It is clear to most of us that radical action is needed to improve how we look after our environment and that can only be achieved through investment in research and development programs. This is reflected in a number of UK grant funding programs that aim to address some of the urgent environmental challenges faced by industry.
Below I’ve listed a number of interesting funds currently open for application, expressions of interest or consultation.
Red Diesel Replacement Competition – expressions of interest sought
This £40 million fund is to support development of alternatives to the use of red diesel in industry where there are a number of high-impact sectors such as construction, mining and quarrying. It’s part of a £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio which seeks to decrease cost of decarbonisation and end the UK’s contribution to climate change.
Fund Name: Red Diesel Replacement competition
Project Length: 11 months
Project Value: Up to £460k in phase 1
Deadline: 22/11/2021
(https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/red-diesel-replacement-competition)
Expression of interest: Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF) round 15
AFT cover batteries, fuel cells, power electronics – plus their recycling and upstream supply chains. This is currently an expression of interest competition to share a part of a £1 billion fund under the “Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) programme that aims to establish a competitive and sustainable UK supply chain. It offers a share of up to £1 billion of funding for capital and associated industrial research projects. This will be to support the industrialisation of a high value, electrified automotive supply at scale in the UK.” You need to have a successful expression of interest in order to apply to the full stage competition. Applications can include capital only, or capital and associated R&D activity.
Competition opens: Monday 27 September 2021
Competition closes: Wednesday 20 October 2021 11:00am
(https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/1018/overview#summary)
ISCF digital security by design – software ecosystem development
This program will provide up to £8 million for research and development projects funded from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). “The aim of this competition is to fund a range of projects that work to enrich and expand the Digital Security by Design (DSbD) software ecosystem prior to the availability of commercial hardware. Projects will leverage the DSbD Technology Hardware Prototype (also known as Morello Board)…”UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £8 million / grants from grant from £200,000 to £1.4 million.
Competition opens: Monday 4 October 2021
Competition closes: Wednesday 8 December 2021 11:00am
(https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/1020/overview)
Open consultation: Designing the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund
If you’re interested in or involved in low carbon hydrogen production or developing low carbon hydrogen production, there is an opportunity to feed your views into the consultation on The Net Zero Hydrogen Fund (NZHF). The fund will support at-scale deployment of low carbon hydrogen production during the 2020s. (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/designing-the-net-zero-hydrogen-fund).
Blog by Linda Eziquiel, Regional Director, RandDTax