Topic Hub: Funding
Knowledge Exchange UK strategic partner Innovation Growth Lab is inviting applications for its fully funded Impact Accelerator, supporting teams to strengthen the design, testing and evaluation of knowledge exchange and research commercialisation programmes.
Part of Innovation Growth Lab’s Research to Impact (R2I) Lab, the Impact Accelerator is designed for teams developing or delivering programmes that support knowledge exchange and research commercialisation. It helps participants embed experimentation into their work and take a more agile, systematic and evidence-informed approach to evaluation.
Through a combination of expert workshops and tailored one-to-one support, participating teams will develop a theory of change and success metrics for their programme, explore the most appropriate ways to test their approach, and build their capability to use experimental and other evaluation methods.
The programme can support a wide range of knowledge exchange initiatives, from entrepreneurial training for researchers and new approaches to industry collaboration, to investment readiness, funding programmes and the use of AI tools in knowledge exchange. It can also support entirely new approaches where teams need to establish the best way to test what works.
Who can apply?
The Accelerator is open to teams designing or delivering programmes that support knowledge exchange and research commercialisation, including:
- Technology transfer offices
- University knowledge exchange teams
- Business engagement teams
- Innovation and funding agencies
- Accelerators and venture builders
- Other organisations working where research meets impact.
Programmes can cover any form of knowledge exchange, both formal and informal, and applications are welcomed from organisations around the world. Partnerships can also apply as one team, with the programme working best when two to three people from each participating organisation or partnership take part.
What does the programme include?
The Accelerator combines six expert workshops with five one-to-one support sessions, alongside opportunities to learn with an international cohort and share progress and best practice. Sessions cover programme design, theory of change, evaluation and experimental design, outcome measures, implementation and analysis.
The programme runs online from 11 November 2026 to 10 February 2027. Workshops take place from 14:00 to 16:00 UK time, with office-hour slots released closer to each date.
A fully funded opportunity
Supported by Coefficient Giving, this edition of the Accelerator is fully funded and available at no cost to participating teams. Places are limited and applications are being accepted on a rolling basis until Friday 30 October 2026.
Applications are now open for the November 2026 cohort. Apply for the Impact Accelerator or read the programme FAQs.
Read more about the programme: R2I Lab Impact Accelerator_2026
Research England has announced a new £19.75 million Collaboration for a Sustainable Future programme, designed to support universities in developing more strategic, cost-effective and sustainable approaches to research and innovation through collaboration.
Launching on 1 October 2026, the programme will fund projects ranging from identifying barriers to collaboration through to piloting new partnership models and establishing ambitious cross-UK innovation partnerships. Funding opportunities will range from £10,000 to £5 million.
The programme responds to increasing pressures across the higher education sector and seeks to support universities in sharing resources, expertise and capabilities to deliver greater impact collectively. It builds on successful initiatives including Research England’s Shared Technology Transfer Office Pilot and the Cambridge x Manchester partnership.
KEUK welcomes focus on scaling collaboration to support ambition
This programme represents a significant opportunity for the knowledge exchange community. Many of the challenges facing universities today, including commercialisation capacity, business engagement, innovation support and regional economic development, are areas where collaboration can often deliver greater impact than institutions working independently.
The programme’s emphasis on shared capability, strategic partnerships and innovation-led growth aligns closely with the work of technology transfer offices, business engagement teams, innovation professionals and regional partnership managers. It also signals continued national interest in collaborative approaches that strengthen institutional resilience while accelerating research and innovation ambition and impact.
Research England’s vision
Research England Executive Chair Jessica Corner said:
“At Research England, we have been listening intently to the sector over the last few months as they face acute and accelerating pressures, and can today announce a new initiative that puts collaboration at the heart of what they do so well.
“We are keen that universities share knowledge, and at Research England we are committed to create and sustain the conditions for a healthy and dynamic research and innovation system. We have seen enormous success over the last few years of the brilliance that can be realised when our world-leading institutions join forces. We would like to see that come to fruition in every corner of England.”
What’s being funded?
Research England is investing in activities that will help universities develop, test and scale collaborative approaches that strengthen the long-term sustainability of the UK’s research and innovation system.
The programme aims to identify barriers to collaboration, develop practical solutions, pilot innovative partnership models and support ambitious regional and cross-UK innovation partnerships.
Identifying barriers and solutions
Funding of £750,000 will support projects that bring together universities and stakeholders to identify barriers and challenges to collaboration and develop practical solutions.
- Grants between £10,000 and £100,000
- Projects of up to 12 months
- Focus on producing accessible outputs, findings and recommendations to support strategic institutional collaboration
Alongside this opportunity, Research England will launch an open survey to gather insights from the wider higher education and innovation community.
Piloting new collaborative models
Around £4 million will be available for pilot projects designed to test new ways of working across institutions.
- Grants between £100,000 and £1 million
- Projects of up to 24 months
- Focus on improving efficiency, cost-effectiveness, shared capability and sector sustainability
Projects may explore shared approaches to research and innovation support, business engagement or other collaborative models that deliver benefits across multiple organisations.
Supporting cross-UK innovation partnerships
A further £15 million will support ambitious partnerships bringing together complementary strengths from innovation ecosystems across the UK.
- Grants between £1 million and £5 million
- Projects of up to 36 months
- Designed to stimulate economic growth and deliver greater impact through collaboration
These partnerships will be expected to demonstrate how working collectively can achieve outcomes that would be difficult for individual institutions to deliver alone.
Preparing for the funding opportunities
With applications opening on 1 October 2026, now is an ideal time for universities, innovation teams and potential partners to begin exploring collaborative opportunities.
Organisations may wish to consider existing partnerships, identify shared challenges and opportunities, and start discussions around projects that could benefit from a more strategic and coordinated approach. Those interested in regional innovation, shared services, technology transfer and collaborative KE activity may find particular alignment with the programme’s objectives.
Further information
Funding opportunity details will be published on the UKRI Funding Finder when applications open on 1 October 2026.
The LINCAM Ceres Agri-Tech initiative is offering £5,000–£150,000 in funding to help UK researchers translate crop-based agri-tech research with commercial potential into real-world agricultural innovation.
Projects must focus on crop agriculture or horticulture and include at least 50% EPSRC scope, including areas such as AI, robotics, engineering, materials, data and software.
The call is open to researchers from UK universities and EPSRC-approved Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs). Projects should also demonstrate relevance to agriculture in Lincolnshire or Cambridgeshire.
The initiative is particularly interested in technologies that can help address challenges facing crop-based agriculture, including labour shortages, climate pressures, food waste, pests and diseases, rising input costs and the transition towards greener, net zero processes.
Expression of Interest deadline: Midnight, 5 October 2026.
Contact for More Information
To arrange a roadshow, presentation, or find out more, please contact:
Claire Hall – ClaHall@lincoln.ac.uk
Steve Brewer – sbrewer@lincoln.ac.uk
- Download the LINCAM Agri-tech Funding Call flyer for information on the funding, scope, eligibility and key challenges: Lincam Call Poster August
This event followed the publication of the HEIF Policies and Priorities document. Speakers from Research England talked through Government priorities and introduced the changes to the HEIF Accountability Statements, explaining what had been changed and why. They provided some worked examples and there was an opportunity for Q&A.
KEUK is hosting a follow-up discussion session on 24th November, which will not involve Research England directly but will provide opportunity to feedback on the changes and generate a list of questions.
Please find below the recording, presentation and useful links.
Useful Links:
- 🆕 HEIF Policies and Priorities Information Session: Q&A
- Plan for Change – the economic growth mission: https://www.gov.uk/missions
- Modern Industrial Strategy: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/the-uks-modern-industrial-strategy-2025
- Post 16 Education and Skills White Paper: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/post-16-education-and-skills-white-paper
- https://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/research/uci-policy-unit/uci-news/ke-growth-framework/
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has announced 48 projects from across the UK’s research base that will receive funding from a new £9 million proof-of-concept programme. The projects span medical applications, sustainability, space science, artificial intelligence and more.
The Proof-of-Concept (PoC) fund was announced following a recommendation arising from the Independent Review of Spinouts (2023), which identified a gap in funding for innovation-based new venture creation. The high number of applications to the fund is a demonstration of potential in the research system and TenU – the international group of ten research intensive universities – has called for a much higher level of PoC funding as a result. Innovation-based companies help to grow the economy of the future and early-stage support is critical to securing future investment in order to scale and grow.
KEUK commented: “Universities are working hard to create more opportunities for spinouts, including through ‘shared TTO’ pilots, regional alliances and dedicated venture funds. UKRI’s new PoC fund is a welcome and necessary addition to the ecosystem of support that is required to realise innovative products and services from the research base.”
Read more and access the full list of projects here: https://www.ukri.org/news/48-projects-backed-to-turn-cutting-edge-research-into-businesses/
For more information on our Spinout Creation training, please click here https://ke.org.uk/national-courses/spinout-creation/
On Tuesday, 25 February, Knowledge Exchange UK hosted a webinar on the TenU-led campaign to secure additional Proof of Concept (POC) funding in the forthcoming Spending Review.
Working in coalition with KEUK, Russell Group, and University Alliance, TenU is advocating for increased POC funding to bridge the gap between academic research and commercial applications. This aligns with the Government’s ambition to drive economic growth through public investment in research.
During the session, we explored:
- The coalition’s efforts, including a letter to the Chancellor and senior ministers
- Initial findings from a sector-wide survey on POC funding
- How you can contribute to strengthening the evidence base for additional investment
Speakers:
- Stuart Wilkinson – CEO, Knowledge Exchange UK
- Ananay Aguilar – Head of TenU
- Jacob Johnson – Founder of Innovosource
Please find below the recording, presentation and useful links.
Useful Links:
- Please complete the survey by 7th March 2025: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/UKPOC
Following UKRI’s announcement of a new £9 million proof-of-concept fund to help convert world-class research into market-leading products and services, our community webinar provided insights into this exciting opportunity from the UKRI Commercialisation Team, ARMA, and Knowledge Exchange UK.
During the webinar, participants had the opportunity to learn more about:
- Aims, objectives, and scope of the proof-of-concept funding opportunity
- Eligibility criteria for applicants
- Key dates and deadlines
- The ‘intention to submit’ stage and its purpose
- The live funding application stage
- Using the UKRI commercialisation question set
- Securing support from research organisations
Additionally, attendees were given the opportunity to ask questions about the initiative during a community Q&A session.
Speakers:
- Dr Tony Soteriou, Director Commercialisation, UKRI
- Dr Alex Chaix, Deputy Director of Commercialisation, UKRI
- Dr Heather-Rose Macklyne, Head of Commercialisation, UKRI
- Dr Nishtha Agarwal, Senior Commercialisation Manager, UKRI
Please find below the recording, presentation and useful links.
Useful links:
- 🆕 UKRI Proof of Concept: Application caps for Research Organisations
- 🆕 Pre-announcement: Proof of Concept | Updates
- Your Questions Answered about the UKRI Proof of Concept Funding Opportunity
- New UKRI proof-of-concept funding set to bolster innovation
- Outline of the Funding Opportunity
- Proof of Concept Intention to Submit
- Roles in funding applications: eligibility, responsibilities and costings guidance
Video recording:
Building on the findings from the report Equity and Inclusivity in Research Funding: Barriers and Delivering Change, the University of Oxford partnered with innovation management consultancy Oxentia Ltd to convene colleagues in the wider funding ecosystem to determine and agree on how to implement solutions to transform equity and inclusivity in research funding nationally. The output of this work was a soon-to-be-published article, joint statement, and shared action plan.
In this webinar, we shared the lessons learned from this work. We explored how both the findings of the project and the process itself might be relevant for university practitioners supporting Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation (KEC), and why improving EDI in research funding also benefits KEC.
Speakers:
- Tamsin Mann – Head of Policy and Governance, PraxisAuril
- Britta Wyatt – Principal Consultant, Oxentia Ltd
- Andreea Iacoban – Senior Consultant, Oxentia Ltd
- Tanita Casci – Director of the Research Strategy & Policy Unit, University of Oxford
_____________________
Oxentia Ltd
Oxentia works in partnership with our clients to build capacity, develop capability and create opportunities to enable innovation. Oxentia started life as an operating division of Oxford University Innovation, the technology transfer company of the University of Oxford. Our roots are in Oxford, but our outlook is global – since 2004 we have supported and empowered clients in over 70 countries. Our clients are as diverse as our work; from universities and governments to inventors and investors, early-career researchers and FTSE 250 R&D teams to charities and investment banks. Oxentia helps to bring new ideas to life.
University of Oxford, Research Strategy & Policy Unit
The Unit leads on institutional strategies, policies, and initiatives to understand, evidence, and support the quality of Oxford’s research and research environment, including by engaging with developments in national and international research policy. The unit supports all the key strategic agendas of the PVC-Research, including reward and recognition, support for careers, skills development, and equitable approaches in all these areas.
Please find below the recording, presentations and useful links.
- You can find the report mentioned by Tanita here: https://researchsupport.web.ox.ac.uk/files/equityandinclusivityinresearchfundingpdf
- To get involved and find out more, please visit: https://researchsupport.web.ox.ac.uk/equity-and-inclusivity-in-research-funding
The Government’s Independent Review of Spinouts is likely to report this month. I expect publication both of the review itself and of the Government’s response by the time of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement at the latest.
What will it say? And what will it mean for the Knowledge Exchange community?
I have no secret inside track on the review – and anyone who tells you they do is fooling either themselves or other people. But I have been closely involved in three high profile Government-commissioned reviews and their official responses over the years: the Leitch Review of Skills (for Gordon Brown), the Wolf Review of Vocational Education (for Michael Gove) and the Richards Review of Apprenticeships (for Gove and Vince Cable). So I have a fair idea of how this work will be playing out behind the scenes.
As I travel around the country talking to PraxisAuril members, I have encountered two main responses to the Review. One is a certain degree of jaded exasperation (“what another review?!”); the other is a level of anxiety about what the review might say and whether it will be overly influenced by vocal critics of universities and their spinout records.
I think neither of these reactions are well-founded, and that there will probably be good reasons for our sector to welcome this review and its findings. How can I say this in advance of publication? Well, a few general observations about independent reviews might be of interest.
1. A Review can be a vehicle for Government action; or a substitute for it
It is true that Governments often use independent reviews to help them drive policy further and faster than it would otherwise move. An independent review led by the right people can create the policy space, the analytical resource and the stakeholder engagement needed to set out a bold policy agenda and get broad buy-in to it. But equally it can be a way of neutralising persistent pressure from one political faction or set of stakeholders. If you are constantly being needled to enact certain reforms but you are unsure of their wisdom, a well-constituted independent review can create the right forum for looking closely at the issue and examining constructive alternatives to the problem.
2. ‘Independent’ is a relative term, but a very useful one
Ministers and officials are often at pains to emphasise the independence of their reviewers, and the Spinouts Review is no different. After all, there is no point in enticing some Big Beasts into the policy arena and then keeping them visibly on a short leash. But in truth an independent review cannot make recommendations that the Government of the day finds unpalatable. I have seen one instance where this was the result (none of the three reviews mentioned above, this one will remain nameless!). It spells disaster for the credibility of the Reviewer and for progress in the policy area, as Government simply will not publish a report it finds unhelpful. This means that while a review has the independence to float reforms that officials might never have recommended under their own steam, they will always be carefully worded to ensure decision-making power remains firmly with Ministers (eg. “the Government should seriously consider doing X,Y and Z” or “the Government should look again at the problem of X and take action to address it somewhere on a spectrum between A and E”). This is turn allows the Government to show that it has been completely open-minded in its approach, allowed independent reviewers free reign to float radical ideas, but ultimately can put some presentational space between Review and Response to preserve the sanity and workability of the detail of public policy.
3. The commissioners of a Review don’t get a free pass from the Prime Minister
It is important to take a short detour here into the inner working of Government. Any document such as a Government Response to a Review, even if written by one or two departments only, has to be cleared by the whole of Government. It is not possible for an activist Secretary of State (or even Chancellor) to use an independent review to push through their own personal policy agenda. There are cross-departmental structures called Cabinet Committees that must approve all significant policy announcements, they are all chaired by the PM or Deputy PM, and they will withhold approval until they are happy that every part of Government can live with the policy. It is a powerful part of our Collective Responsibility system of government, and on the whole it works very well and prevents private peeves or passions becoming public policy.
4. The Civil Service machine is more impressive than you may think
On my travels around the sector I have heard voiced more than once a certain condescension towards the civil service, usually based on the belief that they don’t know much about KE, tech transfer or commercialisation, and so are liable to come up with something daft if left alone too much. This is a mistake. It is true that an official in Whitehall can never have the deep professional experience of someone who has been spinning out successful business from university research for 25 years; but one thing the Whitehall machine is excellent at is assimilating many other people’s knowledge and understanding and identifying the big picture that emerges from it. Above all, the civil service has a powerful bias towards evidence-based policy, and in the case of this review it has access not only to some very smart policy officials, but also a wealth of in or near-sector experience across UKRI, RE and the PraxisAuril community. They will see self-interested critics bandying about partial data and skewed surveys for what they are: stakeholders to be managed, not gurus to be followed.
5. Reviews are always opportunities more than they are threats
There is a natural tendency for those working in any sector or profession to worry about having their world turned upside down by the latest Review or policy response. But in truth even the most powerful and sticky review is only a time-limited intervention into an ecosystem that it does not control. What actually happens in a sector once the dust has settled and the reviewers have gone back to their day jobs depends entirely upon the professionals working in that sector. Only the most self-satisfied – or self-deluded – practitioner in KE would believe that there is nothing we can improve upon in our nascent profession. Therefore we should stand ready to seize upon any new recommendations with gusto and use the momentum they generate to help us with our own improvement agenda. Almost any recommendation stands or falls on the quality and detail of its implementation, and that will fall to us in the KE sector, and to PraxisAuril as the sector’s professional body, as well as other stakeholders.
In summary, the Spinouts Review is likely to represent a great opportunity for our sector to show we can absorb evidence-based critique and take hold of a positive reform agenda to improve the quality and impact of our work. The Government response to the Spinouts Review is almost certain to be measured, constructive and evidence-led, and we in the KE community should stand ready to embrace it and take forward its findings in a positive and collegiate way.
University of Birmingham spinout ChromaTwist Ltd has secured £487k of equity investment to develop its new class of fluorescent dyes for the flow cytometry reagent market.
This second round of equity investment, which brought in funds from Directors, existing Angel investors, angelgroups and the University of Birmingham will allow the company to continue product development with industry partners, and enable rapid development of products for market entry as soon as 2023.
Flow cytometry is an analytical technique used by hospital laboratories, the pharmaceutical industry, and university research departments, for medical research, vaccine and drug development and disease diagnosis. It uses dyes to detect or measure the characteristics of cells or particles.
The market for these reagents is showing significant growth, with an estimated value of $2.9Bn by 2027.
One of the central challenges in flow cytometry is the ability to detect multiple targets from the same sample (known as ‘multiplexing’). The novel dyes in development by ChromaTwist show exceptional versatility with a large range of ‘signalling colours’, and this should enable simultaneous tests to be carried out on a single sample, which increases throughput and speeds output from existing flow cytometry equipment.
The dyes were discovered by the research groups led by Professor Jon Preece from the School of Chemistry and Professor Alex Robinson from the School of Chemical Engineering, during a programme of research into photo-conducting liquid crystals. The group, which has world-leading expertise in nanoscale materials, quickly realised they had found materials with a unique chemistry that allows tuneable fluorescence, meaning that small adjustments in the molecular structure alter the colour of the light they emit, from blue through to red, and potentially into the infra-red. The technology is protected by a suite of patents owned by ChromaTwist.
The funding builds on initial grant funding of £347k from Innovate UK, £90k funding from the Directors in 2019, and a first equity funding round of £430k from directors, Angel investors and the University of Birmingham in 2021.
Since then, ChromaTwist has made significant progress, developing a proof-of-concept product and initiating testing with major players in the flow cytometry reagent market
Professor Jon Preece commented: “Following a year of rapid product development and customer engagement, we have now moved to our own dedicated laboratory and will be expanding our team of scientists, so we can expedite our dye development for flow cytometry. We expect the resulting dyes to be fully compatible with existing flow cytometry processes and equipment, and are looking forward to the next 12 months working with industry partners.”
The founders Preece and Robinson are serial innovators, who have already worked together on an existing spinout, Irresistible Materials Ltd, which develops organic materials for new lithographic processes including e-beam and EUV lithography. ChromaTwist has an experienced management team including Chairman, Mark Shepherd (and CEO Irresistible Materials Ltd), who has extensive experience in licensing and spin out companies, and Darren Wake, who has three decades of executive level experience including M&A.
ChromaTwist has already received commercial accolades and was nominated as ‘one to watch’ in The Spinoff Prize 2020, which is organised by Nature Research, part of Springer Nature, and German leading science and technology company Merck KGaA, as well as being Royal Society of Chemistry Emerging Technologies finalists in 2019.
ChromaTwist is also evaluating longer-term opportunities in other sectors, including security inks and applications in organic electronics, having demonstrated the materials can be incorporated into OPVs and OLED devices as the active element. To this end, ChromaTwist has sold 18 of its dyes to Sigma-Aldrich, part of the Life Science business sector of Merck, and is open to initial discussion with companies about potential partnerships and collaborations in these areas.
For further media information or interviews please contact Ruth Ashton, University of Birmingham Enterprise, email: r.c.ashton@bham.ac.uk
For further commercial information, or enquiries about partnership or investment, please contact: Jon Preece, CEO ChromaTwist, email: j.a.preece@chromatwist.com, tel: 075 25 420 147
About ChromaTwist Ltd
ChromaTwist is a spinout from the University of Birmingham. The company is developing a novel range of tunable, large Stokes Shift fluorescent dyes that emit light in various bandwidths, for use in flow cytometry, microscopy and other applications.
About the University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, teachers and more than 6,500 international students from over 150 countries.
University of Birmingham Enterprise helps students and researchers turn their ideas into new services, products and enterprises that meet real-world needs. We also support innovators and entrepreneurs with mentoring, advice, and training and manage the University’s Academic Consultancy Service. View our portfolio of technologies available for licensing.
