Knowledge Asset Grant Fund: Expand, Autumn 2023

Key Features

Eligible UK public sector organisations can apply for up to £100,000 from the Knowledge Asset Grant Fund in this strand. The funding will aid exploitation of intangible assets that have a broader application or client base than their owner organisation.

Programme:     Innovate UK

Award:     Share of up to £100,000

Opens: 16th Jun 2023

Closes: 7th Sep 2023

! This scheme is now closed

Overview

The Knowledge Asset Grant Fund (KAGF) is run by the Government Office for Technology Transfer (GOTT) and funded by the Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT).

The programme has funding available from 2021 to March 2025. Budget limits are imposed at each panel meeting to ensure only the best proposals are funded.

Innovate UK is administering this competition on behalf of GOTT.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to support the identification and development of public sector knowledge assets, including repurposing, commercialisation or expanded use. These assets can include:

  • inventions
  • designs
  • certain research and development (R&D) outcomes
  • data and information
  • creative outputs such as text, video, graphics, software and source code
  • know-how and expertise
  • business processes, services
  • other intellectual resources

Potential value includes financial, economic and social benefits and can be achieved through commercialisation or expanded use of the asset across government and stakeholder organisations.

Assets do not have to be potentially revenue generating to attract funding but you must provide a clear plan and timeline to leverage value, for example, as a spinout, licence, open source or prototype.

The Knowledge Asset Grant Fund will support projects, or project stages, which are not suitable to secure investment from private sources. For example, this could be to develop an asset for use across different organisations within government which usually do not collaborate.

Specific Themes

This competition will prioritise projects in either of the following two themes:

  • a digital economy
  • environment and sustainability

These two themes support the government’s ambition for a greener and more digitally advanced future as set out in the Science and Technology Framework.

Innovate UK welcome applications from off-theme projects in this round. On-theme projects will be prioritised where funding is limited.

Eligibility

This competition will prioritise projects in either of the following two themes:

  • a digital economy
  • environment and sustainability

These two themes support the government’s ambition for a greener and more digitally advanced future as set out in the Science and Technology Framework.

Innovate UK welcome applications from off-theme projects in this round. On-theme projects will be prioritised where funding is limited.

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.

Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.

You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use suppliers from the UK.

You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. Innovate UK will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.

All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs. An explanation must be provided as to why external expertise is needed. It is your organisation’s responsibility to ensure any spend of the grant fund follows existing commercial arrangements of your organisation and Crown Commercial rules.

The Knowledge Assets Grant Fund aims to support the development of public sector owned Knowledge Assets for the benefit for the UK. If the KAGF secretariat or panel concludes that the project would disproportionately benefit a subcontractor, the project will be deemed ineligible.

An eligible public sector organisation can lead on any number of applications for different projects.

You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition where there has been a significant improvement of the application.

Follow-on funding is permitted for a previously funded project, subject to demonstrating successful delivery of the previous project’s outcomes and evidence of positive additional impact from the new project. Any previous submissions to this fund regarding the same Knowledge Asset, and related assessments, may be shared with assessors to inform scoring of the latest submission.

Innovate UK do not accept duplicate applications in the same funding round. If you have multiple projects which are similar, for example with similar outputs or products, you can consider combining the projects.

Innovate UK will not award funding if you or your organisation has failed to:

  • complete and return a Knowledge Asset Grant Fund final report following the conclusion of a project previously funded under the KAGF
  • comply with grant terms and conditions for a project previously funded under KAGF

Exclusions

Innovate UK are not funding:

  • fundamental R&D aimed at creating new knowledge assets
  • projects which have already advanced to the point where they could be eligible for investment by private funding sources
  • projects that are directly or indirectly requesting funding for an existing commercial entity that is not a government body
  • projects that aim to subsidise ‘business as usual’ activities, for example, activities directed by Ministers or set out in organisational strategies or remit, unless they address new markets or customers
  • projects that only benefit the organisation applying or existing customers and users
  • privately owned companies, including spin-out companies

Organisations not eligible to apply for the KAGF include, but are not limited to:

  • universities and academic institutions
  • local governments and their organisations
  • local Enterprise Partnerships
  • devolved administrations and organisations overseen by the Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Northern Ireland Executive. This includes NHS Scotland and Wales, and Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland
  • publicly owned commercial organisations, such as The Crown Estate
  • NHS secondary and tertiary care sector, including NHS trusts
  • private sector organisations
  • independent charities

Funding will not be conditional on:

  • export performance, for example, awarding funding to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country
  • UK content, for example, awarding funding to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product

Funding Costs

Innovate UK are not funding:

  • fundamental R&D aimed at creating new knowledge assets
  • projects which have already advanced to the point where they could be eligible for investment by private funding sources
  • projects that are directly or indirectly requesting funding for an existing commercial entity that is not a government body
  • projects that aim to subsidise ‘business as usual’ activities, for example, activities directed by Ministers or set out in organisational strategies or remit, unless they address new markets or customers
  • projects that only benefit the organisation applying or existing customers and users
  • privately owned companies, including spin-out companies

Organisations not eligible to apply for the KAGF include, but are not limited to:

  • universities and academic institutions
  • local governments and their organisations
  • local Enterprise Partnerships
  • devolved administrations and organisations overseen by the Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Northern Ireland Executive. This includes NHS Scotland and Wales, and Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland
  • publicly owned commercial organisations, such as The Crown Estate
  • NHS secondary and tertiary care sector, including NHS trusts
  • private sector organisations
  • independent charities

Funding will not be conditional on:

  • export performance, for example, awarding funding to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country
  • UK content, for example, awarding funding to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product

Interested in applying for this competition?

Book an appointment to speak to one of our advisors to discuss your eligibility to apply for this Grant Funding opportunity.