The Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) supports knowledge exchange between higher education providers and businesses, public and third‑sector organisations, communities, and the wider public.
HEIF enables the knowledge and expertise developed in English higher education providers to be applied in ways that support economic growth across places and sectors, including through innovation, skills development and wider societal benefit.
Research England invests in knowledge exchange to enable higher education providers to create, grow and sustain a broad range of knowledge-based activities that meets the needs of business, communities and wider society.
Guidance from DSIT (July 2025) states that HEIF‑funded activity must support the government’s priority of kickstarting economic growth. This mission is defined as building an economy that grows, creates wealth, and generates opportunities for all, across regions and communities.
The 2025 HEIF policies and priorities set out the government’s economic growth priority and the requirements from Research England and the Office for Students (OfS) for the use of HEIF funding. They provide clear accountability and reporting expectations that help institutions plan effectively and align their activities with national economic priorities.
HEIF incentivises and invests in providers to work with:
Research England regularly commissions independent evaluation of HEIF, to demonstrate the value of our investment. The evaluation conducted by PA consulting found that the programme delivers significant economic and wider benefit by strengthening knowledge exchange capacity across the higher education sector. The evaluation tested and validated a programme theory for HEIF, showing how flexible, recurrent funding enables providers to translate knowledge, skills and infrastructure into long term economic growth outcomes.
The most recent evaluations have shown that HEIF generates a strong return on investment, with £14.8 generated for every £1 invested. Further evidence is available via the University Commercialisation and Innovation (UCI) Policy Evidence Unit, including evaluation of the impact of HEIF on student outcomes.
In October 2025, Research England announced a review of the strategic direction of the HEIF programme.
Building on the programme’s strong economic impact, the review sets a refreshed direction focused on contributing to the government’s mission to drive economic growth.
Our October 2025 circular letter outlines the updated expectations and forthcoming changes to HEIF delivery.
HEIF accountability statements are five-year plans designed to enable Research England to understand and evaluate how institutions plan to use their HEIF allocations to support the government priorities.
New HEIF accountability statements are required for submission in spring 2026. They will cover 1 August 2026 to 31 July 2031.
Research England has implemented a more outcome-focused model, introducing a logic model approach to help institutions clearly link activity, objectives, outcomes, and long-term impact. Full details of the requirements are provided in HEIF policies and priorities.
Phase two of the HEIF review is examining the HEIF allocation method to ensure it continues to reflect the evolving nature of the higher education sector and supports the effective distribution of funding in line with the government’s economic growth priority.
The HEIF review: equality impact assessment has been published and will be reviewed on an iterative basis alongside the development of policy proposals.
To support this work, Research England has established a Knowledge Exchange Funding Technical Expert Group, which is providing independent advice on the analytical, methodological and design considerations underpinning the HEIF allocation model. The group’s role is to help ensure the future approach is robust, transparent, evidence‑based and capable of accommodating future policy and budget scenarios.
Alongside this technical advice, Research England will undertake wider engagement with the sector and stakeholders as the review progresses, to ensure that a broad range of perspectives inform the development of any future changes.
As part of our planned sector engagement, we are running a series of workshops in June to inform the future design of HEIF. These sessions are designed as an opportunity for the sector to help shape the framework, bringing practical insight to some of the key policy questions we are working through. To support focused and interactive discussion, we have asked that each institution nominates one representative per session.
We have three sessions planned, outlined below.
Translating principles into practice: Testing and refining the core principles that underpin HEIF, and exploring how these could be implemented within a future formula.
Metrics and data: Considering how well current metrics are working, including the strengths and limitations of existing data, and the suitability of current metrics compared with possible alternatives.
Supporting local growth and impact through HEIF: Exploring how HEIF can better support institutions’ strategic contributions to local economies and regional innovation systems.
Across all three workshops, our aim is to ensure that HEIF remains practical, proportionate, and effectively supports knowledge exchange and impact across the system.
To support providers in delivering economic growth, Research England has commissioned the UCI Policy Evidence Unit to develop a novel framework for university contributions to growth.
The framework sets out four dimensions of KE activity that contribute to economic growth:
The Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) is allocated by formula to all eligible providers who meet the performance threshold, subject to acceptance by Research England of an accountability statement.
The Research England terms and conditions set out the primary eligibility criteria to receive Research England funding. Individual funding streams may be subject to further additional eligibility criteria which are linked to the objectives, intended outcomes and specific characteristics of activity relevant to that particular funding stream. The Research England criteria for eligibility for knowledge exchange funding sets out the additional criteria for higher education providers (HEP) to be considered eligible for formula funding through HEIF and as a minimum criterion for all KE funding.
The 2020 publication HEIF policies and priorities (RE-P-2020-03) and relevant 2024 addendum documents detail government priorities and how these are addressed through HEIF policies and principles. In this policy publication we requested the submission of accountability statements.
Each individual accountability statement, assessed and approved by Research England, sets out a higher education provider’s plans for how they will use their HEIF allocations between 2021 to 2022, to 2024 to 2025, in relation to their strategic objectives and government priorities for knowledge exchange.
The HEIF policies and priorities publication also requested the submission of new accountability statements for submission in spring 2026.
Each individual accountability statement, assessed and approved by Research England, sets out a higher education provider’s plans for how they will use their HEIF allocations between 2026 to 2027 and 2030 to 2031. These plans must align with the provider’s knowledge exchange objectives and demonstrate how their activities support government priorities.
Accountability statements from higher education providers that received HEIF funding during the previous accountability period (up to 2024 to 2025) have been published according to the relevant 2023 knowledge exchange cluster:
Knowledge exchange clusters were developed as part of the knowledge exchange framework (KEF) as a means to group English providers of higher education that have similar capabilities and resources available to them to engage in knowledge exchange activities.
To target knowledge exchange funding where it can support higher education knowledge and skills to have the greatest impact on the economy and society, we only give HEIF to providers with evidence of significant knowledge exchange performance and partnerships.
To judge this, we use data on the income received by an institution from its users (businesses, public and third sector services, the community and wider public) as a proxy measure for the impact of its knowledge exchange activities.
Read detailed information on how the formula for funding is calculated.
Allocations are recalculated annually based on the latest data and to reward recent performance. However, we also moderate year-on-year changes to give providers a level of predictability so that they can draw up five-year knowledge exchange programmes.
The future development of HEIF builds on insights from the 2022 independent evaluation of the programme, with the final report published in February 2025.
Find out more about Higher Education Innovation Funding: evaluating value and impact.
Previous accountability statements for funding up to 2024 to 2025 are published by Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) cluster:
Providers receiving HEIF were invited to submit up to two case studies in 2021 showcasing activities supported by HEIF and demonstrating societal, economic or student benefit.
Further thematic analysis of financial and narrative data from providers has also been published.
In 2022, Research England published a review of approaches to knowledge exchange funding.
Email: kepolicy@re.ukri.org
HEIF is distributed by formula to eligible providers that meet performance thresholds and have an approved accountability statement.
Primary eligibility requirements are set out in the Research England terms and conditions. Additional eligibility criteria apply to knowledge exchange funding streams and are published online.
Allocations target areas where funding will have the greatest impact. Research England uses income derived from external partners as a proxy for KE performance. An explanation of how HEIF formula funding is distributed is provided in Research England: how we fund higher education providers.
Allocations are recalculated and published annually based on the latest data, with moderation to ensure predictability for institutions’ long-term planning.
Providers receiving HEIF must submit an annual monitoring statement (AMS) every February via the Research England data portal. Monitoring statements templates are published for completion in December of the following academic year.
View the AMS guidance document for the most recent collection.
Last updated: 29 May 2026
