Innovate UK and EPSRC to Invest £6 Million in Collaborative R&D Projects
Innovate UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) will invest up to £6 million in collaborative research and development (R&D) projects to encourage the development of smart products that use a combination of functional, hybrid and multiple materials. Whilst projects must be collaborative and led by a business, EPSRC will support university groups that can provide fundamental research components to these projects or contribute to work packages that contain a significant, high-quality academic research component and demonstrate added value by building on (or complementing) EPSRC's existing research programmes and portfolios.
Innovate UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) will invest up to £6 million in collaborative research and development (R&D) projects to encourage the development of smart products that use a combination of functional, hybrid and multiple materials.
The organisations are looking to fund projects that bring together material suppliers with processing specialists and end-users to focus on the challenges of manufacturing and exploiting existing materials.
Projects must be collaborative and led by a business. Innovate UK and the EPSRC expect to fund mainly industrial research projects in which a business partner will generally attract up to 50% public funding for their project costs (60% for SMEs), with elements of research carried out by academic partners.
Projects should last between 1 and 3 years and range in size from total costs of £500,000 to £1 million, although we may consider projects outside this range.
Notes for editors
This is a two-stage competition that opens for applicants on 16 March 2015:
- Stage 1 – each applicant submits an expression of interest which is assessed.
- Stage 2 – we invite selected applicants to submit an application.
The registration deadline is noon on 29 April 2015. The deadline for expressions of interest is noon on 6 May 2015. The second stage deadline for invited applications is noon on 25 June 2015.
Applications are assessed on individual merit by an independent panel of experts.
Details of consortia-building events can be found at http://bit.ly/1GJ2ckI
There will be a briefing for potential applicants in London on 25 March 2015 to highlight the main features of the competition and to explain the application process. Applicants are strongly recommended to attend this event.
Please register for the event at http://connect.innovateuk.org/events