DRIVE35 Scale-up Fund Drawdown 5

Official Guidance

Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign the right experts to assess your application.

Official Guidance

Describe your project in detail and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project.

Official Guidance

Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition. If your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why.

Official Guidance

You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation and any partners or subcontractors working on your project. We are collecting this information to understand more about the geographical location of all applicants.

Official Guidance

Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing? You must select one option: Yes, No. We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare. Further information for proposals involving animal testing is available at the UKRI Good Research Hub and NC3R’s animal welfare guidance.

Official Guidance

Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project? We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date. You must select one option: Yes, No, In the process of being applied for, Not applicable.

Official Guidance

Does your proposed work involve any international collaboration or engagement? You must provide details of any expected international collaboration or engagement. You must include a list of the names and the countries, any international project co-leads, project partners, visiting researchers, or other collaborators are based in. You must also include details of any subcontractors or service providers. If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration or engagement, your answer must confirm this.

Official Guidance

You must indicate whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance. You must select one option: Yes, No.

Official Guidance

You must explain if your proposed project work relates to UKRI’s Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) Principles, including: a list of any dual use (both military and non-military) applications to your research; a list of the areas where your project is relevant to one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act; whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance and the status of any applications; a list of any items or substances on the UK Strategic Export Control List. If your proposed work does not relate to UKRI’s TR&I Principles, your answer must confirm this. We may ask you to provide additional TR&I information at a later date, in line with UKRI TR&I Principles and funding terms and conditions.

Official Guidance

Provide a tabulated list of all UK government grant funded projects that you have been awarded over the last five years, where the grant to your business has been over £500,000. You must format this table with the following columns: reference number of the grant; title of the grant funded project; the start and end date of the project; one sentence description of the scope of the project and your organisations part in it; two sentence description of what your organisation gained from the project and why it had a positive impact; your UK headcount at the start of the project; your UK headcount one year following the projects end; any investment that was leveraged as a result of the project; you must separate the different organisations in your consortium, if appropriate; you only need to include partners that are businesses that are receiving grant as part of this project. You must download the impact track record template, complete with the answers to the above and upload as an appendix for your answer to this question. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to one A4 page and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

Describe your current business and your vision of success for the future. Describe the businesses delivering this project to give us a good understanding of your current positioning, capacity, strategy and ambition. Include: a brief history of the business making this proposal; a description of the current scale and capacities of the business and your UK and global facilities, employees and products; your revenue, and the key drivers of this; a summary of your corporate strategy that is related to this proposal and the business expansion that this proposal aims to unlock, including how this will grow your presence in the UK; your owners and investors.

Official Guidance

What is the market for the innovation around which you are scaling up, and why is this market attractive? Who will you compete against in your target market and how will your project win a share of the market? Describe the size, growth, and accessibility of the market you are targeting with this scale up project. You must ensure that these are the market for your specific product, not for a broad total industry category. You must also ensure that they are time bound, annual not cumulative, and that your serviceable obtainable market (SOM) is the size of the market you plan to obtain. Include: a description of your competitive environment, identifying direct and indirect competitors now and into the future; your competitive edge, including your IP strategy and how this gives you competitive advantage; a description of your competitors relative scale, market shares, strengths, and weaknesses; how this scale-up project strengthens your ability to compete and win as you enter the market; the geographical distribution and market segmentation, including clearly identifying the Zero Emission Vehicle market and other sectors and industries; key demand drivers that underpin the growth rate you describe; the market timing, including any demand, regulatory or supply chain factors that affect how quickly you can access this market; your assessment of the total addressable market (TAM), serviceable available market (SAM) and serviceable obtainable market (SOM) for your product or process. You must submit one appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10 MB in size. It is limited to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

What product or process are you taking to market, how does it support the transition to Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) manufacturing, and how does it solve a customer problem? Explain why your product or process is a compelling solution to the problem. Include: a description of your product or process innovation and how it functions; how your product or process supports the transition to ZEV manufacturing in the UK and enables environmental benefits; the customer problem it solves, and value proposition offered by your product or process. You must submit one appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It is limited to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

How will you address your initial market during and immediately following your scale up project? Describe how you will secure early market success for your scale up project, including your market entry strategy into the Zero Emission Vehicle market and other sectors or markets. How will you scale beyond your entry market? Describe how you will scale beyond initial market entry and how your business model will evolve and grow to address a growing market footprint. What are your sales projections for the 10-year period following the project? Provide your revenue forecasts and how you will deliver them. Explain how achieving these sales targets will be supported by the successful delivery of your scale up project. Include: your customer segmentation; your market entry plan focussed on your near-term customers; a clear view of your engagement with automotive customers; annual sales projections by market segment for 10 years post project; the unit economics of your product or process; the evolution of your business model; development of new products, customer segments, or markets; key partnerships or other enablers; the scale of investment in your business operations; any sensitivity or risk analysis; evidence of early traction or customer sponsorship. You must submit one appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It is limited to three A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

Are your technology and manufacturing processes ready for the scale up project that you are proposing? What evidence supports your readiness to move into pilot scale (low-volume) or demonstration scale (mid-volume) production? Include: your current Technology Readiness Level (TRL) rating and evidence; your current Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) rating and evidence; your assessment of the next steps for manufacturing development that this scale-up project will enable, and why now is the appropriate time to deliver this project. You must submit one appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10 MB in size. It is limited to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

What is your plan for your scale up project, and how does your delivery plan align with your commercialisation strategy? How will you develop your pilot or demonstration scale manufacturing operations and ensure they meet customer quality expectations? Include: a clear description of your scale up project objectives and the specific manufacturing or process capabilities you will deliver; a high-level project timing plan or work breakdown structure; how this scope aligns with your wider commercialisation strategy; your plan for implementing required quality control processes; any tools, certifications, tests, or third party audits you will deploy; how this scale up project will enable you to refine processes and embed quality controls. You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10 MB. It is limited to four A4 pages and legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

What are the key risks to successful delivery of your scale up project, and how will you manage them? Include: the main risks and uncertainties that could impact this project; how you will mitigate these risks; any key risks during the project startup phase; any project inputs that are critical to completion; as part of the product introduction, how you will manage any outputs likely to be subject to new processes. You must submit one appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It is limited to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

What are the costs associated with delivering your scale up project, and how are these assumptions justified? Include: a summary of the total project budget; a breakdown of cost categories and justification of key cost assumptions; a breakdown of subcontractor costs; these values must correlate with the values you enter into the IFS project cost submission sheet; a breakdown of finances by financial years, project spend, grant, CAPEX and other. You must submit one appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It is limited to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

How well established is your supply chain. How will you prepare it for scale up, or how might it evolve to support scale up during and post project? Include: a description of your existing supply chain network; your plan to develop, qualify or diversify suppliers; any logistics, inventory, or procurement strategies; how this scale up project will strengthen your supply chain’s resilience; any further operational development; how the balance of UK and non-UK spend is expected to change over time. You must submit one appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It is limited to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

Is your organisation ready for the scope and scale of growth that will be required to deliver this scale up project and take the outputs successfully to market? Who will deliver your scale up project and what responsibilities will collaborators and subcontractors hold? Include: your current organisational structure to deliver the project; the roles and responsibilities of key project team members; your plan to manage the organisational changes; how governance and oversight will be managed; the subcontractors you will engage. You must submit one appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It is limited to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

Do you have the right leadership team to deliver this project and take the results of this project to commercial success? Describe the team that will lead the business and take the outputs of this project to commercial success. Include: a description of the leadership team members; any capability leadership gaps that you will need to fill. You must submit one appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It is limited to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

What is your business expansion and investment plan? What is your readiness to secure this investment within the permitted timeframe for this competition fund? Describe how you will raise the finance required to deliver your scale up project and your wider business expansion objectives. Note: your total business expansion investment must be at least twice your requested scale up grant for the project. Include: your businesses past investment history; evidence of co-investment confidence; how this project will deliver private investment of at least twice the requested grant; the expected timing of this financing; the possible sources of this finance; an identification of requirements which you need to meet to achieve this investment; evidence of feedback received from advisors, investors, lenders. You must submit one appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It is limited to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

What is the financial business case for private co-investment in your project or business? Will it enable you to achieve the level of finance required to deliver your scale up project and achieve your business expansion objectives? Provide a robust business case financial model demonstrating the returns required to fund your scale up project. Include: a ten-year annualised financial projections; justification of overall investment; any sensitivity analysis. You must submit one appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It is limited to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

The Value for Money (VfM) workbook and questions 21 to 28 of the application, relate to the economic value for money assessment. You must download and complete the VfM workbook. You must upload the completed worksheet as an appendix to question 21. You must write 'Worksheet uploaded' as your response to this question.

Official Guidance

What is the case for public funding for this project? Explain why public funding is necessary to unlock your scale up and what would happen without it. Using the appendix to provide supporting evidence, explain: why your project cannot go ahead without this grant; why your project cannot be funded internally or through other private sources; why this specific amount of grant funding is required; what would happen if your application was unsuccessful; the decision making process if you decided not to internally fund; where the project would be located and why; and provide information about alternative locations. You must submit one appendix with evidence to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

What impact will this project have on investment into your UK businesses, and how have you quantified this? Demonstrate the financial commitment this project makes to the UK and any resultant impact in future research, development or capital investment over the ten years following the project. You must: describe the total investment into the UK that will result from this project; explain the calculations and assumptions you have made; justify why your project costs and follow on investments are realistic estimates. You must submit one appendix with evidence and details of your calculation methods to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

What will be the impact of this project on UK jobs created or safeguarded by the project? Were these a result of any post project R&D and manufacturing activities, and how have you quantified this? You must: summarise the jobs impacts that you forecast; explain your calculations and the assumption you have made; explain any jobs included in your VfM workbook; explain why the number of jobs and salaries are realistic; explain any safeguarded jobs and provide evidence. You must submit one appendix with your evidence and details of your calculation methods to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

As applicable to your application, you must summarise, and provide further information regarding the vehicle sales and emissions reductions impacts that you have described in the Sales and Emissions section of the VfM workbook. You must, as applicable: justify the vehicles you have selected in the VfM workbook; explain how you have quantified vehicle sales; explain why the comparator vehicles included in the VfM workbook are the best alternative; explain any assumptions used in establishing fuel or energy consumption; explain the specific contribution of this project to the future vehicle drivetrain. You must submit one appendix with evidence and documentation of your sales forecast and justification of comparator vehicles to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

Summarise and provide information regarding the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reductions impacts that you have described in the CO2 reductions section in the VfM workbook. You must: round any data entered into the VfM Workbook to the nearest 10 Tonnes per year; explain how these GHG reductions would not happen in the absence of scale up funding; provide examples of suitable evidence. You must submit one appendix with evidence and documentation of your calculations for GHG reductions related to this project to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

You must provide further evidence on the yearly production volumes that you have included in the VfM workbook. Explain: the expected production volumes enabled by this project; how the facility will be utilised once the project is completed; provide an overview of the production volumes planned specifically for the UK market; how this project will contribute to strengthening and developing the UK automotive supply chain. You must submit one appendix with evidence and documentation of your forecast production volumes to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Official Guidance

How will this project generate R&D spillovers beyond the lead applicant? Include details on: your plans for dissemination of findings; how technologies or innovations may benefit organisations outside the delivery team; any transferable capabilities, IP sharing opportunities, or mechanisms for knowledge exchange.

Official Guidance

If you are interested in exploring National Wealth Fund finance in addition to your DRIVE35 grant funding application, you can complete the details in this question. If you do not want the project to be considered for commercial investment through the National Wealth Fund, you must enter ‘not applicable’ as your answer to this question. If you want the project to be considered, you must provide a summary of the project’s funding requirements, including: the funding amount; the timeline for funding deployment; the projected revenue over the next three to five years; TRL level and other requirements; how the project meets NWF’s investment principles.