Area of investment and support

EPSRC impact acceleration accounts

Impact acceleration accounts (IAAs) are strategic awards providing funding to research
organisations to use creatively for a wide range of impact activities.

• Budget: EPSRC has invested over £150 million in this programme since 2012.
• Duration: This is an ongoing initiative with 36 institutions being invited to submit an IAA application for funding between 2022 and 2025.
• Partners involved: EPSRC

The scope and what we're doing

IAAs allow research organisations to respond to opportunities in flexible, responsive and creative ways that align with their institutional strategies and opportunities.

Responsibility for management of IAAs is devolved to the institution to operate tailored schemes to facilitate the realisation of impact.

The awards are intended to add value to existing funding and take advantage of new or unforeseen opportunities. IAAs are one of the funding mechanisms for supporting knowledge exchange, innovation and impact at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Why we're doing it

IAAs help support a broad range of impact activities, and have the following strategic aims:

• strengthening engagement with users in order to accelerate the translation of research outputs into impacts
• supporting, developing and fostering strategic partnerships for knowledge exchange and impact, including across disciplines and sectors
• building and maintaining an environment and culture that enables effective and ambitious knowledge exchange and impact, including development of skills, capacity and capability within research organisations
• providing early-stage support for progressing research outputs towards the next stages in the impact pipeline, for example:
  • proof of concept projects
  • commercialisation
  • market validation
  • activities targeting policy, business and the third sector
• driving continuous improvement in impact by supporting innovation, enabling ‘fast failure’, and capturing learning through appropriate mechanisms
• enabling flexible and adaptive approaches to knowledge exchange and impact, including the ability to respond quickly to emerging opportunities.

Opportunities, support and resources available

EPSRC IAAs are:

• allocated through an algorithmic approach
• based on the relative size of an institution’s EPSRC portfolio.

To be eligible to apply for EPSRC IAA funding, your organisation must have been invited.

Read our current list of funded EPSRC organisations (PDF, 108KB).

Further information regarding specific IAA activities or how to apply for funding from an IAA can be found using the grant holder’s websites. Alternatively, you can contact the appropriate research office or IAA account manager.

Who to contact

EPSRC impact team

Email: acceleratingimpact@epsrc.ukri.org

Governance, management and panels

Each IAA grant holder has its own internal governance structures for managing and awarding IAA funding.

The exact membership of these governance structures differs across institutions.

An expert panel held by EPSRC has recently approved grant holder governance structures and strategies for IAA funding between 2022 and 2025.

Last updated: 27 July 2023