SME Ninja for universities
Support every company around your research, and show the difference you make.
For universities that run accelerators, support spin-outs and start-ups, or work with innovative SMEs: SME Ninja gives each company a clear, explained path, and gives your team evidence of progress that funders can verify.
Where university innovation support gets hard
Five common pains for university enterprise, innovation and knowledge-exchange teams.
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“Every company needs something different”
A cohort can mix ventures still testing a scientific principle with firms already selling. One programme of workshops fits few of them.
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“Support does not scale”
Advisers and mentors are scarce. Time spent working out where each company stands is time not spent helping it.
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“Impact has to be evidenced”
Funders expect outcomes, often for up to 24 months after support ends, and expect them to stand up to checking.
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“Reporting takes over”
Chasing returns from companies by email and spreadsheet crowds out the work the programme exists to do.
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“Industry wants answers, not introductions”
Partners want their real business challenges solved with innovative companies, in a way they can see and report on.
How SME Ninja helps
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A clear starting point for every company
Each company takes the same diagnostic and gets an indicated stage, from Explore (TRL 1–2) to Scale (TRL 9), so support goes to the gaps that matter for that company.
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Calls and cohorts in one place
Calls for applications with eligibility questions, assessor panels and decisions; then every company’s stage and progress in one table, with tools assigned and due dates set.
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Advisers in the loop
Assigned advisers and mentors host meetings, record agreed actions and review work inside each company’s workspace, seeing only what the company shares.
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Outcomes you can verify
A theory of change, versioned indicators and returns collected for up to 24 months, checked against Companies House and UKRI’s Gateway to Research.
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Challenge programmes
Industry partners and sponsors commission solutions to real business challenges from innovative SMEs.
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Your own innovation space
A white-labelled space in your own brand, with your own themes and a board report.
Built to be trusted
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Each company’s data kept separate
Every company-owned record is isolated, and companies choose what advisers see.
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History never rewritten
Assessments keep their model version, so progress compares like with like.
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Accessible and UK-hosted
WCAG 2.2 AA, light and dark themes, hosted in London, with an audit log.
SME Ninja is built by Alta Semita, which has worked with universities, research and technology organisations, Innovate UK Catapults, national infrastructure programmes and pharmaceutical companies.
Supporting innovative companies?
Tell us about your programme, spin-outs or SME partners and we will show you how SME Ninja could support them.