Commercialising Knowledge Assets Fund

Commercialising Knowledge Assets Fund

Supports United Kingdom public research organisations to transform knowledge assets into practical innovation opportunities.

The Commercialising Knowledge Assets Fund (CKAF) Autumn 2026 competition is a fully funded grant programme administered by Innovate UK and operated by the Government Office for Technology Transfer (GOTT), a DSIT-hosted body. It supports UK public-sector research organisations in advancing viable intangible knowledge assets — including know-how, expertise, intellectual property, rights for designs, R&D outputs, source code, and creative outputs — toward commercial readiness. Grants are 100% funded and range from £50,000 to £250,000 per project, with project durations of 6, 12, or 18 months. The total pool is a minimum of £1.4 million. The competition opened 18 May 2026 and closes 1 September 2026 at 11:00am UK time.

Eligible lead applicants are Public Sector Research Establishments (PSREs), UKRI wholly-owned institutes, and qualifying public-sector arms-length bodies that conduct research as a primary function and meet GOTT standards. Universities, local authorities, devolved administrations, NHS trusts, government departments without research functions, and private companies are all explicitly ineligible. The lead organisation must hold ownership rights over the knowledge asset being commercialised. Projects must be conducted in the UK, and results must be exploited in the UK or internationally. No subsidy basis applies under the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Project start dates fall between 1 December 2026 and 1 January 2027.

The assessment process begins with an eligibility review by GOTT, followed by scoring by three independent panellists on commercialisation potential and project delivery. High-ranking applications advance to 30-minute panel interviews between 20 and 22 October 2026 featuring a four-minute pitch. Interview invitations go out 9 October 2026; applicant notifications follow 27 October 2026. The estimated success rate is approximately 50%. Applicants should demonstrate that the asset is pre-existing with clear commercial potential, and that the project addresses new markets or customers rather than supporting business-as-usual or fundamental research creating new assets from scratch.