DRIVE35 is a government-backed funding programme designed to keep the UK automotive sector competitive through the transition to electric vehicles, connected transport, and next-generation manufacturing. Its Innovation pillar runs three distinct strands: Collaborate, Demonstrate, and Mobilise. Each one targets a different stage of the R&D journey, from early-stage partnership work right through to proving your technology at scale.
The Collaborate strand is aimed at businesses developing new ideas in partnership with others, including universities, research institutes, or supply-chain partners. The Demonstrate strand supports projects that are ready to prove a concept in a real-world setting. Mobilise is designed for businesses closer to commercialisation, helping them take a validated technology and get it market-ready. In practice, that means there is a strand for wherever you currently sit in your development cycle, whether you have a promising idea or a near-finished product.
Scotland is better placed to benefit from this than most people realise. According to Scottish Enterprise, the country has a growing cluster of precision engineering, electronics, and advanced manufacturing businesses, many of them already supplying into automotive or adjacent sectors such as aerospace and energy. The Scottish Government's Manufacturing Action Plan identifies automotive supply chains as a priority area, and Highlands and Islands Enterprise has been actively supporting businesses in rural Scotland to access UK-wide R&D competitions of exactly this type.
Innovate UK, which administers competitions of this kind on behalf of the UK Government, consistently reports that Scottish SMEs are under-represented in grant applications relative to the strength of the regional industrial base. That is not a skills gap. It is an awareness gap. Businesses that apply for Innovate UK-backed funding report an average project value of over £500,000, with SMEs typically receiving between 60 and 70 per cent of eligible costs covered. For a small engineering firm, that is transformational.
The automotive sector is moving fast. The UK's Zero Emission Vehicle mandate requires 80 per cent of new car sales to be electric by 2030, creating an urgent industrial demand for new battery technology, charging infrastructure, lightweight materials, and software-defined vehicle systems. Every one of those areas is a potential entry point for a Scottish SME with the right capability. DRIVE35 exists specifically to fund the firms who can help bridge that gap, and the three strands are structured to meet businesses where they are, not where a London-centric funding body imagines them to be.