SBRI: Overdose detection, response and intervention demonstration

Overview

These are Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competitions funded by the Office for Life Sciences (OLS) and the Scottish Health Industry Partnership (SHIP).

These competitions form part of the UK Addiction Healthcare Mission, UK Life Sciences Vision and Scottish Government National Mission to reduce drug related deaths and harm.

OLS and SHIP are investing up to £5 million including VAT, across the two competitions. Their purpose is to develop disruptive, innovative solutions that focus on detecting, responding to, and intervening in, early acute risk of non-fatal and fatal overdose.

Competition 1 – SBRI: Overdose detection, response and intervention feasibility

This competition is for feasibility studies for projects which have not yet reached prototype development.

This is phase 1 of a potential 2 phase competition. The decision to proceed to phase 2 will depend on success in phase 1 and the assessment of a separate application.

Competition 2 – SBRI: Overdose detection, response and intervention demonstration (this competition)

This competition is for projects with technology already at an advanced stage of development, and near ready to be deployed in a real-world environment.

This is a single-phase competition.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to speed up and improve the detection of, response to and intervention in potentially fatal overdoses using innovative digital technologies and therapeutic solutions.

Projects can focus on one or more of the following priorities:

discrete digital technology solutions with intuitive and simple design, focussed on service users and responders
simple alert or responder pathways that create effective responses to potentially fatal overdose events
enhance the ability to self-monitor by people who use drugs
improved equity of access, detection and response in this vulnerable population through connected and safe digitalised platforms
enhanced simple live intelligent data gathering processes, surveillance and remote monitoring
enhance innovative intervention therapeutics as antidotes to overdose episodes

This list is not intended to be exhaustive.

The potential innovative mechanisms and technologies you can use, include but are not limited to:

wearable devices or patches
remote monitoring
GPS receivers
smartphone apps
decentralised application environments
AI and machine learning
virtual reality and augmented reality
gamification
data analytics
therapeutics

You must:

have ready, or nearly developed, a prototype product
provide details of certification and compliance with relevant standards, accreditation and regulatory approval for well-developed prototypes
detail how you will work with a test bed research partner to develop your solution and work towards product approval across UK health systems
undertake field testing to gather clinical data with an appropriate patient population
set out a plan to work towards necessary approval in the all the UK health systems
demonstrate a credible and practical route to market, so your application must include a plan to commercialise your results including plans to achieve regulatory compliance where required

SBRI encourage proposals that bring together sector specialists and include a co-design and co-production element with the expertise of people:

with lived experience
who use drugs and their families

SBRI will give preference to proposals that demonstrate how innovative solutions can be formally accepted for use across the 4 UK health systems. For example, through obtaining necessary regulatory compliance and approvals.

Your project can focus on one or more of the following themes:

detection of potential overdose episodes
alert or response to potential overdose episodes
intervention therapeutics as antidotes to overdose episodes

Prototype development and evaluation

Your project can include prototyping, demonstrating, piloting, testing and validation of new or improved products, processes or services in environments representative of real-life operating conditions.

The primary objective is to make further technical improvements on products, processes or services that are not substantially set and provide a demonstration of the prototype in a representative environment.

Eligibility

Projects must:

aim to start by 1 August 2023
end 12 months after the agreed start date
work in conjunction with a test bed research partner by delivering R&D services to develop a solution
acquire evidence which will support future product approval and use of innovations across the UK health systems (Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England)

As part of your application, you must engage with a suitable research and innovation partner to serve as a ‘test bed’. The test bed research partner is required to develop your proposed solution, gain relevant clinical and non-clinical advice and to determine the extent of required work within the test bed.

Suitable test bed research partners could include the NHS Scotland Regional Test Beds, or equivalents located in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, for example:

National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR infrastructure)
Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs)
Life Sciences Hub Wales
Drug and Alcohol Research Network (DARN)

You can also propose any other suitable UK based alternative.

Applicant

To lead a project, you can:

be an organisation of any size, registered in the UK, European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA)
work alone or with others from business, research organisations, research and technology organisations or the third sector as subcontractors

Contracts will be awarded to a single legal entity only. However, if you can justify subcontracting components of the work, you can engage specialists or advisers. This work will still be the responsibility of the main contractor.

Organisations are advised to only lead on one application per technology identifying a suitable research partner.

Organisations are asked to confirm if they would be willing to work with other research partners.

This competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian or Belarusian entity as lead or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian or Belarusian source.

Exclusions

Innovate UK will not fund projects that:

do not demonstrate significant support and engagement from potential future customers throughout the project
do not provide a clear route to market
do not address how any potentially negative outcomes, such as on the environment or society, would be managed
do not evidence the potential for their proposed innovation to generate positive economic or societal impact
would directly duplicate other UK government, Scottish government, NHS or EU funded initiatives you have already been funded to deliver
are covered by existing commercial agreements to deliver the proposed solutions
do not have the relevant certification and compliance accreditations if the project is already a well-developed prototype
do not feature a demonstration phase, offering users a chance to use the innovation and give feedback
do not include an evaluation phase and a plan to collect information to inform a cost or benefit analysis
do not have a test bed research partner to work with
do not demonstrate a credible plan for acquiring data which would support product approval in all 4 UK healthcare systems

Funding Costs

A total of up to £5 million, inclusive of VAT, is allocated across the two competitions.

The total funding available for the competition can change.

The funders have the right to:

adjust the provisional funding allocations between the competitions
apply a ‘portfolio’ approach, in order to fund a variety of projects across different technologies, themes, markets, regions, nations and technological maturities.
contracts will be given to successful applicants based upon total consensus score and capacity within the Test Beds to carry out the projects

For this Overdose detection, response and intervention – demonstration competition, R&D contracts will be up to £500,000 inclusive of VAT, to develop a prototype and undertake field testing for up to 12 months.

The contract is completed at the end of the funded project and the successful organisation is expected to pursue commercialisation of their solution.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

You must select whether you are VAT registered before entering your project costs.

VAT is the responsibility of the invoicing business. We will not provide any further advice and suggest you seek independent advice from HMRC.

VAT registered

If you select you are VAT registered, you must enter your project costs exclusive of VAT. As part of the application process VAT will be automatically calculated and added to your project cost total. Your total project costs must not exceed £500,000.

Not VAT registered

If you select you are not VAT registered, you must enter your project costs exclusive of VAT and no VAT will be added. You will not be able to increase total project costs to cover VAT later should you become VAT registered. Your total project costs must not exceed £500,000.

Research and development

Your application must have at least 50% of the contract value attributed directly and exclusively to R&D services, including solution exploration and design. R&D can also include prototyping and field-testing the product or service. This lets you incorporate the results of your exploration and design and demonstrate that you can produce in quantity to acceptable quality standards.

R&D does not include:

commercial development activities such as quantity production
supply to establish commercial viability or to recover R&D costs
integration, customisation or incremental adaptations and improvements to existing products or processes

SBRI competitions involve procurement of R&D services at a fair market value and are not subject to subsidy control criteria that typically apply to grant funding.

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