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), UKRI wholly owned institutes and other public sector bodies (e.g. Arm’s Length Bodies) that undertake research as a primary function. The full list of eligible organisations can be found on our about us page.
How to apply
Innovate UK are the delivery partner for CKAF and are running the competition. Information to follow on shortly.
Please contact grantfund@dsit.gov.uk with any questions in the interim.
Key dates
| Timeline | Autumn call 2025 |
|---|---|
| Competition opens | tbc |
| Submission deadline | 11am, Thursday 4th September |
| Sift outcome and invite to panel | week commencing 6th October 2025 |
| Assessment panels | Tuesday 21st October Thursday 23rd October |
| Applicants informed of funding decision | week commencing 3rd November |
Briefing Webinar
To find out more about the fund, the application process and post-award support, join us for a briefing webinar from 11.30-12.30pm on the 22 May 2025.
Any questions about funding should be directed to grantfund.gott@dsit.gov.uk.
The Knowledge Assets Grant Fund is now closed
The Knowledge Assets Grant Fund, which ran between 2021-2024 has now closed. For a full list of the projects KAGF has supported, read our KAGF archive page.
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: pre-seed and seed
Deadline: N/A
The UKI2S Fund is an early-stage investment fund with an appetite for with 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 £110M under management.
The UKI2S Fund is a venture capital limited partnership, with UK public sector bodies including UKRI, DSIT, UKAEA, MOD, UKHSA, APHA, UKSA, NPL and JHI as the Limited Partners. The fund is managed by Future Planet Capital (FPC). Future Planet Capital (Ventures) Limited 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, please contact out team at enquiries.ttsp@dsit.gov.uk.
To find out more visit UKI2S – Investing in innovations that transform our future
Updates to this page
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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.