Imperial leads £5M collaboration to scale UK climate startups

Funding from Research England Development Fund will enable Imperial and partners to support climate science startups to commercial deployment.

The UK will receive a serious boost in its fight against climate change with the launch of the Climate Scaling Collaborative, a pioneering initiative to support IP-rich university startups and spinouts or startups with tangible links to universities, working on solutions for climate mitigation and adaptation.

Backed by £5m from the Research England Development Fund, the Collaborative unites leading UK universities Imperial, Cranfield University, the University of Derby, the University of Exeter, the University of Leeds and the University of Nottingham to provide the critical support required by deep tech climate innovators in the scale-up phase.

The funding was announced by Professor Dame Jessica Corner, Executive Chair of Research England on Tuesday at an event hosted by TenU celebrating a year since the launch of the government’s review of university spinouts.

“It’s hugely exciting to be given Research England funding for the Collaborative,” said Alyssa Gilbert, Director of Innovation at Imperial's Grantham Institute and Director of Undaunted. “Climate innovation is thriving within and around UK university hubs, and this funding shows UKRI’s commitment to supercharging this kind of high-potential research.

"We will work with our collaborators to smash barriers currently preventing the scale up of technologies – which have enormous potential to reach commercial success and tackle the most urgent climate and environmental crises we face, as well as creating economic opportunities in green skills and jobs across the UK.

"In time we hope to see the Collaborative expand to include Scottish and Welsh counterparts, and also to engage the UK's financial and investment community. Please do contact us to find out more about how to get involved.”

The Climate Scaling Collaborative will provide robust support to 60 climate startups, helping them develop from initial funding to commercial deployment. Covering multiple industry verticals, these businesses will be sourced from across the UK university ecosystem with the support of a wide network of partner organisations.

To ensure the Collaborative addressed the most urgent pain points in scaling climate technologies, dozens of stakeholders from the founder and investor ecosystem were consulted during development of the Collaborative.

Pierre Paslier, co-founder of Notpla, an Earthshot-winnning startup that develops innovative, biodegradable packaging solutions to combat plastic pollution, said: “The leap from Seed to Series A is challenging, with so much to prove, from technical feasibility to traction. It is exciting to see this incredible network forming, utilising deep expertise from across the UK to support startups as they prepare to scale, which is so important for genuinely addressing the climate crisis. The pain points the Collaborative plans to address are all ones which [co-founder] Rodrigo and I encountered on our journey to our $25m Series A for Notpla.”

A national climate innovation network

The Collaborative will create a regional hub at each partner university, enhancing and developing business support and technical ecosystems focused on climate startups. These hubs will build local relationships and specific expertise on potential clients, partners or collaborators, turbocharging the journey from startup to scale-up. Through the Collaborative, these local hubs will form an interlinked network across the UK.

Victoria Nicholl, Head of Incubation Services at Imperial Enterprise Lab, said: “Fundraising, recruitment, navigating manufacturers, suppliers and regulations – these are all things that can delay a company in scaling up, and they’re all easier to handle with a good network. Cracking these issues will support our climate startups to grasp a huge opportunity for UK science and innovation.”

Breaking barriers to scale

The issues the Collaborative addresses are widely viewed as significant challenges faced by climate startups – and especially first-time founders - as they scale up and develop from a newly formed venture to a fully-fledged business.

The Collaborative will support climate startups to break down or navigate critical barriers including:

• Access to high quality technical expertise for industrial scaling;
• Support bridging the gap from prototype to commercial production;
• Investor networking, identifying funding sources and bringing in capital;
• Finding and giving access to facilities and equipment;
• Attracting and retaining a diverse, talented workforce equipped with the skills needed to drive impact in the fight against climate change;
• Advice and support on regulation and intellectual property.

Partnering for impact

The Collaborative’s approach builds on years of innovation leadership developed at partner universities, such as:

• Imperial’s White City Innovation District and Undaunted programmes.
• Cranfield’s world class pilot scale facilities
• Derby’s Institute for Innovation in Sustainable Engineering
• Leeds’ Nexus Innovation Hub
• Exeter’s Green Futures Solutions initiative
• Nottingham’s Energy Institute

Phil Longhurst, Professor and Director of Theme for Transport and Energy, Cranfield University, said: “The partner universities will build on years of collective experience in ecosystem development to provide a laser-focus on creating the right environment for climate startups to thrive. Pooling their resources and expertise through the Collaborative will create even more benefits.”

Get involved in the Climate Scaling Collaborative

The Climate Scaling Collaborative will get underway in April 2025. A number of Regional Development Managers roles will be recruited for by the university partners.

To keep up to date with developments as the Collaborative launches, sign up for the Undaunted newsletter.

Sign up to the Enterprise Lab’s D/srupt newsletter to hear about events we are running, as well interviews, features, case studies and ‘how tos’.

This article was first published on 20 November by Imperial College London.