Manufacturing Scale-up Network Plus

Open UKRI funding opportunity · Grant. Closes 2026-12-09. Total fund £5.63 million. Opportunity page: https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/manufacturing-scale-up-network-plus/

This is a funding opportunity to build a Network Plus to accelerate the scale-up of manufacturing innovation, driving growth across aerospace, automotive and wider UK advanced manufacturing frontier industries.

You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UKRI funding.

Projects can run for up to 60 months, including a 12-month scoping phase to map capabilities, benchmark activity, horizon-scan and convene a conference or showcase, followed by a 48-month network phase.

The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £5.63 million. UKRI will fund £4.5 million (80% of the FEC).

You must complete an Intent to Submit to be eligible to apply.

What we're looking for Network Plus

A Network Plus is a strategic investment which brings together and coordinates research communities and identifies, prioritises and develops future research challenges. A detailed description and other important information regarding the Network Plus funding mechanism can be found in the ‘Additional information’ section.

Aim

This funding opportunity is delivered as part of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) IS8+ Priority Programme for Advanced Manufacturing and aims to fund one Network Plus to build collaboration, coordination and knowledge exchange across research, innovation and stakeholder communities to:

- accelerate the scale-up of UK manufacturing innovation across the advanced manufacturing frontier industries, with a primary focus on automotive and aerospace

- enable cross learning and wider impact in frontier industries including batteries, space and advanced materials

- strengthen the UK’s manufacturing scale-up ecosystem and improve links between discovery research, technology development, industrial adoption and investment, enabling businesses to adopt, commercialise and…