Commercialising Knowledge Assets Fund (CKAF) Autumn

Commercialising Knowledge Assets Fund (CKAF) Autumn is sponsored by Government Office for Technology Transfer (GOTT) (via Innovate UK Business Growth). This opportunity supports mission-aligned projects and measurable outcomes.

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Commercialising Knowledge Assets Fund (CKAF) Autumn UK registered government research organisations can apply for grants from £50,000 up to £250,000 to move viable public sector knowledge assets towards commercial readiness. This funding is provided by the Government Office for Technology Transfer (GOTT).

Competition opens: Monday 18 May 2026 Tuesday 1 September 2026 11:00am The Commercialising Knowledge Assets Fund (CKAF) is run by the Government Office for Technology Transfer (GOTT) and funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). Innovate UK is administering this competition on behalf of GOTT, which will provide funding ranging from £50,000 to £250,000 per project.

The aim of this competition is to support organisations to move viable public sector Knowledge Assets with identified potential markets towards commercialisation. A Knowledge Asset is an intangible asset that your organisation holds. Examples of Knowledge Assets include know how, expertise, intellectual property, rights for designs, research and development outputs, source code and creative outputs.

In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly but we are still unable to fund it.

Our experience from similar competitions suggests that you could have a 50% chance of success. We consider a range of factors when determining whether to provide funding to applicants. This includes an assessment of prior conduct, such as any outstanding payments owed to Innovate UK or UKRI.

Such factors may influence the funding decision, potentially resulting in a refusal of funding or an award subject to additional scrutiny. We also reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions. This may be in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations or broader government funding decisions.

This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief. We cannot guarantee other government or third party sites will always show the correct competition information. Your project’s total eligible grant funding request must be between £50,000 and £250,000.

Accessibility and Inclusion We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability or a long term condition and face barriers applying to us. You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance.

We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline. You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357.

Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). This award has been designed to be provided on a no subsidy basis, as defined in the Subsidy Control Act 2022 . This means to be eligible, the award will not give an economic advantage to one or more organisations, and you must not be acting economically as an organisation within the meaning of the act.

In limited circumstances, EU State aid rules may apply under the Windsor Framework and a ‘No Aid’ award may be given in accordance with the R&D&I Framework.

have a total grant funding request between £50,000 and £250,000 last for either 6, 12, or 18 months be based on a pre-existing identified Knowledge Asset (KA); Question 10 describe a plausible potential commercial market for the KA; Question 11 have ownership of the KA; Question 12, this is for the eligible organisation applying for CKAF carry out its project work in the UK intend to exploit the results from or in the UK start between 1 December 2026 and 1 January 2027 end by 30 June 2027 (6 month project), 31 December 2027 (12 month project) or 30 June 2028 (18 month project) You must adhere to the spending profiles: 6 month projects must spend 50% of the funding by 31 March 2027 with the remaining up to 50% spent by 30 June 2027 12 month projects must spend at least 25% of the funding by 31 March 2027 with the remaining up to 75% spent by 31 December 2027 18 month projects must spend at least 15% of the funding by 31 March 2027, at least 80% of the funding by 31 March 2028, and the remaining up to 20% spent by June 2028 You must not start your project until GOTT is in receipt of your signed Grant Offer Letter.

You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs .

To lead a project across several organisations or just your own, your organisation must: be a Public Sector Research Establishment (PRSE), UKRI wholly owned institute or other public sector bodies that meet GOTT standard eligibility criteria, for example, arms length bodies (ALBs) that undertake research as a primary function be able to submit a signed letter of support from your organisation at a senior level demonstrating the appropriate level of support; Question 13 have ownership of the identified KA and the rights to use and commercially exploit intellectual property that might be generated during the project; Complex ownership and evidence of initial IP checks must be explained as part of your application A full list of eligible organisations can be found on GOTT’s about us page .

You must not act in any way to gain selective commercial or economic advantage from the outputs of this project. More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules . Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.

Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process. You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you cannot use subcontractors from the UK. You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you.

We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor. All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs. An eligible government research organisation can lead on any number of applications.

There must not be multiple applications to develop the same Knowledge Asset in the same call. Any additional applications for the same Knowledge Asset in later calls are allowed (see previous applications section below).

This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions .

For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups . Use of animals in research and innovation Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.

Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation . Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process.

This information will be reviewed before an award is made. You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition. If the previous application was unsuccessful you can resubmit a new project for this Knowledge Asset if you can demonstrate how you have addressed the reviewers’ feedback from the previous application.

Follow-on funding is permitted for a previously funded project from both CKAF and the previous Knowledge Asset Grant Fund (KAGF), subject to demonstrating successful delivery of the previous project’s outcomes and evidence of positive additional impact from the new project.

Any previous submissions to this fund regarding the same Knowledge Asset, and related assessments, may be shared with assessors to inform scoring of the latest submission. We do not accept duplicate applications in the same funding round. If you have multiple projects which are similar, for example, with similar outputs or products, you should combine the projects.

We will not award funding if you or your organisation has failed to: complete and return the monitoring and reporting for any previously GOTT funded projects comply with grant terms and conditions for a project previously GOTT funded projects If other projects led by your organisation fall into one of these scenarios, then the funding secretariat reserves the right to not award funding until the issue is addressed.

No subsidy (and non-aid where applicable) This competition has been designed to provide funding that is not classed by Innovate UK as a subsidy. Your eligibility to be given an award on a ‘No Subsidy’ basis will be determined by Innovate UK after you have submitted your application. You should still seek independent legal advice on what this means for you, before applying.

Further information about the Subsidy Control Act 2022 requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation. gov.uk) . It is the responsibility of the lead organisation to make sure all collaborators in the project remain compliant with the ‘No Subsidy’ status they are awarded.

It is important to note that it is the activity that an organisation is engaged in as part of the project and not its intentions, that define whether any support provided could be considered a subsidy. EU State aid rules now only apply in limited circumstances. See the Windsor Framework to check if these rules apply to your organisation.

In the ‘Project details’ section of your application you will be asked questions to indicate if State Aid or Subsidy applies to your organisation. If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 regime you should take independent legal advice. We cannot advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations.

A minimum of £1. 4 million has been allocated to fund innovation projects in this competition. This is subject to us receiving a sufficient number of high quality applications.

Funding will be in the form of a grant. We reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions under exceptional circumstances, for example, in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations, or broader government funding decisions. Your total eligible project costs will be 100% funded.

Total eligible project costs detailed within your application must not exceed the maximum project size. If your total eligible project costs do exceed the maximum then your application will be made ineligible. You can make reference to any additional voluntary contribution in your application answers.

It must not be detailed in the finance section. For more information on company sizes, refer to the company accounts guidance . If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003 .

Innovate UK may revoke our decision to provide funding without notice if government commitment for this initiative is withdrawn. The aim of this competition is to support organisations to move viable public sector Knowledge Assets with identified potential markets towards commercialisation.

The CKAF provides funding ranging from £50,000 to £250,000 for each project to move viable public sector Knowledge Assets with identified potential markets towards commercialisation. A Knowledge Asset is an intangible asset held by the organisation. Examples include: know how, expertise and intellectual property rights for designs, research and development outputs, source code and creative outputs.

The fund is technology agnostic and encourages applications from across all sectors. Your proposal must be based on a pre-existing identified Knowledge Asset (KA) as defined in the Rose Book and describe a plausible potential commercial market for the KA. To ensure that CKAF funding supports a range or organisations, we have introduced an annual funding distribution threshold of £800,000 per organisation.

This threshold acts as a trigger point in our assessment process to help balance support across the ecosystem.

Projects we will not fund We are not funding projects: for fundamental research and development to create new Knowledge Assets which are already engaged in economic activities, for example, they are offering goods or services on the market that are directly or indirectly requesting funding for an existing commercial entity that is not an eligible government research organisation to subsidise ‘business as usual’ activities, for example, activities directed by Ministers or set out in organisational strategies or remit, unless they address new markets or customers that only benefit the organisation applying or existing customers and users from privately owned companies, including spin-out companies, which are classed as State aid under the Windsor Framework or a subsidy under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 Organisations not eligible to apply for the CKAF include, but are not limited to: universities and academic institutions local governments and their organisations local Enterprise Partnerships devolved administrations and organisations overseen by the Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Northern Ireland Executive, this includes NHS Scotland and Wales, and Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland government departments and their arm’s length bodies (ALBs) that do not undertake research as a primary function NHS secondary and tertiary care sectors, including NHS trusts Online briefing event: watch the recording Briefing slides are available to download from Supporting Information You can access specific competition guidance in the: Commercialising Knowledge Assets Fund – Applicant Guidance.

pdf. Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure: that all the information provided in the application is correct your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria all sections of the application are marked as complete that all partners have completed all assigned sections and accepted the terms and conditions (T&Cs) You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline.

You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline.

The application is split into three sections: unscored compulsory questions project starting points on the Commercialisation Readiness Framework project end points on the Commercialisation Readiness Framework project benefits and next steps the project team, risks and project management Accessibility and Inclusion We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone.

This includes making reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability or a long term condition and face barriers applying to us. You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance. We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place.

The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline. You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

This section provides background for your application and is not scored. Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers. Decide which people from your organisation will work with you on the project and invite those people to help complete the application.

Give your project’s title, start date and duration. Your title must be descriptive enough to explain the project but not divulge commercially sensitive information. The project duration must be 6, 12, or 18 months.

The start date must be between 1 December 2026 and 1 January 2027. Describe your project in a way that you are happy to see published.

Your project summary must briefly explain: the Knowledge Asset and how it will be developed the issue or problem the project is designed to address the intended market or user the benefits of the project You must make this summary simple to understand and, as far as possible, avoid the use of technical language and acronyms. Do not include any commercially sensitive information.

If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project. Your answer can be up to 250 words long.

The assessors will score all your answers apart from questions 1 to 7. The assessor will score the rest of the application holistically according to the criteria. You will receive their feedback.

Questions 10 to 13 will also be used to assess eligibility. You must answer all questions. You must not include any website addresses or links (URLs) in your answers.

. Any website addresses or URLs included, will not be viewed or opened. Question 1.

Applicant location (not scored) You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation and any partners or subcontractors working on your project. We are collecting this information to understand more about the geographical location of all applicants. Your answer can be up to 100 words long.

Question 2. Animal testing (not scored) Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing? You must select one option: We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare.

Further information for proposals involving animal testing is available at the UKRI Good Research Hub and NC3R’s animal welfare guidance . Question 3. Permits and licences (not scored) Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project?

We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date. You must select one option: In the process of being applied for Question 4. International collaboration (not scored) Does your proposed work involve any international collaboration or engagement?

You must provide details of any expected international collaboration or engagement. You must include a list of the names and the countries, any international project co-leads, project partners, visiting researchers, or other collaborators are based in. You must also include details of any subcontractors or service providers.

If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration or engagement, your answer must confirm this. Your answer can be up to 100 words long. Question 5.

Export licence (not scored) You must indicate whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance . You must select one option: Question 6.

Trusted Research and Innovation (not scored) You must explain if your proposed project work relates to UKRI’s Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) Principles , including: a list of any dual-use (both military and non-military) applications to your research a list of the areas where your project is relevant to one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance and the status of any applications a list of any items or substances on the UK Strategic Export Control List If your proposed work does not relate to UKRI’s TR&I Principles, your answer must confirm this.

We may ask you to provide additional TR&I information at a later date, in line with UKRI TR&I Principles and funding terms and conditions. Your answer can be up to 400 words long. Question 7.

How did you hear about CKAF (not scored) Let us know how you found out about CKAF and indicate any factors that contributed to your wish to apply, for example, prior contact with the Government Office for Technology Transfer (GOTT). Your answer can be up to 50 words long. Question 8.

Have you previously received funding from GOTT? If Yes, please use the text box below to state whether it was funding for this Knowledge Asset (KA) or a related KA and what that funding was, for example, a KAGF, Rapid Response Award (RRA), or CKAF award. If you received funding for this KA, on a new line provide any KAGF, CKAF, or RRA project ID number.

A KAGF or CKAF ID will either be an eight digit number beginning with 1, for example, 10015454 or, in a small number of cases, a four digit number starting with zero, for example, 0036, found on your Grant Offer Letter, or other previous correspondence with an RRA ID will be an initialisation of your organisation, followed by three numbers, for example, GOTT001. Then summarise the outputs of your funded project.

You can use your executive summary from your final report, should you wish. If no, enter the word 'No' in the text box Your answer can be up to 300 words long. Question 9.

Have you, or any member of your project team, received any other support or advice from GOTT related to this KA if this KA is supported by the Technology Transfer Strategic Partnership Team (TTSP) if you or a member of this project team has participated in GOTT’s Public Research Innovation and Market Accelerator (PRIMA) programme for this KA if you or a member of this project team participated in GOTT’s Bootcamps or attended GOTT’s annual conference, or sought advice from GOTT’s policy team, or published guidance Your answer can be up to 200 words long.

Question 10. The Knowledge Asset (KA) Describe your Knowledge Asset (KA) as it exists currently. explain the work that has been done to develop the KA so far tell us why the proposed KA development goes beyond what would be considered ‘business as usual’ for your organisation Your answer can be up to 250 words long.

Question 11. Commercial Development Describe the current commercial position of your Knowledge Asset. In developing a Knowledge Asset towards commercialisation outcomes, it is important to consider the target market and customers.

Commercial development helps you to consider identified and or new markets. Your answer must describe work to date that demonstrates: the latent need for the KA to be developed the steps taken to understand this need what you envisage as the route to commercialisation consideration of who or what could provide the same or similar solutions Your answer can be up to 250 words long . Question 12.

Knowledge Asset intellectual property Describe the ownership position of the Knowledge Asset at the point of application. Pay particular attention to any intellectual property (IP) that forms the basis of your proposed project or that might arise. Include information on background IP, IP brought into the project by the applicant or a third party and foreground IP generated during the course of, or as a result of the project.

Your answer can be up to 250 words long. Question 1 3 . Organisational support Describe the current level of organisational support for this CKAF project and potentially the KA agenda more broadly.

In the text box below ensure you have described the nature of interactions and agreements with: your line manager and wider team the finance team and business development teams essential for this project to be delivered your organisation's Knowledge Asset Manager, IP Manager, Innovation Manager, if necessary your procurement or commercial team, if applicable to your projects any external commercial parties, for example, businesses applicable to this project Your answer can be up to 250 words long.

You must submit a letter of support as an appendix to support your answer and be eligible. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

The Letter of Support must include the title of your signatory. Project starting points on the Commercialisation Readiness Framework Question 14.

Assessing the Knowledge Asset development using the Commercialisation Readiness Framework (CRF) This section of the application form will ask you to use our CRF to assess the maturity of your Knowledge Asset at the starting point of your project for each of the four progress components of the Commercial Readiness Framework. See the accompanying ‘Applicant Guidance’ document for details of the CRF and how to use the CRF.

We have provided worked examples to support you to use the CRF. Indicate the stage, 1 to 4, along the development scale that best reflects the Knowledge Asset development at the point of application. The Knowledge Asset development stages are described in the accompanying guidance document.

You must select one option. Question 15. Assessing the commercial development using the CRF This section of the application form will ask you to use our Commercialisation Readiness Framework to assess the maturity of your Knowledge Asset (KA) at the starting point of your project for each of the four progress components of the CRF.

See the accompanying ‘Applicant Guidance’ document for details of the CRF and how to use the CRF. We have provided worked examples to support you to use the CRF. Indicate the stage 1 to 4 along the development scale that best reflects the commercial development at the point of application.

You must select one option. Question 16. Assessing the intellectual property development using the CRF This section of the application form will ask you to use our Commercialisation Readiness Framework to assess the maturity of your Knowledge Asset (KA) at the starting point of your project for each of the four progress components of the CRF.

See the accompanying ‘Applicant Guidance’ document for details of the CRF and how to use the CRF. We have provided worked examples to support you to use the CRF. Indicate the stage 1 to 4 on the development scale that best reflects your IP position at the point of application.

You must select one option. Question 17. Assessing your organisation’s support for this project using the CRF This section of the application form will ask you to use our Commercialisation Readiness Framework to assess the maturity of your Knowledge Asset (KA) at the starting point of your project for each of the four progress components of the Commercial Readiness Framework.

See the accompanying ‘Applicant Guidance’ document for details of the CRF and how to use the CRF. We have provided worked examples to support you to use the CRF. Indicate the stage 1 to 4 along the development scale that best reflects your organisation’s support for this project at the point of application.

Evidence of this level of organisational support must be reflected in your submitted Letter of Support. You must select one option: Question 18. Proposed Project Details Describe the proposed project to develop this Knowledge Asset.

Your answer must explain: the aims and objectives of the project the relevant background to explain why the proposed project is important any latent need being addressed by developing the Knowledge Asset, including what business need, technological or market gap this project seeks to fill in addition to those already detailed how this funding will develop your Knowledge Asset towards commercialisation the potential impact of not funding the project if not already outlined in your response to question 8, how does this project differ from and build on previously funded projects Your answer can be up to 500 words long.

In addition, complete the work packages and Gantt Chart sections of the project breakdown template. Use the work packages and Gannt Chart sections of the template entitled CKAF Application Project Breakdown to outline work packages (WP), milestones, and timelines for your project. These must align with the aims and objectives of the project as set out in your previous responses.

While the system will prompt you to upload the template here, ensure you upload the completed version under Question 26 instead. You are also able to upload up to three letters of support to accompany your proposal from external parties if applicable. Note, you must not attach your own organisation’s letter of support here; this must be attached to Question 13.

You can submit up to three letters of support as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.

Project end points on the Commercial Readiness Framework Question 19. Assessing the Knowledge Asset development end point using the CRF This section of the application form will ask you to use our Commercialisation Readiness Framework to assess your predicted maturity of your Knowledge Asset (KA) at the end of your project for each of the four progress components of the Commercial Readiness Framework.

See the accompanying ‘Applicant Guidance’ document for details of the CRF and how to use the CRF. We have provided worked examples to support you to use the CRF and how to map your milestones onto it to aid your assessment. Indicate the stage 1 to 4 along the development scale that best reflects the Knowledge Asset development at the end point of the project.

Take into consideration the project as a whole and the work packages that will be undertaken to deliver this. The Knowledge Asset development stages are described in the accompanying guidance document. You must select one option: Question 20.

Assessing the commercialisation development end point using the CRF This section of the application form will ask you to use our Commercialisation Readiness Framework to assess your predicted maturity of your Knowledge Asset (KA) at the end of your project for each of the