Academic-Industry Partnerships

Key outcomes of the programme will include enterprises adopting new or improved products or services, or new to firm technologies and processes. The projects will also look to encourage improved quality of operations, increased sales and access to new markets; and increased profitability.

The University of South Wales is the lead Institution for the Academic-Industry Partnership Programme, who together with consortium delivery partners, Cardiff University and Cardiff Metropolitan University, and in conjunction with the Cardiff Capital Region (CCR), will seek to drive economic development across South East Wales. This will be achieved by bringing together enterprises and academic expertise to deliver impactful research and development outcomes supporting economic prosperity.

This programme will lead in-person events held across the region, which will provide free industry support (incl. thought leadership, panel discussions and industry insights) and opportunities to engage in business networking with other organisations from a range of sectors.

The project aims to enhance and grow sustainable Academic-Industry Partnerships by funding short and targeted research and development collaborations, supported by up to £14,000 funding in addition to 10% match funding from Micro/Small Enterprises and 25% match funding from Medium and Large Enterprises. This funding will enable organisations to access the expertise needed to support the development of new or improved products, services or processes that are new to firm or new to market.

In addition to the funded research collaborations available, the Academic-Industry Partnership project will also be delivering a series of events and workshops throughout 2024, in conjunction with our further education partners and the Open University in Wales.

These events will seek to provide insight, support and thought leadership surrounding the five CCR Priority Clusters of: Compound Semiconductor, Cyber Security, Medtech, Fintech and Creative Industries.

Only businesses that are deemed to be operating within the Cardiff Capital Region will be eligible to apply for funding through the Academic-Industry Partnerships programme. As an eligible business, you will have a registered address within the CCR region or be able to provide evidence of economic activity within the region to support your application.

An initial Expression of Interest will open from March, with formal applications beginning from April. This funding programme will operate on the basis of a rolling-call, deadlines for each window are as follows, but subject to funding remaining available:

Round 1 – 20 May - 31 May 2024

Round 2 - 3 June - 14 June 2024

Round 3 - 1 July - 12 July 2024

Round 4 - 17 July - 2 September 2024

*We reserve the right to close Round 4 early should we receive sufficient EOIs.

Successful projects that are awarded relevant funding, will need to be completed in their entirety (incl. final monitoring and reporting) by the 31 December 2024.

For the purposes of this programme, enterprises will be categorised using the below criteria:

Large: Headcount: 250+ | Turnover: £36m+ | Balance sheet total £18m+

Medium: Headcount: <250 | Turnover: <£36m | Balance sheet total: <£18m

Small: Headcount: <50 | Turnover: <£10.2m | Balance sheet total: <£5.1m

Micro: Headcount: <10 | Turnover: <£632,000 | Balance sheet total: <£316,000

Yes. To be eligible for funding under this programme, companies must be able to provide a cash contribution to overall project costs. The requirements are as follows:

Micro & Small Businesses – 10% cash contribution of overall project costs

Medium & Large Businesses – 25% cash contribution of overall project costs

If successful upon application, the match-funding contribution will need to paid on commencement of your project and this will be arranged by your assigned partner University institution.

Due to the limited amount of projects able to be funded by this project, we are only able to support one project per at this time.

If you should be unsuccessful in your application, businesses will be offered signposting and support to explore alternative funding routes through which to develop their proposals.