Innovate UK

Growth Cohorts: Next-gen low carbon concrete cohort entry Round 2

Innovate UK competition for UK registered businesses decarbonising concrete to join a Growth Cohort of up to 20 businesses. Stage 1 gives each successful business £50,000 of grant to claim against eligible costs over six months, plus £4,400 of in-kind support from Innovate UK Business Connect and a Cohort Manager who helps build an innovation and growth plan. Only businesses successful at this stage can apply to the invite-only stage 2, expected to open in February 2027. This is Round 2 of up to five entry rounds running to January 2028.

Apply on the funder’s site

You could get: £50,000
Deadline: 42 days left; 2 December
Effort: Heavy; budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

UK registered businesses of any size, applying alone (single applicants only); a business can apply and receive funding only once in this first stage
The business must be active in the sustainable concrete supply chain with a decarbonisation solution that has started to build traction in construction, aim to create commercial revenue from an innovative product or service in that supply chain, and have its relevant IP held by a company headquartered in the UK
A letter of support is needed from a commercial entity in the concrete supply chain (a concrete producer, user or trade association) confirming the idea could scale in the industry
Funding counts as Minimal Financial Assistance: total MFA and de minimis received over the current and two previous financial years, including this award, cannot exceed £315,000
Work must take place in the UK and results be exploited in the UK
A senior decision maker must commit to all stages, and successful businesses must attend cohort activities in person; failure to take part can lead to suspension or termination
Subcontractors are allowed (overseas ones only with strong justification)
Applicants who failed to exploit a previous Innovate UK project, have an overdue accountant's report or breached grant terms will not be funded

What it funds

Grant funding must be used to access support in one or more of the following areas:

Commercialisation plan development and implementation, for example licencing, manufacturing readiness
Financing strategy development and implementation, in line with commercialisation plan
Revenue model analysis and development
Sales strategy development
Marketing plan development
Validated market research
Customer validation and testing
Assessing and achieving minimum required volumes for offtake
Testing, certification and product insurability assessment
Standards compliance and validation
Regulatory support and insights
Operational costs of pilots, trials and demonstrations
Intellectual property development and protection
Environmental product declaration (EPD) or lifecycle assessment (LCA) development
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy development
Impact strategy development, including environmental impact
Impact management
Risk analysis and forecasting
Risk management controls including sensors and data for real-time risk monitoring
Data, including best practice principles and requirements to determine scaling risk
Data sharing

the project must focus on one or more of: alternatives to Ordinary Portland Cement as a binder (for example calcined clay or calcined clay and limestone); improving the efficiency or optimisation of cement or concrete production; recycling of cement; additives that reduce concrete's carbon footprint while maintaining or improving performance; using concrete to sequester carbon; different concrete chemistry for reinforced concrete if it clearly decarbonises concrete; improving the efficiency of cement and concrete use.

What it will not fund

Projects using fresh fly ash or Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBS) as principal Supplementary Cementitious Materials, unless the innovation is actively looking to reduce their use
Alternative fuels for cement production, or projects focused on alternative fuels
Projects focused on aggregate or aggregate replacements
Carbon Capture and Storage applied to cement production where the captured carbon is not sequestered in concrete
Making the steel in reinforced concrete last longer
Replacing concrete with other building materials
Additives alone, without considering their use in concrete
Enabling systems, methodologies or platforms with no direct effect on the physical flow of materials, products or services in the concrete supply chain
Projects that are not original, not in scope, or duplicate someone else's work
Primary production in agriculture, fishery or aquaculture
Projects not eligible for Minimal Financial Assistance, or dependent on export performance or domestic inputs usage

How to apply

Read Innovate UK's guidance on applying through the Innovation Funding Service (online briefing 23 October 2026; drop-in sessions 6 and 19 November 2026)
Start an application on the Innovation Funding Service and complete project details, the application questions (most scored, up to 400 words each, no URLs), finances and project impact
Request exactly £54,400 at 100% funding, entered under 'Other costs', for a six-month project
Upload the Minimal Financial Assistance declaration and the letter of support (PDF, up to two A4 pages)
Record a video pitch of up to three minutes through Pitchtape (mandatory unless a reasonable adjustment is agreed)
Submit by 11am on 2 December 2026
If shortlisted, present to an interview panel on 24-26 February 2027 (invitations 28 January 2027)

Innovate UK asks applicants needing reasonable adjustments to get in touch at least 15 working days before the closing date.

Have ready

Minimal Financial Assistance declaration
Letter of support from a commercial entity in the concrete supply chain
Video pitch of up to three minutes

projects must start on the first of a month by 1 June 2027 and end by 30 November 2027.

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