After being awarded a further £3.6m from Research England, North East university collaboration Northern Accelerator is building on its successful programme and continuing for an additional two years.

Funded by Research England’s Connecting Capability Fund and the European Regional Development Fund, Northern Accelerator brings together academics and business leaders, with a host of funding and support, to form sustainable businesses that create more and better jobs.

As well as launching 35 highly investible innovative businesses to date, Northern Accelerator’s support offering has seen more than 200 academics trained in impact and entrepreneurship, and £2.8m funding awarded to academics to progress 66 research projects closer to commercialisation.

A Northern Accelerator Seed Investment Fund, managed by Northstar Ventures, invested a total of £1.8m into 9 businesses and this will act as a cornerstone for the development of a much larger long-term venture capital fund for university spin-outs in the region.

Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, and Sunderland Universities are now also joined by Teesside University, with academics benefiting from:

• training in impact and entrepreneurship
• funding to progress research projects closer to commercialisation
• experienced business executives to lead a spin-out through the start-up phase and beyond
• a scale-up programme for a selection of businesses with significant high-growth potential
• the development of a long-term venture capital fund for university spin-outs in the region

Visit www.northernaccelerator.org or speak to your Technology Transfer Manager, to find out how you can progress your own research closer to commercialisation.