This competition is open to collaborations only.

To lead a collaborative project your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation: Local Authorities, NHS service Providers, Primary Care providers
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

No one partner can account for more than 70% of the project cost.

A business can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in two further applications.

A non-business organisation, or business not leading any application, can collaborate in any number of applications.

The grant funding you can apply for is limited to no more than £3 million for each business, for each project. (E.g. two businesses each with eligible costs of £5m on a £10m project could both receive £3m, for a total of £6m funding for the project.)

Your project must:

• have total eligible costs of between £250,000 and £10 million for a pharmaceutical, MedTech or digital intervention
• last between 24 and 36 months
• start on 1 December 2026
• end by 30 November 2029

Any funded organisation needs to carry out their project work in the UK and must intend to exploit the project results from or in the UK.

The aim of this AHG Catalysing Innovation Awards scheme is to progress innovations for improving treatment outcomes, enhancing recovery and reducing harm and deaths in drug and alcohol addiction healthcare.

Funding is for pharmaceutical, MedTech and digital interventions that can show real world effectiveness and progress towards UK market use. Projects must also secure the regulatory approvals or certificates needed for rollout. By the end of the funded project innovations should have achieved:

• Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 8 or 9
• necessary regulatory approvals and certification, or work already underway to get them
• full market readiness analysis and clear plans for manufacturing and UK rollout

Your projects must:

• address illicit drug or alcohol use
• focus on improving treatment outcomes, enhancing recovery and reducing harm and deaths in drug and alcohol addictions
• be either a pharmaceutical, digital health, or MedTech solution for the treatment, recovery, or harm and overdose prevention for drug or alcohol addictions
• achieve a minimum Technology Readiness Level of 8 or preferably Level 9 by the end of the funded project
• establish and evidence user acceptability with people with lived experience, supporting co-design
• have co-developed project plans with the input of those with lived experience, relevant treatment or service providers in those settings in which the intervention will be tested
• engage with statutory bodies, where relevant, to identify a pathway to secure regulatory approvals, certification and assessments or to progress along an appropriate existing pathway
• complete a full market readiness analysis and deliver a comprehensive business model or plan
• have established plans for manufacturing and UK rollout
• create strong collaborations across healthcare, research, industry and the third sector
• test in real world scenarios

If your proposal is technological, you must include the design and features of your solution and how it will be applied.

We recommend your project, where appropriate:

• be designed in consultation with people with lived experience of addictions
• be designed in discussion with relevant treatment or service providers
• account for complex needs of individuals who are the target of the intervention, for example, mental health, housing, criminal justice
• demonstrate alignment to delivery of relevant UK Government missions and strategies

Substances in scope of this competition include those treated in typical services including:

• opioids (illicit and prescription)
• stimulants: cocaine, crack, amphetamine, and methamphetamine
• cannabis
• GHB
• ketamine
• benzodiazepines
• gabapentinoids

You must define your goals in your application and your plan for this competition.

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

Your project must focus on:

• the application of digital, MedTech or pharmaceutical solutions
• improving healthcare outcomes for individuals with illicit drug or alcohol addictions, or both
• improving treatment, recovery, or prevention of harm and death for individuals with these addictions
• solutions which plan to gain regulatory approval, necessary assessment and certification where appropriate
• developing plans for UK adoption and roll-out

Strong applications for funding will demonstrate how the research aligns with:

• the ten priority questions for addiction research identified by the James Lind Alliance priority setting partnership
• the aims of Addiction Healthcare Goals
• the aims of the UK Government’s 10 year drug strategy, From Harm to Hope and equivalent drug and alcohol strategies across the devolved UK nations
• delivering on the UK Government’s core Plan for Change missions: ‘building an NHS fit for the future’ (health) and ‘kickstart economic growth’ (growth)

Innovate UK will hold an online briefing at 3pm on Thursday 19 February: click here to register for a place. This will cover both strands of the competition.

If you would like help to find a collaboration partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Health team.