Applications Invited for Competition on Energy Catalyst Round 8: Clean Energy Access - Industrial Research

Energy Catalyst Round 8: Clean Energy Access - Industrial Research

About the Organization:

GOV.UK is a United Kingdom public sector information website, created by the Government Digital Service to provide a single point of access to HM Government services. The website was planned to replace the individual websites of hundreds of government departments and public bodies by 2014. By 1 May 2013, all 24 ministerial departments and 28 other organisations had their URLs redirecting to gov.uk.

Description

The aim of this competition is to support highly innovative, market-focused energy solutions in any technology or sector.

Your project must encourage the development of products and services that help countries in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, South East Asia or multiple regions access secure, low cost and low carbon energy. They must be targeted at people, public services and local enterprises who are unable to afford or access existing solutions, or who lack the time or expertise to successfully use those solutions.

Your proposal must also address all 3 elements of the energy ‘trilemma’:

• cost
• emissions
• security of supply and energy access

There are 3 options to apply into this competition. These are referred to as strands and will be run in parallel. The strands are dependent on the stage your project is at:

• Early stage for feasibility studies.
• Mid-stage for industrial research (this strand).
• Late stage for experimental development.

This is the mid stage competition for industrial research. It is your responsibility to make sure you submit your application for the correct stage.

Who can apply

To be eligible for funding you can be from any country. If you are an international organisation, you need to partner with a UK administrative lead and must be one of the following types of organisation:

• business
• research technology organisation (RTO)
• academic organisation
• charity or
• public sector organisation

International organisations must partner with a UK registered administrative lead. If you are a UK SME, you can apply on your own.

Your project must involve a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME), from anywhere in the world, either as a technical lead or consortium member.

Your project

Your project must:

• have total eligible costs between £50,000 and £1.5 million
• start by 1 April 2021
• end by 31 March 2023
• last between 12 and 24 months
• must intend to use the results to help deliver clean energy access in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and/or South East Asia
• must involve at least one partner with a legal entity in one of the focus countries in Africa, South Asia or South East Asia – this could include in-country offices
• must include a UK registered administrative lead
• must involve at least one small or medium-sized enterprise (SME), from anywhere in the world

Lead applicants

The administrative lead:

• must be a UK registered business of any size
• will be the recipient of the award and will distribute funding to the international partners (known as a ‘hub and spoke’ model)
• will manage and be accountable for the finances of the project in accordance with the terms and conditions of the award
• must claim grant funding through this competition

The technical lead:

• can be from anywhere in the world
• will lead on the development of the scope, work packages within the project and other work from a technical perspective
• must be a business (of any size)
• must claim grant funding through this competition

Your proposal

The Energy Catalyst Programme is open to any energy technology from any sector. However, to be in scope for round 8 your project must address the following 3 subjects:

• 1.Energy access.
• 2.The energy ‘trilemma’.
• 3.Gender and social inclusion.

Specific themes

Your project could focus on, for example:

• making new solutions more affordable
• integrating technologies in new systems or business models to help unlock finance and deployment
• developing technologies or partnership business models that address other barriers to deployment, such as skills required to develop or maintain technologies

unlocking underserved market segments that existing solutions are not reaching at scale, such as rural areas, frontier markets or specific energy end-users

Funding: They have allocated up to £20 million to fund innovation projects across the 3 strands in this competition. £5 million of this funding is provided by the Department for International Development (DFID).

Project size: Your mid stage project’s total eligible costs must be between £50,000 and £1.5 million.

If your project’s total eligible costs or duration falls outside of our eligibility criteria, you must provide justification by email to support@innovateuk.ukri.org at least 10 working days before the competition closes.

For more information please check the Link