Funding competition Battery manufacturing training initiative: expression of interest

UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £2 million to establish at least one training initiative for battery manufacturing. This funding is from the Faraday Battery Challenge. This is a phase 1 EoI of a potential 2 phase competition.

This competition is now closed.

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Competition sections

Description

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £2 million as part of the Faraday Battery Challenge. This is to develop one or more innovative battery manufacturing workforce training initiatives, supporting regional battery industry needs.

The aim of this competition is to:

  • support regional battery manufacturing industry workforce requirements
  • develop innovative approaches to battery workforce development
  • catalyse investment in battery workforce development
  • develop a battery industry workforce of the right quality and quantity in the UK
  • develop innovative approaches to outreach which will attract diverse talent to careers in the battery industry

Your proposal must focus on the vocational or technical training infrastructure requirements to train the battery manufacturing workforce. This can include facilities, equipment and people. We expect to fund at least one regional battery manufacturing training initiative.

This is the phase 1 expression of interest (EOI) of a 2 phase competition. Phase 2 is the full-proposal stage of the competition.

There is no funding at this EOI stage. If you are successful in phase 1, you will be invited to apply to the phase 2 full stage collaborative competition.

Your initiative must be established and start to deliver training within the phase 2 funded timescale. We encourage ambitious, impactful projects which can meet the aims of this competition.

If we receive multiple submissions invited to phase 2 from one region, we may encourage you to work together to submit a phase 2, full-stage application.

In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated.

Funding type

Grant

Project size

Your full stage 2 project’s total grant funding request must be up to £2 million.

Who can apply

Your project

Your full stage 2 project must:

  • have a grant funding request of up to £2 million
  • start by 1 October 2023
  • end on 31 March 2025
  • last for 18 months
  • carry out all of its project work in the UK
  • intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

You must only include eligible project costs in your application.

Under current restrictions, this competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian and Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian and Belarusian source.

Lead organisation

To lead a project or work alone your organisation must be a UK registered:

  • business of any size
  • academic institution
  • research and technology organisation (RTO)
  • charity
  • not for profit
  • public sector

More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.


Project team

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

  • business of any size
  • academic institution
  • charity
  • not for profit
  • public sector organisation
  • research and technology organisation (RTO)

Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once accepted, partners will be asked to login or to create an account and enter their own project costs into the Innovation Funding Service.

To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and at least one other organisation must apply for funding when entering their costs into the full stage 2 application.

Non-funded partners

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 project costs.

Subcontractors

Subcontractors are allowed in phase 2 of this competition.

Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.

You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use suppliers from the UK.

You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.

All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.


Number of applications

A business, academic institution, research and technology organisation (RTO), charity, not for profit or public sector organisation can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in a further 2 applications.

If an organisation is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications.

Previous applications

You cannot use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.

We will not award you funding if you have:

Subsidy control (and State aid where applicable)

This competition provides funding in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Further information about the Subsidy requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk)

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 Subsidy Control Act 2022 or the State aid rules, you should take independent legal advice. We are unable to advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations.

You must always make sure 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

In this competition up to £2 million has been allocated to fund innovative battery manufacturing workforce training initiatives. Funding awarded in phase 2 will be in the form of a grant.

If your organisation’s work on the project will be commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically but for the purpose of this project will be undertaking commercial or economic activity.

Your phase 2 project will be categorised as industrial research, 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

For more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance.

If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.

Research participation

The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 100% 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 100% 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 project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not for profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation

Your proposal

The aim of this competition is to:

  • support regional battery manufacturing industry workforce requirements
  • develop innovative approaches to battery workforce development
  • catalyse investment in battery workforce development
  • develop a battery industry workforce of the right quality and quantity in the UK
  • develop innovative approaches to outreach which will attract diverse talent to careers in the battery industry

Your proposal must focus on the vocational or technical training infrastructure requirements to train the battery manufacturing workforce at skills level 2 to 3. This can include facilities, equipment and people. We expect to fund at least one regional battery manufacturing training initiative.

This is phase 1 expression of interest (EoI) of a 2 phase competition. Phase 2 is the full proposal stage of the competition. There is no funding at this EOI stage. If you are successful in phase 1, you will be invited to apply to the phase 2 full stage competition.

Your EoI proposal must demonstrate:

  • the regional training need
  • a description of the training initiative
  • how you will ensure the training quality and appropriateness
  • the focus of the training initiative
  • your approach to outreach and equality, diversity and inclusion
  • how the initiative will connect learners with battery careers
  • alignment with other electrification training initiatives within the region, if appropriate
  • the consortium you will bring together, this must include businesses of all sizes and the regional training ecosystem
  • how you will leverage cash and in-kind support to deliver the initiative
  • your approach to developing a sustainable business model

We will fund at least one training initiative for developing the technical or vocational workforce for manufacturing of battery technologies, as a priority area of need.

Your project can include funding for:

  • physical assets such as physical training equipment or equipment which can enable virtual or augmented reality training, for example mock clean and dry room facilities
  • digital assets such as software or data to enable training
  • access to facilities
  • trainers who will supervise training equipment
  • training for trainers
  • outreach and engagement activities related to improving equality, diversity and inclusion
  • consumables related to training and outreach

This list is not intended to be exhaustive.

In your phase 2 full stage collaborative proposal you must demonstrate:

  • further details on the needs of the region
  • a detailed approach
  • your long term vision
  • a sustainable business model
  • that you have brought together a consortium capable of delivering the vision
  • wider outcomes
  • added value
  • full project management and risk management approaches
  • full costings
  • evidence of all forms of additional investment from alternative sources to leverage the grant funding, for example additional financial contributions, expertise and resources

Your initiative must be established and start to deliver training within the funded timescale

Portfolio approach
We want to fund a variety of projects in the full stage phase 2 of the competition. Our decision will be based on the identified priority need for a trained battery manufacturing workforce, theme and location. We call this a portfolio approach.

Specific themes

Your project must focus on the skills level 2 to 3 for the production workforce for manufacturing of battery technologies including:

  • electrode manufacture
  • cell assembly
  • formation, aging and testing
  • module and pack assembly

Your project can also address one or more of the following:

  • the workforce for battery technology research and development, for example research technicians
  • the workforce for the scale-up of battery technologies
  • the maintenance and engineering workforce within a battery manufacturing environment
  • the quality control and assurance workforce within a battery manufacturing environment

Projects we will not fund

We are not funding projects that are:

  • not related to battery manufacturing
  • research or innovation projects developing battery technologies
  • not leveraging sufficient additional support to deliver the activity above the funded project
  • commissioning building construction
  • general building infrastructure not specific to the training needs for example, office computers or wifi access
  • focussed on University-level undergraduate or postgraduate level skills (for example, Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate-level skills

We cannot fund projects that are:

  • dependent on export performance, for example giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country
  • dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product

7 March 2023
Competition opens
9 March 2023
Online briefing event: register to attend
4 April 2023 11:00am
Competition closes
20 April 2023 4:12pm
Applicants notified

Before you start

You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.

Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure:

  • that all the information provided in the application is correct
  • your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria
  • all sections of the application are marked as complete
  • if collaborative, that all partners have completed all assigned sections and accepted the terms and conditions (T&Cs)

You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline. You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline.

What we ask you

The application is split into 2 sections:

1. Project details.

2. Application questions.

Accessibility and inclusion

We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes providing support, in the form of reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us. Read more on how we are making our application process more accessible and inclusive for everyone.

You must contact us as early as possible in the application process. We recommend contacting us at least 15 working days before the competition closing date to ensure we can provide you with the most suitable support possible.

You can contact us by emailing support@iuk.ukri.org or calling 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

1. Project details

This section provides background for your application and is not scored.

Application team

Decide which organisations will work with you on your project and invite people from those organisations to help complete the application.

Application details

Give your project’s title, start date and duration.

Project summary

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.

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 not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

2. Application questions

Edit made on the 13/03/2023 to question 4 to add additional guidance.

All your answers will be scored apart from question 1. The EoI assessment will be made by the Faraday Battery Challenge Team.

You must answer all questions. Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers.

Question 1. Applicant location (not scored)

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 the geographical location of all applicants.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 2: Regional context

What is the regional context with respect to battery manufacturing, electrification and training?

Explain:

  • the current and potential future battery workforce needs of the identified region based on regional industry demand
  • the social, economic and political dynamics and sensitivities within the region
  • the regional skills and training ecosystem currently in place, for example further education colleges, institutes of technology, university technical colleges, universities and other regional training providers
  • how your project fits into the region’s broader electrification skills plans

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It can include Letters of Support, diagrams and charts. 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 3: Vision and approach

What is your vision for the training initiative? How will you address the battery manufacturing skills needs within the identified region?

Explain:

  • your vision for the training initiative and how this sits within the wider electrification context
  • the approach to developing the training initiative
  • the approach to outreach and equality diversity and inclusion
  • how the training initiative will meet the battery workforce development needs identified within the region
  • how the training initiative will respond to current and future up-skilling, re-skilling and new-skilling requirements
  • how you will develop a sustainable business model, including financial and operational models, to ensure continuation beyond the initially funded period
  • how you plan to leverage all grant funding from alternative sources in addition to the direct project costs, for example additional financial contributions, expertise and resources

Your answer can be up to 600 words long.

You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It can include diagrams and charts. It must be a PDF, up to 2 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 4. Team and resources

Who is in the proposed project team and what are their roles? What experience and resources do the team have to deliver your full stage project?

Explain:

  • the consortium that you will build for the full stage competition and their role in the approach you will be taking
  • the resources, equipment and facilities needed for the project and how you will access or procure them
  • the current relationships between project partners you are working with
  • any additional partners or subcontractors you need to engage with for the full stage project
  • your current position in the skills community and supply or value chains

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It can include diagrams and charts. It must be a PDF, up to 2 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 5. Project timelines and risks

How will you manage the project effectively and how will you manage risks appropriately?

Provide:

  • an overview of your full stage project plan and milestones
  • an assessment of key risks and uncertainties of the project, including technical, commercial, and how you will mitigate these risks

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 6. Costs

What are your estimated total project costs for your full stage project? How much grant will you request? How will you ensure value for money?

In terms of your project goals, explain:

  • your estimated total project costs
  • an outline of what the funding will be spent on
  • how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer

Your answer can be up to 600 words long.

Background and further information

The Faraday Battery Challenge is seeking to address crucial battery manufacturing training needs by catalysing investment in battery manufacturing training.

Funding is available for the equipment, facilities and trainers for training infrastructure to develop the vocational or technical battery manufacturing workforce at skills level 2 to 3.

The UK battery manufacturing industry is growing to meet the demands of society as it moves away from fossil fuels and towards electrification. The Faraday Institution predicts that by 2040 UK electric vehicle (EV) battery demand alone will reach almost 200 GWh per year, which is equivalent to approximately 10 gigafactories.

For EV battery manufacturing, this equates to approximately 35,000 new jobs to operate and manage gigafactories, with a further estimated 65,000 new jobs across the battery supply chain. The battery gigafactory workforce is made up of:

  • 50% production staff
  • 30% maintenance and engineering
  • 10% quality
  • 9% other (including IT and data management)
  • 1% management

As other sectors look to electrify, there will be an even greater demand for batteries and opportunity to create even more battery manufacturing jobs. There is a critical need to put in place the training infrastructure to train the thousands of production, maintenance, engineering and quality staff to resource the UK’s gigafactory ambitions and attract further investment in battery gigafactories and the supply chain.

This Faraday Battery Challenge funding is designed to catalyse additional investment in battery manufacturing workforce development in the regions that need it. Different regions will have different social, political and economic dynamics which mean that a regionally designed solution is the most effective to maximise the relevance of the initiative.

This funding may sit alongside other electrification workforce development initiatives within the identified region. The funding may build on existing skills and training networks or build new ones.

If this model is successful, there may be opportunities to extend this regional approach to other regions

Data sharing

This competition is operated by Innovate UK.

Innovate UK is directly accountable to you for its holding and processing of your information, including any personal data and confidential information. Data is held in accordance with our own policies. Accordingly, Innovate UK will be data controllers for personal data submitted during the application. Innovate UK’s Privacy Policy is accessible here.

Innovate UK complies with the requirements of GDPR, and is committed to upholding the data protection principles, and protecting your information. The Information Commissioner’s Office also has a useful guide for organisations, which outlines the data protection principles.

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

If you need more information about how to apply or you want to submit your application in Welsh, email support@iuk.ukri.org or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

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