Biomedical Catalyst 2016 – Early Stage Awards

The aim of this biomedical catalyst 2016 competition is to develop innovative healthcare technologies and processes that will help provide:

• 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

The aim of this competition is to test a well-developed concept and show its effectiveness in a relevant environment. It will do this through:

• experimental evaluation (lab-scale)
• initial demonstration using in vitro and in vivo models (not human clinical trials)
• exploring potential production mechanisms
• early-stage prototyping
• product development planning
• intellectual property protection

Exclusions

In this competition we won’t fund projects which:

• include human clinical trials
• we think are too early stage – for example, basic research, generation of pure scientific and technological knowledge, the development of research ideas, hypotheses and experimental designs without application
• we think are too close to market or are already at market – for example evaluations to inform labelling, approval of pharmaceutical/device by relevant authorities, laboratory accreditation, distribution or marketing activity, post-marketing studies and post-marketing surveillance.

Funding Costs

We have allocated up to £8 million to fund innovation projects in this competition.

You could get up to:

• 70% of your eligible project costs if you are a small or micro business
• 60% if you are a medium-sized business

Check if your business fits the EU definition of an SME:

We expect projects to last up to 2 years. Projects must start by 1 January 2017 and end by 1 January 2019. We expect them to range in size from total costs of £200,000 to £1.5 million, depending on the type of project.