The Knowledge Asset Grant Fund is aimed at organisations across the public sector. Funding of up to £250,000 is available for use in supporting the repurposing, commercialisation, or expanded use of public sector knowledge assets. Knowledge Asset Grant Fund support is for the development of existing assets. Assets do not have to be potentially revenue-generating to attract funding.

Knowledge Assets are intangible assets, which includes products like intellectual property, datasets, and software. However, BEIS defines knowledge assets as a slightly broader category than the traditional intangibles, incorporating things such as processes or knowhow. For example, Prince2 is a management framework that was designed by the UK government as the internal standard for successful management of IT projects. It has now been licenced through private partnerships and has a global reach to over 150 countries generating revenues for the taxpayer.

Funding is available in 3 bands:

1. Explore Grants (up to and including £25,000).
2. Expand Grants (£25,000 to £100,000), and
3. Extend Grants (£100,000 to £250,000).

The difference between these bands is in the amount of information requested and the size of grant applied for. They are all for early-stage research into Knowledge Asset development and are not sequenced (explore grants, for example, are not necessarily for earlier stages of research than expand grants).

All awards granted in 2022 must spend at least 50% of the funding awarded by 31 March 2023. Awards granted in 2023, must spend at least 50% of the funding awarded by 30 June 2023.

Funded Projects must:

o Start after 1 October 2022.
o Last between 2 and 18 months.
o End by 31 March 2024.
o Generate social, financial or economic benefits to the UK, and
o Seek funding to develop a knowledge asset or assets that are majority owned by the UK government organisation applying for funding.

Innovate UK (IUK) are administering this programme using their online competition platform on behalf of the newly formed Government Office for Technology Transfer (GOTT).

You can find further information on the Knowledge Asset Grant Fund, including additional detail on eligibility criteria, on the IUK site. From 2022 to the end of March 2023 there will be 3 assessment rounds. The deadline for each round is:

1. Thursday 18th August 2022 (1st submission).
2. Thursday 13th October 2022 (2nd submission), and
3. Thursday 15th December 2022 (3rd and submission)

Applications submitted after 11am on the first 2 dates will be sent for assessment on the following date.

Further information, including checking whether a project is eligible, is available by emailing GrantFund.GOTT(at)beis.gov.uk.

More details about the Fund is on the BEIS website.

A useful blog, reflecting on learning from Year 1 of the Knowledge Asset Grant Fund can be found on the GOV.UK website.

Contact details for BEIS are:

Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
1 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0ET
United Kingdom
Tel: 020 7215 5000
Email: enquiries(at)beis.gov.uk