Area of investment and support

Prosperity Partnerships: business and academia collaborations

Since 2017 Prosperity Partnerships have become EPSRC’s flagship approach to co-investing with business in long-term, use-inspired basic research.

• Budget: £480 million total to date
• Partners involved: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), businesses, universities and academic institutions

The scope and what we're doing

EPSRC and business invest equally in each Prosperity Partnership, and the portfolio now totals £480 million of projects across major industrial sectors.

There have been 66 partnerships across five funding rounds since 2017. A further nine partnerships were created in 2023 as part of a pilot scheme for early-stage business-academia collaborations.

The scheme helps to support private business investment in the UK research base in areas of fundamental research. Prosperity Partnerships offer:

• support for existing, strategic, research-based partnerships between businesses and universities
• opportunities for co-investment in riskier large-scale collaborative low-technology readiness-level research programmes in partnership
• an opportunity for businesses to unlock the transformative potential of investing in discovery and engineering

Opportunities, support and resources available

The main scheme and the early-stage collaborations scheme will both feature as part of the Round 6 funding opportunity.

There will be a Round 6 pre-announcement in January 2024, ahead of the opportunity launch in March 2024.

Videos highlighting the Prosperity Partnership scheme

Credit: EPSRC

Credit: EPSRC

Publications

Bringing together business and academia: EPSRC Prosperity Partnerships (web magazine publication): an overview of the Prosperity Partnership scheme, with examples of some of the research being conducted.

EPSRC Prosperity Partnerships quick guide: a summary of the scheme, including information on funding and the next funding opportunity round.

Evaluation of EPSRC’s Prosperity Partnerships programme: a 2023 evaluation of the Prosperity Partnerships programme since its launch in 2017.

A partnership to advance innovation: a blog written by the Ultraleap-University College London Prosperity Partnership.

EPSRC Prosperity Partnership brochure: a brochure produced for a Prosperity Partnerships showcase held in May 2023 to highlight the success of the scheme, and made available to all delegates.

News and announcements

Industry and academia partnerships aim to boost economic growth

Who to contact

Ask a question about this area of investment

Email the Prosperity Partnerships inbox at prosperitypartnerships@epsrc.ukri.org.

Last updated: 10 June 2025