The Henry Royce Institute (Royce) is pleased to announce that Round 7 of its Industrial Collaboration Programme (ICP7) will open for applications on 1 December 2026.
The Royce Industrial Collaboration Programme (ICP) provides targeted support for short, focused projects that enable UK businesses to work collaboratively with the national materials research community. It is designed to foster partnerships between academia and industry; de-risking innovation, enabling the translation of cutting-edge materials research into real-world impact, and ensuring that UK industry can access world-leading expertise and facilities.
Royce will award up to £2 million under this round of its Industrial Collaboration Programme. The total costs for each project will be between £50,000 and £130,000.
ICP6 Scope Areas
Energy Solutions: Rising to the net zero challenge
- Materials for battery energy storage
- Materials for large-scale electrochemical energy generation and conversion (including hydrogen)
- Materials for hydrogen transport, storage and use
- Materials for heat exchange, heat storage and waste heat recovery
- Materials for energy harvesting
- Materials for advanced nuclear fuels and nuclear test capability
Advanced Surface Technologies and Materials Durability: Enhancing product safety, performance and lifetime
- Materials and modelling for surface engineering and tribology
- Surface treatments and materials for demanding environments
Consumer Products, Packaging and Specialist Polymers: Paving the way for a greener tomorrow
- Materials for sustainable packaging
- Speciality polymers: sustainable elastomers
Applicants are advised to consult Appendix 2 of Royce’s National Materials Innovation Strategy for further detail on these scope areas.
*Please note that the scope areas Structural Innovations, Future Healthcare, and Next-generation electronics, telecommunications and sensors are not included in the ICP7 funding round. These scope areas will be included in the ICP8 round, which will be announced in 2027.
Cross-Cutting Themes
We encourage proposals focused on Metamaterials or Metasurfaces, as well as projects within the scope areas that incorporate one or more of the following cross-cutting themes:
- Sustainability and sustainable by design principles into materials innovations
- Design, production, use, and end-of-life considerations – including the foundation industries
- Innovations in materials use and recycling to address the scarcity of critical minerals and reduce dependence on limited resources
- Materials 4.0 which embraces the digital revolution in materials discovery and scale-up
Briefing Webinar
Find out more about ICP and the scope areas covered in this seventh round during our briefing webinar on 2 December at 12pm. You can access the webinar details here.
Timeline
Full guidance and application documents will be available on the Royce website from the launch date.
Read about past ICP projects here: https://www.royce.ac.uk/research/impact/
