Funding competition Automotive Transformation Fund Feasibility Studies: Round 3
Organisations can apply for a share of up to £10 million for business case feasibility studies to support scale up of the UK’s zero emission automotive supply chain.
- Competition opens: Monday 24 January 2022
- Competition closes: Wednesday 9 March 2022 11:00am
This competition is now closed.
Competition sections
Description
The Automotive Transformation Fund is delivered by the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) and partners, Innovate UK, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Department for International Trade (DIT). It supports the industrialisation at scale of a high-value electrified automotive supply chain in the UK.
APC is seeking proposals from single organisations or consortiums for business case feasibility studies up to the value of £1 million.
These feasibility studies must produce a decision-ready business case, in preparation for projects which will develop large scale manufacturing facilities in the UK.
The resulting projects must support the UK automotive industry in:
- increasing business confidence in making large scale manufacturing investments
- building electrified vehicle supply chains
Funding type
Grant
Project size
Your project’s total eligible project costs can be up to £1 million.
Who can apply
Your project
Your project must:
- have total project costs of no more than £1 million
- produce a suitably detailed and reasoned business case through a feasibility study, to aid a future investment decision
- start on or after the 1 May 2022
- end on or before 31 March 2023
- be completed within 6 months
If your project’s total eligible costs or duration fall outside of the above criteria, you must contact the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) directly at atf@apcuk.co.uk at least 10 days before the competition closes. APC will decide whether to approve your request.
Lead organisation
To lead a project or work alone your organisation must:
- be a UK registered business of any size
- be a grant recipient
- carry out its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
Non-UK registered companies and research organisations are eligible to apply for funding as a lead or part of a project team if they:
- set up an active UK registered business before they start their project
- carry out all funded work in the UK
- meet all other criteria stated above
Academic institutions cannot lead or work alone.
Project team
To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must:
- be a UK registered business, academic institution, charity, not-for-profit, public sector organisation, research and technology organisation (RTO) or a non-UK registered company or research organisation
- carry out its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
If collaborative, the lead and at least one other organisation must claim funding by entering their costs during the application.
Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service by the lead to collaborate on the project. Once accepted, partners will be asked to login or create an account and enter their own project costs into the Innovation Funding Service.
Non UK partners receiving funding must set up and provide evidence of an active UK registered business before they start work on the project.
Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example non-UK businesses. Their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs.
Subcontractors
Subcontractors are allowed in this competition and must be selected through a participant’s normal procurement process. Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK. If an overseas subcontractor is selected, a case must be made as to why no UK-based subcontractor can be used including a detailed rationale, evidence of UK companies that have been approached and reasons why they were unable to do so.
We expect subcontractor costs to be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs. A cheaper cost is not deemed as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.
Number of applications
There are no restrictions on the number of applications an eligible organisation can lead or partner on. Should you be successful, we will ask you to confirm you have the capacity to run multiple projects simultaneously.Previous applications
You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.
You can make a maximum of 2 applications to Innovate UK with any given proposal. If Innovate UK judges that your proposal is not materially different from your previous proposal, it will be counted towards this maximum.
If your application goes through to assessment and is deemed unsuccessful, you can reapply with the same proposal once more, taking into account the feedback received from the assessors.
We will not award you funding if you have:
- failed to exploit a previously funded project
- an overdue independent accountant’s report
- failed to comply with grant terms and conditions
- overdue payments to APC
Subsidy control (and State aid where applicable)
This competition provides funding in line with the UK's obligations and commitments to Subsidy Control. Further information about the UK Subsidy Control requirements can be found within the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation agreement and the subsequent guidance from the department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Innovate UK is unable to award organisations that are considered to be in financial difficulty. We will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage.
EU State aid rules now only apply in limited circumstances. Please see our general guidance to check if these rules apply to your organisation.
Further Information
If you are unsure about your obligations under the UK Subsidy Control regime or the State aid rules, you should take independent legal advice. We are unable to advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations.
You must make sure at all times that the funding awarded to you is compliant with all current Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom.
This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to or actually distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries.
Funding
The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) have allocated up to £10 million to fund innovation projects in this competition.
You must request the minimum amount of funding needed for your project.
If the majority of your organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically.
For feasibility studies you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:
- up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
- up to 60% if you are a medium-sized organisation
- up to 50% if you are a large organisation
Research participation
The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them.
Of that 30% you could get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:
- 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are a Je-s registered institution such as an academic
- 100% of your eligible project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not-for-profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation
APC levy
A 3% levy is payable to the APC by all partners on grant received.
Your proposal
The Automotive Transformation Fund will support the industrialisation at scale of a high value electrified automotive supply chain in the UK. More information on the Automotive Transformation Fund can be found on the APC website.
This competition is to support companies in the development of an investment business case to secure large scale automotive supply chain manufacturing in the UK.
These business case feasibility studies must:
- result in a detailed business case enabling a decision either to invest in the project, and therefore the UK, or showing clearly the additional steps or measures to do so
- prioritise the automotive sector, but this does not exclude spill over use in other sectors
- deliver a closeout report and attend a meeting with APC, to review the business case, its outcomes and next steps, prior to closure and payment of the final claim
Specific themes
Your business case must prioritise the scale up in areas mentioned in the Automotive Transformation Strategy for an electrified supply chain. Your project must prioritise scale up and can focus on but not be limited to:
- batteries, including cells (gigafactories)
- electric motors and drives
- power electronics
- fuel cells and on-vehicle hydrogen storage
- upstream supply chain for: batteries including cells, electric motors and drives, power electronics or fuel cells and on-vehicle hydrogen storage
Research categories
Projects we will not fund
We are not funding projects which are:
- not aligned with the aims of the Automotive Transformation Fund
- purely R&D
- technical feasibility studies, except where validating UK compatibility and incidental to the economic viability study
- not of sustained benefit to the automotive sector primarily
- centred on technologies or processes which are not mature and ready to scale at pace
- focussed primarily on fossil-fuelled internal combustion technology
- focussed primarily on the use of digital or data technologies
- centred on low carbon fuels for combustion engines
- centred around off-vehicle charging infrastructure
- dependent on export performance
- dependent on domestic inputs usage
- 24 January 2022
- Competition opens
- 1 February 2022
- Online briefing event: watch the recording
- 9 March 2022 11:00am
- Competition closes
- 8 April 2022
- Applicants notified
- 8 April 2022
- Applicants notified
Before you start
You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.
What we ask you
The application is split into 3 sections:
1.Project details.
2.Application questions.
3.Finances.
1. Project details
This section provides background for the assessors and is not scored.
Application team
Decide which organisations will work with you on the project. Invite people from those organisations to help complete the application.
Application details
The lead applicant must complete this section. Give your project’s title, start date and duration.
Subsidy Basis
Will the project, including any related activities, you want Innovate UK to fund, affect trade between Northern Ireland and the EU?
You and all your project partners must complete this question before you can submit your application.
Research category
Select the type of research you will undertake.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
We collect and report on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) data to address under-representation in business innovation and ensure equality, diversity and inclusion across all our activities.
You must complete this EDI survey and then select yes in the application question. The survey will ask you questions on your gender, age, ethnicity and disability status. You will always have the option to ‘prefer not to say’ if you do not feel comfortable sharing this information.
Project summary
Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign experts to assess your application.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Public description
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 could happen before you start your project.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.
Scope
Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition. If your project is not in scope it will be immediately rejected and will not be sent for assessment. We will give you feedback on why.
Your answer can be up to 400 words long.2. Application questions
The assessors will score your answers and you will receive feedback for each question.
You must answer all questions in the context of the Automotive Transformation Fund. Your answer to each question can be up to 400 words long. Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers.
Question 1. Business Opportunity
What is the business opportunity you have identified to improve and sustain the UK automotive supply chain?
Explain:
- where you have identified that the UK automotive supply chain can be improved and how this aligns with the ATF
- why a feasibility study is needed to support your internal investment decision or prepare you for an Expression of Interest leading to a full ATF application
- how you will measure your project’s success
- your progress to date
- any gaps in your understanding which you will explore in the feasibility study
You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It can include diagrams and charts. It must be a PDF and can be up to 2 A4 pages long and no larger than 10 MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.
Question 2. Scale and Pace
How will this feasibility study impact the scale and pace of further investment to address the business opportunity?
Explain:
- the changes you have identified as needed such as personnel, material or other
- the scale of the change required
- the timeline for this scale-up
- any risks, actions or influences which may affect this timeline, positively or negatively
- how the feasibility study reduces risk in the eventual project
- any gaps in your understanding which you will explore in the feasibility study
You can submit one appendix. It can include diagrams and charts. It must be a PDF and can be up to 2 A4 pages long and no larger than 10 MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.
Question 3. Technology and Processes
What technical areas will the feasibility study address, and how do these relate to the business opportunity?
Explain:
- the technology or process in detail, its maturity and readiness for scale up
- the current best in class, how this and the overall UK capability compares before and after your project
- the background IP you are taking into the project, or the IP the project will create
- any gaps in your understanding which you will explore in the feasibility study
You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF and can be up to 4 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.
Question 4. Trade and Competitiveness
How will the feasibility study improve your understanding of the specific market opportunity for your organisation? Will addressing this opportunity improve both your organisation and the UK’s competitiveness?
Explain:
- your current understanding of the market opportunity and how this will develop through the feasibility study
- your initial assessment as to how you expect your market share to improve post feasibility study, evidenced where possible
- how you will develop a plan to engage this opportunity
- any evidence of interest from potential customers
- your measures of competitiveness and your initial assessment against them
- how the project would improve your and the UK’s competitiveness, for example in terms of Rules of Origin
Question 5. Speed and Sustainability of Benefits
How will the feasibility study identify benefits to your organisation and the wider UK? How will you fix the timeline on which these benefits will be realised?
Explain:
- your strategy in this area and how the feasibility study contributes to this
- how the outcomes of the feasibility study will be disseminated inside and outside of your organisation
- the expected benefits to the UK which will be identified during the feasibility study, for example: reshoring manufacturing, reversing market failures and providing jobs
- when benefits will be realised and options to accelerate this
Question 6. Risk
What are the main risks to this feasibility study producing a decision-ready business case? How will the feasibility study highlight risks to follow on investments in the UK?
Explain:
- any known unknowns and how these will be managed early in the feasibility study
- decision points and evaluation gates employed during the feasibility study, including the final evaluation against success criteria
- how the support of internal and external partners will be used to achieve a compelling business case
- the overall context internally and externally, such as a PESTLE analysis
- how the feasibility study will be used to reduce the risk in the project delivery
You must submit a risk register as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF and can be up to 2 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.
Question 7. Costs
How much will the feasibility study cost?
In terms of the feasibility study goals, explain:
- the total eligible costs
- the grant you are requesting
- how each partner will finance their contributions to the feasibility study
- the balance of costs and grant across the partners
- any subcontractor costs and why they are critical to the feasibility study
3. Finances
Each organisation in your project must complete their own project costs, organisation details and funding details in the application. Academic institutions must complete and upload a Je-S form.
For full details on what costs you can claim see our project costs guidance.Background and further information
Formed in 2013 the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) accelerates the industrialisation of technologies which help to realise net zero emission vehicles. It is at the heart of the UK government’s commitment to end the country’s contribution to global warming by 2050.
Intended to support industrialisation at scale of a high-value electrified automotive supply chain in the UK, the Automotive Transformation Fund is a new programme delivered by the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC). Its aim is to establish a competitive and sustainable UK supply chain.
This Automotive Transformation Fund competition is formally delivered in partnership between APC, Innovate UK, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Department for International Trade (DIT).
APC will:
- work with consortia to support bid development
- support the competition process
- act as advocates for consortia to improve future competitions.
- support project delivery once contracts are awarded, through APC staff
- act as a source of guidance for consortia during the critical project start-up phase, and while projects are running, through APC-appointed project delivery leads
- monitor the impact of the project portfolio
Innovate UK will:
- deliver the competition process and technical assessment framework
- support and manage applicant queries about the competition process
- issue and manage grant contracts
- provide formal assurance that projects are meeting their commitments once they are running (known as project monitoring)
- approve financial claims and issue funds
Where a project is linked to overseas investment in the UK, or export of goods from the UK, DIT will:
- provide a way for overseas businesses to contact DIT staff in their country, via knowledgeable staff at UK embassies and consulates
- support potential investors with sector-specific information and facts about the UK economy
- provide support for investors looking for a UK location and data benchmarking to demonstrate the competitive position of the UK
- provide introductions to other government departments and partner organisations for businesses setting up in the UK for the first time or expanding their existing UK investments
- support business wishing to export through trade missions and customer connections, supported by UK embassies and consulates
- offer export finance support to businesses wishing to trade overseas, through DIT’s UKEF organisation
- provide ongoing after care customer support through a dedicated relationship manager
APC can help by:
- providing general guidance regarding interpretation of competition rules and guidelines on an informal basis
- helping your consortium to structure the bid development process
- explaining common pitfalls
- answering questions about whether or not your project is within scope
In securing funding from this programme, each participant receiving a grant will pay an industrial contribution to the APC operating budget. This is set at 3% and is payable on each grant claim made.
Any information received by Innovate UK for this competition may be shared with APC, BEIS and DIT. Innovate UK has a data sharing agreement in place with these bodies which safeguards both personal and commercial data in accordance with data protection legislation.
Note that the APC role is to provide indicative guidance rather than formal advice. To contact APC email info@apcuk.co.uk or call +44 (0)24 7652 8700.
Find a project partner
If you want help to find a project partner, contact Innovate UK KTN.
Support for SMEs from Innovate UK EDGE
If you receive an award, you will be contacted about working with an innovation and growth specialist at Innovate UK EDGE. This service forms part of our funded offer to you.
These specialists focus on growing innovative businesses and ensuring that projects contribute to their growth. Working one-to-one, they can help you to identify your best strategy and harness world-class resources to grow and achieve scale.
We encourage you to engage with Innovate UK EDGE, delivered by a knowledgeable and objective specialist near you.
Contact us
Innovate UK is committed to making support for applicants accessible to everyone.
We can provide help for applicants who face barriers when making an application. This might be as a result of a disability, neurodiversity or anything else that makes it difficult to use our services. We can also give help and make other reasonable adjustments for you if your application is successful.
Need help with this service? Contact us