Funding opportunities

Innovate UK funding

Start a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with us

We're number 1 in the UK for the number of Innovate UK funded KTPs

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships are part-government-funded collaborations between universities and businesses.

Come to us with an issue and we'll identify one of our academic teams to work with you and recruit a high-calibre graduate who will be based in your company as an associate to manage the project.

KTPs can last up to three years and you could access around £150,000 through this program.

We have more KTPs than any other university in the UK, helping more businesses across the country gain a competitive advantage and ultimately improve their profitability.

Innovate UK Accelerated Knowledge Transfer (AKT)

After a successful pilot scheme in 2022, this new programme from Innovate UK has been designed to create short-term collaborations between a business and a UK Knowledge Base, such as the University of Essex, to rapidly inject innovation capacity.

Inspired by the highly successful Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) model, the aim of Accelerated Knowledge Transfer (AKT) is to deliver a rapid and targeted collaboration to accelerate the evaluation or development of an innovation project or concept, which has the potential for significant impact for the Business Partner.

The programme offers grand funding of up to £35,000 per project for collaborations lasting two to four months.

Find out more about AKTs with Essex here.

Cyber Innovate to Elevate

Cyber Innovate to Elevate (CItE) is a brand-new innovation accelerator programme from Freeport East designed to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across northern Essex and south-east Suffolk to build stronger cyber resilience.

Funded by Innovate UK’s Cyber Local 2025-2026 initiative and delivered by cybersecurity experts at the University of Essex, CItE offers fully funded, collaborative projects tailored to your business’s cybersecurity needs.

Applications to CItE will be open from 1 September 2025, with all projects to be completed by 28 February 2026.

Click here to find out more.

Other Innovate UK funding

Keep an eye out for new thematic funding opportunities here.

Innovation Fund

Is your business or organisation looking to identify innovation opportunities or tackle challenges swiftly and effectively? Whether you’re a start-up, large corporate, public sector organisation, charity or social enterprise, we can help you innovate faster, smarter and with impact.

Our Innovation Fund aims to:

• Offer agile, flexible funding tailored to your project needs
• Support high-quality industry partnerships
• Connect you with world-leading expertise and emerging talent
• Develop innovative solutions to your most pressing challenges
• Build long-term collaborative relationships that drive tangible business outcomes

Discover more about the Innovation Fund today!