Northumbria University helps launch £22.5m fund to turn research into new businesses

Northumbria University is one of five North East universities backing a new £22.5m fund designed to accelerate the region’s research into high-growth new businesses.

The North East Spinout Inspire Fund, supported by £10m investment from the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority (MSA) and the North East Fund Ltd. and a total of £12.5m from Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland, and Teesside universities, is launched today (Thursday 11 June).

Focusing on transforming cutting-edge research into high-growth new businesses based in the region, the Fund was announced in the same week that Universities UK launched the Future Innovators: University Innovation Drives Growth campaign that showcases innovation within the higher education sector, with the aim of attracting inward investment, accelerating tech adoption and creating a culture of scaling up research ideas with potential.

The Inspire Fund will particularly support early-stage spinout businesses, where risk is higher and funding is often harder to secure from private sector investors alone - a critical access to finance gap identified by the North East MSA and the universities in the region.

In its first five years, the Fund will support at least 30 spinout companies, with investment focused on areas such as clean technologies, digital innovation, life sciences, and advanced manufacturing.

It will also strengthen university links to private sector investors through its co-investment approach, building investor confidence, and develop new venture models that encourage longer-term investment partnerships. Through shared risk and collaborative funding, the Fund will also help to retain high-growth companies in the region, creating new jobs and contributing to regional productivity.

The Fund is part of the North East MSA’s £100m regional investment framework administered by The North East Fund. Along with both the North East Accelerate and North East Elevate funds, it aims to strengthen access to early-stage finance for start-up, scale-up and growing companies in the North East, and tackle long-standing market failures that have hampered innovation-led growth in the region.

The Fund will be managed by Northstar Ventures, a North East-focused venture capital company which has been embedded in the university spinout community for more than 20 years. It will complement existing programmes such as Northern Accelerator, which includes the five North East universities and has helped create more than 65 businesses over the last eight years, and is now focusing on strategies to support these businesses to scale up in the region.

The Inspire Fund is already catching the attention of policy makers and influencers. Earlier this year, the Fund was cited in a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) independent review, led by Tony Hickson, Chief Business Officer at Cancer Research UK, examining how the UK can better support spinout and start-up businesses to thrive and grow. The Fund has already begun making investments, having supported four businesses since March 2026 with a total of £1.55m — helping those companies to secure a further £12m of funding from other investors and grant providers.

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness joined university leaders, regional partners and North East-raised business pioneer, Sir Nigel Wilson, the former Group Chief Executive of Legal and General at Northumbria’s City Campus East for the launch, which was held on the same day as the University’s fourth annual Spinout Showcase event - now a significant fixture in the region’s innovation calendar.

The five North East universities together contribute £2.7 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) to the UK economy and have joined forces to form Universities for North East England to attract investment and widen access to university in the region.

At Northumbria, the launch reflects a significant step-change in the University’s own commercialisation ambitions. The University has a pipeline of 12 near-term spinouts spanning green tech, space communications, advanced materials, software, and agri-tech. That ambition was recognised in 2023, when Northumbria’s Intellectual Property (IP) Team won the Knowledge Exchange Team of the Year award from Knowledge Exchange UK - the sector’s representative body for knowledge exchange professionals - in recognition of the transformation in its commercialisation portfolio.

Northumbria spinout companies showcased at the Inspire Fund event illustrate that progress in action. EcoTechX has developed a patented, ultra-efficient air-cooling technology that is 100% CFC refrigerant and compressor free, while GainsBio is delivering soil-optimised microbials for climate-resilient, high-yield farming.

Professor Andy Long, Vice-Chancellor of Northumbria University and Chair of Universities for North East England, said: “Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland, and Teesside universities are hotbeds of research that transforms lives. This Fund will help our researchers go further and faster in converting their ideas into successful businesses, creating jobs and prosperity in our region.

“We welcome the North East MSA’s significant investment in this Fund and all five members of Universities for North East England are determined to support this agenda. We are confident this investment will attract high-quality researchers and investors to the region, with the investment leading to clear benefits for the people of our region, the local economy, and the national economy.”

Vivienne Stern MBE, Chief Executive of Universities UK, said: "One of our greatest national strengths is our consistent ability to generate world-class research, ideas and entrepreneurial talent, much of which stems from our leading universities.

"This ability will be vital to the UK’s future prosperity at both a national and regional level – and it’s fantastic to see this kind of regional partnership which will turn innovation into growth. It will run in parallel with our wider sector goal to secure £100bn of external investment into UK innovation by 2035"

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said: “Small businesses are the beating heart of our economy and through the North East Fund we are backing the innovators and entrepreneurs with more than £100m to turn brilliant ideas into thriving companies creating thousands of new jobs as we go.

“Our five universities have joined with us in a bold move to ensure their spinout companies can succeed for our region and that shows the rest of the country how we do business here in the North East. We’re making deals that recognise the talent on our campuses to launch new enterprises, create jobs and grow the economy.”

Meanwhile, the earlier Showcase programme featured presentations from more than a dozen Northumbria innovators alongside interactive exhibition stalls, a fireside chat with founders, and presentations on priority IP commercialisation projects spanning microfibre pollution detection, AI-powered energy management, and smart safety applications.

The Showcase’s keynote address was delivered by Dr Arnab Basu, founder and chief executive of Kromek Group plc and a Northumbria University alumnus. Kromek - a world leader in advanced radiation detection technology used in applications from cancer diagnostics to national security - began life as a Durham University spinout, making Dr Basu a fitting voice for an event celebrating the region’s growing commercialisation ambitions.

Michael Parker, Director of Knowledge Exchange at Northumbria University, was actively involved in the process of setting up the Fund and leads the University’s IP Commercialisation team. He said: “The formal launch of the Spinout Inspire Fund represents a significant milestone for the region’s commercialisation ecosystem that has grown dramatically over the last decade but previously struggled with the availability of early-stage finance.

“By working in partnership with the other regional universities, the North East MSA and the North East Fund Ltd. we have been able to address this challenge and create a mechanism to help establish, sustain, and grow highly innovative businesses anchored in the region. Northumbria has world-class research that can support economic growth and benefit society: creating new spinout companies is one of the most effective ways of delivering this impact, and the launch of this Fund is an essential component for ensuring these companies can succeed.”

For further information, read the Universities North East England Inspire Fund launch press release.