By ATN
Summary: The UK Department for Business and Trade, alongside the APC and Innovate UK, has launched a new Scale-up Fund to bridge the gap between R&D and industrialisation. Offering £2.5m–£20m in match-funded grants, the scheme will accelerate zero-emission vehicle technologies and strengthen UK manufacturing competitiveness. It supports pilot and demonstration-scale facilities to build confidence in large-scale investment and electrified supply chains. The initiative is part of DRIVE35 and aims to boost UK vehicle production to over 1.3 million units annually by 2035.
Auto Tech View
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Key engineering takeaway: The Scale-up Fund provides financial backing to pilot and demonstration-scale projects, turning zero-emission R&D into scalable production processes.
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Why it matters: Bridging the “valley of death” helps innovative automotive technologies reach the market faster, strengthening UK supply chains and supporting long-term electrification targets.
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT), in partnership with the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) and Innovate UK, is launching a new scale-up initiative to address the so-called valley of death between R&D and industrialisation. The initiative will fast-track new technologies, making innovation capabilities a commercial reality.
Opening for applications today,17 September 2025, the Scale-up Fund offers match-funded grants of between £2.5m to £20m to UK-registered businesses, large or small, single entity or collaborations, to enable rapid scale-up of essential zero-emission vehicle technologies and enhance UK manufacturing competitiveness.
The most significant newcomer to DRIVE35, this zero-emission funding programme, focuses on promoting co-investment with the private sector to overcome the intrinsic barriers to market-entry faced by innovative companies.
The fund is designed to support the development of new pilot-scale and demonstration-scale “first-of-a-kind” production processes and facilities. Funded projects* support the UK automotive industry by increasing confidence in large-scale manufacturing investments and building electrified supply chains.
Ian Constance, CEO, APC and Zenzic, said:
“The launch of the groundbreaking Scale-Up Fund is another vote of confidence for the UK automotive sector. The Scale-Up fund aims to bring forward innovation to address the challenges businesses face in getting their transformational technology to the market, and this commitment to innovation is exactly what the industry needs.
The APC is committed to sustaining and enhancing the UK’s long-term automotive capabilities and investments through knowledge-sharing, collaboration, and innovation. Focusing on the following three key funding pillars/areas – Innovation, Scale-up, and Transformation.
Investment is key to helping the UK increase the volume of vehicles made in the UK to over 1.3 million cars and commercial vehicles by 2035. The Scale-up fund will help manufacturers at a crucial point that will really make a difference.”
Further details on the competition, including how to apply are available here.
For more news from the APC, click here.
