Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Healthcare has launched competitions seeking innovations in antimicrobial resistance (AMR), women’s health, stroke care and urgent and emergency care, with the aim of accelerating the uptake of innovations and facilitating the collection of evidence in real-world settings.
The first of the competitions, focusing on AMR and women’s health, is at the first phase of development and as such explores technical and commercial feasibility testing, with contracts valued up to £100,000 across six months.
For AMR, applicants are required to tackle a challenge relating to point of care diagnostics, monitoring and susceptibility testing, such as rapid point-of-care diagnostic technologies; prescribing decision support and risk stratification solutions; novel care delivery methods such as solutions for virtual patient monitoring to support infection management; or infection prevention and control solutions.
When it comes to women’s health, SBRI is seeking applications which tackle a challenge relating to gynaecological conditions and hormonal health, such as solutions supporting capacity building around long gynaecological waiting times; mental health; or chronic conditions and long-term health.
Applications for the AMR and women’s health funding competition open on 17 July, and are set to close on 28 August, with the selection panel taking place in November 2024.
The second of the competitions, for innovations in stroke care and urgent and emergency care, is phase three and focuses on implementation studies to generate evidence in real-world settings to promote uptake and highlight benefits. It has an upper funding limit of £500,000.
Innovations around stroke care should tackle one of three challenges: early diagnosis, rehabilitation, or life after stroke, with suggested solutions including pre-hospital validated triage tools, screening and assessment tools, and rehabilitation tools facilitating the “social participation of stoke survivors”.
For urgent and emergency care, applicants should tackle a challenge around health and care outside of hospitals, with SBRI providing examples such as supporting self-management in the community or offering alternative pathways for urgent care; reducing length of stay using innovations such as virtual wards technology; or supporting the workforce through innovations around work arrangements, accessible learning or training programmes tailored for scaling virtual wards.
Applications for funding under the urgent & emergency and stroke care will be open from the 31 July, with a closing date of 18 September. A selection panel will take place in December 2024.
To learn more about the available funding and how to apply, please click here.
Spotlight on innovation
Elsewhere, Innovate UK and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority are offering a share of up to £500,000 for innovation projects to small and micro businesses to help grow their innovation activities in the health technologies cluster in West Yorkshire. Applications for funding grants of between £25,000 and £50,000 close on 17 July 2024.
Regarding innovation in the NHS workforce, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital’s CW Innovation Horizon Fellowship programm is open for applications until 4 August. The programme is designed to encourage staff across Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to share innovative project ideas around improving patient care and experience.
