Health Innovation Challenge Fund
Purpose
The Health Innovation Challenge Fund (HICF) is a parallel funding partnership between the Wellcome Trust and the Department of Health. The funders are collaborating to stimulate the creation of innovative healthcare products, technologies and interventions, and facilitate their development for the benefit of patients in the NHS and beyond. The HICF will have a succession of thematic calls for proposals, each selected to focus on unmet needs in healthcare relevant to the NHS, and will support innovative developments that are within three to five years of launch or adoption.
The Department of Health is uniquely placed, as both a healthcare system provider and a major R&D funder, to pioneer the evaluation of innovative products within the context of the patient treatment pathway at all levels of healthcare, including the community.
Priorities for the HICF are:
- encourage innovative products for patient benefit
- improve the uptake of new technological advances into patient management pathways
- integrate the clinical, research, informatics and product development communities.
Current call
THIS CALL IS NOW CLOSED.
The funders are collaborating to stimulate the creation of innovative healthcare products, technologies and interventions, and to facilitate their development for the benefit of patients in the NHS and beyond.
The fifth theme for HICF is Infection Response Systems: Development and application of technology for prevention, diagnosis, intervention and control of infection.
The challenge
Infectious diseases account for over a fifth of human deaths globally and a quarter of all morbidity. In the UK also, infection poses a constant threat to the health of the nation. Acute infections are responsible for a significant proportion of infection related mortality. Endemic and chronic infections severely affect people’s lives and present a continuing operational and financial burden on the NHS. Approximately 10% of all UK deaths and 4% of all hospital admissions are attributable to infectious diseases. Infection accounts for 35% of all GP consultations. Hospital-acquired infections cost the NHS about £1bn each year.
The Health Innovation Challenge Fund (HICF) is making available up to £15m for healthcare innovators who can offer solutions for improved detection, prediction, prevention and management of infectious disease threats and contribute to the health of the nation through better clinical management systems.
Aims and objectives
May 2010 saw the publication of two reports setting out strategic priorities for tackling infection:
1 ‘Strategy for Public Health Infection Research’ (National Institute of Health Research & Medical Research Council) -focused on public health infection
2 ‘Healthcare-associated infections and the patient pathway: detection and surveillance in the hospital setting‘ (Wellcome Trust, Department of Health, Health Protection Agency and Medical Research Council) - set out goals for new approaches to HCAIs
The UK has a strong research presence in the infection field and there exists an opportunity to harness rapid advances in diagnostic methods, genomics, information and communication technologies, to better understand, prevent and manage the public health burden caused by infectious disease.
Theme 5 of the HICF is seeking to address needs and priorities in both the National Health Service and Public Health sectors.The technologies that are developed through HICF support need to benefit patients through providing practitioners with the tools to detect infectious agents both on a routine basis and in an ‘emergency situation’.
The Wellcome Trust and the Department of Health are inviting bids to develop multidisciplinary 'infection response systems’ which take new technologies and apply them to healthcare systems to deliver innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to improved detection surveillance and intervention.
We are primarily interested in proposals that provide novel technologies for the detection, diagnosis, surveillance and containment of infectious agents in both hospital and non-hospital settings – applicable either to emerging or re-emerging threats, healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) or the control of day-to-day infections.
Proposals should aim to exploit the opportunities arising from existing scientific and technical knowledge such as molecular diagnostics, molecular epidemiology, medical microbiology, genomics, e-health and data linkage and integrate them for the development and implementation of new detection, prediction, prevention and intervention strategies.
Applicants must articulate how their solution will integrate with current infection management practices and offer a coherent, credible plan for its widespread adoption within the NHS (an ‘end-to-end’ approach). The project should illustrate a vision for an integrated national approach to infectious diseases that reflects the public health needs of the UK.
Applications utilising diagnostics, including point of care diagnostics, to identify microbial and host signatures of infection and to inform appropriate antibiotic usage and offer novel strategies for the rational use or prescription of anti-infective agents are welcomed.
Information and data management are critically important. There is a need for ‘smart’ centralised databases that ensure efficient data capture so as to develop more informative and effective surveillance systems. Comparisons of surveillance data should be achievable at a local, national, and potentially at an international level. Better integration of information infrastructures is necessary to determine the spread of infection, (including across species) and disease burden and to predict the changing environment and inform policy development
Proposals should preferably offer scalable solutions that better prepare the UK for infectious disease diagnostics and surveillance in the 21st century. Any technology developed should be capable of use at a local level and also scalable to population levels, if the need arises.
Key requirements for Theme 5
Given the complexity of the challenge, potential applicants are requested to review the following HICF priorities before submitting preliminary applications:
Proof of concept
The HICF provides translational funding. Consequently, preliminary applications must provide tangible evidence of proof of concept and validation of the approach that is proposed. Applications to develop new concepts but lacking proof of principle will not be accepted.
Scalability
Solutions must be scalable with good clinical epidemiology.If the proposal addresses pandemic or epidemic situations then the approach should be ‘top-down’ where the solution is scalable to a national level. Where the proposal concerns an outbreak situation then scalability to local level only is required.
Project deliverables
Applicants should articulate clearly:
- What they are seeking to achieve e.g. clinical management, drug-sparing etc
- Who is the ‘customer’?
- How will the ‘product’ be sold?
Some elements of a successful proposal may be:
- Tools, actions and information flow leading to a desired outcome.
- Improved handling of local outbreaks and measurability at a local level
- Learning of how local experiences may be scaled to address national issues and cogent arguments that support scalability to high levels
- Adoption of that which is fit for purpose (not ‘re-inventing the wheel’) and development of that which is not currently fit for purpose
- Faster diagnostics and a capability to feed learning back into the system
Multi-disciplinary approach
The collaboration between academia, clinicians and industry (SMEs and larger companies) is strongly encouraged. A multidisciplinary approach is particularly important given that any technology, system or process must have clinical utility, should integrate seamlessly with the relevant operational activities within the healthcare system and be readily embraced by health professionals.
A solution is likely to involve input from a wide range of experts in microbiology, molecular diagnostics, epidemiology, software, engineering, clinical, regulatory etc. Consequently, the major challenge may be the coordination of these disciplines to produce a final solution rather than the technical barriers involved.
Agreement to participate in the project must be sought from all named co-applicants and collaborators before submitting a Preliminary Application.
Health Economics
The HICF is seeking innovative solutions but the potential health economic benefits must be clear in the proposal.A health economic evaluation will form an essential part of any project plan.
Regulatory & Delivery Timescale
Applications will need to define a regulatory strategy for the project. Regulatory expertise is expected to be represented within the project team from the outset.
It should be realistic for the proposed solution to be in use within the healthcare system within the next 5 years assuming reasonable funds are available from the HICF and, where where appropriate, post award partnering.
For particularly complex projects, applicants should, as a minimum, expect to achieve CE marking, IDE and, as appropriate, MHRA, EMA, NICE or FDA submission within 5 years.
Wherever it is appropriate and feasible to do so, HICF support should enable the technology to have achieved first use in man.
Practical Adoption
Applicants should provide a clear case on why their ‘Infection Response System’ will overcome any issues relating to adoption by health professionals and their workplaces.It should make the direct link between the proposed solution, more cost-effective treatment and better patient outcomes.
Applicants must identify possible routes to clinical use or adoption and provide a plan for achieving the same. The adoption process will be affected by many interdependent factors such as the nature of the proposed technology/procedure/intervention, the stakeholders involved and whether there are opinion leaders willing to push for change and trial a particular technique. An ‘end-to-end’ approach is essential.
Out of scope
The HICF is NOT considering the following for Theme 5 proposals that focus primarily upon:
- Molecular epidemiology
- New stand-alone tools, devices or diagnostic technologies outside of the context of end-to-end solutions
- Late-stage programmes already developed to a point where funding from commercial or venture sources could readily be sought to complete the pathway to market
- Pure health service delivery within the NHS or elsewhere
- The broad adoption into practice by the NHS of health delivery research where the focus is on the mass and broad spectrum adoption, dissemination and uptake of products, technologies and interventions within the NHS
- Incremental improvements of currently unused or underused diagnostics tools
- Development of new anti-infective agents
Eligibility
Please note that the ‘Lead applicant’ for all HICF awards must be a UK organisation or company.
The following types of organisation (singly or in collaboration) will be eligible for funding:
- NHS organisations (including NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts), and equivalent UK authorities
- universities, and research institutes and not-for profit organisations
- start-up companies founded to capture and develop intellectual property of relevance to healthcare
- biotechnology, pharmaceutical, bioinformatics, engineering or other companies.
A collaboration between two or more of the entities detailed above is also eligible and encouraged where it strengthens the overall proposal.
Application process
How to apply
Applicants should submit a preliminary application (see the Forms and guidance tab on this page) including the following information:
- an outline of the work packages that are to be undertaken using Wellcome Trust/Department of Health funding including details of specific milestones, objectives and deliverables
- current validation of the concept, how it addresses a medical need, position on patient management pathway or disease algorithm
- downstream route to launch, market introduction and adoption
- sensitivity or risk analysis for the major hurdles
- an overview of intellectual property and regulatory approval issues
- eventual financial sustainability of the product line
- an approximate breakdown of costs
- justification for requesting Wellcome Trust/Department of Health funds - if the applicant is a company
- details of all information which an applicant considers commercially sensitive or confidential.
Assessment process
Assessment of preliminary applications will be through an expert committee including representatives from the Wellcome Trust and the Department of Health but that is independent of both and whose role is advisory only. Preliminary applications will be shortlisted and those applicants invited to submit a full application. Details on the full application process will be provided at that time.
As part of the review process, full applications will undergo external peer review for example by members of the Technology Transfer Advisory Group, and applicants will also be required to present their proposal to a Wellcome Trust/Department of Health Joint Funding Panel. During this review process the Wellcome Trust and the Department of Health will exchange information contained in the application and peer review.
Full economic costs (universities)
- Universities should calculate the full economic costs (fEC) of their bids.
- The Department of Health will fund Universities up to 100 per cent of fEC.
- The Wellcome Trust will fund the directly incurred costs and other allowable costs.
Other costs
- The intention of the funders is to provide project funding, not core support or working capital.
- The HICF does not provide funds to cover NHS support or NHS treatment costs.
Deadlines
Contacts
Dr Tim Knott
Business Development Manager
Technology Transfer
Wellcome Trust
Gibb Building
215 Euston Road
London NW1 2BE
T +44 (0)20 7611 7356
F +44 (0)20 7611 8857
E
t.knott@wellcome.ac.uk
Simon Bradshaw BSc MBA
Assistant Director
Health Innovation Challenge Fund
Central Commissioning Facility
Grange House
15 Church Street
Twickenham TW1 3NL
T +44 (0)20 8843 8090
F +44 (0)20 8843 8001
E
hicfundenquiries@hicfund.org.uk
Forms and guidance
- Theme 5 Scope Document [PDF 78KB]
- Application guidelines [PDF 144KB]
- Preliminary application form [Word 268KB]
- Grant Conditions [PDF 97KB]
- Funding agreement for not-for-profit organisations [PDF 844KB]
- Revenue equity sharing agreement [PDF 355KB]
- End of grant research report [Word 188KB]
- End of grant spend report [Excel 63KB]