Contracts for Innovation: Scaling community initiatives in diet and exercise

To lead a project, you can:

• be an organisation of any size
• work alone or with the subcontracted skills and expertise of others from business, research organisations, research and technology organisations, or the third sector (charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups)

As an organisation you must:

• be a social enterprise and exist to provide benefits for society
• have a stated commitment to social outcomes and identified beneficiaries related to your social mission
• have objects in your constitutional documents that protect your social mission
• have a policy to distribute a portion of profits after tax, or be open to including one, so any surpluses are used to achieve positive social impacts in the long term

Contracts will be awarded to a single legal entity only. The majority of the project work and key deliverables must be completed by the applicant and be carried out in the UK. Subcontractors can be used, but only for specialist skills.

A social enterprise is a business that trades in order to create a social impact. It makes money in the same way a business does, by selling goods and services. Revenues are then used to cover costs, pay salaries, to develop the business and to invest into making a difference for the common good.

While social enterprises can make a profit, the core goal is not simply to create wealth. A social enterprise aims to be self-sustaining by trading on a cost-recovery basis and breaking even may be regarded as a successful outcome.

Community based diet and (or) exercise projects will be expected to enhance existing pre-commercial innovations to deliver initiatives that meet local needs and broadly align with the wider government Health Mission.

Ideally social ventures will work closely with Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) to evidence their social impact and show their capacity to scale their business.

To seek a better understanding of growth, scaling or sustainability principles you are encouraged to seek help and information from organisations who support social ventures. You should note that this activity is outside of the competition process, is entirely at your discretion and is not funded by Innovate UK.

Projects must:

• start by 1 September 2025
• end by 31 August 2026
• last up to 12 months
• have total costs of between £200,000 and £250,000, inclusive of VAT
• spend 80% of awarded funding by 31 March 2026

Your application must have at least 50% of the contract value attributed directly and exclusively to R&D services, including solution exploration and design. R&D can also include prototyping and field-testing the product or service.

The aim of the competition is to fund social enterprises with the ability to scale and deliver social impact. Your proposal must address the delivery of community based diet and (or) exercise initiatives and your existing innovation must require further testing and R&D.

In this phase 3 competition you must further develop your existing pre-commercial innovation, deploying, testing and iterating in a real world or representative environment. You must work closely with potential users and customers, conducting the R&D to progress your project toward commercialisation.

In this competition you must:

• address one of the three themes
• identify a clear route to market, scalability and sustainability for your product or service
• have a validated business plan to scale your product or service and plan to scale by at least 25% of current baseline
• spend 80% of your allocated funding by 31 March 2026
• provide evidence of an existing lead customer who is using your product or service and the plan to increase their uptake
• detail a minimum of one and up to four new customers and an implementation plan for each
• describe how scaling your innovation addresses critical social challenges
• demonstrate a causal link between your business activities and achievement of your declared social impact
• describe how all social impact will be measured, evidenced, and reported
• outline your commitment to specific social outcomes, clearly identifying beneficiaries related to your social mission
• explain how any profits after tax will be distributed so any surpluses are used to achieve positive future social impacts
• describe how ongoing collaborations between all members of the project team will develop
• have the required ethical approvals, data sharing agreements and contracts in place

You must demonstrate a credible and practical route to market, so your application must include a plan to commercialise your results.

This is a single phase competition.

Your project can focus diet, exercise, or combined diet and exercise.

An online briefing event will be held at 11am on Friday 23 May: click here for the joining link.

If you want help to find an organisation to work with, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Health team.