Fund gives academics commercial edge
A NEW £6m fund has been launched to encourage academic staff and students at Yorkshire's universities to take their research out of the classroom and into the commerical arena.
A joint venture between Yorkshire Forward and Yorkshire Universities, the new Yorkshire Concept Fund aims to encourage more commercially viable research projects and ideas by academic researchers, staff and students, out of the laboratory and classroom and into the marketplace by providing early stage funding to demonstrate their commercial viability.
Regional development agency Yorkshire Forward has invested £3m in the fund as part of its drive to encourage more knowledge-driven business start-ups in the region, whilst Yorkshire and Humber's 10 higher education institutions will also collectively provide £3m.
Alex McWhirter, head of enterprise at Yorkshire Forward, said: “In Yorkshire and Humber we are committed to creating more businesses that contribute to our economic growth and we know that there is a pipeline of ideas within our region's universities that could create great businesses.
“Unfortunately, we also know that establishing proof of the commercial viability of these ideas is a high risk process, which makes it difficult for researchers to get projects out of the lab and towards the marketplace.”
Many research propositions can fall at the first hurdle of commercialisation because establishing proof of concept incurs cost without offering any guarantees – making it unattractive to the majority of investment sources.
Research also shows that propositions that cannot demonstrate proof of concept have no basis on which to attract further funding.
The Yorkshire Concept fund aims to bridge this gap. Mr McWhirter added: “If we are to draw out the talent that exists in our region's universities and allow it to contribute towards the creation of a knowledge driven economy in Yorkshire and Humber, then we need to take a calculated risk to get new ideas into the pipeline of development.
“Through this fund, we will be able to achieve this.”
The fund has been launched following a two-year pilot initiative funded by the Higher Education Innovation Fund and developed by the universities of Bradford, Hull and Sheffield Hallam.
Researchers and academics at the Universities of Leeds, Leeds Metropolitan, Trinity and All Saints, York, York St Johns, Bradford, Huddersfield, Hull, Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam will now have the opportunity to present their research proposal to the board of the Yorkshire Concept Fund for appraisal. Propositions that are found to have probable commercial viability will receive grants of between £30,000 and £70,000 – part funded between the host university and Yorkshire Forward – to help demonstrate full proof of concept.
In order to manage applications to the fund and provide commercial advice to accepted propositions, a Fund Director has been appointed through Yorkshire Universities – which works to represent the region's HEIs on policy issues and coordinating the delivery of key projects in the region.
Lloyd Snellgrove, who has been appointed director of Yorkshire Concept, said: 'Yorkshire's higher education institutions are second to none and both individually and collaboratively along with Yorkshire Forward, are committed to maximising the role they can play in developing a strong knowledge based economy in the region.
“Yorkshire Concept will put in place the first rung of the commercialisation ladder, giving higher education staff and students the confidence that the commercial ideas that grow out of their everyday work will have a real chance of turning into commercial reality.”
