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Competition brief: innovation in health and life sciences round 1

Updated 9 November 2016

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1. Dates and deadlines

Competition opens Monday 12 September 2016
Briefing event for applicants Monday 19 September 2016
Registration deadline Noon on Wednesday 9 November 2016
Application deadline Noon on Wednesday 16 November 2016

2. The competition scope

The aim of this competition is to stimulate innovation in Health and Life Sciences (H&LS). Projects must cover at least one of the following Innovate UK priority areas:

  • increase yield, quality and sustainability in agriculture and food production
  • improve precision medicine, advanced therapies, preclinical technologies
  • advance biosciences in healthcare and agriculture and food production

Proposals should indicate how projects will enable a step change in competitiveness and productivity for at least one UK SME involved in the project.

3. Specific competition themes

We encourage applications featuring:

Increasing agricultural productivity:

  • advanced and precision engineering
  • fighting agro-chemical and antimicrobial resistance
  • enhancing resilience to biotic and abiotic stress
  • individualised livestock/aquaculture nutrition and healthcare
  • novel genetics and breeding

Improved food quality and sustainability:

  • authenticity and traceability
  • enhanced nutritional value
  • food safety
  • modern methods of food manufacturing
  • new and smarter ingredients
  • protein development
  • smarter packaging

Precision medicine:

  • paediatrics and child health
  • stratification in primary care and the community, including direct-to-consumer products
  • companion diagnostics
  • antimicrobial resistance
  • precision medicine and advanced therapies

Advanced therapies:

  • preclinical testing and advanced therapies
  • preparation and execution of early clinical trials
  • developing tools and technologies that help new therapies launch in the health sector

Preclinical technologies:

  • developing and validating new in silico, in vitro and in vivo medicines testing before human trials
  • techniques to improve success and safety in drug discovery
  • approaches relevant to the agrichemical, chemical and personal care industries

Biosciences:

  • synthetic biology
  • computational systems biology
  • characterisation and discovery tools
  • bio-based and sustainable solutions

4. Projects that we won’t fund

In this competition we are not funding projects focusing on the following areas:

Increasing agricultural productivity:

  • forestry or equine projects
  • wild-capture fisheries

Improved food quality and sustainability:

  • food processing or manufacturing applications that focus solely on improvements in production efficiency will not be considered. However, these areas may find potential opportunities in future manufacturing and materials competitions
  • projects with a primary focus on a health claim (as opposed to a nutrition claim), that would require approval from the European Food Safety Authority

Precision medicine:

  • diagnostic tests to select for treatments that are still in development, unless justified as a parallel development
  • biomarker discovery experiments 


Advanced therapies:

  • discovery of a new advanced therapy
  • large-scale manufacture of cell and gene therapies
  • advanced therapies specifically for non-human use

Preclinical technologies:

  • extensive validation studies for licensed regulatory bodies
  • discovering or developing a new medicine

Biosciences:

  • a technology that could only be used for a single medical, agricultural or food production application, for example, production of a specific biopharmaceutical
  • management and use of biofilms

5. Find out if you are eligible to apply

To lead a project, you must:

  • be a UK-based business
  • be a business of any size
  • involve at least one SME
  • carry out your project in the UK
  • propose an innovation project that lasts between 6 months and 3 years

If project costs are less than £100,000, an SME can work on the project alone or with partners.

If project costs are £100,000 or more, the project must include at least 2 grant-claiming partners working together.

6. Funding and project details

We have allocated up to £15 million to fund innovation projects. There is £5 million available for projects lasting up to 1 year, £5 million for projects lasting up to 2 years and £5 million for projects up to 3 years. Your project may focus on technical feasibility, industrial research or experimental development.

All projects must involve at least one SME and a business must lead the project.

Stream 1

Project costs of up to £100,000 for up to 12 months.

If you are an SME and expect your eligible project costs to be up to £100,000, you may run the project on your own. You may also work with other businesses or research organisations.

Stream 2

Project costs of over £100,000 or over 12 months.

If you expect your eligible project costs to be more than £100,000 you must work with other organisations. At least one of these must be an SME.

We particularly welcome projects that are led by an SME.

Project types

For technical feasibility studies and industrial research, you could get:

  • up to 70% of your eligible project costs if you are a micro/small business
  • up to 60% if you are a medium-sized business
  • up to 50% if you are a large business

For experimental development projects which are nearer to market, you could get:

  • up to 45% of your eligible project costs if you are a micro/small business
  • up to 35% if you are a medium-sized business
  • up to 25% if you are a large business

Find out if your business fits the EU definition of an SME.

In any project, a maximum of 30% of total eligible project costs can be spent by the research organisations involved. Where projects include human clinical trials, a maximum of 50% of total eligible project costs can be spent by the academic or research organisations. Costs will need to be fully justified.

We expect projects to last from 6 months to 3 years and to range in size from total costs of £50,000 to £2 million.

We may consider projects outside this range, but you should contact us at least 10 days before the registration deadline to discuss further.

7. How to apply

To apply:

We will not accept late submissions. Your application is confidential.

External, independent experts assess the quality of your application. We will then select the projects that we fund, to build a portfolio of projects that:

  • are high quality
  • reflect a range as described in the scope
  • address opportunities across a range of industrial sectors
  • reflect the potential for short, medium and long-term return on investment for the company and the UK

Read the general Guidance for Applicants carefully before you apply. It will help your chances of submitting a quality application.

8. Background and further information

Today we have a growing global population, ageing demographic, burden of disease and increased wealth. These challenges are accelerating the demand for food and improved healthcare. At the same time, opportunities are:

  • the food and drink sector represents around 30% of the global economy (around US$20 trillion)
  • there is a £250 billion-plus global market opportunity associated with improving agricultural productivity
  • healthcare is one of the largest industries in the world, at close to 10% of global GDP
  • new technologies and expertise in bioscience, medical research, engineering and physical sciences are enabling innovation in H&LS

Innovate UK’s H&LS sector supports business to find solutions to these challenges.

The government’s Agri-Tech Strategy aims to help the UK become a world leader in agricultural technology, innovation and sustainability.

New Agri-Tech centres have been set up to provide world-leading capability including:

A priority for 2016 to 2017 will be completing the Precision Medicine and the Medicines Discovery Catapults to join the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult.

Organisations wanting help to find potential project partners should approach the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN).

If you need more information, contact the competition helpline on 0300 321 4357 or email us at support@innovateuk.gov.uk

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