Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund: What should it support? 

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The aim of this call is to identify the third wave of industry-led challenges in the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, which brings together the UK’s world-leading research with industry to tackle the biggest industrial and societal challenges of our time.

Already £1bn has already been allocated to the first wave of challenges, and further £725m has been announced for wave two, which will run in 2018 and 2019.

UK industry and research can submit proposals aligned clearly with at least one of the four grand challenges in government’s Industrial Strategy:

• Artificial Intelligence and the data economy
• clean growth
• the future of mobility
• meeting the needs of an ageing society

The opportunity

Proposed challenges should combine the best ideas from academia and industry to create tangible benefits for the UK in productivity and economic growth.

Submitted proposals should either be drafted collaboratively by a consortium of industry and academia, or be able to provide evidence of an industry-wide requirement.

Applicants will need to explain and evidence what the challenge is, the positive impact in addressing it, and the capabilities and strengths that the UK already has that would help become a world-leader in its research and commercialisation.

The challenge must:

• be compelling, focused, understandable and have a real benefit if solved
• be industry-led and in an area of existing strength
• take advantage of the depth and expertise of UK research
• offer a clear opportunity for sustainable growth, including global markets
• evidence that government support is necessary and of strategic importance
• increase productivity

Challenges can be of any size. Applicants will be expected to propose the amount of funding required from government and from industry to address your proposal.

How funding competitions are run to solve the challenge and what form they take will be decided at a later date. Innovate UK expects these to run in early 2019 and to start funding successful projects from April 2019.

For more information, click here.