Innovate UK

Battery Innovation: Concept Development Rd 3

Innovate UK grants, from the Battery Innovation Programme run for the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, for business-led collaborative industrial research on battery cell, module and pack manufacturing and battery management systems. Projects must help scale UK cell manufacturing, develop module and pack manufacturing or strengthen supply chain resilience. A UK registered business must lead, with at least one SME claiming funding, and each project asks for a grant of £500,000 to £4 million over 12 to 36 months. Shortlisted consortia present at interview, and Innovate UK estimates a 25% chance of success.

Apply on the funder’s site

You could get: £500,000 – £4,000,000
Deadline: 45 days left; 2 December
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
Academic institutions cannot lead
Collaborators can be UK registered businesses, academic institutions, charities, not-for-profits, public sector organisations or research and technology organisations; charities join only as partners invited by the business lead and can claim 100% of their eligible costs within the research organisation share
Projects must be collaborative: the lead and at least one other organisation must claim 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
A business can lead one application and collaborate on any number; other organisation types can collaborate on any number
Funded organisations must do the work in the UK, exploit the results in the UK and spend most of the funding in the UK
Subcontractors are allowed; overseas ones need a detailed justification (lower cost is not enough)
Businesses must fund the balance of their costs themselves

What it funds

Industrial research projects in one or more of these groups:

Cell manufacturing: for example scale-up from laboratory to gigafactory, in-line diagnostics and digital twins, electrode fabrication, cell assembly and formation, new cell chemistries and formats, and AI to speed cell development
Module manufacturing: for example cell-to-module interconnects, busbar configurations such as automated laser welding, thermal interface material application, and end-of-line electrical testing
Pack manufacturing and battery management systems (BMS): for example pack design and fast assembly, safety systems, state of health or charge algorithms, thermal management, simulation and digital twins, and circularity-ready design
Funding rates for businesses: up to 70% of eligible costs for micro or small, 60% for medium and 50% for large organisations
Research organisations doing non-economic work: together up to 30% of total eligible project costs, funded at 100% for RTOs, charities, not-for-profits, public sector and research organisations, and 80% of FEC for academic institutions

projects can target automotive (including off-highway, motorsport and niche), aerospace, battery energy storage, rail, maritime, or defence where the innovation is dual use. Your project must state which group it aligns with.

What it will not fund

Projects not aligned with the Industrial Strategy
Personal mobility and consumer electronics
Early stage discovery research
Projects primarily focused on battery second life use
Projects focused on material extraction and refining
Projects dependent on export performance
Projects dependent on using domestic inputs
Organisations in financial difficulty, or that have failed to exploit a previous project, have an overdue independent accountant's report or have failed to comply with grant terms

How to apply

Read the competition brief and the guidance on applying through the Innovation Funding Service; a recorded online briefing was held on 16 September 2026
The lead business starts the application on the Innovation Funding Service and invites each partner, who enters their own project costs and accepts the terms and conditions
Complete the project details (summary, public description, scope stating group 1, 2 or 3), the 21 application questions and the finances
Download, complete and upload the BIST value for money assessment workbook and answer questions 17 to 21
The lead submits by 11am on 2 December 2026 (you can reopen and resubmit up to the deadline)
If shortlisted (invitations 13 January 2027), send your attendee list, presentation slides and an optional written response to assessor feedback, then attend an interview between 3 and 8 February 2027: a presentation of up to 20 minutes followed by 45 minutes of questions
BIST value for money appraisers may hold a one-hour call with the person who completed the workbook

if your grant request or duration falls outside the limits, email support@iuk.ukri.org with a justification at least 10 working days before closing. Do not include web links in answers. Applications in the wrong strand cannot be transferred.

Have ready

Online application on the Innovation Funding Service, with each partner's finances; academic partners upload TRAC costings
Project plan or Gantt chart (PDF, up to two A4 pages)
Risk register (PDF, up to two A4 pages)
BIST value for money assessment workbook
Evidence appendix for the added value question, such as board minutes or papers showing internal budget decisions (PDF, up to two A4 pages)
Optional appendices: diagrams for the approach question and a summary of the main people for the team question (PDF, up to two A4 pages each)
If interviewed: up to 20 PowerPoint slides and a list of up to five attendees

the brief tells you to upload the workbook to question 16, which is the equality, diversity and inclusion question; question 17 is the value for money one, so check in the service.

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