Funding

UCT’s innovation funding environment has changed significantly over the last few years with the introduction of the Evergreen Fund in 2017, Innovation Builder Fund in 2019 and partnership with the external University Technology Fund (UTF) in January 2020.  These additional funds complement the existing UCT Pre-Seed Fund by providing a comprehensive gap-funding suite to facilitate the technology transfer and commercialising priorities of the university. Each fund plays an important role in incubating early-stage nascent research and technology originating within the university.

Successive funding instruments assist in de-risking technologies and moving them through the different “technology readiness levels” into commercialisation. The funding importantly will move university technologies into the critical zone in which they are sufficiently mature so as to attract commercial partners or establish the basis on which to fundraise for a new start-up venture.  Funders often indicate the TRLs that their funding is focussed on.

RC&I has created a Funding Guide to steer UCT’s researchers through the different innovation funds that are available that are available to them and how they are used to mature technologies post initial research. Ultimately tips are provided for raising funding for a start-up company and terms and concepts used by the venture capital industry are explained. 

Application forms, contacts and funding criteria are available on the different fund pages on this website.  Calls are advertised in the Research Announcement: UCT research news and funding opportunities mailer. subscribe