Technology Transfer Funding

• Royal Society Industry Fellowships
• RAEng Enterprise Fellowships
• Royal Society Brian Mercer Feasibility Award
• Royal Society Brian Mercer Award for Innovation
• Wellcome Trust Health Innovation Challenge Fund (HICF)
• Wellcome Trust Translation Fund
• NIHR Invention for Innovation (i4i) Programme

The Industry Fellowship scheme aims to enhance knowledge transfer in science and technology between those in industry and those in academia. Please see the Mid-Advanced Career Fellowships page for more information on this award.

Enterprise Fellowships provide funding and support to outstanding entrepreneurial engineering researchers, working at a UK University, to enable them to develop a spin-out business around their technological idea. Please see the Early Career Fellowships page for more information on this award.

This scheme provides initial support to test the feasibility of a project, enabling applicants to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of commercialising an aspect of their scientific research, possibly in conjunction with a third party.

Eligibility: The scheme covers the built environment, clean technology, energy and nanoscience, nanotechnology and biomedical sciences. The applicant must:

• have a PhD or be of equivalent standing in their profession
• hold a substantive post in either a university or not-for-profit research organisation in the UK
• expect to be in post for at least the duration of the project

Award Duration: Up to 12 months
Funding Available: Up to £30,000

Deadline: There are no deadlines for this scheme. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Full details visit: https://royalsociety.org/grants/schemes/brian-mercer-feasibility/

This scheme provides funding for individuals or groups to develop an already proven concept or prototype through to creation of a near-market product for commercial exploitation i.e. to a stage where an approach for venture capital becomes and reality.

Eligibility: The scheme covers the built environment, clean technology, energy and nanoscience, nanotechnology and biomedical sciences. The applicant must:

• have a PhD or be of equivalent standing in their profession
• hold a substantive post in either a university or not-for-profit research organisation in the UK
• expect to be in post for at least the duration of the project

Award Duration: Up to 24 months
Funding Available: Up to £250,000

Deadline: Applications are usually due in April.
Full details visit: https://royalsociety.org/grants/schemes/brian-mercer-innovation/

This scheme is a parallel funding partnership between the Wellcome Trust and the Department of Health to stimulate the creation of innovative healthcare products, technologies and interventions and to facilitate their development for the benefit of patients in the NHS and beyond. The Fund is positioned as a translational funding scheme to accelerate the clinical application of projects that are well advanced along the development pathway. The areas in which funding is available varies with each round. Please see the link below for the current list of areas in which funding is available.

Eligibility:

• Proposals for this scheme must address at least one of the specific HICF themes.
• Projects must have already demonstrated proof of principle, supported by experimental and - where feasible - in vivo data. Early-stage research or basic science projects will not be supported.
• Projects must complete first testing in man within the duration of the project and deliver an innovative healthcare solution within five years where the potential benefit has been demonstrated in patients.
• Proposals must include a commercial strategy that takes into account the regulatory pathway, IP management, commercial barriers, health economics and routes to market.

Award Duration: Typically 3 years
Funding Available: There is no set limit for the size of these awards

Deadline: The Trust plan to announce the details and timings for the next round of applications in early 2015.

Full details visit: http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Innovations/Awards/Health-Innovation-Challenge-Fund/index.htm

The aim of Translation Awards is to develop innovative and ground breaking new technologies in the biomedical area. Projects must have already demonstrated proof of principle, supported by experimental data. Applications should bridge the funding gap in commercialisation of new technologies in the biomedical area and must plan to take the product, technology or intervention to a stage at which it is sufficiently developed to be attractive to another party. Projects covering any aspect of technology development from a range of disciplines - including physical, computational and life sciences - will be considered.

Eligibility:

• Projects must address an unmet need in healthcare or in applied medical research, offer a potential new solution, and have a realistic expectation that the innovation will be developed further by the market.
• Projects must have already demonstrated proof of principle, supported by experimental data.

Award Duration: There is no limit on the duration of the project
Funding Available: There is no set limit for the size of these awards

Deadline: The application process for this scheme is three stage. Initially, prospective applicants should complete a concept note and send it to the Trust. If successful, they will then be invited to submit a preliminary application. A full application will then follow if the preliminary application was successful. Deadlines for concept notes are in April and November.
Full details visit: http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Technology-transfer/Awards/Translation-Fund/index.htm

There are a range of different funding schemes available under this programme and targeted calls are announced throughout the year. Please see the i4i website for details of currently open calls.

Eligibility: Proposals must involve researchers from at least two of the sectors above (NHS, Industry, HEIs).
Award Duration: 1-3 years
Funding Available: There is no funding limit for projects - the amount of funding awarded is determined by the scale and nature of the research activity to be conducted.

Deadline: Deadlines vary depending on the call. Please see the i4i website for details.
Full details visit: http://www.nihr.ac.uk/funding/invention-for-innovation.htm