Deadline Date: January 02, 2026
Applications are now open for Innovation Challenge for developing a separation technology to remove durable polymer layers from sheets of leather, leather pieces and leather fibres.
The challenge aims to achieve true circularity and meet customers’ net-zero goals by transitioning to processing coated post-consumer and post-industrial leather waste from end-of-life products such as car seats, aircraft interiors, cutting room floor waste and footwear, and involves developing a separation technology to remove durable polymer layers from sheets of leather, leather pieces and leather fibres, with polymer coatings that can fragment and contaminate the leather fibres during mechanical processing, making them less suitable for the challenge holder’s manufacturing process.
The focus areas of this opportunity are to achieve true circularity and meet Net Zero goals, developing a separation technology to remove durable polymer layers from sheets of leather, leather pieces and leather fibres, PU coatings, protective finishes, and adhesives, identifying novel separation technologies for polymer contaminants and finishes from sheets or pieces of leather waste and leather fibres, processing leather waste from end-of-life products or coated leather waste into sustainable materials, trialling selected solutions in pilot studies at the challenge holder’s state-of-the-art multi-million sqm annual capacity facility in the East of England for pilot-scale testing and validation of separation technologies, and the possibility of further adoption with co-investment through the challenge holder’s £3+ million annual R&D budget. Entrants must be established businesses, academic institutions, start-ups, SMEs, or individual entrepreneurs, and may be UK based, EU based or international solution providers.
The challenge holder is a global leader in sustainable and circular textiles employing approximately 150 people in the UK and exporting most of their production. Their current process uses ‘wet blue’ leather waste, which is uncoated chrome-tanned leather, to create high-performance sustainable materials for sectors including automotive, aviation, and consumer markets.
To advance circularity, the company seeks solutions that can separate polymer coatings and finishes from coated leather waste and leather fibres, enabling them to utilise significantly more leather waste from end-of-life products. This step is essential to unlocking true circular material flows and meeting their long-term sustainability and net-zero commitments.
Selected technologies will be offered the opportunity to undergo pilot-scale trials at the company’s large-capacity facility in the East of England. Validation through real-world testing will help determine the potential for wider adoption. For successful and promising solutions, there is openness to further development support, including co-investment through the company’s substantial annual research and development budget.
The competition welcomes participation from a broad range of innovators, including industry, academia, start-ups, SMEs and individual inventors. Eligible solution providers may be based in the UK, the EU or anywhere internationally, reflecting the global importance of solving this circularity challenge.
For more information, visit Innovate UK Business Connect.
