National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) has expanded its collaboration with leading UK universities, establishing innovation partnerships with ten academic institutions to accelerate the development and deployment of solutions for the future electricity transmission system.

Through NGET's innovation programme, these collaborations will channel cutting-edge research and specialist skills directly into live projects, helping address complex technical, operational and whole-system challenges involved in building and running tomorrow's grid.

Covering the five-year RIIO-T3 price control window from 2026 to 2031, the framework grants access to advanced research, capabilities and new ideas across advanced engineering, digital technologies, whole-system planning and sustainability.

RIIO-T3 sets a higher bar for delivery speed, efficiency and sustainability, while maintaining safety and resilience. With up to £31 billion of investment planned between 2026 and 2031, the programme will enable the connection of 35GW of new generation and storage, alongside 19GVA of demand.

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Under the arrangements, university teams will work alongside NGET innovation engineers and project groups to convert research into deployable solutions, scale promising ideas and embed new methods into day-to-day operations. The flexible structure also allows NGET to adapt to emerging challenges and opportunities throughout RIIO-T3.

The ten partner universities are the University of Bath, University of Birmingham, Cardiff University, the University of Edinburgh, University of Exeter, University of Liverpool, the University of Manchester, University of Southampton, University of Strathclyde and the University of Warwick.

Projects will focus on: power electronics applications that enhance capacity, controllability, stability and resilience across the electricity system; accelerating NGET’s digital transformation from research through to deployment; and energy system decarbonisation and low-emission technologies.

As part of its broader academic engagement, NGET has also teamed up with a major Norwegian research institute—one of Europe’s largest independent organisations operating between academia and industry. Through the ClampIT project, the institute is applying sensors, advanced modelling and a digital-twin approach to track transformer clamping pressure as assets age, supporting improved resilience, fewer failures and extended transformer lifetimes.

NGET's £140,000 contribution to ClampIT is being leveraged into around £1.6 million of research output via collaboration with multiple partners, showcasing the benefits of this model for delivering more from every pound invested.