Funding
Fellows are funded by their individual host institutions with additional funding provided by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Previously the Fellowship was funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in conjunction with the former East Midlands Development Agency(emda).
Aim
The aim of the programme is to facilitate and encourage the commercialisation of ideas, products and processes to help improve and increase the flow of new technology from universities to businesses. The award of an Innovation Fellowship enables academics to undertake a range of activities including:
- Progressing Proof of Concept (PoC)
- Developing robust Intellectual Property (IP)
- Business planning
- Market appraisal work
- Engaging with potential commercial partners and end users
- Promoting access to business training, coaching and mentoring
Key priorities
The programme meets key priorities identified in the
East Midlands Regional Economic Strategy under the themes of Innovation and Enterprise. Its objectives are to:
- Enable more science and technology based spin-out company start-ups
- Improve both leading edge and other relevant knowledge transfer from universities to businesses
- Address the funding gap that exists for commercial opportunities arising from the combined research base of the region's principal research organisations
- Form a starting point in the commercial development of opportunities at a time when commercial investment is not justifiable
- Encourage and facilitate the early steps towards commercialisation of research and promote sustainable culture change within universities
It also provides a stepping-stone for academics, enabling them to achieve development milestones that can lead them to secure further commercial investment and/or industry contracts.
Timing
Applications can be submitted to the scheme at any time but calls will be focused on quarter ends to 31 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December.
Applicants for Innovation Fellowships should note that because of the likely demand against available support, there is a limit on the number of submissions each university may reasonably submit and local technology transfer officers may need to prioritise institutional submissions.