Research and Innovation Services are pleased to announce a call for ‘pump priming’ innovation development projects from the Southampton Enterprise Development Fund (SEDF).
Southampton Enterprise Development Fund (SEDF) provides a modest amount of funding in order to progress research outputs towards achieving a commercial step or milestone, including enterprise activities for social good. The overall aim of the funding is to enable researchers to work towards licensing a research output or move towards launching a University Spinout company. This year we plan on allocating approximately 50% of the pot to applications led, or co-led by ECRs that meet the eligibility criteria of the fund.
Please note that awards should not support new research activity, although obtaining new data that achieves a validation step towards commercialisation would be appropriate.
As examples, previously funded awards were used by awardees to:
- pay for market reports or focused consultancy studies
- attend trade shows
- enable product/field testing
- enable a data validation step
Last year, the average amount of money awarded was £12,000 per project and the range was £3,000 to £24,000. It may be possible to award up to a maximum amount of £20,000 for exceptional cases in this call. Proposed projects must be completed, and all associated expenditure incurred by 31 July 2025. You are advised to discuss your proposal and seek advice from the appropriate RIS Technology Transfer or Commercialisation Manager.
The call is open from 12 September and all applications should be received by 26 September. Successful applications will be awarded mid-late October.
Note, this is an annual award supported by Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF).
For details on how to apply please see the Southampton Enterprise Development Fund (SEDF) SharePoint page and contact [email protected] for any queries.