UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has announced a £17.6 million research competition intended to help automotive and aerospace manufacturers move recently developed technologies and processes into industrial production. The Manufacturing Scale-up Research and Innovation opportunity will fund projects addressing the technical barriers between laboratory development and repeatable manufacturing, with applications opening on 14 October 2026.
Eligible UK research organisations must apply with industrial partners and demonstrate access to an appropriate manufacturing environment. Applications close on 9 December, while an intent to submit survey must be completed by 11 November. Subject to assessment and peer review, UKRI expects to support up to two large projects and up to ten smaller projects.
The programme concentrates on production processes for technologies that have already been developed, where a successful laboratory demonstration may leave substantial manufacturing work unfinished. Repeatable factory output requires control over materials, equipment settings and inspection methods across many batches and operating cycles, including conditions that may not have been represented in the original experiment.
Increasing the production rate means coordinating materials preparation, forming, assembly, finishing and inspection as a connected process. Equipment that operates consistently on its own may introduce delays or variations when its cycle times and material handling arrangements have to match those of adjacent operations. Their combined effect on yield, throughput, maintenance and cost determines whether the route can support sustained industrial output.
Within aerospace, possible research areas include advanced composites, additive manufacturing and automated assembly of complex components. Composite manufacture relies on material preparation, placement, consolidation and curing, with temperature, pressure and sequence affecting the finished properties. Increasing throughput while controlling those variables requires equipment and measurement arrangements suited to production conditions.
Where aerospace components must satisfy prescribed quality or certification requirements, inspection has to identify defects that could affect performance and production records must establish the route taken by each part. Material batches, operating conditions and examination results need to remain traceable to the individual component. A faster fabrication operation may achieve little overall benefit if it introduces more rework or additional downstream inspection.
In additive manufacturing, comparable production constraints arise, where machine settings, feedstock condition, thermal history and subsequent processing influence geometry and material properties. Consistent output across machines, operating periods and batches requires procedures for identifying variations before components move to assembly or service.
Automotive research within the competition may cover electrified propulsion systems, motors, power electronics and manufacturing processes associated with connected or autonomous vehicles. Although these products use different materials and production routes from aerospace components, they share a need for reliable testing, controlled assembly and repeatability at commercially relevant volumes.
Motor production illustrates how small changes in material placement, assembly geometry or insulation quality can alter performance and reliability. Power electronic assemblies likewise depend on consistent electrical interconnections and thermal paths, with suitable inspection and testing arrangements required as output increases.
UKRI identifies robotics, digital twins, artificial intelligence, advanced measurement and integrated manufacturing data among the methods that could support the work. Process models and automated measurements can provide engineers with information about developing faults, provided their predictions have been checked against the actual equipment and the range of conditions encountered in production.
Reliable process analysis also requires the measurement to be associated with the component, production stage and equipment condition at the time it was recorded. Connecting sensor data with inspection results allows recurring defects and variable output to be investigated, provided materials can be traced through the production sequence and models are updated when operating conditions change.
Applicants must provide access to an industrial scale research environment or suitable facilities at a partner’s premises. Industrial partners must help define the manufacturing problem and plan how the research findings could be used, with letters of support and matched funding commitments required from the outset.
Large projects can have full economic costs from £4.5 million to £5.8 million and run for up to four years, while smaller awards cover projects costing up to £600,000 over no more than two years. UKRI will meet 80 per cent of eligible full economic costs. The total £17.6 million allocation remains available for this competition, with individual awards determined after assessment.
When a new monitoring method moves from research into a factory, it may require connections to existing plant controls, revised maintenance procedures and trained operators. Industrial partners can assess those integration requirements during the research programme, including whether replacement components, supplier support and equipment access will be available during routine production.
Adoption across an automotive or aerospace supply chain can require further evidence beyond the work conducted by the original research team. Customers may need revised component specifications, manufacturing records and qualification testing before accepting a new process, particularly where an altered method changes the way quality is demonstrated.
A separate Manufacturing Scale-up Network Plus opportunity will support links between researchers and industry across advanced manufacturing. Successful competition projects are expected to engage with that network when it is established, although the £17.6 million research awards and the Network Plus funding remain separate programmes.
The competition opens at 9am on 14 October, closes at 4pm on 9 December 2026, and requires successful projects to start by 1 September 2027. As funded teams develop their processes, qualification results and production trials will provide the evidence needed to assess whether those methods can be adopted under industrial operating and cost constraints.
