Funding Pre-Announcement: Royce Industrial Collaboration Programme Round 6 to Launch in December 2025

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3 November 2025

The Henry Royce Institute (Royce) is pleased to announce that Round 6 of its Industrial Collaboration Programme (ICP6) will open for applications on 1 December 2025.

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.

ICP6 Scope Areas

Projects supported under ICP6 will align with the key research themes of the National Materials Innovation Strategy, addressing critical challenges and opportunities across the UK’s materials landscape. Applicants are invited to propose collaborative projects within the following 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

Future Healthcare: Delivering beyond biocompatibility for active medical solutions

Biocompatible materials
Materials for bioelectronics

Structural Innovations: Strengthening our infrastructure, built environment and transport

Low-carbon concrete
Composites
Metallics
Ceramics

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

Next-Generation Electronics, Telecommunications & Sensors: Driving the future of high-performance connectivity and computing

Materials for power electronics
Materials for quantum technologies
Materials for connectivity and telecommunications

Consumer Products, Packaging & 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.

Cross-Cutting Themes

Proposals that integrate the following cross-cutting themes are particularly encouraged:

Sustainability and sustainable-by-design principles in materials innovation
Materials 4.0 approaches embracing digital tools for materials discovery, optimisation and scale-up

ICP6 Briefing Webinar

Find out more about ICP and the scope areas covered in this sixth round during our briefing webinar on 3 December at 12pm. You can access the webinar details here.