SBRI: Medicines and dementia phase 1

The aim of this competition is to provide an opportunity for organisations working in partnership with NHS Scotland, to develop disruptive innovative solutions. These solutions will focus on medicines and developing innovative new tools for use in clinical practice supporting people at risk of dementia to manage their medications.

Your project must work with local, regional and national NHS Boards, Social Care Services Regional Test Beds and Primary Care groups where appropriate.

You must aim to provide solutions which are readily tested, evaluated and reported in order to affect wider national strategies and NHS adoption.

This is phase 1 of a potential 2 phase competition. The decision to proceed with phase 2 will depend on the outcomes from phase 1 and assessment of a separate application into a subsequent phase 2 competition.

Only the successful applicants from phase 1 will be invited to apply to take part in phase 2.

This competition closes at 11am UK time on the date of the deadline.

Eligibility

Projects must:

• aim to start by 1 October 2023
• end 4 months after the agreed start date
• work with one of the three NHS Scotland Regional Test Beds to deliver R&D services
• provide details of certification and compliance with relevant standards, accreditation and regulatory approval for well-developed prototypes

As part of your application, you must engage with an NHS Scotland Regional Test Bed to determine the extent of their resource required to support your proposed solution. This should be considered for both Phase 1 and a potential Phase 2.

Further information on Regional Test Beds can be found at Scotland Innovates. There will be further opportunity to engage directly with the Test Beds at the challenge briefing event.

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 any other organisations as subcontractors

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.

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.

Funding

• SHIP is investing up to £240,000, inclusive of VAT, across both phases of the competition.
• A total of up to £80,000, inclusive of VAT, is allocated to this phase 1 competition.
• Phase 1 feasibility study R&D contracts will be up to £20,000, inclusive of VAT, for each project for up to 4 months. We expect to fund up to 4 projects.
• Phase 2 involves up to 2 contracts being awarded to organisations chosen from the successful phase 1 applicants. Up to £80,000 inclusive of VAT will be allocated for each contract, to develop a prototype and undertake field testing for up to 12 months.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to provide an opportunity for organisations working in partnership with NHS Scotland, to develop disruptive innovative solutions. These solutions will focus on medicines and developing innovative new tools for use in clinical practice supporting people at risk of dementia to manage their medications.

Your project must focus on mid-life management for people aged 40 to 55, with risk-factors or early signs of dementia.

Your must have a ready, or nearly developed, prototype product which is ready to be deployed in a real world situation. Your project will be expected to undertake the necessary evaluations for demonstrating the technical feasibility of your product in real world situations.

For projects already at an advanced prototype stage, evidence of certification of the appropriate EN and ISO standard and regulatory approval or plans to achieve this must be provided.

You must define your goals in your application and outline your plan for phase 2. This is part of the full commercial implementation in your phase 1 application.

You must demonstrate a credible and practical route to market. Your application must include a plan to commercialise your results and include plans to achieve regulatory compliance where required.

Specific themes

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

• identification of people utilising clinical risk factors for example cardiovascular risk factors, family history, diabetes or hypertension
• adherence to medicines for conditions identified as being linked to development of dementia such as delirium, confusion and other risk factors that may be highlighted by the applicants which will require supporting evidence

Research categories

Phase 1: technical feasibility studies

This means planned research or critical investigation to gain new knowledge and skills for developing new products, processes or services.

In phase 1 the project will work closely with the Test Beds to demonstrate the technical feasibility of your proposed innovation. You must formalise any required ethical approvals, data sharing agreements and contracts.

Potential phase 2: prototype development and evaluation

This 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. The outcome of a potential phase 2 will be a demonstration of the prototype in a representative environment.

Key Dates

27 February 2023 – Competition opens
10 March 2023 – Online briefing event: register to attend
24 May 2023  – Competition closes at 11:00am
14 July 2023 – Applicants notified
28 July 2023 – Feedback
25 August 2023 – Phase 1 contracts awarded