Manufacturing Scale-up Research and Innovation: Automotive and Aerospace

Open UKRI funding opportunity · Grant. Closes 2026-12-09. Total fund £17.6 million. Opportunity page: https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/manufacturing-scale-up-research-and-innovation-automotive-and-aerospace/

Apply for funding to address manufacturing scale-up challenges for new technologies and processes, accelerating innovation and driving UK business growth in the automotive and aerospace sectors.

You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding.

The full economic cost (FEC) of your project for large grants can be between £4.5 million and £5.8 million up to four years duration, small grants up to £600,000 up to two years duration. UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC.

To apply your research organisation must complete the Intent to submit survey by 11 November 2026 – see What we are looking for section.

What we're looking for Aim

This funding opportunity is part of the UKRI IS8+ Priority Programme for Advanced Manufacturing.

The aim of this funding opportunity is to support research projects that will convert world-class research into repeatable, cost-effective and flexible manufacturing capabilities, delivering tangible impact for UK industry, accelerating innovation and enabling business growth.

For companies to scale and grow they must produce and incorporate new technologies and processes at scale and pace. Projects supported through this funding opportunity will research how to overcome technical challenges and barriers to enable UK businesses to scale up and implement the manufacture of new technologies and embed new processes that will enable UK industry ‘to win’ in internationally ambitious markets.

It is not the aim of this funding opportunity to develop new technologies or products; it is to scale up the production of recently developed new technologies or processes.

Successful scaling requires an integrated approach spanning materials, processes, systems and manufacturing. Success depends on…