MatAlytics wins GBP £619,000 UK grant for steel AI

MatAlytics has received £619,000 from Innovate UK to deploy its structural physics AI in the steel sector, building on an earlier £100,000 grant for the Midlands-based company.

The funding will be used to develop and validate its CITRUS software for steel manufacturing. The software is intended to predict the thermomechanical behaviour and microstructure of steel slabs and components in seconds, potentially replacing finite element simulations that often take hours or days to complete.

The company is targeting one of the most energy-intensive stages of steel production: reheating slabs before rolling or heat treatment. These slabs pass through gas-fired furnaces, and producers aim to reduce the time spent inside them to cut fuel use and operating costs.

CITRUS is designed to help manufacturers optimise reheating cycles, improve consistency in finished products and increase throughput while lowering carbon emissions. Its underlying model is trained on the outputs of finite element simulations and is intended to interpret sensor data from industrial components in near real time.

Steel focus

The project comes as steelmakers face pressure to control energy costs and reduce emissions. In that context, software that can estimate temperature, stress and material change faster than conventional simulation tools could help plant operators make quicker process decisions.

The steel project was accepted under Innovate UK's Frontier AI programme after MatAlytics demonstrated a proof of concept aligned with the UK's strategic interest in domestic AI development. The business traces its origins to doctoral research at the University of Nottingham and has since worked to turn that research into commercial software.

Damien Jefferies, Innovation Lead - Frontier AI at Innovate UK, said: "This grant funding is well deserved. Innovate UK's Frontier AI programme encourages UK AI talent to build and scale frontier AI companies in the UK, supporting globally competitive technologies that align with national priorities and deliver real-world impact."

For MatAlytics, the new funding marks another step from proof of concept to industrial use. The award will support both technical development and hiring as the company expands its work with industrial partners.

Dr Benedikt Engel, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of MatAlytics, said: "This Innovate UK funding is a significant milestone that validates our frontier AI capabilities here in the UK. It enables us to accelerate the development and industrial validation of our CITRUS platform, advancing our physics-based AI from a promising proof of concept to a deployable solution.

"This grant not only strengthens our technology roadmap, but also enables us to gain early commercial traction with UK industry partners, reinforcing British leadership in sovereign, physics-informed AI for critical industrial applications. At a practical level, it also means we can take on more technical and commercial staff to support our roadmap and future customers' needs."

Wider markets

Although the current grant centres on steel, the company says the same approach can be applied to other engineering-intensive industries, including power generation, aerospace, defence, automotive and nuclear, where operators need a clearer picture of how assets are performing under heat, stress and damage.

Its proposition is that models pre-trained on simulation results can give plant operators a practical alternative to waiting for full-scale simulation runs. In industries where decisions about maintenance, production settings or asset life carry high costs, speed is a major selling point.

Research cited by the company points to the scale of the steel market. Grand View Research estimated the global steel market at USD $1,494.0 billion in 2025 and projected it would rise to USD $2,283.0 billion by 2033, with Asia Pacific holding the largest revenue share.

The management team includes Dr Engel, whose background covers material behaviour, numerical modelling and experimental validation, and Professor Andy Morris, Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer, who has worked in the power industry and plant life assessment. The wider leadership group also includes Executive Chairman Dan Hatfield and Chief Technology Officer Ben Osborne.

MatAlytics was formed after earlier academic work and subsequent commercial testing with industrial users. It previously received backing linked to power sector applications, then went through business support and market validation programmes before securing Innovate UK support.

Engel added: "Although this project centres on steel, physics AI can monitor industrial assets across the energy sector, including thermal power generation, nuclear and fusion, small modular reactors, the hydrogen economy, offshore oil and gas, aerospace and defence, and automotive."