National capability routes across Britain

Connected UK route

Not local, but reachable. Britain shares this capability nationally.

• Characterisation (X-ray)

  Synchrotron characterisation of structure and composition

  Diamond Light Source, Harwell, Oxfordshire

  How you get in: Proprietary Access — paid, confidential, no publication requirement; or peer-reviewed beamtime for publishable work

  Conditions: Out of Zone. Peer-reviewed route is free at point of access but requires publication; commercial confidentiality requires the paid route

  Source: Diamond Light Source — Proprietary Access · verified 2026-08-19

• Industrial trial

  Trialling a robot application against a real manufacturing process before adoption

  Manufacturing Technology Centre — Robot Experience Centre, Ansty Park, Coventry

  How you get in: Commercial engagement with the MTC

  Conditions: Out of Zone; the capability is national, not Bristol-local

  Source: MTC Robot Experience Centre · verified 2026-08-19

• Characterisation (neutron)

  Neutron and muon characterisation for bulk structure and dynamics

  ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, Harwell, Oxfordshire

  How you get in: ISIS for business — collaborative R&D or proprietary commercial access

  Conditions: Out of Zone

  Source: ISIS for business · verified 2026-08-19

• Propulsion test

  Vacuum testing of chemical propulsion thrusters

  National Space Propulsion Test Facility, and Protolaunch, Westcott Venture Park, Buckinghamshire

  How you get in: Open-access route via the UK Space Agency funded NSPTF, or a commercial contract with Protolaunch

  Conditions: Out of Zone. Two parallel routes: publicly funded open access and purely commercial

  Source: National Space Propulsion Test Facility · verified 2026-08-19

• Autonomous systems test

  Segregated airspace for uncrewed and autonomous systems trials

  West Wales Airport, Aberporth, Aberporth, Ceredigion

  How you get in: Commercial booking

  Conditions: Out of Zone. A February 2026 Defence Growth Deal directs further investment into Welsh autonomous technology capability

  Source: West Wales Airport UAS · verified 2026-08-19

• Applied validation and translation

  Translating a validated technology into on-farm practice across crops, livestock and engineering

  UK Agri-Tech Centre, Multi-site, UK-wide

  How you get in: Commercial or Innovate UK supported project with the UK Agri-Tech Centre

  Conditions: Formed 1 April 2024 by merging Agri-EPI Centre, CHAP and CIEL into a single Innovate UK core-funded organisation

  Source: UK Agri-Tech Centre · verified 2026-08-19

• Pilot-scale fermentation

  Fermentation at hundreds to thousands of litres with downstream recovery

  Centre for Process Innovation — National Industrial Biotechnology Facility, Wilton and Darlington, Teesside

  How you get in: Contract development project or grant-funded consortium

  Conditions: Booked capacity; lead times and cost are the binding constraint, not existence

  Source: CPI Biotechnology · verified 2026-08-19

• Multi-project wafer runs

  Low-volume silicon prototyping through shared wafer runs

  Europractice multi-project wafer service (foundries outside the UK), Europe / Asia foundries

  How you get in: Europractice membership and scheduled MPW run

  Conditions: Fixed run calendars; foreign foundry capacity; export and IP considerations

  Source: Europractice IC Service · verified 2026-08-19

• Ground autonomy test

  Proving-ground testing for connected and autonomous ground vehicles

  HORIBA MIRA — ASSURED CAV, Nuneaton, Warwickshire

  How you get in: Commercial booking; a named start-up engineering support route exists

  Source: HORIBA MIRA ASSURED CAV · verified 2026-08-19

• Cell and gene therapy manufacture to GMP

  GMP-grade cleanroom manufacture for advanced therapies

  Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult manufacturing centre, Stevenage

  How you get in: Contracted tenancy or manufacturing agreement with the centre

  Conditions: Capacity is contracted well ahead; entry requires a defined process and a regulatory pathway

  Source: Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult · verified 2026-08-19

• Manufacture

  Small satellite and spacecraft manufacture

  Glasgow small-satellite cluster and Airbus Defence and Space, Glasgow and Stevenage

  How you get in: Commercial contract manufacture

  Conditions: Out of Zone relative to Harwell; the Zone is genuinely distributed

  Source: Airbus Defence and Space · verified 2026-08-19

• Certification and standards testing

  Independent certification to international standards

  Independent certification bodies operating in the UK (DNV, Lloyd's Register, TUV), UK-wide, commercial providers

  How you get in: Commercial certification engagement

  Conditions: Cost and duration scale with product class

  Source: ORE Catapult test and validation (route to certification) · verified 2026-08-19

• Pilot production

  Pilot-scale production of a novel material outside laboratory quantities

  Materials Processing Institute, Middlesbrough, Teesside

  How you get in: Commercial contract research

  Conditions: Out of Zone

  Source: Materials Processing Institute · verified 2026-08-19

• Pilot-scale fermentation (Scotland route)

  Alternative regional pilot fermentation and bioprocess scale-up

  IBioIC / FlexBio scale-up centre, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh

  How you get in: IBioIC membership or contracted project

  Conditions: Membership or project agreement required

  Source: Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre · verified 2026-08-19

• Downstream processing & formulation

  Separation, purification and formulation at pilot scale

  Centre for Process Innovation, Wilton, Teesside

  How you get in: Contract development project

  Source: CPI Biotechnology · verified 2026-08-19

• Real-world test

  Public-road and real-world environment testing of autonomous systems

  Smart Mobility Living Lab (part of CAM Testbed UK), Greenwich and Stratford, London

  How you get in: Commercial engagement with SMLL or another CAM Testbed UK facility

  Source: Smart Mobility Living Lab · verified 2026-08-19

• Ingredient and protein scale-up

  Fermentation-based scale-up for alternative proteins and novel ingredients

  CPI, Wilton and Darlington, Teesside

  How you get in: Commercial contract with CPI

  Conditions: Out of Zone. Same national asset already recorded for Engineering Biology; the evidenced national ceiling above roughly 100 m3 applies here too

  Source: CPI · verified 2026-08-19

• Real-world deployment trial

  Public environment trials ahead of deployment

  Smart Mobility Living Lab and CAM Testbed UK, London and nationally

  How you get in: Commercial engagement with a CAM Testbed UK facility

  Conditions: Out of Zone; a national consortium of seven facilities

  Source: Smart Mobility Living Lab · verified 2026-08-19

• Battery industrialisation

  Pre-production battery cell scale-up between lab and gigafactory

  UK Battery Industrialisation Centre, Coventry

  How you get in: Contracted industrialisation project

  Conditions: Capacity is contracted; queueing applies

  Source: UK Battery Industrialisation Centre · verified 2026-08-19

• Formulation and process scale-up

  Scale-up of formulated materials and coatings

  CPI, Sedgefield and Wilton, Teesside

  How you get in: Commercial contract with CPI

  Conditions: Out of Zone. Same national provider already recorded for Engineering Biology — a shared national asset, not a duplicate facility

  Source: CPI · verified 2026-08-19

• Biologics and biopharmaceutical process scale-up

  Pilot-to-commercial scale bioprocessing outside a company own plant

  CPI National Biologics Manufacturing Centre, Darlington

  How you get in: Contracted development or manufacturing project with CPI

  Conditions: Booked project by project; not open-access facility time

  Source: CPI · verified 2026-08-19

• Component manufacture

  Turning a validated material into a manufacturable component

  University of Sheffield AMRC, Rotherham, South Yorkshire

  How you get in: Membership or commercial project

  Conditions: Out of Zone

  Source: AMRC · verified 2026-08-19

• Aerial autonomy test

  Beyond visual line of sight flight testing over land and sea

  West Wales Airport, Aberporth, Aberporth, Ceredigion

  How you get in: Commercial booking of segregated airspace

  Conditions: Fully authorised BVLOS site with roughly 2,500 sq miles of segregated airspace

  Source: West Wales Airport UAS · verified 2026-08-19