Abundant Manufacturing Grant

About this grant

ARIA's Abundant Manufacturing opportunity space addresses the fragility of food and material systems that depend on resource-intensive production and vulnerable supply chains under a volatile climate. The space seeks to produce a sustainable abundance of food and materials with greater speed, precision and flexibility. Its core premise is that the frontier of material performance lies in how matter is assembled and structured, not only in what it is made of, so that commonly available molecules could be turned into a wide range of high-performance functionality at scale without cost to planetary health. The space combines living systems, which are adaptable and scalable, with industrial manufacturing's speed and reliability, aiming at solutions at the boundary between synthetic and living systems. Its longer-term vision is ubiquitous, programmable manufacturing in which matter can be programmed like software to assemble what is needed, shrinking idea-to-impact cycles from decades to days. The space contains two programmes. Synthetic Plants aims to programme plants through genetics, microbes, electricity and magnetism, including plant synthetic genomics, to produce more food with less freshwater and fewer fertiliser inputs and to grow living structures for the built environment. Universal Fabricators aims to build a biotic-abiotic technology stack that can direct the hierarchical assembly of abundant molecules into tailored materials, foods and products, using advances in AI, biological engineering, DNA reading and writing, and biomanufacturing. The opportunity space also incorporates previously named ARIA opportunity spaces, Programmable Plants and Manufacturing Abundance, and the page states that existing programme and seed funding is unchanged. The page describes the space's framing and programmes but does not itself specify a call, deadline or grant amounts.

Eligibility

The page does not state specific eligibility criteria for applicants to this opportunity space. It describes the space's scientific scope and programmes, and refers to funded projects and seed funding opportunities generally without setting out who may apply.

How it's scored

The page does not describe how applications or proposals are evaluated, scored or weighted, and does not name a review panel.

Key requirements

• ✓Focus on sustainable food and/or material production systems
• ✓Address resource intensity and supply-chain fragility
• ✓Demonstrate climate resilience and adaptation potential
• ✓Deliver speed, precision, or flexibility improvements over incumbent systems

Frequently asked questions

How much funding does Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) offer?

Abundant Manufacturing offers See ARIA programme page.

Who can apply for Abundant Manufacturing?

Eligibility covers organisations in GB, UK; startup, sme, university, research-institution. See the eligibility criteria above for the full conditions.

Relevant sectors

About this sector

Climate adaptation funding helps communities, infrastructure and businesses prepare for heat, flooding, drought and sea level rise. Most of it is public and multilateral money, often targeted at vulnerable regions and delivered with local government. Calls usually ask for a climate risk assessment and evidence that local people shaped the plan.