Application Deadline: Wednesday 9 March 2022 11:00am
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
In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. The competition closes at 11 am UK time on the deadline stated.
Eligibility
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 applicationsThere 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.
Application Procedure
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.
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.
Official Website: Automotive Transformation Fund Feasibility Studies
