DRIVE35 Innovation Fund: Collaborate 3
Department for Business and Trade
What it funds
DescriptionDRIVE35 (Driving Research and Investment in Vehicle Electrification) is a Department for Business and Trade led programme aimed at transforming the UK's automotive industry. This is achieved by supporting R&D and the commercial scale up of innovative zero emission vehicle technologies, and unlocking capital investment in zero emission vehicles, batteries and their wider supply chain.The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) will work with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovat
Who can apply
Who can applyYour projectYour project must:have a total grant funding request of between £2.5 million and £20 millionbe late stage R&D targeting direct commercialisation at the end of the projectbe collaborativebe a minimum of 50% match funded, for example, if you are asking for £2.5 million in grant your total eligible project costs must be a minimum of £5 millionbe in line with at least one of the three scope themesachieve TRL 7-8 or MRL 6-7 by completion, based on published Automotive Technology and Manufacturing Readiness Levelslast between 18 and 36 monthsstart from 1 May 2027Any organisation receiving funding must carry out its project work in the UK, intend to exploit the results in the UK, and spend most of the funding within the UK.Projects must always start on the first of the month, even if this is a non-working day. You must not start your project until your Grant Offer Letter has been approved by Innovate UK. Any delays within Project Setup may mean we need to delay your project start date.You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs.If your project’s total grant funding request or duration falls outside o
How to apply
Before you startYou 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 correctyour proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteriaall sections of the application are marked as completethat 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 youThe application is split into three sections:Project details.Application questions.Finances.Accessibility and InclusionWe welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This
Last checked against the official source: 3 Jul 2026. Scheme parameters are set by the funder and can change — verify before applying, or let us do it for you.
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