Foundation Industries and Supply Chains Innovation Exchange Program (UK)

The Foundation Industries and related supply chains (e.g. mining, automotive, construction) Innovation Exchange (iX) provides grant funding to solve challenges to help improve resource and energy efficiency in UK materials and manufacturing. The Foundation Industries consist of the cement, metal, glass, chemicals, paper and ceramics sectors.

Aims

• Their aim is to create collaborative partnerships, developing and adopting new technologies that can impact on industrial decarbonisation and unlock economic opportunity for the UK in more sustainable materials and products.

Award Information

• Awards will be up to £25,000 per challenge partnership, terms and conditions apply. Please note that, in accordance with the iX process, all funding will be directed to solution providers. Innovate UK Business Connect will help to identify and select potential solution providers: the chosen solution provider will then be eligible to apply for £25,000 grant funding to kickstart the development of the solution. The businesses who submit challenges will benefit from the solutions to the problems, but will not receive direct financial support.

What are they looking for?

• They are looking for Challenge Holders that are seeking new technologies and solution providers to help overcome a technical innovation challenge. The technical challenges should lead to the development and adoption of more sustainable materials and/or products. This could include for example:
  • Improving resource efficiency e.g. valorisation of waste
  • Improving energy efficiency e.g. optimising production processes
  • Alternative materials with lower carbon footprint or other environmental impacts
• They are looking for specific challenges that will have the greatest potential impact for sustainability and realising economic opportunity for the UK materials and manufacturing industry. The challenge should be related to your business needs but ideally will have benefits to wider industry.
• Challenge Holders should be willing to work with new technologies and solution providers from other sectors, to solve their challenge.
• For this opportunity, they are looking for challenges from revenue generating businesses.

Ineligibility Criteria

• Organisations that are pre-revenue are not eligible.
  • This is not for organisations that are trying to solve an existing challenge primarily through their own organisation. For example, if you are developing a solution to your proposed challenge and looking to commercialise that solution, this is not the right opportunity for you.
  • If you have a technology that requires an end user to test/trial and aid product development, what you are suggesting is technology push rather than a technology/solution pull by a challenge holder and doesn’t require the solution provider to innovate and provide a solution for the challenge holder – this would not be eligible.
  • If you already know who you want to work with and/or the preferred solution, this would not be eligible, as iX is a cross-sector programme supporting innovation transfer by matching industry challenges to innovative companies from other sectors. Therefore it is not suitable for those who already know their preferred solution provider.

For more information, visit Innovate UK Business Connect.