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UAL joins innovative coalition of London universities forming the London Social Venture Fund

A yellow and blue light projected onto a screen behind a wire sculpture.
  • Written byNicole Horgan
  • Published date 20 October 2023
A yellow and blue light projected onto a screen behind a wire sculpture.
Maria Moradi, 2023 MA Fine Art Computational Arts, Camberwell College of Arts, UAL | Photograph: Kristy Noble

Launching this autumn, the London Social Venture Fund is a new fund that seeks to provide early funding for London-based start-ups with a social goal. Funded by Research England’s Connecting Capability Fund, this new initiative is led by Queen Mary University of London and UCL, with backing from the School of Advanced Study, University of London, who have brought together an innovative coalition of London-based universities and partners – including University of the Arts London (UAL) - that will raise a permanent self-sustaining investment fund.

The project will build a pipeline of new ventures from London universities and develop a London-wide university support network of legal support, business model development and mentoring. The universities involved hope to gather sufficient data to demonstrate proof of concept for this approach and share the lessons learned with like-minded colleagues across the UK.

Gavin Clark, Director of Enterprise and Commercialisation at UAL, says of the fund:

“We are excited to join this incredible roster of London Universities and partners in getting this important, socially driven initiative under way. At UAL we are proud to produce the highest number of student start-up companies of any UK university (according to the latest Higher Education Statistics Agency figures), and this highlights our ongoing commitment to fostering and supporting creativity and innovation.

The London Social Venture Fund also aligns brilliantly with our social purpose agenda to take our social and environmental impact to the next level. By enabling a robust approach to the provision of specialist support and seed funding for a potentially large and diverse pipeline of social ventures, we are confident that this work will bring a lasting positive benefit for our local communities and beyond."

In addition to UAL, the participating universities are Queen Mary University of London, UCL, London Metropolitan University, London Business School, King’s College London, University of London, Goldsmiths University of London, University of the Arts London, London School of Economics, and City University. Other partners and investors include Barclays Eagle Labs, Sodexo, Central London Forwards, Royal Docks, Royal Albert Docks, the London Borough of Newham, and the Federation of Small Businesses.

We’ll be sharing updates on the London Social Venture Fund as the initiative progresses.