Launchpad: life and health sciences, Northern Ireland – Round 2 MFA
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £4.3m for innovation activities in the life and health sciences cluster in Northern Ireland.
Opportunity Details
When
Registration Opens
04/11/2024
Registration Closes
11/12/2024
Award
Your project’s grant funding request must be between £25,000 and £100,000. Your total project costs will be up to 100% funded up to the maximum grant of £100,000. Your project costs can be higher than your grant funding request.
Organisation
Innovate UK
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with Invest Northern Ireland to invest up to £4.3 million in innovation projects. This funding is from Innovate UK’s Launchpad programme which supports the UK government’s goals for local economic growth. This Launchpad is also supporting Health Innovation Research Alliance Northern Ireland (HIRANI) as the local cluster management organisation. This will support projects across two Launchpad competition strands that target the life and health sciences innovation cluster in Northern Ireland.
The aim of this competition is to support outstanding innovation projects led by businesses. Your business must use the funding to grow your innovation activities in the life and health sciences cluster in Northern Ireland both during and after your project.
This competition is split into two strands:
- Launchpad: life and health sciences, Northern Ireland, Round 2 De minimis or Minimal Financial Assistance (MFA) (this strand – £25k-£100k funding per project, single applicants only)
- Launchpad: life and health sciences, Northern Ireland, Round 2 Collaborative Research and Development (CR&D) (£150k-£1m funding per project, must be collaborative)
It is your responsibility to ensure you submit your application to the correct strand for your project. You will not be able to transfer your application, and it will not be sent for assessment if it is out of scope. It is possible to apply to both strands, but the projects must be separate and distinct.
If you would like advice about which strand is more appropriate for your project, or have other queries about this funding, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Health team.
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Your business must:
- be a UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
- not have previously been awarded funding from the Round 1 De minimus or MFA competition for this Northern Ireland Launchpad
- be growing your innovation activities in the life and health sciences cluster in Northern Ireland
- have a demonstrable ambition for business growth
To establish your eligibility, we need to check that our support added to the amount you have previously received does not exceed the limit of £315,000 in the ‘applicable period’, which is made up of the elapsed part of the current financial year and the two financial years immediately preceding the current financial year.
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Your project must:
- have a grant funding request between £25,000 and £100,000
- last between 6 and 12 months
- carry out all of its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
- not start before 1 April 2025
- end by 30 June 2026
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The aim of this competition is to support outstanding innovation projects led by businesses. Your business must be growing your innovation activities in the life and health sciences cluster in Northern Ireland.
Your project must focus on innovation in life and health sciences.
Your project must contribute to growing your innovation activities in the cluster, both during and after your project.
This could be demonstrated by:
- your local innovation activities
- the value that your innovation activities create in the cluster
- your engagement with other innovation active organisations in the cluster, such as with Health Innovation Research Alliance Northern Ireland (HIRANI), this Launchpad’s cluster management organisation
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Your project can focus on one or more of the following:
Diagnostics, therapeutics and biomarkers
- multi-omics
- medical imaging
- liquid biopsy
- biomarker or genetic testing
- diagnostic or therapeutic development
Data, digital and medical devices
- point-of-care testing
- wearable or ambient sensors
- clinical trials decision support
- augmented reality
- digital health
Innovations in healthcare service delivery
- health service productivity
- integrated care platforms
- remote rehabilitation
Your project can also consider the following enabling areas:
- artificial intelligence, machine learning, quantum
- advanced therapies, novel formulation or delivery
- regulation or ethics
- supporting innovation in skills development
These lists are not exhaustive.
Where you can show your proposal fits within the scope of this Launchpad competition you can focus on other themes.
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Innovate UK have produced a pre-recorded briefing covering Investor Partnerships, CR&D and MFA for all the competitions running in late 2025: click here to watch the recording. They have also supplied briefing slides which can be downloaded here.
In addition, Innovate UK Business Connect will host an online briefing event on Thursday 14 November, 1pm-2.15pm: click here to register for a place. This will start with a plenary overview of the Launchpad programme, alongside information on how to apply to the competitions. Breakout rooms will then follow for each of the seven Launchpads and their respective competitions where delegates will be briefed on the key areas of interest for each cluster.
If you would like advice about which strand is more appropriate for your project, or have any other queries, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Health team.