Deadline Date: March 18, 2026
The DRIVE35 Innovation Fund offers UK registered organisations the opportunity to apply for a share of up to £33 million to support late-stage collaborative research and development projects that accelerate the UK’s transition to zero emission vehicles and a net zero automotive industry.
The DRIVE35 Innovation Fund focuses on three core themes: promoting zero emission vehicle technologies, enhancing manufacturing competitiveness, and advancing future vehicle innovation through software-defined vehicles (SDV) and electrical/electronic (E/E) architectures. The initiative aims to support growth, transition, and security of the UK’s automotive supply chain, improve productivity, efficiency, and competitiveness, deliver vehicle technologies or manufacturing capabilities that enable zero emission vehicles, and target post-project commercialisation while creating and safeguarding high-value jobs and long-term economic benefits.
The fund is part of a wider programme led by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), working alongside Innovate UK, the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC), academia, and industry to invest in strategically important technologies and unlock capital investment in zero emission vehicles, batteries, and supply chains. Eligible projects must be collaborative, late-stage R&D targeting direct commercialisation, achieve TRL 7-8 or MRL 6-7 by completion, and carry out all work within the UK. Projects must request grant funding between £2.5 million and £25 million, with a minimum of 50% match funding, and can involve up to six partners.
For Theme 1, projects should focus on innovations that enable zero emissions in vehicle applications, including electrical energy storage, electric machines, power electronics, fuel cell systems, hydrogen management, lightweight structures, and ICEs using non-fossil fuels. Proposals can include upstream supply chain innovations, circularity and design for disassembly, and digitalisation of design, validation, and verification processes.
For Theme 2, projects should target manufacturing competitiveness, integrating digital tools such as AI, digital twins, vision systems, and IoT, decarbonising manufacturing processes, implementing lean and circular practices, and improving supply chain capability and flexibility for zero emission vehicle production.
For Theme 3, future vehicle innovation projects should focus on software-defined vehicles and E/E architectures, including software-native tools and processes, embedded software and connectivity, advanced control systems, scalable E/E architectures, high-performance computing, digital twin simulation, AI applications, and innovative tools, processes, and design practices for SDV and E/E systems.
Projects are expected to last between 18 and 36 months, begin by 1 October 2026, and demonstrate clear plans for exploitation in the UK. While this is a competitive process with a limited funding pool, strong proposals aligned with DRIVE35 objectives have a significant opportunity to contribute to the UK’s net zero automotive ambitions.
To lead a collaborative project, your organisation must be a UK-registered business of any size, collaborate with other UK-registered organisations, be a grant-claiming recipient, and include in your consortium a vehicle manufacturer or Tier 1 supplier who supplies parts directly to an original equipment manufacturer (OEM).
for more information, visit GOV.UK.
