About EPSRC Healthcare Technologies ICURe Engage
EPSRC Healthcare Technologies ICURe Engage is one of the UKRI council pathway programmes running through 2026/27, delivered by Innovate UK ICURe in partnership with the EPSRC Healthcare Technologies theme. The cohort is shaped around the research priorities of the theme, with examples, networks and onward routes tailored to the healthcare technologies community.
The programme aims to identify potential beneficiaries of research, introduce participants to tools for commercialisation and foster consideration of entrepreneurship as a pathway for achieving societal impact and a viable career choice. It is an introductory, light-touch opportunity, available regardless of whether participants already have an idea. The programme introduces them to ICURe and provides the space to think about entrepreneurship differently.
Why attend?
Translating healthcare technologies research into something that reaches patients and clinicians involves multiple decision points along the way. ICURe Engage supports the early one, where a researcher is trying to work out whether their work could have a route beyond the lab, and whether commercialisation is part of that route. It does this without asking for a finished idea or a commitment to spin out.
Participants get access to expert training and connection to a network of mentors, entrepreneurs and investors early in their journey.
What’s included?
- 2-day online training bootcamp from impact experts
- part-time market engagement spanning 4 weeks
- introduction to ICURe, ideation, design thinking and Value Proposition Canvas
- weekly hour-long conversations with peer group support and mentor for 3 weeks
- a minimum of 5 hours of self-study and research over the 3 weeks
- consideration of how delivering impact may be funded
- production of a short video report reflecting on knowledge gained and research area impact potential
Who is eligible?
This EPSRC Healthcare Technologies ICURe Engage course is for Engineering, Physical Sciences or Mathematical Sciences researchers, PDRAs, PhD students and technicians working on projects in healthcare technologies, relevant to the EPSRC health technologies strategy. Applicants must be employed at a Research Organisation eligible for EPSRC funding.
Your course of study and/or your research must be within EPSRC remit and aligned to the EPSRC health technologies strategy. We particularly encourage applications from candidates whose research project, idea or course of study has been sponsored by EPSRC.
Key dates
- Applications open: 10/07/2026
- Applications close: 09/10/2026 @ 23:59
- Bootcamp: 9 and 10 October 2026
- Delivery partner: Midlands Innovation