Call for Applications: Knowledge Asset Grant Fund – Expand (UK)

Deadline: 14-Dec-23

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.

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).

Innovate UK is administering this competition on behalf of GOTT.

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

Funding Information

• Project size: Your project’s total grant funding request must be between £25,001 and £100,000
• The programme has £15 million total funding available from 2021 to March 2025 across all grant streams. Budget limits are imposed at each panel meeting to ensure only the best proposals are funded.
• Funding will be in the form of a grant.
• You can request 100% funding for your eligible project costs of between £25,001 up to a maximum of £100,000.
• Eligible costs include but are not restricted to:
  • market research
  • building prototypes
  • testing asset development
  • gathering supporting data
  • scoping end users requirements
  • exploring IP protection
  • accessing expert advice to support development of the knowledge asset

Who can apply?

• Your project
  • Your project must:
    • start by 1 March 2024
    • end by 31 August 2025
    • last between 2 and 18 months
    • spend at least 50% of the budget during the first half of the project, unless the project starts and ends within the same financial year
    • generate social, financial or economic benefits to the UK
    • develop a knowledge asset that is majority owned by the UK government organisation applying for funding
  • Projects must always start on the first of the month and this must be stated within your application. Your project start date will be reflected in your grant offer letter if you are successful.
  • Under current restrictions, this competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian or Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian or Belarusian source.
• Lead organisation
  • 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.
  • Central government departments, Arm’s Length Bodies and Public Sector Research Establishments are eligible for the Knowledge Asset Grant Fund (KAGF).
  • From 8 June 2023, organisations in the NHS secondary and tertiary care sector, and publicly owned commercial organisations, will not be eligible to apply for grant funding or other services from the Government Office for Technology Transfer (GOTT).
  • They would encourage NHS Trusts to look at alternative funding schemes available to the NHS secondary and tertiary care sector by viewing Health Technology Pathway: Navigation Tool for Innovators in England document.
• Subcontractors
  • 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. They 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.
• Number of applications
  • An eligible public sector organisation can lead on any number of applications for different projects.

For more information, visit Innovate UK.