Innovation Cluster Development Fund

The Innovation Cluster Development Fund (‘The Fund’) is a new, exciting short-term and time-limited opportunity to provide agile support and resource that can contribute to the next stage in an innovation’s commercial development journey. 

This early-stage fund enables staff and projects to focus on the development of innovative ideas that may have potential for a spin-out venture or worthy of exploration through other commercialisation routes.  

The Fund will assist project leaders to validate and mature these innovations, identifying gaps that need to be filled in the journey to commercialisation and realising the potential of our new and groundbreaking discoveries.  

The first round of funding is now open to applications with a deadline of 12:00 (noon) on 3 February 2025. As this initiative is part-funded by UK Government in partnership with Glasgow City Council, there is a requirement for monies to be allocated by the end the of March 2025. All project budgets must be delivered in full by 31 July 2025. 

Cluster Fund - Applicant Briefing

Cluster Fund - Application Form

Cluster Fund - Costing Template

How much funding is available?

It is anticipated project awards will be in the range of c. £25,000.  Larger proposals are welcomed, but cannot exceed the maximum Fund award of £50,000.    

What are the entry level criteria?

This call is open to staff members1 at the University of Glasgow who have a project idea aligning with the eligible clusters, salary support in place until July 31 2025, and a proposed projects meeting one or more of the following entry-level criteria: 

  1. Demonstrate a clear ambition to commercialise an idea or product offering / create spin-out venture – with a potential pathway to realise this; 
  2. A customer led focus;  
  3. Some evidence the solution meets an unmet need or market gap (however early) potential for competitive advantage; 
  4. Potential for intellectual property protection (could be unpublished data/know-how or patent filing); 
  5. Alignment with one of the 5 eligible University of Glasgow clusters:

- Health & Life Sciences 

- Critical Tech (e.g. quantum, semiconductor, photonics and wider digital enabling) 

- Energy & Net Zero (includes engineering) 

- Creative Arts 

- Social Sciences & Social Innovation (includes professional services)  

[1] In the case of PhD students, to be eligible for Fund monies, a Principal Investigator (UofG employee) Budget Holder must be identified for the Project; and PhD students must assign any and all intellectual property rights arising from the Project to the University of Glasgow.  Further, should students’ fees or stipend be paid for by a third party, students may wish to obtain approval from that third party to participate.

Eligible costs

Examples of eligible work packages include: 

  • Wide ranging support e. g. market identification and validation studies / customer discovery exercises; prototype design; data collation; platform design; diagnostics; IP development; proof of concept; regulatory / compliance preparation; etc. 
  • Buy-out of staff time to generate evidence and validate the scale of the market for the innovation proposed via engagements with developers, investors, corporates, and other stakeholders. (This could include engaging a product designer via sub-contract to input to creating visuals/narratives to pitch innovations).

Note: Up to five months of salary costs for new temporary staff at University of Glasgow (direct appointments only) are eligible for inclusion, where it can be demonstrated that appropriate staff can be recruited in the timescale and/or that contractual arrangements for current staff on temporary contracts can be reasonably altered. 

  • Developing a regulatory plan to take an innovation forward. 

Ineligible costs

The fund will not support the following costs: 

  • Shortfalls from research funded by other grants 
  • PhD fees 
  • Publisher costs associated with Open Access 
  • Costs associated with academic conference attendance

How do I apply?

  • The deadline for applications for all calls is 12:00 (noon) on 3 February 2025.  
  • Late applications will not be considered. 

Assessment criteria

All applications will be checked for eligibility and eligible applications will be assessed by a small expert panel comprising commercialisation and economic development expertise from the University of Glasgow and its partners. 

The panel will assess and prioritise applications with respect to: 

  • Overall alignment with the purpose of the Fund; 
  • The stage of prototype/ concept  development and intellectual property status;  
  • Evidence of any industry endorsement for the project / solution 
  • The market/impact opportunity; 
  • The potential for scalable spin out venture creation. 

Projects should plan for around 5 months of activity. Projects will normally be expected to have the Grant Award letter executed and commence from 21 February 2025, but can start earlier if all financial/administrative arrangements are in place.  All project budgets must be delivered in full by 31 July, 2025. 

Successful applicants will be notified of the outcome on 17 February, 2025.

Post-award requirements

  • Award recipients will be required to submit a short interims report detailing expenditure and outcomes by 31 March, 2025. A final report will be required at the end of the project. Reporting templates will be sent out to successful applicants on confirmation of award funding. 
  • All awards must acknowledge their funding support in all publications, press releases and other communications materials as follows: Supported by the Innovation Clusters Development Fund (made possible by Shared Prosperity Fund and Scottish Funding Council).