Investor Partnerships – Health Technologies, West Yorkshire: Rd 2

Overview

The aim of this competition is to provide you with support for research and development and access to the capital investment you need to develop and commercialise your innovations. 
You must have gained a level of traction with one of Innovate UK’s investor partners. They will be contacted by Innovate UK to confirm they are likely to make an offer of investment if you have a successful application to Innovate UK. 
Your proposal must have a clear route to market, a clear link to innovation and evidence that you can create a team to deliver your proposal.

You must demonstrate that if your project is funded, it will: 

• have significant market impact
• be scalable
• be attractive to equity investors 

Your project must help to grow your innovation activities in the health technology cluster in West Yorkshire, 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 Yorkshire & Humber, this Launchpad’s cluster management organisation

Scope

Your project must focus on human health technology innovation. You can address any human health challenges that include, but are not limited to: 

• overcoming health inequalities
• global net zero challenges in healthcare
• major health conditions
• the prevention of disease
• earlier and better detection and diagnosis of disease
• other challenges that can be tackled with health technologies

You must be: 

• registered in the UK as an SME by the time the award is contracted
• able to complete the aligned investment led by the investor partner needed to qualify for the award, through the issue of new shares or convertible debt.

Key themes and topics

Projects can focus on one or more of the following:

• medical devices
• diagnostics, including In-Vitro Diagnostics (IVD)
• digital health, including data driven health technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) 

This list is not exhaustive. Where you can show your proposal fits within the scope of this competition you can focus on other themes.

Project duration

• last between 6 – 18 months
• not start before 1 September 2025
• end by 31 March 2027

Award value

For feasibility studies projects:

• your total project costs must be between £50,000 and £300,000
• your project duration must be between 6 and 12 months

For industrial research projects:

• your total project costs must be between £100,000 and £1 million
• your project duration must be between 6 and 12 months

For experimental development projects: 

• your total project costs must be between £250,000 and £2 million
• your project duration must be between 12 and 18 months

Funding rates

You will receive Innovate UK grant funding only if you also receive a minimum level of aligned investment, led or catalysed by your investor partner. The minimum level of investment depends on your project’s research category.

Feasibility studies and industrial research projects

For feasibility studies and industrial research projects, Innovate UK will fund:

• up to 70% of eligible project costs for micro or small organisations
• up to 60% for medium sized organisations

The aligned investment must always be at least equal to your grant funding request.

Experimental development projects

For experimental development projects Innovate UK will fund: 

• up to 45% of eligible project costs for micro or small organisations
• up to 35% for medium sized organisations 

The aligned investment must always be at least twice as much as your grant funding request.

Eligibility criteria

• For SME applicants only
• Subcontractors must be UK-based with fully justified and appropriate costs