UCA Innovation Hub

Working with Business and the Creative Industries

The Innovation HUB (UCAiHUB) drives Knowledge Exchange (KE) and impact initiatives for UCA within an inclusive environment that inspires and supports our staff, students and graduates to work with partners beyond academia in the arts, creative technologies, and business for the creative industries.

Our overarching goal is to bring academia together through communities, organisations and businesses to exchange ideas and expertise.

The UCAiHUB facilitates collaborative KE initiatives in the following ways:

• Access Cutting Edge Facilities
• Business Partnerships and Knowledge Exchange – helping build relationships with external partners, apply for funding and manage projects. 
• Funding for Business, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) – helping bring together academics, graduates and businesses on strategic projects.
• Consultancy Services – helping to provide expert advice externally.
• Commercialisation – supporting the growth and success of the new creative business through incubation services, enterprise activities and networks.
• Connect businesses with our values-led and work-ready students.
• Facilitate industry-sponsored PhD studentship.

Knowledge Exchange and Impact at UCA is supported by funding from our Arts and Humanities Research Council Impact Acceleration Account, a multi-year funding award running from 2022-2027.

UCA is part of the South-East Cluster of AHRC IAA award-holding universities linking us to the Universities of Brighton, Sussex, Kent, Southampton and Reading.

Through our Surrey Civic Agreement, we are linked to ESRC IAA award holders the University of Surrey and Royal Holloway University of London.

Innovation areas

Our KE programme includes collaborations within the creative industries, focusing on three key areas that are already making a global impact: