The UK advanced materials community will receive £4.4 million for projects exploring innovative ideas around materials, with a focus on technology translation. These UK-based projects will be supported by the Henry Royce Institute (Royce) through its well-established Industrial Collaboration Programme (ICP).
Funding is being allocated across 49 successful sprint projects following the third Royce ICP funding call. The investment will be used to address key priority areas for the UK from meeting our net zero commitments, to living healthier, longer lives. It will stimulate ambitious materials research projects between research and technology organisations, universities, and industry.
Projects were selected across the scope areas of:
- Hydrogen; Biomaterials
- Bioprinting and Bioelectronics
- Low-Loss Electronics
- Materials 4.0
- Foundation Industries
Final funding was distributed across the priority areas as set out below – primarily determined by the quality and volume of submissions across the 5 themes.
Applications were reviewed by independent expert panels with research and industry representation. The panels were asked to rank applications against key criteria including the alignment of the proposed innovation to advances in materials, the potential for significant impact and UK benefit, as well as value for money and additionally – where the collaboration is adding value to an existing development.
Round 3 of the ICP funding call is the first to invite non-Royce University Partners, as well as businesses and RTOs, to lead the projects themselves. Fifteen of the successful projects will be led by partners from industry, with a further eleven being led by HEIs and RTOs independent of the Royce Partnership. The remaining twenty-three projects will be led by collaborators from within the Royce Partnership.
Professor David Knowles, CEO of the Henry Royce Institute said:
“There is a real breadth of innovation and collaboration being supported by the Royce Industrial Collaboration Programme. We’re delighted to support these 49 diverse materials science projects, which will bring together stakeholders from across an ever broadening materials innovation landscape to undertake joint RD&I activities, accelerating translation by leveraging access to Royce’s national capabilities.
This underscores our ambition to stimulate important materials-related research and technology developments which have real potential to deliver substantial impact in UK science and in society”
Case studies from previous Industrial Collaboration Programme projects can be found here.
The Royce Industrial Collaboration Programme is supported via long-term funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research & Innovation.
For press enquiries contact Judith.holcroft@manchester.ac.uk
