CFPs: Invention for Innovation THRIVE Programme (UK)

THRIVE aims to accelerate the translation of healthcare innovations tackling health inequalities from bench to bed, speed up patient benefit and concurrently expand the entrepreneurial mindset of researchers and clinicians.

Through the programme the innovators will explore the market for their innovation and identify potential routes for commercialising (spin-out vs licensing) or sustaining their innovation (Intrapreneurship). The programme supports innovations that can reduce health inequalities and meet needs in underserved communities.

Funding Information

• THRIVE offers up to £150,000 over 9 months to support the development of the technology and a structured programme of entrepreneurial training, mentoring, peer support and networking.
• However, £20,000 of this must be ring fenced for training and travel and subsistence costs. The £20,000 will be used to travel to the in person events (mandatory attendance for lead applicant).

Eligible Activities

• Prototype development and manufacturing, including engineering, performance. testing, design verification and validation, user requirement assessment.
• Intellectual property strategy, including freedom to operate analysis.
• Development of a commercialisation strategy and market analysis, business case development.
• Small safety and efficacy studies including clinical validation/utility studies.
• Health economic model development or analyses.
• CE/UKCA marking, where applicable, and other regulatory requirements, including any associated preparation for a future clinical investigation application.
• Patient and public involvement and end user engagement.
• Activities associated with data analysis, management and governance.

Ineligible Activities

• Projects that involve work on animals or animal tissue.
• Minor or incremental changes to technologies or interventions in current clinical use.
• Projects involving small molecule drugs, stem cells or cosmetic products.
• Evaluation or clinical trials of fully developed products or interventions, which have already been adopted within an NHS organisation or have a history of NHS use.
• Professional training, including PhD fees and stipends, although costed time of the individual is allowed.
• Digital health technologies that fall under Tier A and Tier B of the NICE evidence standards framework for digital health technologies, including wellness and wellbeing apps, technologies intended only for hospital information, administration, infrastructure and other related software.

Eligibility Criteria

• The lead applicant must be a UK based academic or clinical entrepreneur with an innovation at prototype development level (Technology Readiness Level (TRL 3)) and above tackling health inequalities. The lead applicant could be an individual developing the innovation alone or have co-applicants from the team.
• The lead applicant must be employed by one of the eligible organisations listed below:
  • NHS and social care service providers, including Trusts, primary care and community care providers and tertiary care centres.
  • Higher Education Institutions (HEI), including universities and research institutes.
  • Not-for-profit organisations, including charities and Community Interest Companies.
• There is no requirement to have formed a collaboration prior to application. Specialist services or expertise may be brought into the team through consultancy or sub-contract arrangements with appropriate justification.
• They cover 100% of the eligible research costs within the budget limits with no requirement for matched funding. The lead applicant’s organisation will receive funding payments and will be required to distribute them to co-applicants/contractors where applicable.
• Applications from underserved communities and geographies as well as under-represented innovators are encouraged.

Assessment Criteria

• Provide an explanation of the benefits expected from the training and mentoring provided and detail any specific outcomes that are desirable from the training and mentoring.
• Provide evidence to support the case for further development based on work to date and/or evidence from the literature. Details of key data generated in previous studies that support the project should be clearly described. Any claims or assertions made about the technology, including in the plain English summary, must have references provided.
• Include an intellectual property (IP) and commercialisation strategy. All background and any potentially arising foreground IP must be described in the application. Market opportunities, both domestic and global, and the expected impact of the proposed technology, with a specific focus on health inequalities, must be described.
• The programme invites innovations at prototype development level (Technology Readiness Level (TRL 3)) and above which demonstrate potential to reduce health inequalities and meet needs in underserved communities.

For more information, visit NIHR.