Aerospace

Innovate UK announces £4.5m PEMD competition fund

Posted 7 January 2022

Innovate UK, part of UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), has announced a new funding competition that will put the UK at the forefront of the research and manufacture of the power electronics, machines and drives (PEMD) sector.

Image courtesy Innovate UK

Investing up to £4.5 million into the sector, the Driving the Electric Revolution challenge’s Building Talent for the Future 2 competition aims to encourage the creation and delivery of industry-focused course content and materials to support skills and training across PEMD manufacturing and supply chains.

Building awareness of PEMD whilst filling key gaps in the UK’s workforce talent and training capabilities, the competition will be run in two stages:

Opening on Monday 10th January 2022, organisations interested in applying for a grant valued between £50,000 and £1,000,000 will be required to submit an expression of interest (EOI) by Wednesday 2nd March 2022
Upon receipt of an EOI, successful organisations will then be invited to apply for funding in March 2022.

Organisations submitting an EOI must deliver a clear game-changing intervention or address a clear industrial requirement whilst providing a long-term commitment to supporting the UK PEMD industry talent need. Organisations looking for a funding grant of less than £50,000 will not be required to submit at EOI, but will be required to submit their full proposal in March 2022.

Professor Will Drury, Challenge Director for Driving the Electric Revolution, said: “If we are to meet our Net Zero commitments by 2050, industry needs to move to clean technologies and electrification. PEMD technologies underpin electrification in all sectors and the UK is a world leader in the development of PEMD technology. But for years now we’ve lacked the skills needed to bring these ideas to reality.

“Without a skilled workforce we cannot create a strong PEMD manufacturing supply chain in the UK, forcing us to import these technologies from around the world.”

“By investing in skills, talent and training in this sector we aim to support the growth of not only the UK’s PEMD supply chains, but its people too.”

For further information or to register your interest in the Building Talent for the Future 2 – Expression of Interest Briefing at 10am on Wednesday 12th January, please visit: https://ktn-uk.org/events/building-talent-for-the-future-2-expression-of-interest-briefing