About the funding call

The Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials is offering grant funding for research, development, and innovation sprint projects.

Universities, research and technology organisations and companies can apply for funding of total project costs between £50,000 and £130,000 for exploring innovative ideas with a focus on technology translation. A maximum of 3 organisations may collaborate on each project. These awards are not offered to support fundamental research projects.  

The application deadline is 17:00 Monday 12 May 2025.   

Projects are expected to start by Wednesday 1 October 2025 and Royce-funded project expenditure must be completed by  Saturday 28 February 2026.   

Further details can be found in the  guidance document and FAQs. 

The Royce Research and Business Engagement team is available to discuss potential project ideas, particularly from businesses unfamiliar with expertise and capabilities across Royce. Please contact them via grants@royce.ac.uk   

ELIGIBILITY

Your project team is expected to:

• Include at least one business and at least one university or RTO
• Able to start from Wednesday 1 October 2025 at the latest
• Complete all Royce-funded activity by Saturday 28 February 2026
• Carry out its project work in the UK
• Intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
• Incur all Royce funded costs within the project’s duration
• Be a new project or activity that has not already started

To collaborate or lead, you must be one of the following:

• Higher Educational Institutes and Universities (HEIs)
• Research and Technology Organisation (RTO)
• Charity or not for profit organisation
• Business of any size

UK-registered companies may participate and claim funding.  International companies are eligible for participation but cannot claim funding.

How To Apply

PRE-APPLICATION DISCUSSION

Applicants are encouraged to start exploratory discussions on proposed projects, identifying collaborators, specifying the scope of a proposed project and identifying resources required for delivery.

We would also advise applicants who are interested in using Royce facilities as part of their project to contact the Research and Business Engagement Team to check costs and availability grants@royce.ac.uk.

SUBMITTING YOUR APPLICATION

You must apply using the online application form and we recommend you start your application early. Before completing this application form, please ensure you have had confirmation from your institution of the project costings. If a project partner does not wish to claim grant funding or wishes to provide in-kind or cash contribution towards the total project costs, it should outline this on a company letterhead document signed by a senior company official. These additional in-kind or cash costs do not count towards the total £130,000 project costs limit and will be required to be included in the contractual collaboration agreement, which must be signed between project partners. There must be at least one HEI/RTO and one industry partner collaborating to be eligible for funding.

Consortia that are awarded funding must agree to have a collaboration agreement in place prior to the project commencing.  Although these need to be agreed between the project partners, our expectation is that each party will own IP developed within its respective work packages. Deviation from this clause may result in delay or withdrawal of your grant. No project funds will be released until a collaboration agreement is in place.

DEADLINE

Royce must receive applications by  Monday 12 May 2025  at 17:00. You will not be able to apply after this time.

HOW WE WILL ASSESS YOUR APPLICATION

Your application will be confidentially shared with, and scored by an independent panel made up of experts in the field from industry and academia, and moderated by an internal Royce panel.

Any applications deemed out of scope will be rejected.  Royce will provide all applicants with feedback.

Funding Models

Funding Model for companies

Companies can claim a grant equal to a percentage of their total project costs. The percentage can be found according to the following table:

Fundamental research projects are ineligible for funding.

At its discretion, Royce will determine and change the classification of the research project if it finds them unsuitable.

Funding Model for universities, RTOs and non-profits

Academic, non-profit, and research and technology organisations undertaking non-economic activity can obtain a grant equal to:

• 80% of their project costs if using Full Economic Costs (FEC) or
• 100% of project costs for RTO, charity and not-for-profit organisations conducting non-economic activities

Eligibility

Your project team is expected to:

• Include at least one business and at least one university or RTO
• Able to start from Wednesday 1 October 2025 at the latest
• Complete all Royce-funded activity by Saturday 28 February 2026
• Carry out its project work in the UK
• Intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
• Incur all Royce funded costs within the project’s duration
• Be a new project or activity that has not already started

To collaborate or lead, you must be one of the following:

• Higher Educational Institutes and Universities (HEIs)
• Research and Technology Organisation (RTO)
• Charity or not for profit organisation
• Business of any size

UK-registered companies may participate and claim funding.  International companies are eligible for participation but cannot claim funding. 

GET IN TOUCH ABOUT ICP

Please contact the Royce Research and Business Engagement Team via grants@royce.ac.uk

TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR FUNDING

This competition provides funding in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Further information about the Subsidy requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022  

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 always make sure that the funding awarded to you is compliant with all current Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom.   

Royce is unable to fund high risk organisations and applications will be subject to financial and due diligence checks.  

Industry partners are required to submit an independent accountant’s report for claims over £50,000. Any claims under £50,000 require a signed Director’s statement of expenditure.   

Further information about the grant award process is available in the claims guidance document and case studies of previous projects can be found on our impact pages.