Through the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships programme we create in excess of 300 high quality opportunities for graduates each year. These develop their commercialisation skills and support businesses to innovate. In Northern Ireland, graduates from institutions such as Queen's University Belfast and University of Ulster are currently benefitting from the programme. UKRI works with these universities and other institutions to advertise these opportunities to graduates and will continue to ensure as many graduates as possible aware of the opportunities.

The benefits that graduates can gain by participating in a Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, including in Northern Ireland, are explored in detail in UKRI’s most recent evaluation, which UKRI is sharing with partners.

https://www.ukri.org/publications/knowledge-transfer-partnerships-evaluation/

Ministers and officials in DSIT work closely with Innovate UK (part of UK Research & Innovation) to determine the right balance of funding to different programmes such as Knowledge Transfer Partnerships.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships deliver strong impacts. 70% of benefiting businesses said the programme improved their existing products or services, and 87% found it improved their technical knowledge and skills. This is on top of providing career development for graduates.

In Financial Years 2023/24 to 2025/26, Invest Northern Ireland have supported 45 Knowledge Transfer projects, which created 45 highly skilled jobs for graduates placed in local businesses through the scheme.

In total, Invest Northern Ireland have contributed £2,026,204 towards the grant costs of these projects. Innovate UK has contributed £4,199,706, giving these projects a total grant value of £6,267,910.

The Smart grants programme has been paused while Innovate UK redesigns its funding programmes to best suit the needs of innovative businesses and align to the objectives of the Government’s Industrial Strategy.

However, Innovate UK has launched a new £130 million ‘Growth Catalyst’ Innovate UK scheme focused on scaling innovative businesses in Industrial Strategy growth sectors. This offers grants, aligned private sector investment, and tailored support to companies, and this approach has a track record of driving 10:1 follow-on investment.

The Innovate UK Local’s programme of events are designed to take a roadshow of funding opportunities into regions across the whole of the UK. Innovate UK is committed to engaging with innovative businesses in Northern Ireland and is consulting with Invest Northern Ireland on where to hold events over the next year. This will ensure there is strong local input on how best to serve Northern Irelands vibrant business communities.

The Biomedical Catalyst has a suite of competitions designed to support small and medium sized businesses to progress projects at different stages of development.

There is currently one grant opportunity open - Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator – Hospital to Community - which closes on the 31st of October. The next round of industry-led R&D funding is under preparation and expected to be launched early Nov and open for 4 weeks.

Innovate UK promotes R&D funding opportunities through social media and other communication channels. Biomedical Catalyst also utilises Business Connect services to engage with UK businesses by offering bespoke, sustained 1:1 support as well as providing advice and access to resources that can help promote Biomedical Catalyst, and support with applications and funding.

Innovate UK Business Growth supports innovation-driven businesses with high growth potential to reach scale in Northern Ireland - where it has supported 424 businesses to date - and across the UK by connecting a locally based innovation and growth specialist to act as a coach for suitable companies. By offering bespoke, sustained 1:1 support, Innovate UK Business Growth helps companies make faster progress towards their objectives as a business, and provides advice and access to the resources that can help them to grow and scale.

Innovate UK recognises the role of innovation in the reclassification, repurposing, and reformulation of medicines.

Whilst not all competitions will allow funding for post-market products, Innovate UK has supported projects involving repurposing for new indications, novel delivery models, formulation changes, and wraparound technologies to improve patient access. For example, Innovate UK is currently funding Signacor Therapeutics in Northern Ireland to repurpose an existing chemotherapy drug towards the treatment of heart disease.

The numbers provided in the response to Question 67304 are the number of successful completed Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) projects in the specified years, and not the number of successful bids. The bids for the successful projects completing in 2022, 2023 and 2024 would have been made 3-4 years prior to completion. The number of applications in a given year may vary for many reasons and over this time period the number of applications may have been reduced by the Covid pandemic.

Innovate UK will continue to market the KTP across Northern Ireland to ensure businesses and universities understand the benefits it can bring.

Assessor feedback is provided to successful and unsuccessful applicants and is comprised of the comments supporting the scores given by assessors. A notification email states when feedback will be available, which is then published on the applicant’s Innovation Funding Service dashboard.

In 2024, 3 Contracts for Innovation (CfI) grants were awarded by Innovate UK to companies in Northern Ireland, totalling just over £2 million.

The majority of CfI competitions in Northern Ireland are organised and delivered by other public bodies; for which Innovate UK do not hold data.

Innovate UK and Invest NI co-fund the Knowledge Transfer Partnership scheme, which partners businesses with graduates. Approximately 450 projects have been successfully completed in Northern Ireland since 2003.

More widely, Invest NI is part of the Innovate UK Business Growth Delivery Programme. Although not a grant assistance programme, this programme has supported 339 businesses in Northern Ireland in the last 3 years.

The Health and Life Sciences Launchpad is already supporting clusters beyond the Greater Belfast area. For example, in Coleraine, it is funding EOSDX, which is developing an AI-driven, non-invasive structural biomarker test for breast cancer diagnosis. In Derry City and Strabane, it is funding ActionSense’s development of an innovative rehabilitation project aimed at transforming stroke recovery. And in Craigavon, it is supporting e-Clear to develop a dementia training platform. More information on funded projects is available at https://www.ukri.org/publications/innovate-uk-funded-projects-since-2004/. Innovate UK and the Launchpad Cluster Management Organisation HIRANI will continue to support stakeholders across Northern Ireland to drive innovation led growth.