The Henry Royce Institute welcomes £12.8 million of funding announced by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to strengthen connections across the UK’s materials ecosystem and support collaborative research between universities and businesses.
The investment marks a further step towards delivering the ambitions of the National Materials Innovation Strategy, initially led by Royce on behalf of the UK materials community. Developed with input from more than 2,000 experts across industry, academia and government, the strategy sets out how the UK can translate its strengths in materials research into industrial capability, economic growth and societal benefit.
The awards form part of the National Materials Innovation Programme (NMIP), which builds on the strategy and is delivered by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, Innovate UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
Turning shared priorities into collaborative action
A central ambition of the strategy is to strengthen connections across disciplines, sectors and organisations, helping promising materials innovations progress from discovery to deployment. These awards support that ambition through investment in both national networks and research partnerships shaped by industrial needs.
EPSRC will fund four Network Pluses, connecting communities working in energy, healthcare, surface technologies and next-generation electronics, telecommunications and sensors. A further nine Materials Innovation Partnerships will support research co-designed and delivered by academic and business partners, with participating businesses contributing more than £11 million in additional cash and in-kind support.
Together, these investments will help researchers and businesses build the relationships needed to address shared challenges and develop routes towards practical applications.
Building on the materials community’s contribution
The announcement demonstrates the value of bringing the materials community together around a shared national strategy. The consultation that informed the strategy identified opportunities where materials innovation could make a significant contribution to the UK’s future, alongside the need for stronger coordination to realise that potential.
The new networks and partnerships provide a means of taking those priorities forward: connecting expertise, embedding industrial challenges in research programmes and supporting collaboration across organisational boundaries.
Read the UKRI announcement and explore the funded networks and partnerships
