Unveiling Funding Opportunities for Health Tech Startups with Innovative Solutions or Business Models

Scope

Proposals should address at least four of the following activities:

• To enable a fast development of new advanced novel injectable biomaterials, digital tools such as modelling, simulation and characterisation techniques (including those provided by analytical infrastructures) assisted by advanced methods e.g. physics-based methods, machine learning or artificial intelligence.
• The innovation market of medical applications is fast growing and dependent on advanced biocompatible materials that can be printed or injected. The 4D materials will change their 3D structures after external impact such as thermic, electric, mechanical or radiation treatment.
• Proposals shall demonstrate new engineering strategies that present functional characteristics beyond bio-compatibility, and express properties that can be used to control the physiological environment (shape-memory, self-healing properties) and induce a response.
• Proposals shall address biomaterials with antibacterial properties contributing to the widespread bottleneck of antimicrobial resistance often encountered in clinical care.
• Demonstrate the scaling of injectable hydrogels, including those made of nanocomposite, natural and synthetic polymer-based biomaterials, bone cements, bio-ceramics and electronics.
• The design for circularity has to develop, when relevant, bio-degradable or bio-absorbable biomaterials that are gradually eliminated by the body after fulfilling a purpose.

Funding Information

The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:

• public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
• cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (lowvalue grant).

Expected Outcome

• This topic refers to the innovation market for Healthcare and Medicine, which affects many citizens and their needs. Several materials specifications and related innovations needs will support this topic such as renewable and recyclable materials, alternative active ingredients, design for circularity, lightweight materials. The topic should address several key policies of the European Union such as Circular Economy Action Plan, EU Chemicals strategy.
• Projects are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:
  • Develop the swiftly growing innovation market of medical applications, which is dependent on advanced biocompatible materials that can be printed or injected, including 4D materials that change their 3D structures following external impact (e.g. thermic, electric, mechanical or radiation treatment).
  • Medical and/or surgical procedures will benefit from injectable materials for non-invasive surgical procedures.
  • Some of their advantages include easy deliverability into the body, increased implantation precision, controllable release of therapeutic agents, antimicrobial properties and the possibility of monitoring or stimulating biological events.
  • Medical suppliers can commercialise injectable hydrogels, including those made of nanocomposite, natural and synthetic polymer-based biomaterials, bone cements, bio-ceramics and electronics.

Eligibility Criteria

• Entities eligible to participate
  • Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from nonassociated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.
  • A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
  • Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Participant Register before submitting their application, in order to get a participant identification code (PIC) and be validated by the Central Validation Service before signing the grant agreement. For the validation, they will be asked to upload the necessary documents showing their legal status and origin during the grant preparation stage. A validated PIC is not a prerequisite for submitting an application.
• Entities eligible for funding
  • To become a beneficiary, legal entities must be eligible for funding.
  • To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
    • the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
    • the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States: Aruba (NL), Bonaire (NL), Curação (NL), French Polynesia (FR), French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FR), Greenland (DK), New Caledonia (FR), Saba (NL), Saint Barthélemy (FR), Sint Eustatius (NL), Sint Maarten (NL), St. Pierre and Miquelon (FR), Wallis and Futuna Islands (FR).
    • countries associated to Horizon Europe; Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine.
• Specific cases:
  • Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities are eligible for funding if they are established in one of the countries listed above, or in a country identified in the specific call conditions.
  • Associated partners — Entities not eligible for funding (and therefore not able to participate as beneficiaries) may participate as associated partners, unless specified otherwise in the specific call conditions.
  • Coordination and Support Actions – To be eligible to participate as beneficiaries (or affiliated entities) in ‘Coordination and support’ actions, legal entities must be established in a Member State or Associated Country, unless the specific call conditions provide otherwise. Legal entities established in a non-associated third country may, however, participate in ‘Coordination and support’ actions as associated partners, unless this is explicitly excluded by the specific call conditions.
  • EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law may also be eligible to receive funding, unless their basic act states otherwise.
  • International organisations — International European research organisations are eligible to receive funding.

For more information, visit European Commission.

Founded by the Novartis Foundation and supported by the Global Fund and the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, HTHA aims to address these challenges by actively integrating innovations into public health systems through collaboration with key government stakeholders. Together with its managing partners, the accelerator aims to offer entrepreneurs a powerful platform to create sustainable businesses and meaningful health impact.

Thematic Areas

• Cardiovascular health – Reducing cardiovascular disease deaths on the population level through improved screening, referral, diagnosis, and management.
• Breast cancer – Reducing breast cancer deaths on the population level through improved screening, referral, diagnosis, and management.
• Virtual health and care – Improving quality, access to equitable care, and digital literacy through remote delivery of preventative and curative health and care services.
• Optimization of data-driven decision-making – Improving health system capabilities and epidemic preparedness through stronger integrated health information.

What you get?

Participation in 10-Month Accelerator Program, which includes:

• For the Growth Startups:
  • Mentorship with strong expertise in population health and technology.
  • Coaching and access to an interactive platform for growth level support allowing for structuring and refinement of existing and new business models and preparing executive summaries.
  • Expert masterclasses.
  • Pitch practice sessions.
  • Community support.
  • Startup solution demos and opportunities to pitch during the two annual HealthTech summits in Kigali, Rwanda.
  • Invitation to networking meetups and hybrid events across Africa and beyond.
• For the Scale ups:
  • Access to all the above benefits offered to growth startups.
  • Free access to world-class legal services, accounting, marketing, talent acquisition, and accelerated fundraising.
  • Media training and exposure.
• Membership in The HealthTech Public-Private Partners Network, Which Includes:
  • Free expert-level support from established local and global organizations in the form of advisory, facilitation, match-making with prospective partners, consulting, and more
  • Perks in the form of free and/or highly discounted infrastructure credits, software licenses and technical and design services
  • Access to the hub’s investor circle
  • Access to various opportunities shared by the network
• Funding Opportunities for Innovation Acceleration in Public Health
  • Through the digital platform of the hub, all selected startups will be able to apply for grant funding and in-kind benefits exceeding USD 1M.
  • The funding will serve the startups to test, refine, validate, integrate and, accelerate and/or scale their solutions inside the public health systems to drive forward health equity in the continent.
  • Following the projects’ completion, the solutions successfully integrated into the respective national health systems will be spotlighted and will have the opportunity to seek further support in the future.
• Full-Year Access to A State-Of-Art Co-Working Space
  • The membership comes with 12 months of serviced office space, meeting and conference spaces, and an invitation to startup community events hosted by the Norrsken East Africa House in Kigali.
• Lifetime Access to The Hub’s Alumni Network and Open-Source Resources
  • All startups and scale-ups who have completed the program will receive a Participation Certificate and a lifetime Alumni membership to the HealthTech Hub Africa’s resources and future opportunities.

Who should apply?

• For the 2024 Cohort, they are looking for Growth Startups and Scale ups from the whole African continent with innovative business models allowing for collaboration with local and national governments, and aiming to support health systems in their digital transformation journeys.
• For each of the two tracks the key criteria of evaluation for the applicants are based on their ability to demonstrate the innovation potential to successfully address challenges in one or more of the four thematic areas of focus for the hub, their product excellence, team, fit-to-market, sustainability and scalability model in relation to working with the public system.

Eligibility Criteria

The HTHA Challenge is open to all HealthTech startups with the following mandatory conditions:

• For growth startups:
  • African Registration: Startups must be registered in an African country.
  • Team Composition: A co-founding team with at least two members, including one African founder.
  • Thematic Alignment: The startup’s product or service should align with one or more of HealthTech Hub Africa’s four thematic areas: cardiovascular health, breast cancer, virtual health and care, and Optimisation of data-driven decision making.
  • Revenue Stage: Startups can be either pre-revenue or post-revenue.
  • Funding Stage: Pre-SEED to SEED stage startups are eligible.
  • Operational Duration: Startups should have been in operation for a minimum of one year.
• For scale ups:
  • African Registration: The startup must be registered in an African country.
  • Team Composition: A co-founding team with at least two members, including one African founder.
  • Thematic Alignment: The product or service should align with one or more of HealthTech Hub Africa’s four thematic areas, which include cardiovascular health, breast cancer, virtual health and care, and data for decision making.
  • Evidence-Based Solution: The startup’s product or service should be evidence-based and demonstrate positive health benefits.
  • Impact Monitoring: A rigorous approach to monitoring the solution’s impact on individuals is essential.
  • Revenue Stage: Startup’s must be post-revenue.
  • Funding Stage: Pre-Series A or Series A.

For more information, visit Novartis Foundation.

The program’s purpose is to integrate preventive oral health care into primary care services accessible to MCH populations living in communities underserved by oral health care.

The MCH-IOHI Program consists of two types of projects. This announcement includes application instructions for the two separate project competitions. You may only apply for HRSA-24-039 or HRSA-24-040, but not both awards.

HRSA-24-039: MCH-IOHI Demonstration Projects (MCH-IOHI Projects)

• MCH-IOHI Projects will aim to improve access to integrated preventive oral health care (integrated POHC) in primary care services accessible to MCH populations at increased or higher risk for poor oral health. Funding will support an MCH-IOHI Alliance (Alliance), to include key state stakeholders such as policy, practice, and public health leaders; healthcare providers; healthcare payers; and public health surveillance experts. The Alliance will implement a two-tier, state and local, improvement approach that’ll address three core functions: 1) Policy and Practice; 2) Education and Outreach; and 3) Data, Analysis and Evaluation.

HRSA-24-040: MCH-IOHI Consortium (Consortium)

• The Consortium will bridge the gap between evidence and practice. As the principal technical assistance (TA) provider, the Consortium will accelerate the adoption and implementation of evidence-based integrated POHC strategies that aim to advance health equity. The Consortium will provide targeted TA, using implementation science and collaborative learning, to strengthen an MCH-IOHI Project team’s two-tier, state and local, improvement approach.

Objectives

The Program Objectives, to accomplish during the period of performance, include:

• HRSA-24-039: MCH-IOHI Demonstration Projects
  • By June 2028, 85% of the MCH-IOHI Project teams will report enhanced policy and/or scope of practice aimed to increase access and use of integrated preventive oral health care.
  • By June 2028, MCH-IOHI Project teams will report increased oral health awareness among 85% of the health organizations across the state targeted for organizational oral health literacy training and outreach.
  • By June 2028, 85% of the MCH-IOHI Project teams will implement state-level oral health surveillance enhancements aimed to improve trend analysis.
• HRSA-24-040: MCH-IOHI National Consortium
  • By June 2028, 85% of the MCH-IOHI Project teams will perceive that the right amount of time, expertise, and resources are invested in their collaboration efforts aimed to sustain successful aspects of the project.
  • By June 2028, 85% of the Consortium recipients of universal TA will have applied their new oral health knowledge and/or skill.
  • Annually update/develop and disseminate at least eight evidence-based or informed resources that respond to resource needs among MCH-IOHI Project teams and other individuals or organizations serving the oral health needs of MCH populations.

MCHB is implementing a strategic plan that includes the following four goals:

• Goal 1: Assure access to high quality and equitable health services to optimize health and well-being for all MCH populations
• Goal 2: Achieve health equity for MCH populations
• Goal 3: Strengthen public health capacity and workforce for MCH
• Goal 4: Maximize impact through leadership, partnership, and stewardship

Funding Information

• HRSA-24-039, MCH-IOHI Projects
  • They estimate $2,975,000 will be available each year to fund up to 7 recipients in 7 different states for the MCH-IOHI Projects. You may apply for a ceiling amount of up to $425,000 annually (reflecting direct and indirect costs).
• HRSA-24-040, the Consortium
  • They estimate $1,475,000 will be available each year to fund 1 recipient. You may apply for a ceiling amount of up to $1,475,000 annually (reflecting direct and indirect costs).
  • The period of performance for the MCH-IOHI Program (HRSA-24-039 and HRSA-24- 040) is July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2028 (4 years).

Eligible Applicants

You can apply if your organization is in the United States and is:

• Public or private
• Community-based
• Tribal (governments, organizations)

For more information, visit Grants.gov.

This is a Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition delivered by Innovate UK part of UKRI, supported by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Biotechnology Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC).

This competition aims to accelerate the effective development of innovative solutions, technologies or practices that enhance plant health and biosecurity activities. With a focus on regulated pests, diseases and of future operational deployment.

Your project can deliver innovation focused research activities to progress solutions towards one or more of the challenges identified. This can include establishing the feasibility of an idea, to demonstrating principle or developing a prototype.

Your project must demonstrate:

• the development and operational feasibility of innovative technologies or practices
• how you have taken the needs of intended users into consideration in your product or service development
• a credible and practical route to use in an operational environment and commercialisation
• knowledge transfer and exchange between the solution providers and solution users

Challenge Areas

Your project must focus on one or more of the following challenges and be applicable to regulated plant pests and diseases:

• developing innovative technologies and practices to enhance border inspections of traded plants for planting and plant commodities, including wood and wood products, improving sampling accuracy, detection rates of regulated pests, time and resource efficiency of inspectors
• enhancing in-land inspections of plants in nurseries, recently planted sites or the wider environment, through the application of innovative technologies and practices to enable pest and pathogen detection in the field, reducing the risk of outbreaks
• utilising passive and scanning surveillance approaches to provide timely and cost-effective methods for detecting pests and diseases in different landscape settings
• managing the supply of potentially infected or infested plants and plant commodities pre and post border, presenting alternative treatments to destruction following detection of a quarantine organism, reducing financial losses whilst maintaining biosecurity

Project Size

• Your project’s total costs must be between £20,000 and £150,000, inclusive of VAT.

Projects they will not fund

They will not fund projects that:

• are not original or in scope
• do not demonstrate significant support and engagement from potential users, setting out a clear route use in an operational environment and commercialisation throughout the project
• duplicates previous or someone else’s work
• focus purely on training, minor training elements can be included
• 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
• are covered by existing commercial agreements to deliver the proposed solutions

Who can apply?

• Your project
  • Your project must:
    • start between 1 April 2024 and 1 October 2024
    • end by 31 March 2025
    • last between 3 and 12 months
    • intend to exploit results from and within the United Kingdom
• Lead organisation
  • To lead a project, you can be an organisation of any size including:
    • a registered business, charity, or Non-Governmental Organisation
    • a research organisation eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding
  • To lead a project, you can work alone or with subcontracted or non-funded organisations as collaborators, such as solution developers and real-world solution users.
  • Contracts will be awarded to a single legal entity only, with any required subcontracting or arrangements between non funded partners, the Lead organisation and collaborators are to be arranged independently. The project and delivery against the project milestones will remain the responsibility of the Lead organisation.
  • 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.

For more information, visit Innovate UK.

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is to invest up to £2 million in innovation projects.

The aim of this competition is to support outstanding innovation projects led by businesses. Your business must be active or growing work activities in the life and health sciences innovation cluster in Northern Ireland.

In support of the Government’s Levelling Up goals, they also reserve the right to prioritise projects that:

• are shorter in duration
• significantly advance innovation in life and health sciences
• are led by businesses already based in the innovation cluster
• have greater levels of activity outside the Greater South East

Specific Themes

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

• Diagnostics, therapeutics and biomarkers
  • multi-omics
  • medical imaging
  • liquid biopsy
  • biomarker or genetic testing
  • diagnostic or therapeutic development
• Data, digital and medical devices
  • point-of-care testing
  • wearable or ambient sensors
  • clinical trials decision support
  • augmented reality
  • digital health
• Innovations in healthcare service delivery
  • health service productivity
  • integrated care platforms
  • remote rehabilitation
• Your project can also consider the following enabling areas:
  • artificial intelligence, machine learning, quantum
  • advanced therapies, novel formulation or delivery
  • regulation or ethics
  • supporting innovation in skills development

Project Size

• Your project’s grant funding request must be between £25,000 and £100,000.

Projects they will not fund

• They are not funding projects that:
  • do not contribute to innovation activity in the life and health sciences cluster in Northern Ireland
  • are within scope of the Cluster management strand of this Launchpad competition
  • request grant funding of less than £25,000 or more than £100,000
• They cannot fund projects that:
  • involve primary production in fishery and aquaculture
  • involve primary production in agriculture
  • have activities relating to the purchase of road freight transport
  • are not allowed under De minimis regulation restrictions
  • are not eligible to receive Minimal Financial Assistance
  • are dependent on export performance, for example giving an award to a baker on the condition that they export a certain quantity of bread to another country
  • are dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example if they give an award to a baker on the condition that they use 50% UK flour in their product

Who can apply?

• Your project
  • Your project must:
    • last between 6 and 12 months
    • intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
    • start at the earliest on 1 April 2024
    • end by 30 April 2025
  • Projects must always start on the first of the month and this must be stated within your application. Your project start date will be reflected in your grant offer letter if you are successful.
• Lead organisation
  • To lead a project your organisation must:
    • be a UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
    • be active or growing your work activities in the life and health sciences innovation cluster in Northern Ireland
    • have a demonstrable ambition for business growth
• Subcontractors
  • Subcontractors are allowed in this competition. Their contribution must add to the innovation led growth of the cluster.
  • Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.
  • They expect all subcontractor costs to be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs.
• Number of applications
  • A business can lead on only one MFA strand application for this competition.
  • If you apply to the CR&D strand of this competition, as well as this MFA strand, each project must be clearly distinctive and separate. They will monitor closely for this separation if you are awarded funding in both competition strands.

For more information, visit Innovate UK.

Preference will be given to those solutions that are at an advanced development stage or close to market pilot/entry. However, novel early-stage solutions that have been clearly substantiated may also be considered. University teams are also encouraged to apply. Applicants must clearly articulate how the proposed solution will scale and achieve sustainability.

Two grant awards are available. The grant is geared towards enterprises that intend meeting one or more of the following milestones:

• Demonstrate the feasibility of their solution in a real-world context
• Conduct market validation or pilot their solution
• Building a conceptual model, collect and develop a data-driven solution
• Conduct market research or feasibility studies to demonstrate the socio-economic potential of their solutions.

Problem Statements

Digital health and data-driven solutions that address the key problems listed below are being sought:

• High Loss to Follow-up Rate for HIV and TB Patients: There is a significant initial linkage and loss to follow-up rate among patients diagnosed with HIV and TB.  This issue is exacerbated by patients not receiving their test results promptly, which hampers the initiation of treatment.  Additionally, a substantial portion of loss to follow-up cases is attributed to hospital-diagnosed patients who are referred to PHCs for receiving their treatment and are then lost to follow-up.  Innovative solutions are needed to link patients to treatment and ensure their retention in care.
• Undiagnosed TB Cases and Transmission Risk: Many TB patients are unaware of their condition, leading to unintentional transmission.  Key challenges include patients avoiding testing and not receiving their test results promptly, delaying treatment initiation.  Addressing this issue requires innovative approaches to increase TB awareness, testing, and early diagnosis, and improved patient agency.
• Loss to Follow-up Among PLHIV in the First Six Months of Treatment: Patients living with HIV (PLHIV) often experience a high rate of loss to follow-up during the first six months of treatment.  The lack of data integration between different healthcare systems and facilities makes patient monitoring challenging.  Innovative solutions are needed to enhance patient tracking and ensure continuity of care for PLHIV.
• Supporting TB and HIV integration: More than 50% PWTB are also PLHIV. A need exists to improve TB testing among HIV patients, and ensure that patients with these comorbidities receive patient centric care, and are able to receive integrated healthcare services (not needing two separate visits to the health facility, one for each condition), to reduce opportunity costs for both the patients and the health system.
• Patient Mobility and Fragmented Healthcare Records: Patients are frequently referred across various healthcare facilities, including community-based services, primary healthcare facilities, and hospitals.  Moreover, patients may move across administrative boundaries, making it challenging to track and provide consistent care.  Current decentralized and siloed IT systems contribute to this issue.  Proposals that speak to the proposed NHI framework are sought to improve patient identification and facilitate a patient-centric approach to healthcare, ensuring continuity of care for PLHIV and patients with TB.
• Digital Tools for Treatment Adherence and Health System Navigation: There is a need for digital tools and resources to support patients in accessing the health system, adhering to their treatment regimens and navigating the healthcare system effectively.  These tools should empower patients to take control of their health while facilitating their interaction with the healthcare system.

Funding Information

• Two awards will be made to a maximum value of R1.2 million per grantee.  This will be payable in tranches and against agreed milestones.
• The project must be completed, and a final report submitted, by 25 June 2024.

Required Documents to accompany the Proposal

• The following documents must accompany your application:
  • CIPC registration document including shareholding structure (if applicable)
  • Company Profile
  • Identification document (ID) for the primary contact person
  • Tax Clearance Certificate
  • BBBEE certificate
• Preference will be given to:
  • Enterprises with a BBBEE level between 1 and 4
  • Youth, female and/or black-owned enterprises

Selection Criteria

• Technical merit, novelty, feasibility, and potential for scale? 45%
• Quality of the proposal (clarity of goals, milestones and deliverables) 25%
• Quality of the team and relevant expertise 20%
• Transformation (youth, women, BBBEE rating) 10%

For more information, visit Mobile Applications Laboratory (mLab).