Funding competition Biomedical Catalyst 2018 round 1: feasibility award

SMEs can apply for a share of up to £2 million to explore and evaluate the commercial potential of a scientific idea that could solve a healthcare challenge.

Competition opens: Monday 26 March 2018
Competition closes: Wednesday 6 June 2018 12:00pm

This competition is now closed.

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Description

The aim of the Biomedical Catalyst is to support the development of innovative healthcare products, technologies and processes. These can include (but are not limited to):

disease prevention and proactive management of health and chronic conditions
earlier and better detection and diagnosis of disease, leading to better patient outcomes
tailored treatments that either change the underlying disease or offer potential cures

This is a competition for a feasibility stage award in the Biomedical Catalyst.

We are also running an early stage award competition. You should make sure that you are applying for the correct competition.

If you submit for the wrong award your application will be immediately rejected and you will not be able to reapply into this round. You can only submit the same application twice to Innovate UK.

We welcome applications from any sector or discipline.

Funding type

Grant

Project size

Your project’s total costs should not exceed £200,000. Projects should last between 3 and 12 months. Successful applicants will be notified of their start date by Innovate UK.

Who can apply

To lead a project you must:

be a UK-based small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
work on your own or with other UK SMEs or research organisations.
carry out your project work in the UK

If your project is academic-led you should apply to the Medical Research Council instead.

If we offer you an award we will contact you soon after to agree the start date.

For all research organisations, the maximum level of project participation is 50% of total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation, they must share this allocation. Refer to the Innovate UK definition of research organisations.

If you are a business, you can:

take part in up to 3 applications in this competition round, although you may only be the lead partner in one application in this round
lead only one active project in any one Biomedical Catalyst category at any time

There is an exception to the rule on leading only one active project. This is when a new project is a direct progression from one award to the next category of awards. For example, you may already hold a primer award. When the primer project finishes, you can apply in this round for the early stage award to continue that specific programme of work whilst applying for a feasibility award to carry out a different project. We will ask you to provide evidence that you have enough resources to run 2 projects at the same time.

Innovate UK has the right to decline or withdraw funding from any project where the company has previously been awarded Innovate UK funding and not fully exploited this.

Resubmissions

If Innovate UK judge that your proposal is not materially different from your previous proposal, it will be classed as a resubmission.

If your application is unsuccessful, you may reapply with the same proposal once more, taking into account the feedback received from the assessors. This can be into another round of this competition or another competition. In other words, you can make a maximum of 2 applications in total with any proposal.

Funding

We have allocated up to £2 million to fund feasibility projects in this competition.

While you can include elements of industrial research, the majority of the work packages in your project must be under the research category of feasibility study.

You could get funding for your eligible project costs of:

up to 70% if you are a small business
up to 60% if you are a medium-sized business

Find out if your business fits the EU definition of a micro enterprise or an SME.

Your proposal

Biomedical Catalyst has 4 types of funding award to support progression from initial concept through to late stage development:

feasibility
primer
early stage
late stage

They are designed to help SMEs develop a product or process to provide an innovative solution to a health and care challenge.

The aim of the feasibility award is to explore and evaluate the commercial potential of innovative scientific ideas through:

reviewing research evidence and identifying possible applications
assessing business opportunities
investigating intellectual property issues
validating initial concepts and existing pre-clinical work through experimental studies
identifying areas for further development

The feasibility award is designed for projects that have developed an innovative concept or carried out experimental proof of concept, but have not validated the technology.

Support is available for any sector or discipline, including (but not limited to):

stratified healthcare
advanced therapies (gene and cell therapies)
diagnostics
medical technologies and devices

If you choose the innovation area ‘Diagnostics, medical technology and devices’, indicate in the initial project summary whether your project falls within ‘Diagnostics’ or ‘Medical technology and devices’.

Projects we will not fund

We will not fund projects as part of the feasibility award that would be in scope for the Biomedical Catalyst primer, early stage or late stage awards. We will not fund projects that include studies in patients.

26 March 2018: Competition opens
4 April 2018: Briefing recording.
6 June 2018 12:00pm: Competition closes
12 September 2018 2:05pm: Applicants notified

Before you start

Make sure you are applying to the right competition. Would the early stage award be more appropriate for your stage of development?

Please read the general guidance for applicants. It will help your chances of submitting a quality application.

When you start an application you will be prompted to create an account as the lead applicant or sign in as a representative of your organisation. You will need an account to track the progress of your application.

Only the lead organisation can create an application. Contributors or collaborators will need to be invited to participate by the lead organisation.

As the lead applicant you will be responsible for:

collecting the information for your application
representing your organisation in leading the project if your application is successful

You will be able to invite:

colleagues to contribute to the application
other organisations to participate in the project as partners if your application is successful

Partner organisations can be other businesses, research organisations, public sector organisations or charities.

What we will ask you

The application is split into 3 sections:

Project details
Application questions
Finances

1. Project details

Explain your project. This section is not scored, but we will use it to decide whether the project fits with the scope of the competition. If it doesn’t, it will be immediately rejected.

Application details

The lead applicant must complete this section. Give your project’s title, start date and length. List any partner organisations you have named as collaborators.

Project summary

Describe your project briefly, and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign experts to assess your application. It should cover the technical subject matter of work packages planned and the deliverables for this project.

Public description

Describe your project in detail, and in a way that you are happy to see published. Please do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This could be before you start your project.

Project scope

Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition. If your project is not in scope it will be immediately rejected and will not be sent for assessment. We will give you feedback on why.

2. Application questions

In this section, answers to these questions are scored by the assessors. Following assessment, you will receive feedback from the assessors for each question.

Please ensure that your answer to each question does not exceed 600 words. Do not include any URLs in your answers unless we have explicitly requested a link to a video.

Question 1: Need or challenge

What is the business need, citizen challenge, technological challenge or market opportunity behind your innovation?

You should describe or explain:

the main motivation for the project
the business need, technological challenge or market opportunity
the nearest current state-of-the-art, including those near market or in development, and its limitations
any work you have already done to respond to this need, for example if the project is focused on developing an existing capability or building a new one
the wider economic, social, environmental, cultural and/or political challenges which are influential in creating the opportunity, such as incoming regulations. Our Horizons tool can help with this.

Question 2: Approach and innovation

What approach will you take and where will the focus of the innovation be?

You should describe or explain:

how you will respond to the need, challenge or opportunity identified
how you will improve on the nearest current state-of-the-art identified
whether the innovation will focus on the application of existing technologies in new areas, the development of new technologies for existing areas or a totally disruptive approach
the freedom you have to operate
how this project fits with your current product, service lines or offerings
how it will make you more competitive
the nature of the outputs you expect from the project (for example, report, demonstrator, know-how, new process, product or service design) and how these will help you to target the need, challenge or opportunity identified

You can submit a single appendix as a PDF no larger than 1MB and up to 2 pages long to support your answer. The font must be Arial 10.

Question 3: Team and resources

Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

You should describe or explain:

the roles, skills and experience of all members of the project team that are relevant to the approach you will be taking
the resources, equipment and facilities needed for the project and how you will access them
the details of any vital external parties, including sub-contractors, who you will need to work with to successfully carry out the project
(if your project is collaborative) the current relationships between project partners and how these will change as a result of the project
any gaps in the team that will need to be filled

You can submit a single appendix as a PDF no larger than 1MB and up to 4 pages long to support your answer. The font must be Arial 10.

Question 4: Market awareness

What does the market you are targeting look like?

You should describe or explain:

the markets (domestic, international or both) you will be targeting in the project and any other potential markets
the size of the target markets for the project outcomes, backed up by references where available
the structure and dynamics of the target markets, including customer segmentation, together with predicted growth rates within clear timeframes
the target markets’ main supply or value chains and business models, and any barriers to entry that exist
the current UK position in targeting these markets
the size and main features of any other markets not already listed

If your project is highly innovative, where the market may be unexplored, describe or explain:

what the market’s size might to be
how your project will try to explore the market’s potential

Question 5: Outcomes and route to market

How are you going to grow your business and increase your productivity into the long term as a result of the project?

You should describe or explain:

your current position in the markets and supply or value chains outlined, and whether you will be extending or establishing your market position
your target customers and/or end users, and the value to them, for example, why would they use or buy it?
your route to market
how you are going to profit from the innovation (increased revenues or cost reduction)
how the innovation will affect your productivity and growth, in both the short and the long term
how you will protect and exploit the outputs of the project, for example through know-how, patenting, designs or changes to your business model
your strategy for targeting the other markets you have identified during or after the project

If there is any research organisation activity in the project, describe:

your plans to spread the project’s research outputs over a reasonable timescale
how you expect to use the results generated from the project in further research activities

Question 6: Wider impacts

What impact might this project have outside the project team?

You should describe, and where possible measure:

the economic benefits from the project to external parties, including customers, others in the supply chain, broader industry and the UK economy, such as productivity increases and import substitution
any expected impact on government priorities
any expected environmental impacts, either positive or negative
any expected regional impacts of the project

Describe any expected social impacts, either positive or negative on, for example:

quality of life
social inclusion or exclusion
jobs, such as safeguarding, creating, changing or displacing them
education
public empowerment
health and safety
regulations
diversity

Question 7: Project management

You should describe or explain:

the main work packages of the project, indicating the relevant research category, the lead partner assigned to each and the total cost of each one
your approach to project management, identifying any major tools and mechanisms that will be used for a successful and innovative project outcome.
the management reporting lines
your project plan in enough detail to identify any links or dependencies between work packages or milestones

You can upload a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix in PDF format no larger than 1MB and up to 2 pages long. The font must be Arial 10.

Question 8: Risks

What are the main risks for this project?

You should describe or explain:

the main risks and uncertainties of the project, including the technical, commercial, managerial and environmental risks, providing a risk register if appropriate
how these risks will be mitigated
any project inputs that are critical to completion, such as resources, expertise, data sets
any output likely to be subject to regulatory requirements, certification, ethical issues and so on, and how will you manage this?

You can upload a risk register as an appendix in PDF format no larger than 1MB and up to 2 pages long. The font must be Arial 10.

Question 9: Additionality

Describe the impact that an injection of public funding would have on this project.

You should describe or explain:

if this project could go ahead in any form without public funding and if so, the difference the public funding would make, such as faster to market, more partners and reduced risk
the likely impact of the project on the business of the partners involved
why you are not able to wholly fund the project from your own resources or other forms of private-sector funding, and what would happen if the application is unsuccessful
how this project would change the nature of R&D activity the partners would undertake, and the related spend

Question 10: Costs and value for money

How much will the project cost and how does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer?

You should describe or explain:

the total project cost and the grant being requested in terms of the project goals
how the partners will finance their contributions to the project
how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer and how it compares to what you would spend your money on otherwise?
the balance of costs and grant across the project partners
any sub-contractor costs and why they are critical to the project

3. Finances

The finances section asks each organisation in your project to complete their own project costs, organisational details and funding details. Academics will need to complete and upload a Je-S form. For full details on what costs you can claim please see our project costs guidance.

Background and further information

The Biomedical Catalyst is a unique partnership between Innovate UK and the Medical Research Council. It provides responsive and effective support to the most innovative life sciences opportunities, regardless of scientific approach.

The Catalyst evolved from the 2011 Life Sciences Industrial Strategy. It aims to de-risk innovative scientific ideas coming out of academia and industry. In this way it helps UK SMEs to develop into competitive and sustainable organisations which:

speeds up the progress of novel products to market
supports onward investment
bridges ‘the valley of death’ which is the stage of development of an innovation where it is difficult to get private sector funding

An independent evaluation in 2015 has confirmed that the Biomedical Catalyst is already achieving its goals of:

providing support to both academically and commercially led research and development in a seamless, effective and efficient way. For example, at least 40% of supported companies have originated in UK academia and many others have in-licensed academic intellectual property
encouraging UK economic growth and leveraging investment into the healthcare and life sciences sectors. For example, supported projects leveraged over £120 million of private funding against grant funding over the first 8 competition rounds
delivering innovative life sciences products and services more quickly and effectively into healthcare. For example, the Biomedical Catalyst has supported more than 60 first-in-human studies

In autumn 2016, the government allocated £100 million to continue funding the Catalyst for a further 4 years.

Innovate UK, the Medical Research Council and Scottish Enterprise fund Biomedical Catalyst awards.

If you want help to find a project partner, contact the Knowledge Transfer Network.

If you need more information, contact the competition helpline on 0300 321 4357 or email us at support@innovateuk.gov.uk

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