Enterprise Fellowships is a twelve-month deeptech accelerator helping researchers and graduates turn cutting-edge engineering innovations into successful startups.
With a decade of experience, we guide academics through the transition to entrepreneurship—teaching market strategy, sales, and fundraising. You’ll receive tailored mentorship from top engineers in academia and industry, equipping you with the skills and confidence to launch your venture.
We provide 12 months of funding so you can fully commit to building your business. Gain confidence and expand your network through our global ecosystem of Fellows, investors, and industry experts. As an Enterprise Hub Member, you’ll join a lifelong alumni network with exclusive events, mentoring, training, and connections—tailored to your growth.
We are a charity, we offer all support free of charge—no fees, no equity, and no IP taken.
Our impact
If you choose to join us, you’ll be in good hands. Since the programme launched in 2011, we have supported 230+ entrepreneurs, who have grown from initial founding teams to companies valued at nearly £700 million. We are proud to have supported graduates and researchers to establish startups and spinouts that have gone on to create more than 1,500 jobs.
valuation increase by our awardees after completing program
follow on funding raised since joining the program
entrepreneurs supported
most active UK accelerator in 2025
What does this programme offer?
We are the experts in commercialising engineering research into successful, scalable businesses through a unique package of funding and training:
- an equity-free grant of up to £75,000
- 75 hours of training with 1:1 business coaching
- mentoring and lifetime access to our unrivalled network of the UK’s leading engineers, investors and fellows
Enterprise Fellowships awardees may also access support from the Royal Academy of Engineering for a UK Global Talent Visa.
Key growth areas
With Enterprise Fellowships, you have a year to invest time and energy into your long-term business strategy and success. Training sessions are delivered as approximately 75 hours of interactive workshops in the first six months of the programme. The content is pitched by the trainers to challenge startup and spinout founders at various levels of business acumen and cover topics in:
- leadership and operations
- business modelling, value proposition and strategy
- marketing, sales and customers
- finance and funding sources.
The welcome pack provides a list of recommended reading on the theory and practice of starting a business, as an additional resource to awardees who are new to entrepreneurship. By the end of the programme, you will be ready to take your new business to the next level of seed funding and bring your innovation to market.
Who is the programme for?
We are looking for:
- University researchers wishing to spin out from UK or Irish universities and research institutes
- Recent graduates who want to found a startup
Who have:
- a protectable engineering or technology innovation
- the ambition to lead the business as CEO or COO
- a technology that has been validated in a lab or a relevant environment
Please read our full eligibility criteria and see the Applicant Guidance Notes for more details. If you have any questions, you can email the programme managers directly or join an applicant workshop.
Join an Applicant Workshop online
We run online workshops to help you to submit a successful application, open to all potential applicants (including university graduates, PhD holders and academics). The workshops will be hosted by the programme managers, and will cover an overview of the Enterprise Fellowships programme, information on the stages and expectations of the application process, and advice on how to submit a strong application. There will also be a Q&A session for you to ask anything further to the programme managers.
| Applicant webinars closed for this cycle. |
Join a Tech Transfer Officer Workshop online
In addition to our workshops above for applicants, we run online sessions specifically for Tech Transfer Officers. Applicants to our programme will reach out to their commercialisation office for information to complete their application with us. In order to assist all involved, we convene these workshops so that Tech Transfer Officers understand the programme and application requirements. If you work in research commercialisation at a UK or Irish university or research institute, please register to attend a session:
| TTO webinars closed for this cycle. |
Your journey
15 days of training over six months. Learn at a pace that gives you time to implement the new knowledge.
A business coach will offer bespoke support for six months to complement the training.
From one of our leading technology entrepreneurs, they will guide you over 12 months.
Use our network to make exceptional connections to entrepreneurs, corporates, experts and investors.
The Enterprise Fellowships programme is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors:
The Academy have made an assessment of the Enterprise Fellowship scheme against the principles of the Subsidy Control Act 2022 and have made this assessment available here. The Scheme has also been published on the transparency database (SC10913).