Shortlisted HEPs should adhere to the information on this page, in addition to the original expression of interest guidance (see ‘Supporting documents’ in the ‘Additional info’ section).
The Connecting Capability Fund – Research England Development Fund (CCF-RED): developing ecosystems funding opportunity aims to:
- support the strategic development of emerging and maturing place-based university-centred commercialisation ecosystems across England
- develop HEP commercialisation best practice, focusing particularly on best practices collaboration between HEPs and with wider ecosystem partners
What to include in your full stage proposal
Your proposal should summarise:
- the starting place: a description of your emerging or maturing ecosystem. In the expression of interest stage, proposals provided evidence to support either an emerging or maturing ecosystem. Research England will not expect the type of ecosystem to change at full stage proposals
- the opportunity within your ecosystem, including any sector, technology or other focus, including evidence of private sector contribution and demand
- the primary objectives you will set to address the opportunity
- a description of the roles of HEP and private commercial partners in the collaboration and the engagement of local partners
- a description of the activity that will be undertaken by HEP and all partners and the associated outcomes and expected commercial and economic impacts
- evidence of alignment with relevant research, development and innovation and appropriate local priorities, targets and strategies
- an insightful account of barriers and enablers to collaborative ecosystems in knowledge exchange and how you will address these
- a description of the sustainability of the core collaboration and the collective ambition to develop it and the wider ecosystem further
- a credible and detailed plan for ecosystem development
- costed work packages, including contributions from delivery partners
- detailed risk analysis and mitigation approaches
- letters of support from partners and key ecosystem stakeholders. For example, private, HEP, local leadership partners, and strategic backing at the institution level (pro-vice chancellor or equivalent)
- plans for sustainability and plausible ambition to grow or scale further
- plans for evaluation and dissemination of the project for the benefit of the wider higher education sector
- detailed equality, diversity and inclusion statement relevant to the aims and delivery of the project
Successful proposals will highlight the outputs, outcomes or impacts they aim to achieve throughout the duration of the project’s lifetime and beyond. We expect to see suggested outputs, outcomes and impacts within these three categories:
- embedded changes in the HEPs: for example, an increase in entrepreneurial outputs from partner HEPs and increased volumes of collaborate R&D
- embedded change in the performance of the universities or ecosystem: for example, increased in volumes of local R&D and investment into the area
- cross cutting: for example, increased stickiness of university spin-outs
Key considerations for full stage proposals
Following the assessment of the expressions of interests proposals Research England has defined some key considerations for full stage proposals:
- where the provision of training is an acceptable activity, it should not be a substantial proportion of the funding provided and must be tailored to the proposal’s activities
- we do not expect to see Research England funds contributing towards business support, that is advice to businesses that is not linked with specifically university related expertise (staff or students)
- sustainability, we expect to see consideration of how funded activity can continue and be built upon beyond the lifetime of the project without recourse to further Research England project funding
- changes to funding requests from the expression of interest stage to the full bid stage must not exceed 5% or the maximum amount of funding allowed
- new partners, where fit to funding opportunity and appropriate to the proposal’s aims and objectives, can be added at the full business stage
- named partners at the expression of interest stage are expected to be on the full bid stage. If there is a change, we require an explanation as to why
- full stage proposals must not deviate from the project described in the expression of interest stage. Where we understand activities may be added or amended, this should not remove from the core project described in the expression of interest stage
Funding available
Research England informed proposals which option to submit a full stage proposal for. If you are unclear, please email: redccf@re.ukri.org
Option one: primary funding
A total amount of funding between £3 million to £5 million over the course of up to three years.
Option two: primary funding and boost
A total of up to £10 million funding over a maximum of five years. This means up to £5 million additional funding over an extended project lifetime of up to an additional two years.
Primary funding should be written as if a standalone document even where boost funding is applicable. This is to allow (where applicable) for clarity of the project’s division between primary and boost funding and to ensure a decision can be made separately for both options.
Costs
You should understand your costs, including indirect costs, but we do not determine a costing format.
Your proposal is premised around risk-benefit sharing with an expectation that HEPs and other partners should contribute to costs appropriately to the benefits to them. The CCF-RED contribution should be reflective of the sector or wider benefits. Proposals can be for all forms of knowledge exchange expenditure, which for CCF-RED includes capital costs.
Proposals cannot include research (or core teaching) expenditures such as support of research posts. Undergraduate students or graduates may form a component to proposals but should be a minority of activity.
