Open Innovation Platform

After the 31 March deadline the Open Innovation Platform will be closed to applications to the Business Partnership,  Proof of Concept and Strategic funds whilst a review of the current portfolio is carried out.

The Open Innovation platform provides financial support to academics in order to enable engagement with business and industrial partners. It is intended to support the development of collaborative relationships with this sector leading to a long term, sustainable growth in research income from these sources for the University.  Examples of engagement mechanisms supported can be found here.

The platform will be financed over 4 years until July 2015 through Round 5 of the HEFCE HE Innovation Fund and is allocated through 4 separate schemes tailored to support different types of interaction. A total of £675,000 per annum will be available through the Open Innovation Platform.

Applications requesting funding over multiple years will be considered providing the total amount in any one year does not exceed the maximum amount supported by the particular scheme and the project does not run beyond 31 July 2015. For example an application to the Business Partnership scheme could request up to a total of £30,000 over 3 years providing no more than £10,000 is requested in any single academic year.

Application to the Open Innovation platform is through this website.  Please refer to the Guidance Document, Assessment Criteria, Approval Process and Application Deadlines for further information.

How to apply

Applications for funding are invited from 1 October 2011. The details of each scheme are listed below with links to the appropriate application form.

The schemes

Link Fund

Up to £1,000 available to support the development of new links and projects with industrial partners.

Find out more about applying for the Link Fund

Business Partnership Fund

Up to £10,000 available per year to support feasibility studies, co-funding studentships, and similar joint undertakings with industry.

Find out more about applying for the Business Partnership Fund

Proof of Concept Fund

Up to £15,000 available to advance commercialisation of new or existing intellectual property (IP).

Find out more about applying for the Proof of Concept Fund

Strategic Fund

Up to £100,000 available to support the development of strategic partnerships.

Find out more about applying for the Strategic Fund

Terms and conditions

• Only academic and research staff are eligible to apply for funding
• The allocated funds must be used within the time frame agreed when an award is made
• The allocated funds must be used for the agreed project
• The allocated funds must be used for directly incurred costs only, indirect costs are not considered eligible as match funding 
• The academic must comply with the reporting mechanism stipulated according to each separate fund
• The allocated funds will be reimbursed on costs
• Funds may be withheld if the terms and conditions are not met
• For all schemes except Proof of Concept there must be a named commercial partner
• The applicant must ensure they have no conflict of interest with regards to the commercial partner
• Changes to the use of any awarded funds must be applied for and agreed in writing and may be subject to additional review
• Should you wish to publicise work or findings from the project please notify RKT before doing so as this may impact upon future IP exploitation 
• Awards of £10,000 and above may be subject to further terms and conditions
• It may be necessary for a separate contractual agreement with a third party, where such agreement is required this must be executed before funds are released 
• Applications to the Business Partnership and Strategic Funds will be subject to independent assessment by one or more industrial advisors
• It is a condition of funding that details of projects and contacts will be recorded in a database and made available to other members of University staff wishing to work with the Organisation in question

Please note: all staff are bound by their University of Exeter contracts.

Contact us

If you have any queries about the Open Innovation platform, please email us via OpenInnovation@exeter.ac.uk or telephone Carrie Rye on 01392 725505.