ATI Programme Strategic Batches: what funding you can get and how to apply

Overview of the ATI Programme

You must read this guidance before you apply for ATI Programme Strategic Batches competitions using the Innovation Funding Service.

The ATI Programme offers funding for research and technology development in the UK to maintain and grow the UK’s competitive position in civil aerospace.

The ATI Programme will receive £685 million from the government for the financial years 2022 to 2023 through to 2024 to 2025, an increase of £235 million on the previous 3-year period. Industry will provide co-funding, taking the total to more than £1 billion.

This programme is coordinated and managed by:

Department for Business and Trade, Energy & Industrial Strategy (DBT)
Innovate UK
Aerospace Technology Institute.

All three organisations work in partnership. Together they deliver a portfolio of projects to meet the objectives and priorities of the UK Aerospace Technology Strategy.

The roles of the three partner organisations

DBT is accountable for the programme budget and decides which projects will be funded with government resources. DBT carries out a value for money and policy evaluation on each eligible application.

Innovate UK is the delegated budget holder and contracting authority for the programme. Innovate UK provides independent assessment and evaluation of application submissions, monitors live projects, and manages the distribution of grant funding.

The Aerospace Technology Institute creates the technology strategy for the UK aerospace sector. The Aerospace Technology Institute reviews applications for strategic alignment.

ATI Programme Strategic Batches

The ATI Programme Strategic Batches is a two-phase competition:

stage 1: expression of interest (EoI)
stage 2: full stage application

As the budget holder, DBT is the decision maker for the ATI Programme. This means BEIS decides which projects pass the expression of interest assessment and which projects are funded following the full stage application assessment.

The monthly EoI is assessed by the Aerospace Technology Institute and DBT makes the decision on which projects proceed to the full stage competition.

Only successful applicants from the EoI will be invited to apply for the quarterly full stage strands which are assessed separately by Innovate UK, the Aerospace Technology Institute, and BEIS.

The two strands in stage 2 are:

capital infrastructure projects
research projects.

If your full stage application is successful, your application will progress to a final approval through DBT ministers. Contracts will be issued by Innovate UK.

Information on how to apply, the assessment process and feedback is set out below. It is strongly recommended that you read this before beginning your application.

Research categories

The ATI Programme Strategic Batches will fund industrial research (as defined in the categories of research and development section of the Innovate UK general guidance) or capital infrastructure projects only.

Before you start an application

General eligibility guidance

Please note eligibility guidance in any current competition takes precedence over guidance here, for the purposes of entering that competition.

To lead a project or work alone your organisation must:

be a UK based business of any size for research projects
be a UK based business of any size, a research and technology organisation (RTO) or academic organisation for capital
investment projects
carry out your aerospace research or technology development project work in the UK
intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
address the specific requirements of the UK Aerospace Technology Institute technology strategy.

You must sign up to the Aerospace Technology Institute Framework Agreement before submitting an application. The framework agreement provides clarity for organisations dealing with the Aerospace Technology Institute, about how their information will be used and treated confidentially. The framework agreement also covers the industrial contributions organisations must pay to the institute during ATI Programme grant funded projects.

The programme does not fund projects that:

do not have a primary exploitation in the civil aerospace sector
are defined as technical feasibility studies or fundamental research.

We recognise that technologies can be exploited in multiple sectors, however, to be fundable, the primary exploitation route or application has to be in civil aerospace.

Help from the Aerospace Technology Institute before you submit your EoI

Before submitting your application, you can engage with the Aerospace Technology Institute to support the development of the EoI. Your project will be assigned a project lead from the Aerospace Technology Institute technology team to monitor the progress of the application and provide development feedback, where appropriate. It is entirely optional whether you decide to use this service and does not guarantee success at this stage.

Meetings with the Aerospace Technology Institute will provide an opportunity to discuss the key requirements of the EoI application and give feedback on any parts of the project which require further development. At no point will the Aerospace Technology Institute project lead give a preliminary indication of project evaluation against the assessment criteria. At all times the responsibility for the application and its completion rests with the lead applicant and its partners.

The Aerospace Technology Institute can only provide development feedback on completed draft EoI applications, and within a reasonable timeframe. If you are not already in contact with the Aerospace Technology Institute please contact competitions@ati.org.uk

The Aerospace Technology Institute will be able to provide development feedback up to 2 weeks before the competition closing date. After this date the Aerospace Technology Institute cannot guarantee any feedback will be provided.

How to apply for a competition via the Innovation Funding Service

The Innovation Funding Service (IFS) is an online application process. You need to create an account in the service to start an application, or sign into your existing account.

Applications are separated into sections, which all need to be completed to submit your application. You cannot submit an application unless you have correctly completed each section.

Please note that once you submit your application, the process cannot be reversed.

Collaborating in the Innovation Funding Service

Many Innovate UK competitions require organisations to work with others on collaborative research and development projects.

The collaboration rules are stated in the eligibility section of the guidance for each funding opportunity. This section outlines the different roles of organisations who intend to work collaboratively in completing an application and setting up a project on the service.

Lead applicants

The lead applicant represents the lead organisation for the application. As the lead applicant you will be responsible for:
starting an application

adding people from your organisation to the application and removing them
adding partner organisations, you wish to collaborate with, where applicable, and removing them
assigning questions
answering questions relevant to you
submitting the application before the deadline
accepting the terms and conditions on behalf of your organisation
uploading permitted appendices.

You should only add people who are directly involved in the project. If your project wants to change who is leading the application, the new person will need to start a new application and the proposal would have to be restarted as an EoI.

Partner organisations

Partner organisations are invited to join an application by the lead applicant. They will receive an email invitation from the Innovation Funding Service and will need to accept the invitation and create an account, or sign into an existing account.

As a partner you are responsible for:

completing project costs and finance details for your organisation
inviting other people from your organisation to help with the application
answering questions assigned to you by the lead applicant
accepting the terms and conditions for your organisation.

Partners can see:

all application questions and answers
their own organisation’s finance details
the application finance summary.

Neither the lead applicant nor partners can view the financial details of any of the other organisations involved in the application. They can only view their own.

Partners are not able to:

start an application
invite people from other organisations
assign questions
submit the application.

Please note, we will share information with other authorised parties in order to deliver our public tasks and functions. This includes our close network of affinity partners with an interest in research or dual use technology. Further information beyond delivery of our public tasks and functions will be subject to prior agreement with the applicant.

General subsidy control guidance

Please note, subsidy guidance in any current competition takes precedence over guidance here, for the purposes of entering that competition.

This competition provides funding in line with the UK’s obligations and commitments to Subsidy Control. Further information about the UK Subsidy Control requirements can be found in:

Innovate UK is unable to award organisations that are considered to be in financial difficulty. We will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage.

European Commission State aid

You must apply under European Commission State aid rules if you are an applicant who is conducting activities that will affect trade of goods and electricity between Northern Ireland and the EU as envisaged by Article 10 of the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland in the EU Withdrawal Agreement.

In certain limited circumstances, the European Commission State aid rules may also apply if you are an organisation located in England, Wales or Scotland and conduct activities that affect the trade of goods and electricity between Northern Ireland and the EU.

For further information, please see:

For applicants subject to the European Commission State aid rules, applicants will be required to prove that they were not an ‘Undertaking in Difficulty’ (UID) on the date of 31 December 2019 but became a UID between 1 January 2020 and 30 June 2021. We will ask for evidence of this.

Further information

If you are unsure about your obligations under the UK Subsidy Control regime or the State aid rules, please take independent legal advice.

You must make sure at all times that the funding awarded to you is compliant with all current Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom. This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to or actually distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries.

If there are any changes to the above requirements that mean we need to change the terms of this competition, we will tell you as soon as possible.

How to apply to the EoI competition

You can search for all funding opportunities through the Innovation Funding Service. Follow the general guidance on using IFS.

Detailed guidance is provided for each question. It is important to read this and ensure you stick to the word limit and appendix guidance.

Individual sections can be allocated to partner organisations or individuals for completion where required by the lead applicant.

The application is split into 2 sections:

Project details.
Application questions.

‘Project details’ includes:

application team
application details
research category
equality, diversity, and inclusion
project summary
scope.

‘Application questions’ includes:

business opportunity
exploitation and dissemination
technical approach and management
innovation
skills, experience and facilities
adding value
finances
project partners location (not scored).

Additional information including graphical information or diagrams can be submitted in the relevant IFS section as an appendix. Read the IFS question guidance for the eligible page limit. Pages exceeding this limit will not be assessed.

EoI evaluation and feedback

Evaluation of EoI

As the budget holder, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is the decision maker for the ATI Programme. This means BEIS decides which projects pass the expression of interest assessment and which projects proceed to the full stage application.

The Aerospace Technology Institute will conduct an assessment of your EoI. This assessment will consider:

the EoI’s alignment to the UK Aerospace technology strategy.
the fit of your proposed technology with your understanding of relevant existing activity.
the capability of project partners.

The evaluation has 3 stages:

Eligibility.
Opportunity.
Quality.

You must pass each stage of evaluation in order to progress to the next stage.

Stage 1: Eligibility

The Aerospace Technology Institute will look at whether your proposal is within the funding rules of the programme.

If your proposal does not pass the eligibility evaluation it will be made ineligible and you will be told why. If your proposal is ineligible your application will not be sent for evaluation and you will not receive feedback on your answers to the application questions.

Stage 2: Opportunity

The opportunity evaluation considers the following criteria.

Technology themes

The extent to which the proposed technologies and capabilities align with the Strategic Technology agenda, value streams and enablers.

Business and market opportunity

The strength and validity of the business need, with a clear and compelling alignment to aerospace market opportunities.

If your project does not pass the opportunity evaluation you will be told why. You can request detailed feedback on the opportunity evaluation criteria by emailing info@ati.org.uk

You will not receive feedback on your answers to the application questions. The application questions are not scored if an application does not pass the opportunity evaluation.

Stage 3: Quality

The quality evaluation uses the following criteria to assess your answers to the application questions:

exploitation, dissemination, and economic impact
technical approach and measures of success
partnership(s) (if applicable)
technology ambition
adding value, what will happen to the project activity in the absence of funding through this mechanism?

If your proposal meets the opportunity requirement of the competition, the Aerospace Technology Institute will score each of the application questions and provide feedback against each.

BEIS will decide who passes the EoI and if successful you will be invited to develop a full stage application.

Feedback on EoI

Notification of the success of your application and feedback will be provided by the Aerospace Technology Institute via an email to the application lead. You will also receive a notification through IFS of the success of your application only. No feedback or scoring will be provided through IFS.

If you are successful at the EoI stage, Innovate UK will invite you to apply to the next full stage competition.

To defer entry to the next full stage batch, contact Innovate UK to confirm you would like to defer entry. You must apply to one of the next two full stage competitions, or you will need to reapply to the EoI stage.

How to apply to the full stage competition

If you are invited to apply to the full stage competition Innovate UK will send you a link to the full stage competition in an email.

Your full stage competition invitation will be for one of two strands: industry led research projects or capital infrastructure projects. You must complete the application on the Innovation Funding Service (IFS).

To complete the application, follow the competition guidance on IFS.

Help from Department for Business and Trade (DBT) for full stage

You can contact BEIS via the Aerospace Technology Institute at competitions@ati.org.uk to:

establish what information you need to provide
request feedback on draft value for money returns.

DBT will prioritise requests for feedback based on the date received by them. Applicants are therefore advised to contact DBT as early as possible, and not later than two weeks before competition close.

DBT cannot guarantee that it will respond to all requests for feedback.

At no point will DBT give a preliminary indication of project evaluation against assessment criteria.

Other help

Detailed guidance is provided for each question. It is important to read this and ensure you stick to the word limit and appendix guidance.

Individual sections can be allocated to partner organisations or individuals for completion where required by the lead applicant.

The application is split into 3 sections:

Project details.
Application questions.
Finances.

‘Project details’ includes:

application team
application details
equality, diversity, and inclusion
research category
project summary
public description
scope.

’Application questions’ includes:

business opportunity
market
results (including exploitation plan)
benefits (including a ‘value for money spreadsheet’ to be assessed by DBT)
technical approach
innovation
risks
team and facilities
costs
added value to the UK
project partners location (not scored)
value for money questions (to be assessed by DBT).

‘Finances’ includes:

your finances
finances overview.

Full stage application evaluation and feedback

Applications for the ATI Programme are assessed by the 3 partner organisations in parallel:

Department for Business and Trade (DBT)
Innovate UK
Aerospace Technology Institute.

These assessments are reviewed by the Programme Investment Board (PIB). The PIB typically meets after each batch has been assessed.

BEIS is accountable for the ATI Programme budget and decides which projects will be funded with government resources.

DBT full stage evaluation

DBT carries out a value for money and policy evaluation on each eligible application.

The value for money evaluation considers whether the benefits of the project, including jobs benefits and ‘spillover’ benefits from research and development (R&D) activity, are enough to justify the cost to the taxpayer. The value for money evaluation is based on the answers to the questions in the application form.

The value for money workbook should be downloaded from the relevant question in the application form. You must complete the form in full and upload as part of your application.

The ‘value for money questions’ are assessed by DBT as part of the overall value for money evaluation.

Failure to submit a value for money return will make your application ineligible. Detailed guidance on how to complete each section is provided in the value for money template. It is important to read this and ensure you provide as much information as possible.

Following submission, you may be contacted by BEIS and the Aerospace Technology Institute who will ask you to clarify or submit additional information if an error or omission appears to have been made. This is to ensure a thorough and fair evaluation.

The policy evaluation is based on all the information submitted as part of your application and evaluates the proposals fit with wider policy priorities.

Innovate UK independent assessment

The Innovate UK evaluation is based on the answers to the questions in the application form and all the attached appendices.

Applications are assessed by up to 5 independent assessors. The assessors can be from both business and academia.
All applications in a competition are assessed against the same set of scoring criteria. Assessors will provide written feedback for each scored question in the application. All applications are assessed on individual merit.

You will receive feedback on IFS for each scored question.

Your answers to ‘value for money questions’ are not scored by Innovate UK independent assessors but may be used as supporting evidence.

If your project grant request is:

£5 million or more, you will be invited to attend an interview
below £5 million, we reserve the right to invite you to attend an interview without providing a reason.

If invited, you must give a presentation at the interview.

Before the interview, by the deadline stated in the invitation email, you must send:

a list of who will attend the interview
your final interview presentation slides.

After your presentation, the panel will spend time asking questions. You will be expected to answer based on your application and the Innovate UK independent assessor feedback from the written stage.

The Innovate UK funder’s panel makes the final decision regarding Innovate UK recommendations for this programme.

Aerospace Technology Institute full stage evaluation

The Aerospace Technology Institute will conduct an evaluation of your full stage application based upon:

its alignment to the UK Aerospace Technology Strategy
fit with existing activity
the capability of project partners.

The Aerospace Technology Institute evaluation is based on the answers to the questions in the application form and all the attached appendices.

The evaluation will consider the following criteria.

Market value

This includes the:

strength and validity of the business need and market opportunity
extent to which the delivery of this project provides UK competitive advantage.

Market risk

This includes the level of:

market risk involved in delivering the stated economic value
commitment to the exploitation within the UK.

Technology value

This includes:

alignment with the UK Aerospace Technology Strategy
the credibility and viability of the approach
an evaluation of the potential to deliver innovation.

Technology risk

This includes the:

match of technical capabilities and skills of the consortium
strength of the management structures and procedures, including project, technical, risk and innovation management.

Programme Investment Board (PIB)

Each organisation (DBT, Aerospace Technology Institute and Innovate UK) brings to the Programme Investment Board (PIB) their recommendations for funding based on their respective assessments of the full stage applications.

An application should receive a positive recommendation from all three assessments to be considered for funding. DBT is responsible for making the final decision as to which applications will receive funding. Applications selected for DBT funding are sent to DBT ministers for their approval.

There are two possible outcomes:

The application is recommended to proceed to the next stage of project pre-contracting checks. This might be subject to meeting further conditions, including affordability.
The application is not recommended to proceed to the next stage of project pre-contracting checks.

Feedback on full stage application

You will receive an email notification from DBT following the PIB meeting. This email includes feedback from DBT, the Aerospace Technology Institute and the Innovate UK independent assessment interview, if you were invited to interview.

If your project is recommended for funding, the email from DBT will also include any additional conditions which need to be met. You may also be asked to arrange a meeting with DBT and the Aerospace Technology Institute to discuss the benefits the project will deliver to the UK. Following this you will be asked to submit a letter to DBT confirming the benefits. This will need to be agreed with DBT before the Grant Offer Letter (GOL) is issued.

If you are unsuccessful at this stage, you will be invited to set up a meeting with the programme partners to discuss your feedback.

More detailed feedback on your full stage application is available upon request from each organisation (DBT, Aerospace Technology Institute and Innovate UK) and relates to their individual assessment.

The detailed Innovate UK independent assessor feedback for your written application is accessible from the Innovation Funding Service dashboard.

Please note the feedback from the Innovate UK independent assessors on your written application is not available to the Aerospace Technology Institute or DBT. If you wish to discuss it with these organisations you will need to share it in advance of your meeting.

Project set up

Department for Business and Trade (DBT) approval

Following the PIB, DBT will seek ministerial approval for projects that have been recommended for funding. Your project may also require approval from HM Treasury.

What you must do prior to contract

Sign into your Innovation Funding Service dashboard which will provide full details under ‘Set up your project’. Complete the ‘Project details’ and ‘Project team’ sections within 30 days.

The offer of funding is conditional and subject to the satisfactory completion of a finance and pre-contract check by Innovate UK, project document approval by your Innovate UK assigned Monitoring Service Provider (MSP) and ministerial approval.

Finance checks will start once written approval has been received by Innovate UK from DBT that ministerial approval has been received.

From this point you have 90 days to complete the rest of the project set up steps.

Innovate UK will pose all queries to you via your IFS dashboard which will notify the appropriate finance or project contact by email. Please ensure these are addressed by yourself and any collaborators in a timely manner. Once all queries are resolved the lead will be able to upload a spend profile which should be in project quarters and reflect agreed eligible costs per quarter.

To allow your project to start promptly, please ensure that your exploitation plan, collaboration agreement and second level plan are submitted via your dashboard as early as possible. You must also ensure all partners have signed the Aerospace Technology Institute Framework Agreement and you have submitted a value for money letter to DBT, if required.

Upon satisfactory completion of all the above, Innovate UK will issue your Grant Offer Letter (GOL) which must be signed by each partner, uploaded to IFS and approved before your project is able to start.

Project pre-contract checks process

Before your project can begin Innovate UK will need additional details and documents from you. Submitting documents in a timely fashion will speed up the pre-contract checks and contracting process.

Pre-contracting documents checklist

We recommend you start to consider the collaboration agreement early in the process to allow sufficient time to agree it with your project partners.

Please refer to the quick checklist below to see what you will need to complete before contracting. These documents can be submitted to the appropriate party before finance checks begin:

Collaboration agreement to Innovate UK via the IFS dashboard
Exploitation Plan to Innovate UK via the IFS dashboard (download template from supporting documents)
Second Level Plan to Innovate UK via the IFS dashboard (download template from supporting documents)
Aerospace Technology Institute Framework Agreement to the Aerospace Technology Institute
Value for money letter to BEIS, if required.

Publicising your project

Your notification email from DBT provides the ATI Programme Communication Guidance, which includes contact details for the ATI Programme Communications Group and requirements on when you can publicise ATI Programme funding of your project.

Please note that publicising projects is not permitted before the GOL is signed and returned unless agreed with DBT. This embargo may be in place for up to a few weeks after you have successfully completed project set up.

The Lead Partner is responsible for ensuring that all members of the consortium and their press offices comply with this restriction.

The ATI Programme Communications Group will contact you when the embargo is lifted.

Innovate UK frequently publicises the results of competitions and applications on their website soon after a project is contracted. The public description you provided of your project will be used for publicity purposes without further consultation with you, and by accepting this funding, you agree to these terms.

Monitoring of your project

Innovate UK in-project monitoring

Monitoring Service Provider

You will be assigned a monitoring service provider who will work with you throughout the project. They will help to make sure your project complies with the terms and conditions of the competition. They are not responsible for project management. The outputs of quarterly monitoring reports may be shared with the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the Aerospace Technology Institute.

Claims and auditing

Costs are only eligible if they are incurred and paid between the project start and end dates. Claims may be subject to an independent audit. You must submit an independent accountant’s report (IAR) with your final claim. All participants must provide evidence to support each claim made.

Post project monitoring

Innovate UK

At project close out all participants in a project are required to complete the ATI Programme close out form. The completed form will be shared with DBT. In addition, there may be periodic reviews and requests to participate in case studies.

DBT

DBT is developing a post-project monitoring framework to ensure the programme is delivering on its objectives. Following project close out and for up to 10 years, DBT will likely make periodic requests for data linked to project exploitation plans and the information provided through the value for money evaluation.

Aerospace Technology Institute

The Aerospace Technology Institute may participate in project close out reviews to assess strategic impact. The Aerospace Technology Institute will also require case studies to be prepared for completed projects.

Contact us

A variety of help is available to competition applicants.

Innovate UK

Contact Innovate UK for queries relating to eligibility criteria or the Innovation Funding Service.

Email

support@innovateuk.ukri.org

We will get back to you as soon as possible.

Telephone

0300 321 4357

Call to speak to an adviser. Our phone lines are now open from 9am to 11.30am and 2pm to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays), to help us manage the unusually high number of calls and emails we are receiving due to the global disruptions.

Calls are free from landlines and most mobile numbers. Find out more about call charges and freephone numbers.

Department for Business and Trade (DBT)

For queries relating to the value for money and policy evaluation, or to request a meeting with DBT, contact the Aerospace Technology Institute.

Email: competitions@ati.org.uk

Aerospace Technology Institute

Contact the Aerospace Technology Institute for queries relating to the strategic and technical suitability of your application.

Email: competitions@ati.org.uk

Make a complaint

If you have a complaint about the ATI Programme, please send us your complaint or comments.

DBT complaints procedure.

Innovate UK complaints procedure.

Aerospace Technology Institute complaints procedure.

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