Game-changing ideas for civil aerospace: apply for funding
Organisations can get a grant to work on collaborative innovation projects that will benefit the UK aerospace industry.
We are looking for projects that lead to game-changing civil aerospace technologies.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, working through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) and Innovate UK, has a total of £8 million to develop world-leading civil aerospace technologies.
Organisations can now submit their interest in 2 competitions. These are for:
- fast-track collaborative research and development projects
- longer collaborative research and development projects
A further competition for feasibility studies will be run in 2019. The £8 million will be shared across the 3 competitions.
All projects must be in line with the UK aerospace technology strategy, Raising Ambition. This strategy is supported by an annual investment of £150 million by the UK government in research and technology development.
Fast-track collaborative research and development
Exploit technology within 3 to 5 years
The first competition is for fast-track R&D projects that could be exploited within 3 to 5 years.
Projects could look at:
- sensing for harsh environments and integrated vehicle health monitoring
- coping with extreme conditions
- creating secure, smart, connected and efficient sub-systems
- technologies to improve factory efficiency
Fast-track competition information
- the competition opens on 24 September 2018, and the deadline for expressions of interest is midday on 5 December 2018
- projects that meet the quality threshold will be invited to make a full funding application
- an SME can lead a project, working with other businesses or research organisations
- we expect projects to range in size from £425,000 to £1 million and to last between 1 and 2 years
- businesses could attract up to 50% of their project costs
- you will need to sign up to the ATI framework agreement to be eligible to apply
- you can register for a briefing event in London on 2 October 2018 to find out more about the competition and how to make a successful application
Collaborative research and development
Longer-term returns
The second competition is for longer-term collaborations, the results of which could be exploited in 5 years or more.
Themes include:
- how to enable single crew operations
- machines and electronics that allow for more electric aircraft
- supporting the next generation of materials and processes
- preliminary design and trade tools for future aircraft and systems
Competition information
- the competition opens on 24 September 2018, and the deadline for expressions of interest is midday on 5 December 2018
- projects that meet the quality threshold will be invited to make a full funding application
- a business must lead the project, working with other businesses or research organisations
- we expect projects to range in size from £425,000 to £1.5 million and to last up to 3 years
- businesses could attract up to 50% of their project costs
- you will need to sign up to the ATI framework agreement to be eligible to apply
- you can register for a briefing event in London on 2 October 2018 to find out more about the competition and how to make a successful application
Updates to this page
Published 20 September 2018Last updated 28 September 2018 + show all updates
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Updated information to outline that the total funding will be shared across 3 competitions: the 2 expression of interest competitions that are now open for applications, and a third competition for feasibility study projects, which will open in the new year.
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Clarified that this funding opportunity relates to 3 competitions with a total of £8 million. There is £2 million for collaborative research and development and £2 million for the fast-track collaborative R&D competitions that are now open for expressions of interest. A further £4 million will be on offer for feasibility studies projects in a separate competition to be run in 2019.
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First published.