Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Impact Acceleration Account

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) helps to bridge the gap between our research and its outputs.

This account is now funding projects through the Harmonised Impact Acceleration Account .

Successful projects engage the public and industry through innovation with the aim of impacting society and the economy in sustainable and robust ways.

Aims

• promote knowledge exchange and movement of people through support for placements both inward and outward with industry, government departments and health boards
• support partnership brokering and market research to gain initial insights and encourage end-user and business engagement to facilitate the de-risking of investment before committing greater resources or funds
• support commercialisation of early-stage impact activities through technology feasibility and proof of concept studies
• increase engagement with the research community targeting early career researchers (ECRs) to engage them in the impact agenda

Outcomes

• researchers have built capacity, knowledge and skills in impact generation
• new projects with external partners have been developed which meet the needs of users and stakeholders
• new residences and placements for university staff, as well as staff from external organisations
• follow-on projects secured from our impact activities through external funding and industrially sponsored development
• collaborative opportunities grown, which support our research community to work with other Welsh universities and our GW4 partner universities

Funding

The EPSRC IAA provided approximately £908,000 of funding to our researchers between 2017 and 2022, funding 48 impactful projects.

From 2022 to 2025, the EPSRC IAA has contributed funding towards the university’s first £1,229,204 Harmonised Call and will continue to fund new projects which fulfil the Council’s aspirations.

The next call will launch on 9 May 2023 and be open for 9 weeks. Application must be submitted by 12 July 2023 and decision panels will take place in September 2023.  Application outcomes will be announced in October 2023, successful projects are for a duration of up to 12 months.

Case studies

Strategic Lead

Professor Jo Patterson is the Strategic Lead for the ESPRC IAA and is supported by Simon Broadbent (Impact Officer, Research and Innovation Services).

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