Key Features
Eligible UK public sector organisations can apply for up to £5 million from the Knowledge Asset Grant Fund. The funding will aid exploitation of high potential intangible assets that have a broader application or client base than their owner organisation.
Programme: Innovate UK
Award: Share of up to £5 million
Opens: 17th Mar 2023
Closes: 8th Jun 2023
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 £15 million funding available from 2021 to March 2025, with approximately £5 million allocated to this financial year.
Innovate UK is administering this competition on behalf of GOTT.
This competition is split into 3 strands:
It is your responsibility to ensure you are applying to the correct strand for your project. You will not be able to transfer your application and it will not be sent for assessment if it does not meet the eligibility criteria.
There are currently two further rounds of funding planned in the financial year 2023 to 2024 with competition deadlines in September and December.
The Knowledge Assets Grant Fund (KAGF) aims to unlock the potential for developing and exploiting public sector knowledge assets. The KAGF provides financial support to help unearth potentially valuable knowledge assets and to develop the exploitation pathway of assets outside of business as usual purposes.
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:
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.
The Government Office for Technology Transfer (GOTT) reserves the right to prioritise projects within specific themes to help meet the Government’s objectives.
If actioned, themed calls will be scheduled within existing funding rounds. The introduction of themed calls will not have an impact on deadlines and panel dates.
GOTT will support themes by providing substantive guidance and application support to ‘on-theme’ projects. Further information will be made available when applicable.
Your project must:
Under current restrictions, this competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian and Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian and Belarusian source.
To lead a project your organisation must be a UK public sector organisation headed by an Accounting Officer responsible for upholding Managing Public Money (MPM). Eligible organisations are generally Central Government Organisations and their arm’s length bodies, though others may be in scope.
Your project must have approval from a Senior Civil Servant, or equivalent from the lead organisation, with delegation from the Accounting Officer, up to and including the value of the grant being sought.
Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.
Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.
Overseas subcontractors can be used but justification must be provided as to why suppliers from the UK have not been selected. You must include evidence that you approached potential UK contractors and the reasons why they were unsuitable or unable to work with you.
All subcontractor costs must be justified, and an explanation 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.
Innovate UK are not funding:
Organisations not eligible to apply for the KAGF include, but are not limited to:
Funding will not be conditional on:
The programme has £15 million funding available from 2021 to March 2025, with approximately £5 million allocated to this financial year.
Funding will be in the form of a grant.
You can request 100% funding for your eligible project costs of between £100,001 up to a maximum of £250,000. Eligible cost include but are not restricted to:
You must only include eligible project costs in your application
If successful, your award will be finalised pending receipt of a grant agreement. This must be signed by the Senior Officer Responsible, with the appropriate delegation from their Accounting Officer, up to and including the full cost of your project.
Book an appointment to speak to one of our advisors to discuss your eligibility to apply for this Grant Funding opportunity.