National Materials Innovation Programme: Feasibility studies Rd 2

Funding competition

UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £2 million for feasibility studies. These studies aim to speed the translation of advanced materials innovations in three prioritised high growth themes and one strategic opportunity theme.

• Competition opens: Monday 4 May 2026
• Competition closes: Wednesday 24 June 2026 11:00am

This competition is now closed.

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Competition sections

• Summary
• Eligibility
• Scope
• Dates
• How to apply
• Supporting information

Description

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will invest up to £2 million into materials innovation projects. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received.

This funding is part of the National Materials Innovation Programme, which was announced as part of the Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan in the UK's Modern Industrial Strategy. This competition is the second round of feasibility studies under the programme. It is designed to prime the materials community, support collaboration and accelerate the translation of new material innovations across the thematic areas.

The aim of this competition is to speed the translation of advanced materials innovations toward industrial adoption in three prioritised high growth themes and one strategic opportunity theme.

What do we mean when we ask for materials innovation projects? Materials innovation is central to the growth of every industry in the UK and therefore can have a substantial positive impact on the eight high growth sectors (IS-8) identified in the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy.

Materials innovation in the context of this competition are activities directed towards:

• improving functionality of existing materials for example, polymers, metals, ceramics, composites
• developing and deploying completely new materials, for example, emergent advanced materials
• deploying existing materials in a novel or innovative way to address a major technical barrier

This leads to materials which overcome a technical hurdle and function in an enhanced way. This may be evidenced through improved performance or efficiency, bolstering security and competitiveness of UK industry or environmental benefits, for example, sustainability or resource efficiency, as outcomes.

Your project must:

• be primarily focused upon the applied materials science, materials development or novel materials deployment challenge
• demonstrate the expected improvement in performance, efficiency, competitiveness or environmental benefits
• clearly align with one of the themes and sub-themes in the scope section
• demonstrate an end use application and support from one of the IS-8 high growth sectors identified in the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy

It is your responsibility to ensure you submit your application to the correct theme and sub-theme for your project.

In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly but we are still unable to fund it.

Our experience from similar competitions suggests that you could have 20% chance of success.

We consider a range of factors when determining whether to provide funding to applicants. This includes an assessment of prior conduct, such as any outstanding payments owed to Innovate UK or UKRI. Such factors may influence the funding decision, potentially resulting in a refusal of funding or an award subject to additional scrutiny.

We also reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions. This may be in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations or broader government funding decisions.

This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief. We cannot guarantee other government or third party sites will always show the correct competition information.

Funding type

Grant

Project size

Your project’s total eligible grant funding request must be between £50,000 and £100,000.

Accessibility and Inclusion

We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us.

You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance.

We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline.

You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

Who can apply

Text update 17 June 2026: minimum project duration added to match application limits.

Your project Your project must:

• have a grant funding request of between £50,000 and £100,000
• last between 6 and 9 months
• start by 1 November 2026
• end by 31 July 2027
• provide a letter of support for the project from an end user working within one of the eight growth driving sectors identified in the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy (IS-8)

Any funded organisation needs to carry out their project work in the UK and must intend to exploit the project results from or in the UK.

Projects must always start on the first of the month, even if this is a non-working day. You must not start your project until your Grant Offer Letter has been approved by Innovate UK. Any delays within Project Setup may mean we need to delay your project start date.

You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs.

Lead organisation To work alone or lead a collaborative project your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.

Academic institutions, research and technology organisations (RTO), charities, not for profit or public sector organisations cannot lead a project or work alone.

More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.

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)

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 IFS. They are responsible for entering their own project costs and completing their Project Impact questions 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
• include rationale for the collaboration and describe the structure in your application
• ensure any one partner does not account for more than 70% of the total eligible costs

Non-funded partners Your project can include organisations who do not claim any funding for their work on the project. Their costs will be covered from their own resources. These can include UK, EU and other non-UK organisations. Non-UK partners are permitted to carry out project work from within their home countries and exploit the results outside the UK.

Where non-funded partners have been invited to the application on IFS, their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs.

Subcontractors Subcontractors are allowed in this competition and are limited to no more than 30% of the project’s total eligible costs.

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 subcontractors 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 eligible project costs.

Number of applications A business can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in two further applications.

If a business is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications.

An academic institution, charity, not for profit, public sector organisation or RTO can collaborate on any number of applications.

Sanctions This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions. For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups.

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.

Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation.

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.

Previous applications

You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.

If you have previously submitted an application that reached our assessment stage, you can re-apply once more with the same proposal.

If there are minor differences to the proposal, but it is judged by us to be ‘not materially different’, the same rule applies.

We will not award you funding if you have:

• failed to exploit a previously funded project
• an overdue independent accountant’s report
• failed to comply with grant terms and conditions

Innovate UK may withhold a grant payment at any time if you have any outstanding sums due to us in relation to other projects.

Subsidy control (and State aid where applicable)

This competition provides funding to enterprises using the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme.

The Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Scheme can be viewed on the subsidy database here: SC10780.

This is in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Further information about the Subsidy requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk).

Innovate UK is unable to award organisations that are considered to be in financial difficulty. We will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage.

EU State aid rules now only apply in limited circumstances. See the Windsor Framework to check if these rules apply to your organisation.

In the ‘Project details’ section of your application you will be asked questions to indicate if State Aid or Subsidy applies to your organisation.

Further Information If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 or the State aid rules, you should take independent legal advice. We are unable to advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations.

You must not do anything which could cause a breach of Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom.

This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to or distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries.

This award is classified as a Subsidy which does not form part of your Minimal Financial Assistance or de minimis allowance.

Funding

Up to £2 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

We reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions under exceptional circumstances, for example, in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations, or broader government funding decisions.

If your organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically but for the purpose of this project will be undertaking commercial or economic activity.

For feasibility studies in the RD&I scheme you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:

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

For more information on company sizes, refer to the company accounts guidance.

If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.

Innovate UK may revoke our decision to provide funding without notice if government commitment for this initiative is withdrawn.

Research participation 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:

• 100% of your eligible project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not for profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation
• 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are a Je-S registered institution such as an academic

Eligibility criteria for claiming 80% of FEC funding

• Research organisations must use the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) method as the Je-S form has now been decommissioned.
• We pay 100% of the 80% Full Economic Cost (FEC). On IFS only enter the 80% being claimed.

To find out more see our: Cost Guidance for Academics.

Your proposal

The aim of this competition is to speed the translation of advanced materials innovations toward industrial adoption in three prioritised high growth themes and one strategic opportunity theme.

Your project must focus on one of the three prioritised high growth opportunity theme areas derived from the National Materials Innovation Strategy or the strategic opportunity theme area; metamaterials and metasurfaces. See the specific theme section to view the full list of these themes.

We recognise that the metamaterials and metasurfaces strategic opportunity theme overlaps with some areas of the three prioritised high growth opportunity themes. As guidance, if your material innovation is fundamentally based upon a metamaterial or metasurface technology then you should apply under Theme 4: Metamaterials and Metasurfaces.

In your application you must demonstrate how the project helps enable your materials innovation to translate more rapidly to industrial adoption.

You must:

• identify the specific sector and applications being targeted
• clearly describe the opportunity for the technology to be applied
• describe any future barriers and challenges you foresee to adoption

You must also demonstrate how adoption of your materials innovation contributes to broader UK net zero targets. This could be through sustainable supply chains and feedstocks, reduction in energy consumption, emissions reduction and resource efficiency.

In your application you must upload a signed letter of support from an end user. The end user must be operating within one of the eight growth driving sectors identified in the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy (IS-8) sectors.

The letter of support must:

• be on the headed paper of the supporting organisation
• be addressed to the applicant
• make reference to the specific project application title
• identify which of the IS-8 sectors the supporting organisation operates within
• include the signature and title (position and role) of the person providing the letter of support

The letter of support must explain, from the perspective of the supporting organisation, the potential applications and potential benefits of your material innovation. It must also outline any future barriers and challenges they foresee to adoption in the IS-8 sector they are working within. This may include factors such as functionality, technical performance or sustainability.

For the letter of support we will not accept:

• copies of emails or other e-communication tools, for example, Teams chat, between the applicant and a third party, even if these refer to the project application
• letters or other documents between the applicant and a third party that do not directly refer to the project application, for example, purchase orders, invoices
• other forms of agreement between the applicant and a third party, for example, Heads of Agreement, Memorandum of Understanding, Joint Development Agreement, Letters of Intent, supply agreements, commercial contracts, formal partnership agreements

Portfolio approach We want to fund a variety of projects across different themes, technologies, markets, applications of materials, technological maturities, business size and regions. We call this a portfolio approach.

Specific themes

Your project must focus on one of the following:

High growth opportunity themes

Theme 1. Future healthcare solutions We are seeking material innovation projects for:

• biocompatible materials: this includes the development, characterisation and validation of biocompatible materials with application specific properties for targeted therapies (medical use)
• bioelectronic materials: this includes the development, characterisation and validation for medical use of bioelectronic material solutions that enable systems to directly interface with biological systems (in-vivo or in-vitro) to help prevent, diagnose, monitor and treat disease and to support patient rehabilitation

Theme 2. Sustainable structural systems We are seeking material innovation projects for:

• circularity: this includes circularity in high value structural materials such as speciality grade steels and other performance metals, high performance metallic alloys and fibre reinforced polymer composites
• surface engineering: this includes materials innovations that enable improved performance of surface protection materials and tribological solutions to extend technology, asset or infrastructure lifetime, and control surface or bulk degradation of structural materials in real world conditions
• design and deployment: this includes innovations to improve the predictability, design and deployment of high performance structural materials, enabling enhanced resistance to surface or bulk degradation
• extreme environments: this includes the development and refinement of high performance structural material systems and functional materials for specific extreme and multi-extreme conditions such as thermal and radiation extremes

Theme 3. Power electronics and connectivity We are seeking material innovation projects for:

• wide and ultra-wide bandgap materials: this includes the development and integration of wide and ultra-wide bandgap materials to enable higher temperature and voltage operation over current generation materials
• advanced connectivity: this includes the development of materials innovations for advanced connectivity and communication systems enabling high efficiency (energy, capacity, coverage and spectrum use) in communication systems including 5G, 6G, optical, RF, IR and RADAR

Strategic opportunity theme

Theme 4. Metamaterials and metasurfaces We are seeking material innovation projects enabling commercialisation, growth and dual use outcomes of metamaterials and metasurfaces.

Proposals in any of these sub-themes should address relevant aspects of the value chain. This could include, for example, demonstrating technology concepts for application and market opportunity, addressing technical barriers or enablers in relevant manufacturing or design and metrology tools and methods to enable efficient adoption.

• future telecommunications and advanced connectivity: this includes the scaling, commercialisation and application of reconfigurable, intelligent metamaterial and metasurface solutions and related devices and coatings
• convergent electronic-photonic technologies: this includes innovations in metamaterials and metasurfaces to enable integration with semiconductors and photonics
• thermal or mechanical metamaterials: this includes thermal or mechanical metamaterials (large or small length scales) to enable applications in, for example, robotics and autonomous systems
• energy security and net zero: this includes metamaterials or metasurfaces enabling advances in renewable energy sources and energy storage
• healthcare: this includes metamaterials or metasurfaces enabling advances in healthcare such as biosensors, biomonitoring, imaging, diagnostics, biomedical devices, stimuli responsive systems, advanced prosthetics or acoustic management in clinical settings

For the purposes of the strategic opportunity theme, your project must demonstrate that it meets the definition of a metamaterial or metasurface as developed by the metamaterials community and the UKRI UK Metamaterials Network:

• a metamaterial is a 3D structure with a response or function due to the collective effect of meta-atom elements that is not possible to achieve conventionally with any individual constituent material
• a metasurface is a 2D version of a metamaterial where the structural elements are confined to a 2D plane

Note: The response or function of a metamaterial results from the ensemble effects of designed and engineered meta-atom elements. These can take many forms, for example:

• the response or function may be electromagnetic; photonic, RF and microwave, terahertz (THz)
• acoustic; audio, ultrasonic, vibrational
• magnetic, mechanical or structural, thermal, or chemical

Research categories

We will fund feasibility projects as defined in the guidance on categories of research.

Projects we will not fund

We are not funding projects that:

• are not described by any of the themes and sub-themes listed in the scope section
• are focused on chemical or raw materials synthesis, rather than adoption of materials innovations in an end application
• are focused on the development of digital tools and technologies to support or enable materials innovation, for example, Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML)
• are focused solely on the defence sector, but we will recognise dual use material innovations providing the primary focus is on civil applications
• do not demonstrate a clear and realistic sector and application opportunity for later adoption
• do not provide a letter of support as described in the eligibility and scope sections

We cannot fund projects that are:

• dependent on export performance: giving a subsidy to an organisation on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of its products to another country
• dependent on domestic inputs usage: giving a subsidy to an organisation on the condition that it uses a set percentage of UK components in their product

Timeline

• 4 May 2026 – Competition opens
• 7 May 2026 – Briefing event: watch the recording; Briefing slides are available to download from Supporting Information.
• 13 May 2026 – Drop in session with IUK Business Connect at 1pm - 2pm: register to attend
• 2 June 2026 – Drop in session with IUK Business Connect at 1pm - 2pm: register to attend
• 24 June 2026 11:00am – Competition closes
• 29 July 2026 1:19pm – Applicants notified