Guidance

Get funding to develop and exploit knowledge assets

Find funding to develop early stage knowledge assets towards adoption or commercialisation.

Knowledge Assets Grant Fund

Funding type: grant

Who can apply: UK public sector organisations with an Accounting Officer

Total funding: £5 million this financial year

Maximum award: up to £250,000 (3 different grant values available)

Competition opens Application deadline
17 March 2023 11am on 8 June 2023
16 June 2023 11am on 7 September 2023
15 September 2023 11am on 14 December 2023
22 December 2023 11am on 14 March 2024
22 March 2024 11am on 6 June 2024

For the Autumn call (closes 11am 7th September), the Knowledge Asset Grant Fund encourages applications, and will give priority to successful proposals, that fall under the themes of:

  1. Digital economy

We are seeking to support the development or repurposing of Digitaldigital technology knowledge assets including (but not limited to): 

  • Digital platforms, programming, and processesprocesses.
  • Digital methods of storing and accessing datadata.
  • Artificial intelligence or statistical models,models.
  • Knowledge and systems which support good governance and management of digital technologies or data assetsassets.
  • SoftwareSoftware.
  1. Environment and sustainability.sustainability

InWe this theme we are particularly interested in supporting the development of knowledge assets associated with the management, monitoring, mitigation, alleviation, or adaption to major sustainability challenges, which might include (but is not limited to):

  • Climate Change: Rising temperatures, changing weather patterns, and extreme events due to increased greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Loss of Biodiversity: Habitat destruction, pollution, and overexploitation leading to the rapid decline of species and ecosystems.
  • Water Scarcity and Pollution: Growing water scarcity and contamination from industrial and agricultural activities.
  • Land Degradation and Desertification: Unsustainable land use practices causing soil degradation and the expansion of deserts.
  • Pollution and Waste: Release of pollutants into air, water, and soil, along with improper waste management.

The fund will continue to welcome applications from all eligible areas and organisations.

The Knowledge Assets Grant Fund supports organisations across the public sector in the UK to explore exciting new uses of datasets, technology, intellectual property, ideas and expertise.

Funding is available for use in supporting the development, repurposing, commercialisation or expanded use of public sector knowledge assets.

Types of funding you can apply for

There are 3 bands of funding you can apply for:

  • Explore Grant (up to and including £25,000)
  • Expand Grant (£25,001 to £100,000)
  • Extend Grant (£100,001 to £250,000)

The size of the grant for each band is determined by the amount of information requested to meet the criteria for that band.

The bandings do not reflect the stage of development of your project. For example, you can apply for an Explore Grant to help you take an already well-developed project in a new direction.

Who can apply

Central government department’s, Arm’s Length Bodies and Public Sector Research Establishments are eligible for the Knowledge Asset Grant Fund.

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) from Thursday 8th June 2023, when the current Knowledge Asset Grant Fund competition closes.

We have welcomed a range of innovative projects from within the NHS secondary and tertiary care sector and publicly-owned commercial organisations over the last two years and would like to thank all of those clients who have worked with us. We now need to show success in other sectors that require our help.

GOTT has a cross-government mandate and must ensure that our limited resources avoid duplicating support and funding that is already available. We 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.

We remain committed to supporting health care and life science projects amongst a diverse sector mix, and we remain open to applications from central government and associated public sector organisations that may have health and life sciences knowledge assets.

Be the first to hear about new competitions, upcoming events and other GOTT news. To join the GOTT mailing list enter your information here

How to apply

Find out about each band and if your organisation or project is eligible for funding:

Applications for funding are administered by our partners at Innovate UK.

UK Innovation and Science Seed Fund (UKI2S)

Funding type: early stage venture capital funding

Who can apply: emerging spin-out companies based on knowledge assets from UK public sector organisations. Read more about the UKI2S investment criteria.

Total funding: £13.9 million investment for public sector knowledge assets

Maximum investment: no limit (pre-seed to series A funding and beyond)

Deadline: N/A

UKI2S is an early-stage investment fund backed by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and other public bodies. Together, they are supporting the most ambitious UK innovators at seed and beyond to:

  • create new companies and facilitate sustainable growth
  • enhance the health and security of society
  • deliver economic gains from the UK public funding

UKI2S works closely with GOTT to provide investment capital to exploit the UK’s public knowledge assets.

How to apply

Pitch for UKI2S investment.

Published 4 October 2022
Last updated 5 June 2023 + show all updates
  1. amendment to numbering

  2. Further detail given on themed calls

  3. Information added regarding priority themes and different opening dates

  4. Change to include eligible and ineligible organisations

  5. Change to detail that commercial organisations have been excluded

  6. Future application deadlines have been added for the Knowledge Asset Grant Fund. Eligibility information has been added to the Knowledge Asset Grant Fund as from the 8 June 2023 NHS Trusts will no longer be in scope.

  7. The next phase of the Knowledge Assets Grant Fund competition is now open.

  8. Added competition opening dates for 2023.

  9. Added new deadlines for Knowledge Assets Grant Fund

  10. First published.