Title

UK-China Partnerships in Sustainable Manufacturing

Funder

TSB

Deadline

26th March 2014 (register by 19th March 2014)

Value

£500,000 – 800,000

Aim

TSB, EPSRC, and China’s Ministry of Science and Technology invite Expressions of Interest for collaborative R&D projects that make manufacturing processes more sustainable. The aim of the competition is to help UK academics to work with academic or industrial partners in China, and UK businesses to trial new processes with Chinese manufacturers.

In line with the TSB’s high value manufacturing strategy, projects must address at least one of the following areas:

• conversion to alternative renewable or more sustainable raw materials
• better management of quality variation in raw materials
• adding value to/increasing re-use of waste streams within/across production processes
• innovative heat or energy management or input in production
• changing from manufacturing in batches to continuous processes
• novel chemical processes and reactor designs, including novel catalysis, flow chemistry or use of novel solvents or solvent-free processes
• novel processes based on industrial biotechnology
• improved production measurement, analysis and process control
• lightweighting of components through novel manufacturing processes
• net-shape or near-net-shape manufacturing processes. 

All projects should show the additional benefits of co-operation between the UK and China, and applicants must show how their projects will make an overall positive contribution in terms of economic, environmental and social impacts: the triple bottom line, taking into account the full product lifecycle.

Length

12 – 24 months

Eligibility

Proposals must be collaborative, and must include both a Chinese and a UK applicant. Project partners can include academics and research and technology organisations, as well as companies, and they can be business-led or researcher-led.

Details

https://www.innovateuk.org/competition-display-page/-/asset_publisher/RqEt2AKmEBhi/content/uk-china-partnerships-in-sustainable-manufacturing