At the end of last year, the stakeholders involved in the MATcelerate ZERO pilot project collated their year-one report and summarised the impact the project has had on the UK materials community.
What is MATcelerate ZERO?
MATcelerate ZERO is an industry-driven ‘accelerator’ for university-developed materials innovation that tackles the challenges of net-zero. Its goal is to speed up the commercialisation of breakthrough materials technologies by bridging the funding and market knowledge gaps necessary for de-risking (in relation to industry integration) and translational work.
Inspired by the Henry Royce Institute (Royce), the MATcelerate ZERO pilot operates via a network of Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) at many of the UK’s leading materials intensive research universities, including Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial, UCL, Manchester and Bristol.
Year-one Impact
Below lists a summary of some of the achievements of MATcelerate ZERO had in its pilot year:
- Established the MATcelerate ZERO platform with processes, assets and governance to manage an initial portfolio of ~90 university-patented technologies
- Convened a group of >12 Industry Partners and 27 unique participants to form the Investment Committee (IC), including Johnson Matthey, Coca Cola EuroPartners, Rolls Royce, Air Products, Evonik, Saint Gobain, Cambridge Display Technologies – a Sumitomo Chemical Company, PA Consulting, EGAT, Materials Processing Institute, Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), Orsted and Marshall Group
- Industry partners have helped refine and focus these ‘short-sprint’ technology de-risking projects and are supporting their delivery to remain close to these opportunities
- Industry partners have shared critical feedback on projects which could not be funded, improving their case for investment in future rounds or from other sources
- Engaged with key government agencies to identify sources of funding to scale-up the programme nationally and attract private investment in 2025
MATcelerate ZERO Funded Projects
Through three Investment Committees, a total of 25 proposals were received from the six partner universities and six projects were provided with a total of >£400k of Proof-of-Concept (POC) funding from Royce. They are listed below:
Chemoenzymatic photo-reforming – Funding enabled scale-up of the enzymatic degradation part of the process, focusing on enzyme selection and process optimisation. The award also helped secure additional translational POC funding to scale up the process to 1kg of plastic waste per day over the next year.
Battery recycling – Funding enabled essential discussions with industry to be undertaken, confirming that the primary de-risking step required was process validation using real ‘black mass’. These discussions also enabled the sourcing of black mass from existing battery recyclers and the identification of consultants, with contracts established for the technical validation and market research aspects of the project.
Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysis – Funding enabled a scale-up of a promising OER catalyst. Industry engagement through the Industry Partners will be critical to ensure industry-relevant evaluation protocols are followed and the catalyst is tested in industrial settings.
Catalysts for the syngas supply chain – Funding has been awarded to trial a solid waste material from the steel industry as a higher-efficacy, lower-cost catalyst in chemical looping systems that can supply syngas feedstock with low associated greenhouse gas emissions to foundation industries.
2D Proton conducting gas barrier – Funding has allowed the team to engage with a scale-up partner to coat the patented nanomaterial on to fuel cell membranes and assess other routes for coating to create higher performance fuel cells and allow manufacturers to utilise the new technology at scale.
Electrodes for hydrogen production – Funding has allowed the technology to be developed alongside a key industry partner, accelerating development of a defined anode from Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 to 5.
Royce CEO, Professor David Knowles, said:
“I’m delighted to see the tangible impact of the MATcelerate ZERO Programme. We’ve already achieved so much, including three successful Investment Committees, 25 compelling proposals from six partner universities, and six projects securing Proof-of-Concept (POC) funding from Royce.
This initiative is making great strides in bringing together university-led materials innovation and industry expertise to create the next-generation products essential for driving decarbonisation. A key focus is accelerating lab-to-market timelines, cutting them right down from the current average of two decades. Crucially, the programme is also delivering well researched de-risked opportunities for our Industry Partners. I’m excited to see these outcomes and the future growth of Matcelerate ZERO to encompass a wider group of universities.”
