Contracts for Innovation: READ-OUT digital cognitive dementia assessments

Overview

This competition supports the government’s Dementia Goals programme.

This competition is a demonstrator and aims to accelerate innovation in dementia based digital cognitive assessments (DCA). High maturity DCA innovations will be deployed and assessed as part of the READ-OUT (REAl-world Dementia OUTcomes) blood based biomarker study and feed into the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative System Preparedness project.

Your proposed DCA must demonstrate significant accuracy and specificity to the progression and correlation of diseases that can cause dementia. The University of Oxford will support and facilitate the real world use of the DCA test at READ-OUT clinical sites.

You must demonstrate how proven DCA technologies can be integrated into an NHS environment for the first time as ‘first of a kind’ demonstrations. This competition will support innovative suppliers in preparation for market readiness.

You must describe your projects potential to be successfully exploited in an NHS environment. Any solution must demonstrate full integration with the READ-OUT study.

It is expected that the combination of blood biomarkers and a DCA will provide real time objective measures of cognitive function, capturing behavioural and neurological changes that may not yet be captured in a standard clinical setting. Together, these tools create a powerful, complementary framework that increases the likelihood of early detection.

The proposed digital cognitive assessment should consist of a battery of tests, suitable for people with mild cognitive impairment, or mild to moderate dementia, and recommended to take less than 10 minutes to complete that evaluate key cognitive domains.

The funders anticipate successful DCAs to include measures of processing speed, episodic memory, recognition memory and executive function. Variations or extensions to this list of cognitive domains will be considered but would require strong justification. The test must be able to be implemented in Memory Clinics.

The study is across 10 sites with up to 2,000 patients. Each successful applicant will have access to five sites and up to 1,000 patients.

In this competition you must provide:

• A mandatory first milestone for formal and legal incorporation into the READ-OUT study by 18 August 2025 if your project is funded
• A comprehensive plan for deployment and integration into the study
• Licences for digital cognitive testing
• A sample link to your proposed DCA, to be validated by members of the READ-OUT study and the READ-OUT Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) group

The successful applicant must be ready to implement their DCA test as follows:

1. Be ready for full deployment into the READ-OUT Study by 1 September 2025.
2. Be of a length suitable enough for a person with mild cognitive impairment or mild to moderate dementia to complete
3. Provide evidence of validity and high sensitivity, including prior comparisons with standard neuropsychological tests used in dementia trials, for example, Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale – Cognitive (ADAS-COG) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and prior evidence of sensitivity to diseases that can cause dementia.
4. Comply with all appropriate legislation and have a clear path to regulatory approval, for example, UK General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) Medical Device Regulations (ISO13485), and Clinical Data Protection Standards.
5. Be suitable for administration by non-experts, including carers.
6. Be suitable for different cultures, languages, ethnicities and levels of education.
7. Be suitable for use by people with mild cognitive impairment or mild to moderate dementia.

The assessment process will include members of the READ-OUT and Dementia Goals Programme Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) groups. The PPIE group will assess the acceptability and usability of your proposed DCA. Their views will feed into the application review and award decision making process

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

Contracts will be given to successful applicants.

Specific themes

Your proposed DCA should evaluate the key cognitive domains, including:

• Processing speed
• Episodic memory
• Recognition memory
• Executive function

Variations or extensions to this list of cognitive domains will be considered but would require strong justification.‍

Project duration

Up to 20 months

Projects must end by 31 March 2027

Contract value

Up to £600,000 inclusive of VAT

Funding rates

100% funded

Eligibility criteria

Projects must be lead by a UK registered business of any size

Contracts will be awarded to a single legal entity only

Subcontractors can be used but only for specialist skills

Project work and key deliverables must be completed by the applicant and be carried out in the UK

Your application must have at least 50% of the contract value attributed directly and exclusively to R&D services, including solution exploration and design