Innovation Fund

Innovation FundDigit-Admin2022-11-01T13:13:49+00:00

The Digit Innovation Fund supports innovative research projects that advance our understanding of how digital technologies are transforming work.

A total of £500,000 will be awarded over the life of the Digit Research Centre (2020-2024) through this fund to complement our core Digit research programme.

Our final funding round will be advertised in Spring 2023.

Previous funding rounds

The Digit Innovation Fund is open to research organisations across the UK. In previous rounds, funding has been available for projects which cost between £10,000 to £50,000 fEC and are no longer than one year in length. However, we very strongly encourage smaller applications as we are limited in the number of large applications that can be awarded.

Projects must be costed at 100% full economic cost (fEC) and will be funded at 80% fEC, according to UKRI guidelines.

Find out more about projects funded through the first three funding rounds below.

Guidance documents for earlier funding rounds can be found here:

Funded Projects

Round 1 (2020-2021)

The projects funded in Round 1 are:

- Prof Gary Bosworth (Northumbria University), The Role of Co-working Spaces in Digital Rural Futures
- Dr Ayomikun Idowu (University of Sussex), Digital Entrepreneurship on Retail Platforms: A way to formalise employment for young people in the UK and Africa
- Dr Harry Pitts (University of Bristol), Co-working spaces and the urban ecosystem: the future of co-working post-Covid-19
- Dr David Robertshaw (University of Leeds), Digitalisation of employment services: a comparative case study of the UK and Australia
- Dr Francesca Sobande (Cardiff University), How Cultural Workers Negotiate Racism in the Digital Age

These projects have now concluded.

Round 2 (2021-2022)

The projects funded in Round 2 are:

- Dr Kendra Briken (University of Strathclyde), The Care Necessities – Developing Inclusive Digital Technologies for Scotland’s Post Pandemic Social Care
- Dr Josh Morton (University of Leeds Business School), A Framework for Digital Strategy Work: Exploring Inclusion and Transparency in the Strategy Process
- Dr Fabian Stephany (Oxford Internet Institute), Creative work – A “hotspot” for digital skills? Identifying digital skill developments in the UK creative online freelance industry
- Dr Daria Luchinskaya (University of Strathclyde Business School), Virtually the same thing as in-person internships? Mapping the virtual internship landscape and exploring intern and employer experience in the UK and Italy
- Dr Christine Grant (Coventry University), Disability, neurodiversity, and remote e-working: Promoting the creation of an inclusive workplace. ‘Remote for All’
- Dr Andreas Kornelakis (King’s Business School, King’s College London) Robots at the Gates? Robotic Process, Automation, Skills, and Institutions: The Case of Financial Services in the UK and Germany

These projects concluded in August 2022.

Round 3 (2022-2023)

The projects funded in Round 3 are:

Dr Cassandra Bowkett (University of Manchester), Industry 4.0 and the role of Human Resource Managers
Dr Louise Hickman (University of Cambridge), The Digitalisation of Access Work: fiction to policy recommendations
Dr Krystallia Moysidou (University of Sussex), Crowdwork in the creative industry: The case of subscription crowdfunding
Dr Rebecca Taylor (University of Southampton), Beyond organisational boundaries: Open source digital infrastructure in the delivery of products and services

These projects will conclude in August 2023.