Close close

SEARCH

Enter your search term below:

WORLD LEADING BUSINESS SUPPORT

ICURe Sprint
Energy & Environmental Technologies

An accelerated programme of support for research teams from UK universities with commercially promising ideas for the energy and environmental technologies sector.

Applications are currently closed.

Validate the market for products or services that utilise your research

Apply for funding of up to £20k for market validation

 

Sector specific support programme

Access to an ecosystem of research institutes, investors and businesses from the sector

Expert feedback and guidance at the end of your Sprint journey

About the programme

ICURe Sprint: Energy & Environment Technologies is an accelerated version of the ICURe Innovation to Commercialisation of University Research programme, dedicated solely to energy and environmental technologies research and researchers.

ICURe Sprint will leverage an ecosystem of businesses, investors, corporates and translational research centres to deliver the market discovery process in 8 weeks.

The programme will support teams led by university Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to determine whether there is a market for products or services that utilise their research, science, or technology. Up to £20k of funding is available to ‘get out of the lab’ and validate these commercially promising ideas in the marketplace.

Discover the current projects taking part in ICURe Sprint.

ICURe partner organisations

How does it work?

ICURe Sprint offers research teams with commercially promising ideas to ‘get out of the lab’ and validate their ideas in the energy and environmental marketplace, funded by Innovate UK.

It supports the research team’s Early Career Researcher/Entrepreneurial Lead (ECR) to undertake 2 months of full-time, intensive market assessment to validate the commercial potential of the team’s innovation.

ICURe Sprint accelerates the market discovery stage by enhancing the involvement of significant players in the sector to provide mentoring and contacts, industry representatives to outline the challenges they face, and key applied research centres from SETsquared’s partner universities.

The programme utilises lean start-up methodology and Strategyzer’s business model canvas tools to develop a customer discovery journey and test what potential customers want in relation to the benefits the research could bring.

In addition, the ECR’s will receive training and interview practice, carrying out over 100 interviews and acquiring transferrable business and social skills.

Read our key dates and expectations to find out more.

Options Roundabout

At the end of the market validation activity, you will present your findings and identified opportunities to an ‘options roundabout’ panel that will offer the team feedback and guidance on development pathways.

The options for commercialisation pathways can include carrying out further public or private sponsored research, exploring licensing opportunities, seeking public or private funding for spin-out, for those projects that have demonstrated strong market potential by the end of the market validation.

Who is ICURe Sprint for?

The programme is specifically open to research teams from all UK universities and Public Sector Research Enterprises (PSRE) with commercially promising ideas for the energy and environmental technologies sector (please see page 92 of the UK Innovation Strategy for a description of this sector).

Ideas should seek to address particular social and environmental challenges, including:

  • Cleaner ways to produce, store and distribute energy
  • Sustainable ways to manage and optimise our resource consumption
  • Solutions to enhance our land and restore biodiversity
  • Large scale solutions to capture, store and make use of greenhouse gases alongside negative emission technologies
  • Or provide innovation under the Ten Point Plan for Green Industrial Revolution.

Who should apply?

There are no restrictions upon which discipline can apply, but your team should consist of the following individuals:

  • Early Career Researcher/Entrepreneurial Lead with hands-on knowledge of the technology and research results
  • Senior Researcher (Principal Investigator) who is leading the research activity
  • Technology Transfer Officer with responsibility for commercialising the research activity
  • Business Adviser who is familiar with the research activity and has experience in the commercial marketplace

For the full team descriptions and requirements, as well as eligible expenditures and expectations, please read the Guidance for Applicants.

Before applying, we advise you to take a look at the application template to understand what information is required.

For more information, contact [email protected] or call Thea Glasspool on 07557 179144.

Don’t forget to look at the application template to understand what information is required with your application.

 

 

SETsquared is a partnership between

  • University of Bath
  • University of Southampton logo

Close close

Mailing List sign-up

  • By submitting this form you agree to our privacy policy