The Wellcome Trust and the Department of Health officially launched the £100m Health Innovation Challenge Fund (HICF) to stimulate the creation of innovative healthcare products, technologies and interventions, and facilitate their development for the benefit of patients in the NHS and beyond.
The five-year fund will have a succession of thematic calls for proposals, each selected to focus on unmet needs in healthcare relevant to the NHS and will support innovative developments that are within three to five years of launch or adoption.
The first theme of the HICF, with a specific £20 million allocation, is “Advancing genetic discoveries into clinical practice”.
The following organisations (singly or in collaboration) will be eligible for funding:
– NHS organisations (including NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts), and equivalent UK authorities;
– universities, and research institutes and not-for profit organisations;
– start-up companies founded to capture and develop intellectual property of relevance to healthcare;
– biotechnology, pharmaceutical, bioinformatics, engineering or other companies.
The fund will provide project funding and not core support or working capital.
The preliminary application deadline is October 2nd and shortlisted proposals will have to be transformed in full applications by December 14th.
FinSMEs
04/09/2009