Funding to accelerate your knowledge assets towards the market
Find funding to commercialise your public sector knowledge assets.
Commercialising Knowledge Assets Fund
The Commercialising Knowledge Assets Fund (CKAF) provides financial grants to government research organisations to commercialise public sector knowledge assets.
The CKAF supports an organisation to move viable public sector knowledge assets with identified potential markets towards commercialisation. It provides funding ranging from £50,000 to £250,000 per project.
Who can apply
Research organisations which we define as:
- Public Sector Research Establishments (PSREs)
- UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) wholly owned institutes and other public sector bodies (for example, arm’s length bodies) that undertake research as a primary function (read the full list of eligible organisations)
How to apply
Innovate UK are the delivery partner for CKAF and are running the competition.
Apply to CKAF via the Innovation Funding Service.
Important dates
| Timeline | Winter 2026 | Spring 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Competition opens | 17 September 2026 | 17 December 2026 |
| Submission deadline | 11am, Tuesday 1 December 2026 | 11am, Tuesday 4 May 2027 |
| Sift outcome and invite to panel | Week commencing 4 January 2027 | Week commencing 21 June 2027 |
| Assessment panels | 19 and 21 January 2027 | 6 and 8 July 2027 |
| Applicants informed of funding decision | Week commencing 25 January 2027 | Week commencing 12 July 2027 |
Organisation funding thresholds
At the Government Office for Technology Transfer (GOTT), we are committed to supporting a diverse and technology-agnostic mix of knowledge assets and organisations.
To ensure that CKAF funding supports a range or organisations, we have introduced an annual funding distribution threshold of £800,000 per organisation.
This threshold acts as a trigger point in our assessment process to help balance support across the ecosystem.
How it works
It runs on an annual basis. The threshold applies to the total funding allocated to an organisation within a single financial year, for example, the total of the spring, autumn and winter calls (it is not based on the timing of spend). It resets at the start of each financial year and is not cumulative, that is, previous funding from CKAF and Knowledge Assets Grant Fund (KAGF) is not considered.
Applications from organisations that have already received £800,000 or more in the current financial year will still be considered and could be funded. However, these are ranked below applications that are deemed fundable from organisations that are below the threshold.
This policy reflects our ongoing commitment to equitable and strategic investment in the government’s knowledge asset ecosystem.
Briefing webinar
You can access the recording of our briefing webinar and session slides for the spring call.
Read our CKAF archive page for a full list of the projects CKAF has supported.
Any questions about funding should be directed to grantfund.gott@dsit.gov.uk.
The Knowledge Assets Grant Fund is now closed
The KAGF, which ran between 2021 to 2024, has now closed. Read our KAGF archive page for a full list of the projects KAGF has supported.
Rapid Response Awards (RRA)
In addition to CKAF, contact our Technology Transfer Strategic Partnerships (TTSP) team on enquiries.ttsp@dsit.gov.uk to help you access smaller agile funding.
The RRA is for technical activities that help test, de-risk and develop commercialisation opportunities, offering a light-touch, rapid-turnaround funding route. The list of eligible organisations is the same as for CKAF and can be read on our about us page.
UK Innovation and Science Seed (UKI2S) fund
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: pre-seed and seed.
Deadline: not applicable.
The UKI2S fund is an investment fund with an appetite for high-growth, early-stage UK technology opportunities, setting groundbreaking technologies and ideas on a route to market. The fund stands out in the investment world by targeting high-risk, early-stage opportunities that typically fall outside the comfort zone of established venture capital investors. It is one of the largest pre-seed funds in the UK, with £110 million under management.
The UKI2S fund is a venture capital limited partnership, with UK public sector bodies including:
- UKRI
- the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST)
- UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA)
- the Ministry of Defence (MOD)
- UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)
- Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA)
- UK Space Agency (UKSA)
- National Physical Laboratory (NPL)
- James Hutton Institute (JHI)
The fund is managed by Future Planet Capital (FPC) (Ventures) Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
The fund manager works closely with GOTT to help develop spinout propositions with the aim of securing investment capital. If you have a spinout opportunity you’d like to discuss, contact our team at enquiries.ttsp@dsit.gov.uk.
Updates to this page
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'Key dates' section updated to reflect the future round and the link to the competition opening this week has been added.
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Updated dates and links
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Timelines for future rounds updated.
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Added a link to Commercialising Knowledge Assets Fund (CKAF) briefing webinar.
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A new call for the Commercialising Knowledge Assets Fund added.
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We have added more information about threshold and how it works for organisation applying to the grant
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We have added a new grant fund.
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A notice has been added because the Knowledge Assets Grant Fund is currently closed. Information on how to contact the team and to get updates has been added.
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The dates for the winter round of funding for the Knowledge Assets Grant Fund has been removed because there is going to be a pause in the competition.
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Updated links to the competitions.
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Removed information on themed funding rounds to the Knowledge Assets Grant Fund because funding rounds will no longer be themed.
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additional funding dates and deadlines added to KAGF, as well as a link to KAGF archive.
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Date removed for past deadline of KAGF and links updated to reflect application portal for new funding round.
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Added information about themed funding rounds and changed the opening date for the next competition to 3 January 2024.
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Removed previous funding round deadlines, as this has now passed. Also removed details on themed autumn call as this has now passed, and the next call for funding is not themed.
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Updated links for new competition
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removed past deadline
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amendment to numbering
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Further detail given on themed calls
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Information added regarding priority themes and different opening dates
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Change to include eligible and ineligible organisations
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Change to detail that commercial organisations have been excluded
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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.
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The next phase of the Knowledge Assets Grant Fund competition is now open.
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Added competition opening dates for 2023.
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Added new deadlines for Knowledge Assets Grant Fund
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First published.