Academic Project Funding
Support and funding for academic collaborations
For more on how we can help you secure the project funding your business needs, get in touch.
Support and funding for academic collaborations
Finding and engaging with the relevant academic experts to support your own research and development efforts can be challenging. The Data Lab has an extensive network of academic contacts across Scotland’s universities. This means we can match you with the right academic partner. We can also help you find the necessary funding.
How can we help?
We can link you up with academic collaborators whether you need specialist technical advice, support on data science techniques and methodologies, help to develop new data-driven products or services, or strategic university partners for long-term research and collaboration.
We can help find funding for industry-university collaborations that will deliver economic or social impact for Scottish-based businesses or organisations. These projects will likely be:
- Early scoping engagements with new academic partners to assess opportunities for data-driven innovation around new products, services or processes.
- Short feasibility projects to push forward internal R&D plans.
- Larger R&D projects (TRL levels 2 – 6) where data science innovation is required to develop new products, services or processes.
If you already have an existing partnership with a Scottish university, we may be able to fund projects which further strengthen that strategic R&D relationship.
Use our experience and contacts
Our experienced business development team will work to connect your business with Scotland’s wide-ranging network of academic experts. Our team will also:
- Provide expertise, guidance and support to help you scope and manage your project, wherever you are in your data journey.
- Assist with the completion of funding application forms.
- Provide project governance support to industry-university collaborations.
- Support follow-on activities to help project deliver impact, including assessing other grant support options across the Scottish and UK funding landscape.
Grants currently available
The Data Lab-CENSIS Innovation Challenge
The Data Lab and CENSIS Innovation Centres are running a call for funding targeting short collaborative IoT and data-driven projects to deliver innovation focused on energy management and reduced Co2 emissions.
Competition opens: Monday 9 January 2023
Competition closes: Sunday 19 February 2023 11:59pm
Brain Health Technology and Data Challenge
The new Challenge will help to stimulate new or support existing collaborations between industry and academia in Scotland, exploring the feasibility of providing solutions that could help address four core themes: adaptive technologies, precision medicine and interventions; technologies to enhance brain health; assistive technologies; co-design and co-production for brain health technologies.
Competition opens: Wednesday 2 November 2022
Competition closes: Wednesday 27 January 2023 5pm
Our Academic Project Funding support team
Darran Gardner
Business Development Executive
Darran is an innovation advisor and knowledge exchange professional with experience of working across the private and public sectors. A former business journalist and management consultant, he has over two decades experience of working in Scotland’s tech and business community. Managing The Data Lab’s Glasgow Hub he is responsible for our Collaborative Innovation Service, which supports industry collaboration and academia, as well our Moonshot fund focused on data-driven innovation in support of Scotland’s Net Zero ambitions.
Speak to one of our business development team to find out how we can help you innovate
The Data Lab Community is a digital community created to enable data and AI professionals, academics, students and other enthusiasts to connect, collaborate, develop and learn.
Join our thousands of members for free today!
Sign up to our newsletter
