The £6.75 million Innovation Launchpad Network+ has been established to accelerate innovation by bringing together universities and the Catapult Network.
The EPSRC-funded Innovation Launchpad Network+ can confirm the details of a new funding call for its Researchers in Residence (RiR) scheme. Tranche 3’s Expression of Interest window will open on 5 October 2023.
More than 200 researchers from a wide range of UK universities have made Expressions of Interest into the RiR scheme since its inception, with 31 of those research proposals awarded a £50k grant in Tranche 1. It is expected that by the end of Tranche 2, the tally will be close to 75 world class research projects across our three key themes of Net Zero, Resilience and Healthcare and Wellbeing.
Director of the Network+ Peter Osborne, said:
“We’ve been blown away by the strength and depth of the applications we have received so far. What was most encouraging was the range of projects outside the traditional focus on science and engineering. This time we received a greater number of multidisciplinary projects which considered the application of social sciences and/or business and economics to help to ensure that new knowledge could be adopted by a wider range of organisations.”
More information about the launch event and the Catapults’ areas of interest will be announced shortly.
Whilst the awards will be no different from the first two Tranches of the scheme, it is important to consider the length of time the project will take. Researchers from the first round of funding started their projects approximately six months after receiving their awards. Using this approximation, Tranche 3 projects would start in the summer of 2024 and would need to be completed by the time the Innovation Launchpad Network+ funding expires in April 2026.
About the Innovation Launchpad Network+
The Innovation Launchpad Network+ is a national collaboration, led by the University of Sheffield along with the Universities of Manchester, Strathclyde, Warwick, Bristol and Exeter, and the Catapult Network.
There are currently nine Catapults, each established by and working in partnership with Innovate UK. They support businesses across healthcare, energy, emerging technologies and manufacturing in transforming great ideas into valuable products and services. The Innovation Launchpad Network+ has been funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The second tranche of funding demonstrates the Innovation Launchpad’s commitment to creating new links between individuals or groups and the Catapult Network, and is on track to delivering more than 100 world-class Researchers in Residence programmes which will have a huge impact on the UK government’s NetZero, Resilience and Healthcare and Wellbeing strategies.
The timeline for tranche 2 of the RiR scheme is:
- Issued: 5 October 2023
- EOI Date: 30 November 2023
- Full application with letters of support: January 2024
- Decisions Announced: March 2024
All deadlines are at 2pm (BST) unless stated otherwise.