The UK Nitrides Consortium was founded in 1994 in response to dramatic developments in the field of blue LEDs using GaN based materials. The key objective of the Consortium has been to act as a forum for coordination of the UK activities in this exciting field. The Consortium has grown in size over the years and represents the pre-eminent UK body representing institutions involved in nitride research.

The Consortium has been supported in part by government funding provided through the DTI-EPSRC LINK scheme.

A formal constitution was adopted in 2002 based on the possibility of seeking charitable status and subsequently amended in 2017. Even though it was subsequently decided not to pursue this approach, the Consortium continues to operate in accordance with this constitution.