Net Zero Technology: Innovation Priorities 2025-2035 | May 2025
Priorities to accelerate the energy transition
Technology Focus Areas
The road to net zero will be paved by technologies that deliver a dynamic and flexible energy system. The four technology focus areas described below are key to deliver this. These are aligned with current government policy and strategy and with current industry priorities. They can also be leveraged by the UK’s world class offshore energy supply chain to generate value through technology innovation and high-quality jobs, accelerate the UK’s transition to net zero and reinforce the UK’s position as a global climate leader through technology exports.
NZTC has identified significant opportunities for technology development and deployment across these four critical areas: renewables and grid, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and industrial decarbonisation; all underpinned by digital advancements. Each of these areas is strategically designed to harness technological innovations that will not only deliver net zero but also foster economic growth and enhance the nation’s competitive edge in the global energy landscape. Our priorities to accelerate the energy transition will focus on the pivotal technology areas that are set to drive the UK’s transition to a net zero future
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- Within renewables, the focus is on advancing offshore wind and marine renewables technologies to harness the UK’s vast renewable resources, aiming to reduce the levelised cost of electricity and enhance energy security
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- For hydrogen, the strategic imperative is to develop a robust hydrogen economy by reducing production costs and creating scalable solutions, achieving a target of less than €2/kg by 2035
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- The CCS sector presents opportunities to develop and implement cost-effective capture, transportation and storage solutions to meet the UK’s ambitious emissions reduction targets
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- Finally, industrial decarbonisation emphasises the need for innovative technologies to monitor, measure and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, targeting a 90% reduction in CO2e emissions by 2050
These areas will be enhanced by deploying the latest advancements in robotics, artificial intelligence, digital modelling and data collaboration to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, boost labour productivity and achieve substantial cost efficiencies.
Programmes that define the NZTC way
Since opening in 2017, NZTC has been engaged with industry, government and academia driving technology innovation to support the economic growth of the UKs energy sector. In this time, we have developed a number of programmes that have been shown to deliver impact. These programmes are critical to continue to deliver the energy transition at pace.
NZTC will deploy technology trial programmes, accelerate strategic net zero infrastructure projects, run theme-specific technology accelerators and build collaborative industry programmes in line with our technology priorities for each of the areas. Each programme responds to a challenge or gap within the sector at present. All will leverage private funding to ensure the programme delivers good value for money.
What is critical to its success is that all programmes are industry-led, providing a response to industry issues and a clear line of sight to deployment.
Technology Trials Programme – essential to accelerate innovation, de-risk investment in technologies and overcome challenges in mid-Technology Readiness Level (TRL) technology development by providing a route to deployment
Overview: Co-invest with industry to test new technologies for net zero in live conditions, accelerating the path to wide industrial adoption. Each Technology Trials Programme will include a portfolio of projects aimed at trialling new technology in real operational environments and subsequently at first-of-a-kind commercial scale. The portfolio may include technical studies and technology development projects when required to progress to field trial. Field trials will take place on assets in multiple UK locations to prove technologies’ readiness for scaleup and to fast-track their commercialisation.
Outcomes: Increased supply of new and emerging technologies reaching commercialisation, increased number of first-of-a-kind commercial scale trials.
TechX Startup Acceleration Programme – fundamental in ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of innovation and supply chain growth; bridging the gap between spin-outs, startups and the route to industrial growth.
A) TechX Clean Energy Accelerator Programme
Overview: NZTC will deliver a TechX Clean Energy Accelerator Programme which accelerates early-stage clean energy technology startups, typically TRL 3 to 6. The programme is a boot camp for startups. It provides funding, tuition and mentorship to the startups to help them grow and progress their solutions to commercialisation and beyond.
This core activity will be continued with a new cohort of 10-12 startups each year. Each successful participant receives a share of £500,000 in grant funding to enable them to develop their technology. They attend an intensive 18-week programme aimed at equipping them with the tools, knowledge and network they need to scale their innovations and make a significant impact on the clean energy sector.
Outcomes: Investment-ready startups that are further up the TRL scale and have tools, knowledge, network and support to enable them to grow.
B) Academics Programme
Overview: This programme assesses PhDs for promising intellectual property with application in the energy industry and helps academics spin out the intellectual property into startups. NZTC subject matter experts assess selected PhD abstracts to understand their commercialisation potential, using their knowledge of energy market demand. The relevant academics are contacted to understand their support needs over and above what their university provides. The programme would provide academics and innovators with mentorship, industry and investor networks, pathways and signposting and grant funding in exchange for an ASA.
Outcomes: More clean energy spin-outs from universities with the spin-outs equipped with the knowledge to take the next step in their journey.
Rapid Infrastructure Deployment Programme – delivering a pathway for investment into national, regional and local infrastructure projects that need collaboration and industry support to be delivered.
Overview: Originate and accelerate deployment of strategic net zero infrastructure projects at national, regional or local level by generating ideas, identifying opportunities and developing investment cases and coordinating and convening industry partners and funding organisations. Each project may include techno-economic analysis, studies or field trials to accelerate the path to investment decision. In addition to harnessing the pipeline of infrastructure development opportunities acquired as a result of NZTC’s industry knowledge and connections, we will host an open and confidential call for infrastructure development ideas to ensure that the broadest spectrum of project opportunities is identified as possible. These will be assessed against robust techno-economic investment screening criteria and ranked to identify the most attractive investment opportunities. Ultimately, these infrastructure projects will have to satisfy the investment thresholds of the private sector partners who will co-invest in this programme.
Outcomes: De-risked infrastructure project investment opportunities designed to expedite the UK’s transition to net zero while providing sustainable, long-term returns for investors.
Joint Industry Programmes and Collaborations – de-risking investment in technologies that solve a common challenge for industry, in a collaborative and open way
Overview: NZTC will continue to lead Joint Industry Programmes (JIPs) which target specific individual projects that our industry partners wish to address. Fully funded by industry, these programmes enable partners to share costs and risks in developing new technologies.
Collaborations occur when multiple industry partners share common challenges within a technology focus area. There could be a number of projects associated with this work and partners can mix and match how many of these they wish to participate in. Once again these are fully funded by industry.
NZTC’s role is to convene consortia of companies including operators and supply chain partners to develop innovative solutions and technologies. These programmes rely on NZTC as a trusted, government-funded not-for-profit to convene and undertake them.
Outcomes: NZTC helps to shape programmes and projects which avoid expensive bespoke solutions to engineering issues. This enables the sharing of risk and cost between multiple industry partners, benefitting from collective knowledge and insight to common problems.
