About Innovate UK ICURe
Find your market. Find your customers. Find yourself.
Innovate UK ICURe upskills UK researchers in commercialisation and powers the creation of new spin-out companies. ICURe works with researchers across the country through a series of programmes (Engage, Discover, Explore and Exploit) testing whether research has commercial potential, validating the market and preparing those with the most impact potential to form spin-outs, licence their technology or further research. ICURe is an Innovate UK programme, delivered nationally through regional Delivery Partners.
Find the route that’s right for you
Every ICURe route shares one ambition: to build scalable and global impact by turning UK research innovations into competitive ventures that deliver positive economic, social and civic impact. Find the support that fits where you are.
ICURe core programme
I'm a researcher taking my first steps towards commercialisation
ICURe Engage, ICURe Discover, ICURe Discover Sprint and ICURe Explore are open to researchers at UK universities and research institutions from any discipline. Each programme builds your commercial skills and tests whether there is a market for your research. Depending on what the market tells you, the next step could be building a company, licensing your technology or taking your research further.
UKRI council pathways
I'm undertaking research through a UKRI research council and want to test potential markets
Innovate UK ICURe has established partnerships with AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, MRC and NERC to run sector-specific ICURe programmes for their research communities. Each programme is shaped around the needs of the community it serves.
How it works
ICURe is a series of programmes that builds your research commercialisation skills while testing whether there is a market for your research, with training, funding and expert support in each programme.
Most researchers start with ICURe Engage or ICURe Discover, which run part-time alongside your research and help you find out who could benefit from your work. Teams with evidence of a market can progress to ICURe Explore, a full-time, funded period of in-market research with potential customers, regulators and competitors. Teams recommended for spin-out at the end of ICURe Explore move on to ICURe Exploit.
ICURe Engage
A 4-week, part-time programme that helps you identify who could benefit from your research and what entrepreneurship could offer you.
ICURe Discover
A part-time programme of 8-11 weeks, with up to £2,500 to test your market assumptions. Also runs as ICURe Discover Sprint, a three-week intensive.
ICURe Explore
A full-time market exploration programme of 12-16 weeks, with up to £40,000 for the Entrepreneurial Lead's salary and market exploration costs.
ICURe Exploit
12-week programme, with up to £20,000 for teams recommended for spin-out, covering team readiness, business planning and investor preparation.
Our impact since 2014
Since 2014, Innovate UK ICURe has worked with over 7,500 team participants and helped create over 400 companies. Almost half of those spin-outs have gone on to source equity funding. Data period: 2014-2026 (September 2026)
466
companies created
2,716
jobs created
£1.8 billion
additional investment
49%
sourced equity funding
£625 million
company exits
Work with ICURe teams as an investor
Investors take part in ICURe well before a company raises its first round. On ICURe Discover and ICURe Explore, they join Options Roundabout panels with commercialisation professionals and Innovate UK staff, challenging teams on the market evidence they have gathered and helping shape what they do next. Office Hours give founders private, one-to-one time with experienced investors before and after spin-out. Teams completing ICURe Exploit pitch to investor panels familiar with the programme, and ICURe Showcases bring investors together with spin-outs at later stages, either around one sector or across several.
Sign up for investor updates to receive invitations to panels and events, and opt in to the ICURe spin-out pack, shared quarterly. One registration covers both ICURe and the Innovate UK Venture Builder.
Innovate UK Venture Builder
Targeted support for selected spin-out companies
The Innovate UK Venture Builder is a separate Innovate UK programme for a selected group of market-validated deep-tech spin-outs, helping them become investment-ready with the aim of helping them to secure their first investment. It is open to spin-outs that have completed structured customer discovery and market validation through ICURe or an equivalent programme and the focus of the pilot is across three tracks: frontier AI, engineering biology and advanced materials and manufacturing.
Visit the Innovate UK Venture Builder
Related Case Studies
Accelerating sustainable chemical manufacturing
Academic Integrity in the Age of AI
Harnessing cold plasma to transform food safety
Impact and insight
Perspectives on research commercialisation
Read articles from the ICURe team and partners on research commercialisation, investment and the programme’s impact.
Read ICURe perspectives
ICURe Advisory board
The Innovate UK ICURe Advisory Board, chaired by Professor Vikas Shah MBE DL, provides independent oversight across Innovate UK ICURe and the Innovate UK Venture Builder, bringing experience from research commercialisation, company building and investment.
ICURe delivery partners
Get in touch
For more about Innovate UK ICURe or any questions about the programme, get in touch with the team.
info@icureprogramme.com