Battery Innovation: Feasibility Studies Rd 3

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 where your technology primary fits in the development group in the scope section, for example group 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. 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

What is the business need, technological challenge, or market opportunity behind your innovation? Explain: the main motivation for the project; the business need, technological challenge or market opportunity; the nearest current state of the art, including those close to market or in development, both within and outside the UK, and its current limitations; any work you have already done to respond to this need, for example, if the project focuses on developing an existing capability or building a new one or technology transfer into a new sector; the wider economic, social, environmental, cultural or political challenges which are influential in creating the opportunity, such as incoming regulations.

Official Guidance

What is the primary focus of this project in the scope technology groups? State 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 within your answer. What approach will you take and where will the focus of the innovation be? Explain: your technology and innovation and how this aligns with technology group 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5; the objectives of your project; how you will respond to the need, challenge or opportunity identified; how you will improve on the nearest current state of the art that you have identified; whether the innovation will focus on existing technologies in new areas, the development of new technologies for existing areas, or a totally disruptive approach; the freedom you have to operate; the technological and manufacturing maturity at the start of the project and achieved by the end of the project; the expected advancements in the performance metrics of the battery technology; how the battery technology will meet the performance requirements of the target applications and, where appropriate, what the synergies are with the needs of other sectors; how this project fits with your current product, service lines or offerings; how it will make you more competitive; the nature of the outputs you expect from the project, for example reports, demonstrator, know-how, new process, product or service design, and how these will help you to target the need, challenge or opportunity identified. You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It can include diagrams and charts. 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

Who is in the project team and what are their roles? Explain: the roles, skills and experience of all members of the project team that are relevant to the approach you will be taking; the resources, equipment and facilities needed for the project and how you will access them; the details of any vital external parties, including subcontractors, who you will need to work with to successfully carry out the project; the current relationships between project partners and how these will change as a result of the project; any roles you will need to recruit for and how you plan to mitigate against any delays in recruitment. You can submit one appendix, with a short summary of the main people working on the 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

What does the market or markets you are targeting look like? Describe: the target markets for the project outcomes and any other potential markets, either domestic, international or both; the size of the target markets for the project outcomes, backed up by references where available; the structure and dynamics of the target markets, including customer segmentation, together with predicted growth rates within clear timeframes; the target markets’ main supply or value chains and business models, and any barriers to entry that exist; the current UK position in targeting these markets; the size and main features of any other markets not already listed. If your project is highly innovative, where the market may be unexplored, describe or explain: what the market’s size might be; how your project will try to explore the market’s potential.

Official Guidance

How will you take your product or process from this project to market? What are the principal commercial risks in the UK that this project will de-risk? Explain: your proposed business model; how the proposed business model will benefit the UK economy, for example, licensing revenue, manufacturing jobs, R&D jobs; the timeline of key steps from project completion to market launch; the scale and location, UK and overseas, of investment required to execute the plan; high level impacts on your organisation’s structure and capabilities; the primary commercialisation risks and uncertainties, and how this project will help you mitigate them.

Official Guidance

What specific outcomes will each partner achieve, and how will you enter and expand in target markets? Explain: each partner’s current position in the market or value chain, and whether you will extend or establish that position; your target customer segments or end users and the value proposition that will drive adoption; your detailed route to market and scaling approach within and beyond the project; how you will realise profit from the innovation, increased revenues or cost reduction; the expected effects on partner productivity and long term business growth; your strategy for protecting and exploiting project outputs, for example, patents, designs, know how or business model adaptations; your plan to enter additional markets identified during or after the project. If there is any research organisation activity in the project, describe: your plans to spread the project’s research outputs over a reasonable timescale; how you expect to use the results generated from the project in further research activities.

Official Guidance

How will you manage your project effectively? Explain: the main work packages of your project, indicating the lead partner assigned to each and the total cost of each one; your approach to project management, identifying any major tools and mechanisms you will use to get a successful and innovative project outcome; the management reporting lines; your project plan in enough detail to identify any links or dependencies between work packages or milestones. You must submit a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix 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 are the main risks for this project? How the risks will be managed across the proposed consortium? Explain: the main risks and uncertainties of the project, including the technical, commercial, managerial and environmental risks; how you will mitigate these risks; any project inputs that are critical to completion, such as resources, expertise, and data sets; any output likely to be subject to regulatory requirements, certification, ethical issues and other requirements identified, and how you will manage this. You must submit a risk register as an appendix 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 are you ensuring that your organisation and idea contribute towards equality, diversity and inclusion best practise? Describe: any equality, diversity or inclusion challenges related to your idea, if appropriate; what the approach to equality, diversity and inclusion is in your organisation; how you will promote equality, diversity and inclusion for any roles you are recruiting for in this project; how the project might contribute to social inclusion, such as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) activities, Apprenticeship, Internship.

Official Guidance

How will public funding accelerate or enhance your project’s development towards commercialisation. What impact would this award have on the organisations involved? Explain: what advantages public funding would offer your project, for example: appeal to investors, more partners, reduced risk or a faster route to market; the likely impact of the project outcomes on the organisations involved; what other routes of investment or means of support you have already engaged with and why they were not suitable; how any existing or potential investment or support will be used in conjunction with the grant funding; what your project would look like without public funding; how this project would change the R&D activities of all the organisations involved; why the project is unviable without this grant and outline the consequences if funding is not approved; why internal or private financing is not possible, detailing the decision-making process and providing evidence.

Official Guidance

How much will the project cost and how does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer? In terms of your project goals, explain: your total eligible project costs; the grant you are requesting; how each partner will finance their contributions to your project; how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer; how it compares to what you would spend your money on otherwise; the balance of costs and grant across the project partners; any subcontractor costs and why they are critical to your project.

Official Guidance

What impact might this project have outside the project team? Describe and, where possible, measure the economic benefits from the project such as productivity increases and import substitution, to: external parties; customers; others in the supply chain; broader industry; the UK economy. Describe and, where possible, measure: any expected impact on government priorities; any expected environmental impacts, either positive or negative; any expected regional impacts of the project. Describe any expected social impacts, either positive or negative, on, for example: quality of life; social inclusion or exclusion; jobs, such as safeguarding, creating, changing or displacing them; education; public empowerment; health and safety; regulations; diversity.

Official Guidance

What impact will this project have on the UK battery industry and its supply chain? Describe: environmental benefits as your product or process reaches the market; economic gains for UK customers, suppliers and the wider battery sector, including improvements to the UK’s supply of critical materials; effects on UK competitiveness in the global battery market; enhancements to the sustainability and security of the UK battery supply chain; benefits for businesses beyond the project consortium; measures that will reduce risks across the battery supply chain; long term outcomes and legacy of the project.