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Innovate UK Analysis
for Innovators

Enabling innovation and improving productivity and competitiveness for UK businesses

Access cutting-edge R&D expertise and facilities

Innovate UK Analysis for Innovators enables innovation and improves productivity and competitiveness for UK businesses. 

UK businesses can apply to access cutting-edge R&D expertise and work with world-leading scientists and research facilities, to solve technical analysis or measurement problems that are holding back innovation. 

The programme is led by Innovate UK, in partnership with NPL and other laboratories. This popular funding programme is launching its fourteenth round and has so far funded more than 500 projects.

Access cutting-edge R&D expertise and facilities  

Round 14 is now closed.

To be kept informed of future rounds please subscribe to our

Analysis for Innovators mailing list.

Find out more about Analysis for Innovators

Who is involved?

Analysis for Innovators is an investment from Innovate UK and NPL to fund small collaborative innovation projects with the Analysis for Innovators partners:

  • National Physical Laboratory (NPL)
  • National Measurement Laboratory (NML) at Laboratory of the Government Chemist Group (LGC)
  • National Engineering Laboratory (NEL)
  • Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
  • Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
  • National Gear Metrology Lab (GEARS)
  • Newton Gateway to Mathematics
  • Advanced Sustainable Manufacturing Technologies (ASTUTE 2020+)
  • Henry Royce Institute (HRI)

Together, the funding partners run some of the most advanced facilities, techniques and technologies available in the world. Analysis for Innovators matches the best UK scientists and facilities with companies that have analysis or measurement problems.

The Analysis for Innovators programme differs from other funding competitions, targeting competitiveness and productivity head on it offers cutting edge R&D, expertise and facilities to UK companies that want to solve an analysis or measurement problem from within their existing business.

Who can apply?

You must be a UK registered company with any type of measurement or analysis problem to apply. The programme is expected to appeal to manufacturing companies, especially those involved in complex supply chains, but companies applying may be from any sector.

Why collaborate with NPL?

As the UK's National Metrology Institute, our expertise and innovations can provide creative solutions, reduce the need for in-house resources, lower technical risk and can deliver revenue, time and cost savings for businesses across many different industries.

Tapping into the great depth of expertise at NPL has been invaluable in helping us understand the measurement challenges we are faced with, and enabled us to incorporate some significant improvements into system design.

Michael Gois - Chief Technical Officer, Senceive

The A4I project has been invaluable in unlocking world-leading facilities and expertise which would have otherwise been inaccessible to us. The knowledge gained helped us overcome a problem in our manufacturing process, improving the durability of our fuel cell and making it a much more competitive technology.

Erik Engebretsen - Head of Engineering, Bramble Energy

How Analysis for Innovators has made a difference

Analysis for Innovators has helped 235 UK companies to better understand their problems since 2017, helping them to:

  • Improve reliability of products, services and processes
  • Improve performance of existing products
  • Improve manufacturing output
  • Reduce rejection rates and costs
  • Demonstrate the meeting of standards and specifications
  • Access new markets

Analysis of the programme tells us that:

  • 87% of companies said that their commercial opportunity has greatly or moderately increased as a result of their Analysis for Innovators project
  • Companies expect sales, licensing and cost reductions of up to £585 million.

 

Download Analysis for Innovators infographic

Join our mailing list to keep up to date with future announcements

Do you want to solve an issue that is impacting your productivity and sales? Is it a problem with product reliability, manufacturability/cost of product or product lifetime?

Subscribe to our mailing list to keep up to date on future Analysis for Innovators activities.

Read our Analysis for Innovators case studies to find out how NPL has helped customers improve productivity, accelerate innovation and save on resources. 

Investigating battery aging to improve lifecycle

NPL characterised the surface composition of Echion Technologies lithium-ion electrodes for use in green applications.

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Validating alkaline water electrolyser performance & durability for OxfordNanoSystems OnS

NPL helps to reduce the cost of green hydrogen

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Visualising drug encapsulation using cryo-EM

NPL helped inform the modelling of Oxford HighQ's novel instrumentation for particle analysis

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Revealing new markets for graphene sensors

NPL helps to uncover new applications for Paragraf’s graphene-based Hall sensors through extreme condition testing

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Optimising the mechanical properties of nanocomposites

Understanding how the surface chemistry of functionalised graphene affects the properties of nanocomposites.

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Developing innovative materials for low-cost 3D medical imaging

Adaptix has developed a solution to the combined shortcomings of existing technologies: a novel X-ray source that allows low-cost, truly portable 3D scans.

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Reducing erosion on wind turbine blades

ETC worked with NPL to explore techniques for measuring material erosion during the testing process.

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Piston ring manufacturer doubles throughput

There are a small number of piston ring manufacturers in the world for these types of ring and they struggle to meet global demand.

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Lean manufacturing and assembly technologies

NPL measurements improve model used to ensure that composite aircraft structures and wind turbine blades meet design specifications.

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Validation of new MRI standard, advancing potential technique for Alzheimer’s diagnosis

A promising new application of MRI is Arterial Spin Labelling (ASL), which provides measures of perfusion, the rate of blood flow to an organ.

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Analysis extends lifetime of new low cost fuel cell

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Making rapid, portable diagnostics possible

NPL helps AgPlus solve materials chemistry challenge, unblocking the route to mass producing its diagnostic devices.

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Working with NPL: the customer view

Adaptix are developing low-dose, affordable 3D imaging and worked with NPL as part of the Analysis for Innovators initiative. Find out how they benefited from the relations built with NPL.

Adaptix experience

 

The Imagination Factory

See how Analysis for Innovators and NPL scientists worked with The Imagination Factory to help fast track new technology to market and provide a positive impact on millions of train travellers. Find out how Analysis for Innovators can help your company.

Fleet Bio

Learn how Analysis for Innovators helped solved a key production challenge for Fleet Bio with a fully funded 3-month project.

Smith & Nephew

Hear how Analysis for Innovators funding has helped Smith & Nephew solve an analytical problem occurring in a new microbial wound dressing product.