Growth Cohorts: Next Generation Low Carbon Concrete — Entry
Funds UK businesses developing next-generation low carbon concrete technologies through an Innovate UK cohort entry grant.
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), administers this Stage 1 cohort-entry grant under the Growth Cohorts: Next Generation Low Carbon Concrete programme. Innovate UK will invest up to £11.5 million across both stages of this two-stage competition; up to £1 million is allocated to this first stage. Each Stage 1 award is a fixed grant of £50,000, funded at 100% of eligible project costs, entered in the 'Other costs' category. Projects must start by 1 December 2026 and run for exactly 6 months, ending by 31 May 2027.
This is a cohort programme: Innovate UK will build a group of up to 20 UK businesses across the sustainable concrete supply chain. Stage 1 funds development of an innovation and growth plan. Businesses that complete Stage 1 may be invited into Stage 2 (expected to open February 2027), which funds delivery of that plan. There will be up to 5 rounds of this Stage 1 entry competition between April 2026 and January 2028.
Eligibility is limited to UK registered businesses of any size applying as single applicants only — no consortium applications. The business must carry out project work in the UK and intend to exploit results from or in the UK. Awards are subject to the Minimal Financial Assistance (MFA) subsidy rule, which allows public bodies to award up to £315,000 to an enterprise in a 3-year rolling financial period.
Applications are submitted via the Innovate UK funding service. The competition for Round 1 opened 20 April 2026 and closes 8 July 2026 at 11:00am UK time. Applications are scored by three independent assessors; Innovate UK calculates a single application score using the geometric mean of the category 1 score and the sum of category 1 and category 2 scores. Shortlisted applicants are interviewed between 7 and 11 September 2026, with applicants notified of outcomes on 17 September 2026. Innovate UK's experience from similar competitions suggests a 15% to 20% chance of success.
Key caveat: this record covers Stage 1 (cohort entry) only. Stage 1 does not guarantee progression to Stage 2. Only businesses accepted into the full cohort proceed to Stage 2 funding, which has a separate, larger pool. You must apply for the full £50,000 grant; you do not need to claim the full amount if costs are lower.
Next-generation low carbon concrete and concrete decarbonisation — including alternatives to Ordinary Portland Cement, cement and concrete production efficiency, recycling of cement, additives to reduce carbon footprint of concrete, carbon sequestration in concrete, concrete chemistry for reinforced concrete, and efficiency of cement and concrete use.
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