From batteries to fuel cells: £1.1 million is invested in 15 UK Technology Developers to take their technology to the next level

• The Advanced Propulsion Centre is supporting 15 SMEs with low-carbon technology in the latest wave of the Technology Developer Accelerator Programme (TDAP).
• A total of £1.1 million will be awarded to the SMEs, along with business planning guidance to maximise market opportunity.
• The total number of SMEs supported by APC since 2015 rises to 101 through different funding programmes.
• SMEs play a crucial role for UK Automotive, developing the supply chain and leading some of the most exciting innovation in the sector, ensuring the UK stays competitive in a time of rapid change.

The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) is supporting 15 Technology Developers from across the UK with £1.1m over the next 18 months. The APC’s grant funding and business planning support will help develop these new technologies, without taking any stake in the business or Intellectual Property.

These Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are all working on innovative, low-carbon technologies from new battery management technologies, fuel cells to printed power electronics. TDAP helps to accelerate the decarbonisation of our roads by working with both existing automotive organisations and facilitating cross-sector technology transfer from other industries.

Winning organisations include:

• Adjacency Group
• Brill Power
• CDO2
• DZP Technologies
• Fair Air LTD
• Fluxsys
• HiFlux
• Immaterial
• OrbAstro
• MAL
• R53
• Reaction Engines
• Silver Power Systems
• Stalcom Automotive Technologies
• ZPN Energy

TDAP Manager for the APC, Josh Denne, said:

We need a range of technologies to decarbonise vehicles from passenger to heavy duty and beyond. The variety of technology coming through this programme reflects the change in the industry. There is no silver bullet for decarbonising the transport sector, being technology agnostic at the APC allows us to be reactive and work with some revolutionary new technology and organisations. We are looking forward to being part of their journeys.

One of the successful applicants, Dr Zlatka Stoeva of DZP Technologies Ltd said:

We look forward to working with the APC to understand better the value of our innovative technology for the automotive sector. The technical and business landscape can be complex for a small company to embrace quickly, and many opportunities may be missed. We hope that the TDAP project will help us to create new partnerships to bring our technology to market, and identify new growth opportunities for our company.

TDAP is designed to help technology developers with early-stage technologies by providing business planning and grant funding available of up to £104,000. It could also help open new routes to market, from making introductions to OEMs and funding agencies. The format of the programme reflects the risk involved in developing cutting edge technologies. As these new technologies and business plans are tested, not all of the organisations will reach the end of the 18-month programme. However, TDAP has proven its success over the last three cycles with impressive results from the participating SMEs. On average, organisations who completed the programme in 2018 increased their average headcount by 27% over the 18-month project and accelerated their time to market by more than 12 months.