Innovate UK has opened the third round of Battery Innovation Feasibility Studies, with up to £25 million available for UK businesses working on the materials and manufacturing behind electrification.
The competition sits inside the Battery Innovation Programme, which runs from 2026 to 2030 and is funded by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade. It backs early-stage collaborative work right across the battery supply chain, from getting critical materials out of the ground through to recovering them again at end of life.
Below, I have explained the key things you need to know about this competition before you apply: who is eligible, how much funding is on the table, and what the application process looks like.
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Who is Eligible?
Your Organisation
To lead a project, you must be a UK registered business of any size. Academic institutions can't lead, but they can take part as collaborators.
Every project has to be collaborative, and at least one of the organisations claiming grant funding must be a UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME).
The following can join your project as collaborators:
- Academic institutions
- Charities
- Not-for-profit organisations
- Public sector organisations
- Research and technology organisations (RTOs)
- UK registered businesses of any size
No single organisation can claim more than 70% of the total project costs. You can lead one application and take part in as many others as you like as a collaborator. Partners who fund their own costs can join too, and those partners can be based outside the UK.
Your Project
Your project must:
- Claim a total grant of between £70,000 and £500,000
- Last between 6 and 18 months
- Start no earlier than 1 May 2027 and end by 31 March 2031
All funded work must be carried out in the UK, and you must intend to exploit the project results from or within the UK.
Your project must also:
- Address at least one target outcome, like reduced cost, improved performance, improved safety, greater reliability, lower environmental impact or closer alignment with standards and regulation
- Focus on at least one of the five technology groups: material extraction, material processing, cell production, module and pack integration, or recycling and circular economy
- Include at least two organisations claiming grant funding
- Target one or more of the priority sectors, like aerospace, automotive, battery energy storage, defence with clear non-defence relevance, maritime or rail
There is no stated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) range, but this is a feasibility competition, so Innovate UK is looking for early-stage work that tests whether an idea holds up rather than projects that are already close to market.
Innovate UK won't fund projects that:
- Are business-as-usual R&D
- Are mainly about fitting batteries into a physical system, like installing a pack into a vehicle
- Are non-collaborative
- Are research-intensive or academic-led
- Are too reliant on subcontracting
- Don't align with the Industrial Strategy
- Don't take account of cost, market, environmental impact or business requirements
- Focus on lead-acid, nickel-metal hydride, supercapacitor or primary (non-rechargeable) battery technologies
- Mainly seek funding for capital equipment
- Target personal mobility or consumer electronics
How Much Funding Can I Apply For?
The amount you can claim depends on your organisation's type and size and the sort of research your project involves.
Individual grants range from £70,000 to £500,000.
Applying as a Company
| Project Type | Micro and Small | Medium | Large |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feasibility Studies* | 70% | 60% | 50% |
*Feasibility studies test whether a new product, process or service is technically and commercially viable before you commit to full development.
Funding Example
If you are a small company with eligible project costs of £400,000, you could claim a grant of £280,000. You will need to fund the remaining £120,000 from other sources, like R&D Tax Relief, investment or loans.
Applying as a Non-Commercial Organisation
Non-economic organisations can share up to 50% of the total eligible project costs and are funded at higher rates:
- Up to 100% of eligible costs if you are a charity, not-for-profit, public sector organisation, research organisation, or RTO
- Up to 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you're a Je-S-registered institution, like a university
How Do I Apply?
The deadline for applications is 2 December 2026.
Applications are submitted via Innovate UK's Innovation Funding Service (IFS) portal.
The application is split into three sections:
Project Details
This section is background and is not scored. You will cover:
- Application details
- Application team
- Project summary
- Public description
- Research category
- Scope
Most answers in this section are limited to 400 words.
Application Questions
There are 19 questions in total:
- Six unscored administrative questions covering topics like animal testing, export licences, international collaboration and dual-use applications
- Thirteen scored questions covering your business need, technical approach, team, market, route to market, impacts, project plan, risks and value for money
You can include appendices (PDFs of up to two A4 pages) for the technical approach, team, project plan, and risk questions.
Finances
Every organisation in the project completes its own project costs, organisation details and funding details, and academic institutions must use the TRAC method.
Your application will be reviewed by five independent assessors. Their individual scores will be combined to determine your final result.
If you're successful, you'll be notified by 12 February 2027.
Like with most competitions, Innovate UK takes a 'portfolio approach' by funding projects across different technologies, markets and technological maturities. This means that a strong score won't necessarily guarantee that your application will be successful.
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