sectors (IS-8) of the UK's Modern Industrial Strategy. Projects must fit one of four themes: future healthcare solutions, structural materials innovation, power electronics and connectivity, or metamaterials and metasurfaces. A UK registered business must lead, with at least one grant-claiming SME and at least one named end user in an IS-8 sector. The project's total grant request must be between £500,000 and £1 million, for projects of 18 to 30 months.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
£500,000 – £1,000,000
Closes in
10 days left
28 October
Effort
Heavy
budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

  • The lead must be a UK registered business of any size, and the consortium must include at least one UK registered micro, small or medium sized enterprise claiming grant funding
  • Collaborators can be UK registered businesses of any size, academic institutions, charities, not for profits, public sector organisations or research and technology organisations
  • The lead and at least one other organisation must request funding, and no single organisation can claim more than 70% of total project costs
  • Non-funded partners (including EU and other non-UK organisations) are allowed
  • Subcontractors are limited to 30% of total eligible costs; overseas subcontractors need strong justification
  • A business can lead only one application and collaborate in two more; research bodies, charities and public sector organisations can collaborate on any number
  • At least one named end user operating in an IS-8 sector must have a defined role (RTOs, academic institutions and consultancies cannot be end users; government bodies or regulators only with justification)
  • Funded organisations must do the work and spend most of the funding in the UK and exploit the results in the UK
  • Projects must request £500,000 to £1 million in grant, last 18 to 30 months, start by 1 February 2027 and end by 31 July 2029
  • No more than £3 million grant can go to any one enterprise in the competition; organisations in financial difficulty, or with failed earlier exploitation, overdue accountant's reports or outstanding sums to Innovate UK, cannot be funded

What it funds

Collaborative industrial research projects that accelerate the translation and adoption of materials innovations, focused on one theme and at least one sub-theme:

  • Theme 1, Future Healthcare Solutions: biocompatible and regenerative materials; bioelectronic materials
  • Theme 2, Structural Materials Innovation (speciality steels, advanced non-ferrous metals and alloys, fibre reinforced structural composites, technical ceramics, advanced structural glasses and glass ceramics, advanced concretes and geopolymers, high performance structural engineering polymers): 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
  • Improving the functionality of existing materials, developing and deploying completely new materials, or deploying existing materials in a novel way to address a major technical barrier
  • Eligible project costs, with grant of up to 70% (micro or small), 60% (medium) or 50% (large) of eligible costs for businesses; research organisations doing non-economic work can share up to 30% of total eligible costs, at 100% (RTOs, charities, not for profits, public sector) or 80% of FEC (academic institutions)

projects must explain how the innovation improves performance, functionality, productivity or sustainability, give a credible route to commercialisation and scale in the UK, show how adoption contributes to UK net zero targets, and name an end user in an IS-8 sector with a defined role. Innovations fundamentally based on metamaterials or metasurfaces must apply under Theme 4.

What it will not fund

  • Projects that do not align with any of the themes and sub-themes
  • Projects focused on developing or applying digital tools and technologies to support materials innovation, for example AI or machine learning tools
  • Projects that do not name and describe an end user and their role
  • Projects that do not show the IS-8 sector targeted and applications within it
  • Projects that do not show a clear and realistic sector and application opportunity for later adoption
  • Projects 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 innovations are recognised if the primary focus is civil)
  • Projects focused on enabling areas such as regulations, educational resources, behavioural science, policy, skills and relationships
  • Projects dependent on export performance or on domestic inputs usage
  • RTOs, academics, academic institutions, consultants and consultancies as the named end user
  • End user involvement shown only through letters of support, emails, purchase orders, NDAs, MoUs, letters of intent or similar documents

How to apply

  1. Read the competition brief and Innovate UK's guidance on applying, and watch the briefing recording (3 September 2026) and slides on the competition page
  2. Find partners and a named end user; Innovate UK Business Connect runs a matchmaking platform
  3. The lead business starts an application on the Innovation Funding Service and invites each partner, who enters their own project costs and Project Impact answers
  4. Complete the project details (summary, public description and scope, up to 400 words each)
  5. Answer the application questions: unscored questions on location, animal testing, permits, international collaboration, export licence, Trusted Research and Innovation, project theme and end user involvement; then scored questions on need or challenge, approach and innovation, team and resources, market awareness, outcomes and route to market, wider impacts, project management, risks, added value and costs and value for money (up to 400 words each)
  6. Upload a project plan or Gantt chart and a risk register (each a PDF of up to two A4 pages), plus optional appendices for approach and innovation and team
  7. Complete finances for each organisation (academic institutions upload TRAC costings) and the Project Impact section
  8. Submit by 11am on 28 October 2026; you can reopen and resubmit until the deadline

both applicant clinics (11 September and 7 October 2026) have passed. Contact Innovate UK at least 15 working days before closing if you need reasonable adjustments.

Have ready

  • Project plan or Gantt chart (PDF, up to two A4 pages, no larger than 10MB)
  • Risk register (PDF, up to two A4 pages, no larger than 10MB)
  • Optional appendix supporting approach and innovation (PDF, up to two A4 pages)
  • Optional appendix summarising the main people on the project (PDF, up to two A4 pages)
  • TRAC costings for academic institutions

no URLs may be included in answers. Successful applicants provide further details, such as bank details and finance checks, during project setup.

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