Innovate UK has launched two new funding competitions as part of the Battery Innovation Programme: Battery Innovation Feasibility Studies Round 2 and Battery Innovation Concept Development Round 2.
Closing on 27 May 2026, these competitions offer grants of up to £4 million to businesses developing state-of-the-art battery technologies for electrification.
Whether you’re exploring an early-stage battery technology or scaling proven materials into pre-commercial manufacturing, there’s a strand suited to your project.
Below, I have explained the key things you need to know about both competitions 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 either project, you must be a UK-registered business of any size. Your consortium must also include at least one UK-registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME). SMEs can apply as a sole applicant or lead a collaborative project, involving multiple organisations.
To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be a UK-registered:
- Academic institution
- Business of any size
- Charity
- Not-for-profit organisation
- Public sector organisation
- Research and technology organisation (RTO)
For a collaboration to be eligible, at least two organisations must claim funding, no single partner can account for more than 70% of the total eligible costs, and the application must include a rationale for the collaboration.
Academic institutions can’t lead an application in either strand.
Your Project — Feasibility Studies Round 2
Your project must:
- Have a grant funding request of between £70,000 and £500,000
- Start on or after 1 October 2026
- End by 31 January 2028
- Last 6 to 18 months
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 of five technology areas: material extraction, material processing, cell production, module and pack integration, or recycling and circular economy
- Demonstrate market demand for your chosen sector and application
- Show how the innovation tackles key industry challenges and enhances UK competitiveness across the battery value chain
- Target at least one sector, like automotive, aerospace, energy storage systems, maritime, rail or defence
Your Project — Concept Development Round 2
Your project must:
- Have a grant funding request of between £500,000 and £4 million
- Not start before 1 October 2026
- End by 28 September 2029
- Last between 12 and 36 months
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 of three technology groups: material extraction, material processing, or recycling and circular economy
- Demonstrate how the innovation enables consistent, high-quality battery-grade materials suitable for large-scale cell manufacturing
- Reduce dependence on overseas processing and strengthen UK supply chain resilience
- Support scale-up from laboratory to pilot and pre-commercial manufacturing within the UK
How Much Funding Can I Apply For? — Feasibility Studies Round 2
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
| Company Size | Micro and Small | Medium | Large |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feasibility Studies* | 70% | 60% | 50% |
*Feasibility Studies are technical and economic investigations to determine whether a concept is viable as a product, process or service.
Funding Example
If you are a micro or small company with total eligible project costs of £500,000, you could claim a grant of £350,000. You will need to fund the remaining £150,000 from other sources, like R&D Tax Relief, investment or loans.
Applying as a Non-Commercial Organisation
Research organisations can share up to 50% of the total eligible project costs in this strand.
Of that 50%, you can claim:
- 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are a Je-S registered academic institution
- 100% of your eligible project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not-for-profit organisation or public sector organisation
How Much Funding Can I Apply For? — Concept Development Round 2
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 £500,000 to £4 million.
| Company Size | Micro and Small | Medium | Large |
|---|---|---|---|
| Industrial Research* | 70% | 60% | 50% |
*Industrial research refers to planned research aimed at acquiring new knowledge for developing new products, processes, or services.
Funding Example
If you are a micro or small company with total eligible project costs of £4 million, you could claim a grant of £2.8 million.
Applying as a Non-Commercial Organisation
Research organisations can share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs in this strand.
Of that 30%, you can claim:
- 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are a Je-S registered academic institution
- 100% of your eligible project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not-for-profit organisation or public sector organisation
How Do I Apply? — Feasibility Studies Round 2
Before starting, you should read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service.
Applications are submitted through the IFS portal, and the lead applicant is responsible for ensuring all sections are complete and all partners have accepted the terms and conditions before the deadline.
The application is split into three sections:
- Project details
- Application questions
- Finances
Application Questions
You will need to spend the bulk of your time answering the questions in the application. There are 19 in total:
- 6 unscored administrative questions covering topics like animal testing, export licences, international collaboration and trusted research
- 13 scored questions covering your business need, technical approach, team, market awareness, commercialisation roadmap, partner outcomes, project management, risks, equality and diversity, added value, costs and value for money, wider impacts, and the impact for the UK battery industry
You can include appendices (PDFs of up to two A4 pages) for the approach, team, project management, and risk questions. You must submit a Gantt chart with your project management answer and a risk register with your risks answer.
Finances
Each organisation in the project must complete their own costs and funding details, and academic institutions must submit their finances through Je-S.
If You Succeed
If you’re successful, you’ll be notified by 30 July 2026.
How Do I Apply? — Concept Development Round 2
The application structure for Concept Development Round 2 follows the same format, with three sections covering project details, application questions, and finances.
Application Questions
- 6 unscored administrative questions covering topics like animal testing, export licences, international collaboration and trusted research
- 15 scored questions covering your business need, technical approach, team, market awareness, commercialisation roadmap, partner outcomes, project management, risks, equality and diversity, added value, costs and value for money, wider impacts, and the impact for the UK battery industry
As with the other strand, you can include appendices (PDFs of up to two A4 pages) for the approach, team, project management, and risk questions.
Finances
Each organisation in the project must complete their own costs and funding details, and academic institutions must submit their finances through Je-S.
If You Succeed
If you’re successful, you may be invited to attend an interview, where you’ll be required to give a presentation. Interviews will take place between 20 July and 24 July.
Up to five people from your project can attend. Innovate UK says that, ideally, this should include one person from each organisation. Presentations should be no longer than 20 slides and take no longer than 20 minutes.
Innovate UK’s Portfolio Approach
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.
Apply for Battery Innovation Funding with GrantTree
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Our services include full application writing (Full Service Write), expert review from an active Innovate UK assessor (Grant Review), funding identification (Grant Matching), and our bespoke Elevate package, tailored to your individual needs and budget.
We also offer coaching for the interview stage, should you be invited to present to Innovate UK’s assessors.
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