GrantRadar

Innovate UK

Battery Innovation: Feasibility Studies Rd 3

Innovate UK grants, from the Battery Innovation Programme run for the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, for business-led collaborative feasibility studies across the battery value chain, from material extraction and processing to cell production, module and pack integration, and recycling. Studies should trial very novel battery technologies, or adapt existing materials, processes or equipment, for the first time. A UK registered business must lead, with at least one SME claiming funding, and each project asks for a grant of £70,000 to £500,000 over 6 to 18 months. Innovate UK estimates a 25% chance of success.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
£70,000 – £500,000
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

Feasibility studies in one or more of these groups:

  • Material extraction: for example sustainable extraction, higher yield or purity, novel sources of critical minerals and responsible sourcing technologies
  • Material processing: for example cathode, anode, electrolyte or separator materials and scale-up of active materials for next-generation chemistries
  • Cell production: for example electrode manufacturing, cell assembly and formation, automation, in-line diagnostics and scale-up to gigafactory level
  • Module and pack integration, diagnostics and use phase: for example pack design, safety systems, BMS algorithms and thermal management
  • Recycling and circular economy: for example dismantling and sorting, critical material recovery and black mass refining, reuse, second life and remanufacturing
  • 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 50% 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

technologies must deliver at least one of lower cost, better performance, better safety, more predictability and reliability, lower environmental impact, or alignment with standards and regulations. 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
  • Electrochemical supercapacitors, hybrid supercapacitors, lead acid and nickel metal hydride batteries
  • Primary (non-rechargeable) batteries
  • Research projects or academic-intensive projects
  • Business as usual R&D
  • Non-collaborative projects
  • Projects with over-reliance on subcontracting
  • Projects mainly seeking funding for capital equipment
  • Projects that do not consider cost, market, environmental impact and business requirements
  • Projects mainly about physical integration of batteries into, for example, vehicles or energy storage systems
  • Projects dependent on export performance or on using domestic inputs

How to apply

  1. Read the competition brief and the guidance on applying through the Innovation Funding Service; a recorded online briefing was held on 16 September 2026
  2. 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
  3. Complete the project details (summary, public description, scope stating group 1 to 5), the 19 application questions and the finances
  4. The lead submits by 11am on 2 December 2026 (you can reopen and resubmit up to the deadline)

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. No interview stage is listed for this strand.

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)
  • 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)

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Battery Innovation: Feasibility Studies Rd 3 — Innovate UK — GrantRadar