Biomedical Catalyst 2024 Round 1: Industry-led R&D

To lead a project or work alone your organisation must be a micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME).

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
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

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

A research and technology organisation (RTO), a large business, academic institution, charity, not for profit or public sector organisation, or an SME not leading an application, can collaborate on any number of applications.

Your project must:

• have total project costs between £150,000 and £4 million
• not exceed a grant request of £2 million
• have at least 50% of the total project costs shared by the SMEs, if collaborative
• last between 6 months and 36 months
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
• start by 1 May 2025
• end by 30 September 2028

If you have requested an overall grant of over £500,000, and your online application is eligible in this competition, you may be invited to attend an interview.

You must not claim more than £2 million in grant against your total eligible project costs. A minimum of 50% of your total eligible project costs must be incurred by the SMEs, if collaborative.

Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.

Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both that in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation.

Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process. This information will be reviewed before an award is made.

The aim of this industry-led R&D competition is to support SMEs to develop innovative solutions to address health, and healthcare, challenges.

Your project can include:

• experimental evaluation (at laboratory scale)
• use of in vitro and in vivo models to evaluate proof of concept or safety
• exploring potential production mechanisms
• prototyping
• product development planning
• intellectual property protection
• a demonstration of clinical utility and effectiveness
• a demonstration of safety and efficacy (including phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials)
• regulatory planning

This list is not intended to be exhaustive.

Your project can focus on any health, or healthcare, sector or discipline including:

• advanced therapies (including gene and cell therapies)
• biosciences
• preclinical technologies and drug target discovery
• therapeutic and medicine development
• diagnostics
• medical technology and devices
• precision medicine
• digital health
• independent living

This list is not intended to be exhaustive.

An online briefing was held on Thursday 5 September: click here to view the recording.

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