Deadline: 15-Mar-23
Organisations can apply for a share of £1 million, inclusive of VAT, to develop innovative solutions that increase access for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and the self-employed (SE) to Occupational Health Services (OHS).
The aim of this competition is to increase access for micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and the self-employed to occupational health services. These groups are underserved by the current OHS provision and this competitions support will allow OHS providers to better utilise the capacity they have to serve this new demand.
Expert support such as occupational health services can be a critical component in helping supporting individuals remain in and return to work. It helps in reducing unnecessary sickness absence, supporting employers to retain valuable staff, increasing productivity, and enabling individuals to live better for longer.
Specific Themes
Your project can focus on one or more of the following:
- improving the take up of occupational health services by the self-employed, micro businesses and SMEs through new ways of delivering occupational health
- the utilisation of new technologies
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 supplier will work closely with the stakeholders to develop a solution.
- Phase 2: prototype development and evaluation
- The outline plan for the potential phase 2 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 improvements on products, processes or services.
Funding Information
- A total of up to £1 million, inclusive of VAT, is allocated to phase 1 of this competition.
- Phase 1 feasibility study R&D contracts will be up to £100,000, inclusive of VAT, for each project for up to 8 months.
- The potential Phase 2 will be invitation only to selected successful applicants from Phase 1. Up to £1 million, inclusive of VAT is planned to be allocated for Phase 2. Phase 2 projects can have costs up to £250,000 inclusive of VAT and last up to 12 months.
Eligibility Criteria
- Projects must:
- start on 1 June 2023
- end by 31 January 2024
- last up to 8 months
- To lead a project, you can:
- be an organisation of any size
- work alone or with others from business, research organisations, research and technology organisations or the third sector as subcontractors
Ineligible
They will not fund projects that:
- do not demonstrate significant support and engagement from the occupational health sector
- do not demonstrate sufficient support and engagement from the self-employed or groups representing them
- do not demonstrate sufficient support and engagement from micro and SME employers or groups representing them
- do not comply with the eligibility requirements
- would directly duplicate other UK government or EU funded initiatives you have already been funded to deliver
- are covered by existing commercial agreements to deliver the proposed solutions
- include clinical trials, clinical studies, or fundamental research
- require regulatory approval
- involve the development of early-stage technologies
- do not have relevance across the OH sector including SME providers
- do not evidence the potential for their proposed innovation to generate positive economic or societal impact
- are at late stage design development progressing an existing product or service towards final version
For more information, visit SBRI.