Partner Innovation

UKI2S > Investment Areas > Partner Innovation

Partner Innovation

Supporting innovation across the publicly funded ecosystem of research establishments, science campuses and translational catapult centres and catapult programmes.

With thousands of creative industry-leading thinkers working in UKRI research campuses across the nation, the message is clear… We must cultivate their skills in order to advance impact-driven, commercial innovation in the UK.

That’s why we support and invest in ideas borne from the best minds. Whether you’re a very early stage venture or accelerating scale-up, working at a Partner Campus allows you to connect and collaborate with discovery scientists, engineers, innovators, entrepreneurs and well-established businesses to advance scientific understanding and accelerate innovation.

Together we can nurture relationships within the public research ecosystem to build an inclusive, interconnected and innovative research community which drives public prosperity.

Managed by: Andrew Muir

“We have an incredibly diverse research ecosystem here in the UK. The commercialisation of university-derived IP has had a lot of attention but the importance and differentiation of the public sector research establishments is less widely understood. And of course the campuses (Harwell, Babraham and others) our public sector partners support to such great effect. At UKI2S we’ve made it our mission to bring together these researchers,, trailblazing entrepreneurs and savvy business leaders, to accelerate commercial innovation in the UK.”

View full profile...

Why are investors excited about Partner Innovation?

World leading research

With an incredibly diverse research ecosystem within the UK, it’s time to connect those individuals and entities who have the power to deliver game-changing innovations.

Huge economic appeal

Whether it's developing anti-cancer therapeutics or delivering zero-emission underwater operations, we back innovations with promising economic potential.

Multi-market applicability

We’re interested in products and services that can be used in multi verticals, across the world

Key Dates:

Spun out of UKI2S partner in 2008 with seed funding

2009 Raises £4.5M seed funding led by Sofinnova

Capital raise to date (equity and grants):

£150m

Crescendo Biologics

Crescendo’s Humabody^® molecules are generated by the Crescendo Mouse, a patent-protected transgenic mouse platform which can reduce the time and cost of antibody drug discovery.

We supported Crescendo with seed funding to help commercialise its proprietary Humabody^® platform.

They’re developing therapeutics capable of delivering safer, more durable anti-cancer responses in patients with hard to treat cancers. Crescendo’s first therapies are currently being tested in the clinic. Their immuno-oncology pipelines now have global, multi-target discovery and development collaborations, exclusive worldwide licensing agreements and is backed by blue chip investors.

Related case studies

An inclusive and interconnected ecosystem. Read on to find out who we’ve brought together to advance commercial innovation and deliver real-world solutions…

SugaROx

It’s predicted that 208.3 million people will experience high levels of acute food insecurity in 2024.

And with the global population projected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050, that figure is only going to increase – unless we can grow crop yields by up to 60% in developed countries, and 200% in developing ones.

View case study

Dr Cara Griffiths, co-founder & CTO, SugaROx said:

"We are marrying up the powers of chemistry and biology to develop new solutions for increasing yield and resilience in arable and horticultural crops, driven by a passion to improve agricultural sustainability in our changing climate. We wanted investors on board with us who saw our vision and would work with us to bring the academic discoveries to market reality. UK12S is a valuable partner for early-stage companies bringing innovative ideas to the commercial space as they understand the complexities doing so, and bring with them an extensive network of advisors and experts to guide you through company development."

Managed by: Andrew Muir

Partner Innovation