The latest funding opportunities and grants for innovation in healthcare.
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Featured funding opportunities:
NIHR i4i Funding At the Speed of Translation (FAST) Call 3 Deadline: 24 November 2023
Aimed at innovators needing a small amount of funding to answer a specific question to support the development of innovative healthcare technologies (TRL 3 onwards) applying genomics, pharmacogenomics, phenomics or artificial intelligence for primary care settings. There is a one stage application process, providing between £15k to £50 k of funding projects that can last from 3 to 6 months.
NIHR i4i Product Development Award Call 27 Deadline: 6 December 2023
i4i Product Development Awards (PDA) support collaborative research and development of medical devices, in vitro diagnostic devices and high-impact patient-focused digital health technologies for use in the NHS or social care system. The expected focus of a PDA is product development required to enable a technology for clinical use or use in social care and/or the clinical development of a laboratory-validated technology or intervention. The research proposals may address any area of unmet need. Projects must have a clear pathway towards adoption and commercialisation.
Innovate UK Smart Grants September 2023 Deadline: 17 January 2024
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £25 million for game-changing and commercially viable R&D innovations that can significantly impact the UK economy. This funding is from Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation.
General health innovation funding opportunities:
INNOVATE UK:
Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK government.
BIOTECHNOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL:
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation, is a non-departmental public body, and is the largest UK public funder of non-medical bioscience. It predominantly funds scientific research institutes and university research departments in the UK.
NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH AND CARE RESEARCH:
The National Institute for Health and Care Research is the British government’s major funder of clinical, public health, social care and translational research. Its mission is to “improve the health and wealth of the nation through research”.
DEFENCE AND SECURITY ACCELERATOR (DASA)
DASA aims to find and fund exploitable innovation to support UK defence and security quickly and effectively, and support UK prosperity.
Open Competition Deadline: Open call
The Open Call is one of the funding competition mechanisms DASA uses to find proposals that address challenges faced by government stakeholders. It gives bidders the opportunity to present their ideas to defence and security stakeholders at any time, without waiting for a relevant Themed Competition.
MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (MRC)
The Medical Research Council (MRC) improves the health of people in the UK – and around the world – by supporting excellent science, and training the very best scientists.
NC3RS:
The NC3RS is a UK-based scientific organisation dedicated to helping the research community worldwide to replace, reduce and refine the use of animals for medical testing.
CRACK IT challenges
Funding of £4M is available through the 2023 CRACK IT Challenges competition to solve four Challenges, providing academics and SMEs based in the UK and Europe** with the opportunity to deliver scientific and 3Rs benefits through the development and commercialisation of 3Rs products and services that are tailored to end-user needs.
Mindset: Extended Reality for digital mental health – strand 1 & strand 2 Deadline: 6 December.
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £4.5 million across the two strands of the competition. In this strand we will support R&D feasibility studies that provide immersive digital mental health therapeutic solutions.
UK – Germany Bilateral: Collaborative R&D Round 2 Deadline: 6 December 2023
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £4 million for projects resulting in innovative solutions for emerging technologies. You must collaborate with at least one German SME applying under the equivalent German ZIM programme.
Business and academia prosperity partnership: round 2 Deadline: 20 December 2023
Apply for funding to support emerging or established research-based partnerships between business and academic institutions.
Eureka GlobalStars Japan Round 2 Deadline: 31 January 2024.
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £2 million to develop innovative proposals in partnership with Japan and other participating Eureka members.
Net Zero Funding
SBRI Healthcare Competition 24: Delivering a Net Zero NHS for a Healthier Future Opens 31 Oct / Closes: 22 November
This competition is about helping the NHS achieve Net Zero with emphasis on clinical community engagement, novel business models to enable circularity in perioperative care and critical care settings, and Net Zero clinical transformation. The competition is open to single organisations based in the UK or EU from the private, public, and third sectors, including companies – large corporates and small and medium enterprises, charities, universities and NHS providers.
UK – Singapore Collaborative R&D Call Sustainability and Net Zero Deadline: 6 December 2023
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £5 million as part of a collaboration with a Singapore partner for industrial research projects that develop sustainable technologies helping reduce emissions and achieve a net-zero future.
Trusts and Charities
The Health Foundation (HF)
HF’s aim is a healthier population, supported by high quality health care that can be equitably accessed. HF learns what works to make people’s lives healthier and improve the health care system. From giving grants to those working at the front line to carrying out research and policy analysis, they shine a light on how to make successful change happen.
The British Heart Foundation (BHF)
BHF provide personal support for clinical and non-clinical cardiovascular researchers at all stages of their career. They also provide grants for short and long term research projects, essential infrastructure and strategic initiatives.
Association of Medical Research Charities
Over 30 years ago a small, diverse group of medical research charities form the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) to unite the sector and provide it with a leading voice. Since then their membership has grown to over 140 charities. In 2018, these charities invested £1.3 billion in medical research.
Other UK Government, Seed Funds & Loans
The British Business Bank (BBB) Applications: Open
BBB are a government-owned business development bank dedicated to making finance markets work better for smaller businesses. Whether you’re looking for finance to start a business, grow to the next level, or stay ahead of the competition, they say that they can deliver greater volume and choice of finance.
UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund Deadline: Open
The UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (formerly known as The Rainbow Seed Fund) is a £27.1m early-stage venture capital fund building and growing technology companies stemming from the UK’s research base.
Creative England Investments Deadline: Open
Creative England is supporting SMEs by providing competitive loans to digital businesses in order to make their growth plans a reality. The investments on offer are intended to fuel this fast-growing sector by financing business expansion and new products, leading to the creation of new high-quality jobs and Intellectual Property (IP). Loans from £50,000 – £250,000 are available with repayment terms ranging from 3-36 months. Interest rates range from 5% – 10%, depending on the risk profile of the applicant. This includes companies from within the digital healthcare sector.
International Grants
Global Innovation Fund Applications: Open
GIF focuses on solutions that have the potential to address an important development problem more effectively than existing approaches, can come from anyone, anywhere. They seek out innovations they believe have the greatest potential to improve the lives of millions of people living in poverty.
The EIC Accelerator: Open Competition (Grants only)
The EIC Accelerator supports individual Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), in particular Startups and spinout companies to develop and scale up game-changing innovations.