Competition 27: Work-related Digital Innovations for Individuals with Poor Mental Health

The SBRI Healthcare funding competition invites outstanding entrepreneurs working across frontline services and the broader system to put forward breakthrough innovations which address a clearly articulated challenge faced by the NHS and/or the social care community. The aim of the open tender is to facilitate the development and validation of such innovations and build on the value proposition required by commissioners and regulators for NHS adoption and wider commercialization.

Proposals should concentrate on activities which will significantly contribute to proving the technical and commercial feasibility and/or enhance the evidence generation in real world settings of the proposed innovation.

Examples of mental health problems include depression, bipolar disorder, psychosis, anxiety disorders. The ambition is to find innovative digital solutions that address specific work-related challenges faced by individuals with poor mental health (presenting with any mental health condition), which have the potential to be provided by the NHS, social care or through employers. The end-users of these digital solutions could be the individuals with mental health problems or employers (for example line managers) supporting them to work with individuals to help them remain in or return to work.

Categories

• Sub-challenge 1 – Digital interventions targeting work-related risk factors facing the working age population (aged 16-64) with mental health problems in employment, that provide rapid support to individuals to help them remain in work:
  • It is particularly important to think about how to engage with young people, adults and older adults that are at risk of leaving work due to mental health conditions. Work-related risk factors for those with mental health problems include (but are not limited to) anxiety associated with the workplace environment or conditions, social interactions (including isolation and exclusion), their skills and competencies.
  • Potential solutions and strategies include (but are not limited to):
    • Accessible and transformative digital interventions for the working age population in employment with a mental health condition, with a strong focus on addressing work-related stressors/ anxieties
    • Accessible and transformative digital interventions for the working age population in employment with a mental health condition, with a strong focus on enhancing protective factors (e.g. development of skills, capabilities, knowledge, confidence, and resilience in addressing work-related issues through support self-management)
    • Tailored support for employers (e.g. organisations and managers) addressing work related-risk factors of the working age population with mental health conditions, to ensure their employees can access support equally and in a timely manner.
• Sub-challenge 2 – Digital interventions that specifically tackle barriers to work facing unemployed working age individuals (aged 16-64) with mental health problems, to support individuals to return to work or gain employment:
  • They are keen to hear from innovators that have developed new and better ways to tackle barriers to work facing individuals with poor mental health that are unemployed, to support them gain or return to employment and reach their potential within the workplace.
• Sub-challenge 3 – Digital interventions targeting workplace issues/barriers facing the working age population (aged 16-64) from disadvantaged communities with mental health problems, to support individuals attain, remain or return to work:
  • The worsening work-related mental health outcomes of individuals from ethnic minority background, low-income backgrounds or areas of social deprivation, and the avoidable and unfair systematic differences in health outcomes between these different groups, make it a priority for NHS England to explore ways in which technology targeted at addressing the challenges facing these communities could support a more equitable access to care and reduce health inequalities at both national and system level.

Funding Information

• Applicants can apply for up to £200,000 (NET, excluding VAT) per innovation for up to 12 months.

Eligibility Criteria

• The competition is open to innovations at any stage of development from testing the technical and commercial feasibility to generating evidence in real world settings.
• The competition is open to single organisations (contracts are executed with individual legal entities) based in the UK or EU from the private, public, and third sectors, including companies (large corporates and small and medium enterprises), charities, universities and NHS providers, as long as a strong commercial strategy is provided. Organisations based outside the UK or EU with innovations in remit for this call can apply as subcontractors of a lead UK/EU based organisation or via a UK or EU subsidiary.
• Collaborations are encouraged in the form of subcontracted services as appropriate.

For more information, visit SBRI.