Demand management
Demand management is being applied to this funding opportunity. Any individual can only appear on one application as project lead and only two projects in total. For example, one as project lead and one as co-lead or two as co-lead.
Network Plus
A Network Plus is a strategic investment which brings together and coordinates research communities and identifies, prioritises and develops future research challenges. A detailed description and other important information regarding the Network Plus funding mechanism can be found in the ‘Additional information’ section.
Aim
This funding opportunity is delivered as part of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) IS8+ Priority Programme for Advanced Manufacturing and aims to fund one Network Plus to build collaboration, coordination and knowledge exchange across research, innovation and stakeholder communities to:
- accelerate the scale-up of UK manufacturing innovation across the advanced manufacturing frontier industries, with a primary focus on automotive and aerospace
- enable cross learning and wider impact in frontier industries including batteries, space and advanced materials
- strengthen the UK’s manufacturing scale-up ecosystem and improve links between discovery research, technology development, industrial adoption and investment, enabling businesses to adopt, commercialise and scale emerging technologies more rapidly
- identify future opportunities, challenges and capability needs, with a particular focus on the barriers and opportunities facing manufacturers and supply chains, that will enhance the UK’s competitiveness, productivity and resilience in manufacturing
- provide industry-informed, actionable insight and evidence for UKRI manufacturing investment strategies, ensuring future investments align with manufacturer and system needs, industrial opportunities and scale-up challenges
In this context, manufacturing scale-up refers to the development, demonstration, commercialisation and adoption of technologies, processes and materials that enable innovation to progress from research and development to industrial deployment and economic impact.
The Network Plus should establish itself as the UK’s focal point for manufacturing scale-up research and innovation. Activities should be shaped by both advanced research and capability and the needs of manufacturers, end users, supply chains and investors, ensuring research and innovation activities remain focused on addressing real-world scale-up challenges and opportunities. It will foster a diverse and collaborative community while creating new opportunities for partnership, knowledge exchange and innovation.
By strengthening connections between research organisations, manufacturers, supply chains, investors and innovation infrastructure, it should accelerate the transition of technologies towards industrial adoption, address barriers identified by businesses, de-risk innovation and help unlock private investment.
The Network Plus will deliver strategic benefits for the UK by strengthening manufacturing capability, increasing business engagement in research and innovation, improving pathways to commercialisation and scale-up, and enhancing the competitiveness of UK manufacturing. In doing so, it will support productivity, resilience and economic growth, while ensuring that UKRI-funded research and innovation is better aligned with the needs and opportunities of UK manufacturing businesses.
The Network Plus will include a flexible funding programme to address manufacturing scale-up challenges within the manufacturing frontier industries, primarily automotive and aerospace, but can include related sectors. Distributed through fair and transparent processes, flexible funding may support feasibility studies and other small-scale activities up to TRL 4, including pump-priming research, knowledge exchange, early-stage testing of new ideas, new collaborations, and activities that inform policy and impact.
The programme should respond to priorities identified through the network’s activities, particularly those emerging from engagement with manufacturers, supply chains, investors and other end users, and maintain appropriate governance and accountability arrangements.
Scope
The Manufacturing Scale-up Network Plus will focus on addressing the barriers and opportunities associated with the scale-up of manufacturing innovation across advanced manufacturing frontier industries, with a primary focus on the automotive and aerospace sectors while enabling wider impact in areas such as batteries, space, advanced materials and related technologies.
The Network Plus should deliver:
- a shared evidence base and industry-informed strategic roadmap by the end of year one, for manufacturing scale-up research and innovation to identify opportunities, barriers, capability gaps and future priorities
- a connected and inclusive manufacturing scale-up community, bringing together academia, industry, investors, Catapults, innovation centres, policymakers and government, including delivery of a national conference, showcase or equivalent event within the first 12 months
- strong links between UKRI existing investments, including new investments that will arise through the UKRI Advanced Manufacturing Programme, for example, the projects funded through the funding opportunity Manufacturing Scale-up Research and Innovation: Automotive and Aerospace
- a flexible funding programme that stimulates new ideas and collaborations, supporting feasibility studies and other early-stage activities up to TRL 4 that address manufacturing scale-up challenges and help catalyse innovation, knowledge exchange and partnership development across the target sectors
- stronger pathways from research and innovation to industrial deployment, through new partnerships, knowledge exchange and collaboration that accelerate the adoption, commercialisation and scale-up of emerging technologies, materials and processes
- strategic intelligence, capability development and advice for UKRI and stakeholders, providing evidence-based insights on emerging technologies, scale-up challenges, future capability needs, regional strengths and opportunities for investment, policy development and economic impact
The Network Plus could achieve these deliverables by:
- facilitating knowledge exchange and collaboration between researchers, manufacturers, investors, policymakers and innovation organisations
- establishing working groups, advisory panels and thematic communities focused on strategic manufacturing scale-up challenges and opportunities
- delivering fair and transparent flexible-fund competitions to support feasibility studies, pump-priming activities and the development of new collaborations
- supporting innovation brokerage, partnership-building and investor engagement to strengthen commercialisation and scale-up pathways
- developing additional roadmaps, strategic analyses, market intelligence and policy recommendations to inform future decision-making and investment
- connecting regional manufacturing strengths, innovation assets and industrial clusters to strengthen UK-wide coordination, capability and impact
This list is not exhaustive, and you are encouraged to develop innovative approaches that respond to the needs of the relevant communities. Activities should contribute to a more connected, coordinated and investment-ready manufacturing ecosystem that accelerates the progression of innovation from research to industrial impact.
You are expected to demonstrate how flexible funds will be used to leverage additional industrial support and investment, fostering deeper industry engagement and enhancing the translation and exploitation of emerging manufacturing innovations.
Expectations
The Network Plus team should have a plan to evaluate and monitor its work including milestones and key performance indicators. They should also have a plan to develop and report case studies annually via submission and publication of an annual report (see additional grant conditions) as it progresses. We also expect networks to report progress every six months to the Advisory Board and provide information on request to UKRI.
The governance structure of the Network Plus must provide a meaningful and visible role for manufacturers, supply-chain organisations, investors and other end users in shaping priorities, activities and funding decisions. You should demonstrate how industry perspectives will inform strategic direction, ensuring that the Network Plus remains responsive to real-world scale-up challenges, market opportunities and business needs throughout its lifetime.
The Network Plus must also incorporate open data sharing agreements to allow greater transparency and collaboration. It should also develop and run small funding opportunities to allocate funding relevant to the aims and expectations of the network via a flexible fund. Please see Flexible fund section for more details.
Funding for up to five years will be available, but this will be released in two stages subject to progress achieved. Stage one will release 24 months of funding. Stage two will release 36 months of funding. The application should cover the whole five years.
The first stage will include a 12-month scoping phase that develops an evidence-based understanding of the UK manufacturing scale-up landscape across the target sectors. Activities will include capability mapping, international benchmarking, horizon scanning and community engagement to identify strengths, gaps, barriers and opportunities within the innovation ecosystem.
The scoping phase will inform production and publication by the Network Plus of a strategic roadmap for manufacturing scale-up and support UKRI and stakeholders in identifying future priorities. During this period, the Network Plus must deliver a national conference, workshop, showcase, or equivalent event to bring together researchers, businesses, investors, policymakers and innovation organisations, helping to strengthen the community and shape future directions. Appropriate parallel networking activities and flexible fund activities can begin during this phase.
At the end of the first 12 months, the Network Plus will undergo a formal review. Funding will continue for a further 12 months following this review. Subject to satisfactory progress against objectives and delivery of a strong strategic case by the grant holder for continued investment during the first 24 months, funding for the remaining 36 months will be released, resulting in a total project duration of five years. Further details are provided in the additional conditions of award.
Project partners
You should include appropriate project partners (industrial, government or third sector), to demonstrate that:
- the project will address a tangible need
- a credible potential translation pathway for the research output is in place
Project partner engagement must demonstrably extend beyond an advisory role, such as by providing:
- a cash contribution to the project, such as a direct investment to support a project research activity
- ‘in-kind support’, for example, access to equipment or other resources, employee time allocated to involvement in research activities
It should be clear that each project partner has a clear interest in the project achieving outcomes and impacts relevant to its business or mission.
You will need to have secured a commitment to collaborate on the proposed network plus from stated project partners for the application.
Duration
The duration of this award is a maximum of five years.
Projects will have a fixed start date and must start by 1 September 2027.
Funding available
The FEC of your project can be up to £5.63 million.
UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC, up to £4.5 million.
Flexible funding is available to support up to 50% of the total eligible project costs.
What we will fund
We will fund:
- community building and networking activities
- appropriate administrative and management support
- flexible funds for demonstrators or feasibility studies, research to innovation projects or translational research, proof of concept studies, market validation and activities targeting policy, business and the third sector collaboration
- equipment to facilitate communication, networking and events. We welcome innovative and creative thought on approaches to facilitation
Appropriately skilled individuals, including sub-contractors, may be costed to conduct and analyse horizon scanning activities to meet the aims and objectives of the Network Plus.
Project lead and co-leads’ salaries
These should be requested under the directly allocated cost heading.
The project lead and co-leads can request funds to cover their salary costs for the time spent on setting up and leading the Network Plus. Appropriate time must be dedicated to this to provide the hands on leadership, advocacy, contact time and the collaboration formation needed to ensure the objectives of the Network Plus are delivered.
Directly incurred costs
Funding requested under the ‘directly incurred cost’ heading may include the following.
Community building and networking activities
This may include funding for:
- activities to identify and disseminate key research challenges in the area, such as horizon-scanning and road mapping studies
- activities to facilitate impact and advance policy such as reports, websites and briefings
- activities to connect users, industry and other stakeholders with the research base
- networking events
- expert working groups
- online discussion forums
- lectures and seminars
- problem-solving activities
- staff training
- other activities as appropriate for the Network Plus
Travel and subsistence
Travel and subsistence enabling the core team to deliver activities and members of the network to meet to exchange ideas and expertise. This may include:
- travel within the UK
- international travel where appropriate and justified
Where possible, collaborators should meet their own travel costs.
Travel should be costed as standard or economy as per our standard terms and conditions, unless there is a need for a reasonable adjustment.
Professional enabling staff
A sufficient level of administrative support should be requested to ensure the coordination, management and smooth running of the Network Plus.
You are expected to employ a dedicated Network manager as a core member of the team, with relevant experience and costed at the appropriate grade. The Network manager must have the skills and resources to drive enhanced collaboration across the manufacturing landscape, this is not merely an administrative post.
Reasonable costs for monitoring and dissemination of the network’s output can also be included.
If justified by your planned activities, you may include costs for additional professional enabling staff, for example, facilitators, science communicators, industrial liaisons, coordinators, administrators, technology transfer officers, commercialisation experts, engagement experts or impact staff.
Specific staff to support the initial evidence gathering and reporting phase
Appropriately skilled individuals may be costed to conduct and analyse horizon scanning activities to meet the aims and objectives of the Network Plus.
Flexible fund allocation
Flexible funding can be used to commission feasibility studies or similar small projects (but not beyond technology readiness level (TRL) 4).
These funds must be distributed externally to the grant.
Flexible funding is available to support up to 50% of the total eligible application costs. It is expected that any flexible funds requested will be used for activities that address specific barriers and opportunities associated with manufacturing scale-up, with a primary focus on the automotive and aerospace sectors while enabling wider impact in areas such as batteries, space, advanced materials and related technologies
You should demonstrate how flexible funds will be used to stimulate industrial engagement and leverage additional support. The Network Plus is expected to secure matched contributions from industry, through a combination of cash and in-kind support, to maximise the reach and impact of the flexible fund.
The flexible fund should act as a catalyst for collaboration between academia, industry and other stakeholders, helping to de-risk innovation, strengthen pathways to adoption, and maximise the impact of public investment. You should set out a credible approach to securing and deploying industry co-investment, demonstrating how public funding will be used to unlock additional private sector investment and engagement.
Examples of potential interventions could include:
- pump-priming research and innovation activities
- support to improve knowledge exchange
- support for initial testing of new ideas and to kick-start new collaborations
- funds to facilitate wider impact and advance policy
- activities that stimulate industrial engagement, attract additional investment and leverage cash or in-kind support from industry partners
Flexible funds can be allocated to researchers at any research organisation currently eligible for UKRI funding. You will need to think carefully about how any budget for external distribution will be commissioned, and how you will ensure processes for the allocation of funds are fair and transparent.
Please note that any activities commissioned by the Network Plus using the flexible funds will be restricted to UKRI current research organisation eligibility but will not be bound by standard UKRI investigator eligibility criterion.
It is the project lead’s responsibility to ensure ongoing governance to ensure correct usage and accountability of the funds. We would expect some examples of the types of projects at the application stage, but the research challenges are expected to evolve throughout the Network Plus lifetime and should be co-created and collaborative in nature.
Project partners
Project partners are expected to provide contributions to the delivery of the project and should not therefore be seeking to claim funds from UKRI (this includes businesses). However, where there are specific circumstances where project partners do require funding for minor costs such as travel and subsistence, this will usually be paid at 80% FEC. These costs should be outlined and fully justified in the proposal and will be subject to peer review.
Where the project needs work to be undertaken that is more significant and includes costs other than travel and subsistence, then the project partner may also need to be included as a subcontractor. Any subcontracting costs must be fully justified and will be subject to peer review, as well as the procurement rules of the host organisation. See more information about project partners letter of support.
What we will not fund
We will not fund applications that:
- do not clearly address challenges in the advanced manufacturing frontier industry sectors.
- do not include automotive and aerospace as the primary sector focus
The Network Plus is not expected to carry out longer term research itself. Flexible funds may be used to commission small-scale research activities.
Equipment over £25,000 is not available through this funding opportunity. We will not be funding laboratory or research equipment for this funding opportunity. We will only support equipment to facilitate communication, networking and events.
Additional conditions
The Network Plus funding awarded to those applicants successful at the full stage will be subject to the additional conditions below around the following themes. Please note, grant holders may be subject to additional conditions. The full conditions will be outlined in any successful offer letter at full stage.
Stage gate funding
This funding opportunity will be funded with additional conditions around stage gates and monitoring added to the standard UKRI terms and conditions. Specifically a stage gate will be undertaken around 12 months following the start of the grant, with the possibility of follow-up monitoring of activities for the remainder of the funding period.
The stage gate will focus on examining the project’s key performance indicators (KPIs) and milestone ambitions. KPIs and milestones should be defined by the applicants in their proposal. These will be subject to agreement with UKRI at the beginning of the project and developed throughout the lifetime of the award to ensure delivery of objectives.
The stage gate will allow projects the opportunity to pivot in response to steers from UKRI and the external assessors (if used), to ensure the focus on addressing the barriers and opportunities associated with the scale-up of manufacturing innovation to drive UK growth is secured, work programmes are delivered, an appropriate forward plan is in place to deliver the objectives of the Network Plus.
In some circumstances the stage gate may result in the cessation of a project where UKRI feels that progress and expectations are not being effectively met.
Community network expectations
In addition to the core programme, the project will be expected to undertake a wider networking role with the research and user community outside its membership. This may involve coordination of activities such as meetings, workshops or seminars on behalf of UKRI. A dedicated website must be set up within six months of the start of the grant and regularly maintained to provide a resource for engagement with the wider community.
User engagement strategy
You must develop and execute an engagement strategy for the Network Plus. This strategy should be reviewed and updated regularly as part of the formal management and reporting process agreed for this grant.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
You are expected to prepare a full equality, diversity and inclusion plan for the duration of this grant to demonstrate best practice in equality, diversity and inclusion throughout the lifetime of this funding award. This must be recorded through the grant reporting process.
Project officer appointment
We will nominate a member of UKRI staff (project officer) who will be your primary point of contact. The project officer will ensure that the project is being run in accordance with the terms and conditions and in line with financial due diligence. The project officer should have access to all documentation of governance and reporting bodies, in so far as it relates to the administration and application of the grant.
As funding administrators, all UKRI staff have agreed to maintain the confidentiality required by all parties involved in UKRI-funded research.
Advisory board membership and operations
This grant must establish and run an independent advisory board, or equivalent body, to oversee the running of the project and provide advice on the strategic direction and activities of the project. The terms of reference and membership of this group (at least 50% independent membership and an independent chair) should be agreed with UKRI. The UKRI project officer will also be expected to attend and participate in advisory board and other appropriate meetings for the duration of the grant.
It is expected the first advisory board meeting will be held within four months of the start date of the project and there will be two meetings a year with contact outside of the meeting when appropriate.
Flexible funds
The sum awarded under the heading of ‘flexible funds’ can include both directly incurred and directly allocated expenditure. These funds must be reported on the final expenditure statement (FES) as awarded on the offer letter and a breakdown of the expenditure must be submitted along with the FES. If a breakdown of this expenditure is not received the FES will be returned. Standard grant conditions apply to all other funds awarded on this grant. An audit trail of the approval is required for Funding Assurance and the National Audit Office. The approach to the flexible fund needs to be pre-approved by UKRI.
Publicity and branding
You must make reference to UKRI and include the UKRI and relevant branding on all online or printed materials (including press releases, posters, exhibition materials and other publications) related to activities funded a successful grant.
Progress reports
As this funding is through the IS8 Advanced Manufacturing Priority Programme the recipients of grants will need to comply with Advanced Manufacturing Priority Programme specific monitoring and evaluation expectations. A detailed list of performance metrics and instructions for reporting will be agreed with the grant holder and advisory board upon commencement of a successful grant. You are responsible for providing and publishing annual progress reports against non-financial performance metrics.
Management structure
You should have established an appropriate management structure with clear lines of responsibility and authority to oversee the day-to-day running of the project. This should be in place within three months of the start date of the grant.
The terms of reference and management structure, including the project lead, co-leads and any other senior staff involved must be approved by us in advance. As must any changes to this structure. The project officer will be our main contact with the project and must receive all meeting minutes of the management committees. We reserve the right to attend any meetings.
Management resourcing
Adequate resourcing to support an appropriate management structure, as specified in the funding opportunity documentation, should be costed within the grant. This includes employing a grant or network manager on the grant.
Intent to submit
If you intend to apply as a lead applicant, your research organisation must complete the expression of interest survey by 4:00pm UK time on 11 November 2026. You will not be permitted to apply to the funding opportunity if your research organisation has not completed the survey.
For further details, and the link, see the ‘How to apply’ section
Supporting skills and talent
We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.
Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)
UKRI has a long-standing and continuing commitment to supporting and enabling safe and effective collaboration in research and innovation. UKRI is equally committed to ensuring that this takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks.
Our Principles and expectations set out the principles that UKRI applies to TR&I and our general expectations of the research organisations (including businesses, research institutes, and research technical organisations) that we support. Organisations supported by UKRI should be able to provide evidence that their internal controls and processes meet these expectations.
See further guidance and information about TR&I, including where applicants can find additional support.
