Advanced Manufacturing: Measurement and Sensing Pilot
This pilot provides up to £75,000 in 100% grant funding alongside tailored support for innovative UK SMEs developing measurement, sensing, or instrumentation technologies to solve advanced manufacturing supply chain challenges.
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Competition Scope & Overview
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will invest up to £1 million from the UKRI Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chains programme. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received. The aim of this pilot is to recruit and support ambitious and innovative SMEs with the potential to grow and scale a business in the UK. Your core business activity must be developing a technology, product or service based on measurement, sensing or instrumentation that solves a problem faced by advanced manufacturing supply chains in the UK. They will improve the productivity, resource efficiency or resilience of a manufacturer.
Businesses in this pilot will receive a programme of support and funding for a period of 9 months. If successful, you will be able to draw down from your agreed funding based on need and in agreement with Innovate UK throughout the nine-month support period.
Participation in this pilot will require an investment of time and resource. Successful applicants are expected to engage with support activities, including for example:
peer to peer networking investor engagement international market exploration
This list is not intended to be exhaustive.
By applying to this pilot, you are entering into a competitive process. This pilot has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed applications. It may be the case that your application scores highly but we are still unable to fund it.
We consider a range of factors when determining whether to provide funding to applicants. This includes an assessment of prior conduct, such as any outstanding payments owed to Innovate UK or UKRI. Such factors may influence the funding decision, potentially resulting in a refusal of funding or an award subject to additional scrutiny.
We also reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions. This may be in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations or broader government funding decisions.
This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief. We cannot guarantee other government, or third party sites will always show the correct competition information.
Official Applicant Guidance Documents
Applicant briefing Advanced Manufacturing Pilot.pdf
These applicant briefing slides outline the Innovate UK Advanced Manufacturing Measurement and Sensing Pilot, detailing the 9-month programme, eligibility criteria, and the £80,420 grant funding request. It provides comprehensive guidance on the multi-stage application process, including written assessment criteria, interview requirements, and key submission deadlines.
Download Official DocumentAMSC Velocity Pilot MFA - assessor guidance for applicants.pdf
This official Innovate UK assessor guidance document outlines the evaluation criteria and scoring scales (1–10) used for the Advanced Manufacturing: Measurement and Sensing Pilot grant. It provides applicants with essential insights into question requirements across 19 application sections to help optimise their proposals for success.
Download Official DocumentApplication Questions & Guidance Brief
Every question below carries specific word limits and guidance criteria.
Pilot summary
Official Guidance
Describe your pilot briefly and be clear about what makes your technology product or service innovative. We use this section to assign experts to assess your application.
Public description of your company and technology
Official Guidance
Describe your company and technology, product or service in detail, and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we select you for this pilot, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start.
Scope
Official Guidance
Describe how your businesses technology, product or service fits the scope of the pilot. If your company is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why.
Applicant location (not scored)
Official Guidance
You must state the name and full registered address of your business. We are collecting this information to understand more about the geographical location of all applicants.
Minimal Financial Assistance declaration (not scored)
Official Guidance
You must download the declaration template. You must complete this, declaring any funding received under Minimal Financial Assistance (previously referred to as Special Drawing Rights) or de minimis awards, (from any source of public funding) in the applicable period. You must complete all the fields on your form before uploading and write ‘declaration attached’ in the question text box. You must upload the completed declaration as an appendix. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It must be legible at 100% zoom. You must keep all documentation relating to Minimal Financial Assistance (previously referred to as Special Drawing Rights) and other de minimis awards for a period of 6 years. You must be prepared to release it to any public funding body which requests it.
Animal testing (not scored)
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.
Permits and licences (not scored)
Official Guidance
Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to operate during the pilot? We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your future project start date. You must select one option: Yes, No, In the process of being applied for, Not applicable.
International collaboration (not scored)
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 potential 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.
Export licence (not scored)
Official Guidance
You must indicate whether an export control license is required for your business under the academic export control guidance. You must select one option: Yes, No.
Trusted Research and Innovation (not scored)
Official Guidance
You must explain if your proposed 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 work 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 work 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.
Technology maturity (not scored)
Official Guidance
Which of the following best represents how developed your core innovation is? You must select one option: idea or research stage, initial prototype, process or tool, scale up or standardisation.
Business stage (not scored)
Official Guidance
Which of the following best represents your current business stage? You must select one option: idea or proof of concept (POC), minimum viable product (MVP) or early growth, scale up.
Financing (not scored)
Official Guidance
Which of the following best represents your current financing stage? You must select one option: Seed and Angel investment, Series A, Series B, Pre-seed.
AM Frontier Industries (not scored)
Official Guidance
Which of the following industries would benefit the most from the innovation your business will deliver? You must select one option: Automotive, Aerospace, Batteries and Electric Vehicle Batteries, Space, Commercial production of Advanced Materials.
Problem
Official Guidance
What is the problem that your innovation will address? Describe the problem clearly. Focus on the issue itself, not your solution. In your answer you must describe: how widespread the issue is; what the consequences are if it remains unaddressed. You must detail any research or evidence that supports your response. Your responses to this question must focus on the problem it addresses not the detail of your innovation.
Idea
Official Guidance
Provide a detailed description of your idea. You must refer to the problem you have identified in Problem Question, and how this idea intends to address it. Do not consider market sizing, project management or risks in your answer as these will be covered sections later in this application form.
Sustainable innovation
Official Guidance
How will you grow your business and develop this innovation with sustainability in mind? Describe your plan to minimise negative effects and promote positive outcomes for the environment and society.
Milestones
Official Guidance
What are the key business milestones you are aiming to achieve through this programme over the next 9 months? What are the challenges you are facing and what support would help you overcome them. You must focus on what support (financial and non-financial) from this award will enable you to do. You do not need to provide a project or activity plan in the answer to this question.
Route to market
Official Guidance
Outline the key steps and timeline for bringing your innovation to market over the next 24 months. What is the scale of your ambition and is it realistic for your current business or technology maturity?
Customers detail
Official Guidance
What are the key characteristics or needs of your target customers? Describe your engagement with customers and broader research undertaken to date.
Market Size
Official Guidance
Estimate the realistic market opportunity for your innovation. Provide evidence based assessment by: The Total Addressable Market (TAM): This is the total market demand for a product or service. It's the maximum revenue opportunity available if 100% market share was achieved. The Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM): The portion of the addressable market that can realistically be captured by your innovation. It factors in constraints like competition, geography, pricing, and how easily you can go to market.
Public funding
Official Guidance
How will public funding accelerate or enhance your innovation compared to relying solely on private investment or internal resources at this stage?