Entrepreneurial skills are about building the expertise and confidence researchers and businesses need to translate and commercialise their work effectively. It’s important to make sure you are working with the right people.
Having the right skills and training will make sure you are able to successfully identify opportunities for your ideas and implement them past the initial research stage.
For businesses having the right skills enables you to manage your business and understand how to maximise your chances of success.
Training for developing entrepreneurial skills
These schemes will help you gain skills to commercialise your work:
- Future leaders fellowships to develop leaders in academia and business, run annually and is a multidisciplinary scheme designed to support knowledge exchange across sectors
- ICURe exploit to prepare for forming a company and business growth
- ICURe explore programme trains and funds research teams to decide if there is a market for bioscience-based ideas and technologies
- Industrial doctoral landscape awards are studentships which include a business or industry sponsor with an academic partner institution
Mentoring
By partnering with Digital Boost, Innovate UK offer a mentoring scheme for social enterprises, start-ups and charities to get expert advice. A mentor can provide you with expert advice tailored to your needs on a range of topics including, strategy, product development, finances and more.
Innovation and knowledge centres
Innovation and Knowledge Centres are based in a university and led by an expert entrepreneurial team. While continuing to advance the research agenda, they create impact by enhancing wealth generation of the businesses with which they work.
Where to get support
We allocate funding to research organisations to support knowledge exchange and commercialisation themselves. This is in the form of Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) for higher education providers in England.
If you are part of a research organisation, speak to your technology transfer or research office to find out what support and advice they can give you.
Last updated: 19 December 2025