Resilient Supply Chains: IUK’s New Competition Focuses on Rare Earth Elements Innovation

Innovate UK (IUK) is launching a competition designed to stimulate growth in a circular critical materials supply chain for rare earth elements (REEs), or alternative materials. REEs are defined as the group of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table, the fifteen Lanthanides plus Scandium and Yttrium.

The competition is split into two strands:

• Strand 1 is for early-stage feasibility studies. These projects will facilitate the adoption of new innovations in processes, technologies or services by industry, to grow a more resilient UK supply chain for REEs.
• Strand 2 is for mid and late-stage research and development (R&D) projects. These projects will accelerate the industrialisation and commercialisation of innovative processes, technologies and services, to grow a more resilient UK supply chain for REEs.

Collaborative innovation projects should address opportunities across the whole value chain and help increase supply chain resilience.

Up to £4 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects across both strands. In Strand 1, each project’s total grant funding request must be up to £250,000 to fund feasibility projects. In Strand 2, each project’s total grant funding request must be up to £700,000 to fund industrial research projects and experimental development projects.

This competition is open to collaborations only. To lead a project an organisation must be a UK registered business of any size. To collaborate with the lead, an organisation must be a UK registered business of any size, academic institution, charity, not for profit, public sector organisation, or research and technology organisation (RTO).

Applications are accepted between 15 January 2024 and 13 March 2024 (11:00).

(This report was the subject of a ResearchConnect news alert.)