Funding Opportunities

Availability: Open.

Closing Date: 3rd December 2025, 13:00

Duration: Between 24 – 36 months.

Summary:

The NIHR Invention for Innovation (i4i) programme is inviting outline applications to its Product Development Awards (PDA) funding opportunity.

This is a two-stage funding opportunity. To apply for the first stage you should submit an outline application. If invited to the second stage, you will then need to complete a full application. To apply for this funding opportunity you will need to log in through the NIHR awards management system. If you have not previously applied through this system you will be prompted to create an account.

Availability: Open

Closing Date: N/A

Value: Up to £75,000

Duration: Scottish Enterprise will aim to reach a decision on your application within 3 weeks of submission.

Eligibility: This call is open to all universities, research institutes and NHS boards in areas of Scotland served by Scottish Enterprise. This includes Aberdeen City and Shire, the east of Scotland, Tayside and the west of Scotland.

Summary:

The High-Growth Spinout Programme (HGSP) provides funding to support the commercialisation of advanced technologies developed at Scotland’s universities, research institutes and NHS boards. The objective is to create new high-growth companies with the potential to generate significant economic impact in Scotland.

The purpose of the funding is to address gaps in the business plan for the prospective technology. The grant can support up to 100% of the direct costs of a project, up to a maximum of £75,000.

Supported activities include, but are not limited to:

the appointment of an experienced commercial champion to lead and manage commercial engagement
technology de-risking through prototyping
investor engagement
market research
regulatory assessment
intellectual property strategy development

You are encouraged to speak to a member of the HGSP team before you draft and submit your application.

Availability: Open.

Closing Date: Monday, 17th November 2025 at midday.

Value: Up to £350,000 per application

Duration: Assessments will begin during December 2025 and January 2026 with the opportunity for rebuttal late January 2026. We expect to announce the awards in April 2026.

Eligibility:

The lead applicant or investigator must be employed by an NHS organisation or UK academic institution.

Applications are invited from teams who have been identified and supported by UK’s regional innovation boards, like:

Health Innovation Networks (HINs) in England
Innovation Hubs in Scotland
Cardiac Network Board in Wales
Cardiology Network in Northern Ireland.

Your project can include working with other partners, such as the third sector and industry, where you think it will benefit people with cardiovascular disease.
It’s important that your project considers patient involvement at all levels, from scoping to steering groups.

Summary:

We want to support everyone with cardiovascular disease to live a longer healthier life, by ensuring they get the treatment, care and support they need. That’s why we want to work with you to develop pioneering ways to transform the delivery of services. By funding the most innovative ideas, we can work together to make the biggest impact. Our Healthcare Innovation Fund tests and evaluates innovative approaches to the delivery of improved services for people with cardiovascular disease.

We fund ideas that:

Identify an unmet need that needs further scoping and consensus building around need and potential solutions.
Have been scoped by an appropriate group of stakeholders and are ready to be tested and evaluated in practice.
Have been tested locally by an appropriate group of stakeholders and are ready for early stage scaling.

Availability: OPEN

Closing Date: Not specified.

Value: £50,000 – £150,000

Duration: 6-12 month period

Eligibility: Technologies which have regulatory approval or demonstrated equivalent safety and efficacy

Summary:

The NIHR Invention for Innovation (i4i) Programme is a translational research funding scheme aimed at medical devices, in vitro diagnostic devices and digital health technologies addressing an existing or emerging health or social care need.

i4i is now open to the whole UK

We’re excited to announce that the NIHR i4i programme is now accepting applications from researchers and organisations based in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, in addition to applications from England. This change will be effective for our upcoming i4i competitions in autumn 2023, including PDA Call 27, Challenge Call 16, and Connect Call 8. We are looking forward to receiving applications from across the UK.

Location: UK

Availability: Open

Closing Date: Not specified

Value: £25,000 of initial funding

Duration: Not specified

Eligibility: NHS staff

Summary:

InnoScot Health is seeking forward-thinking ophthalmic solutions that can help support NHS Scotland to strengthen and make meaningful change in this priority area of its recovery plan. During the pandemic, this was one of the health care areas which suffered most as patients were unable to see ophthalmologists and optometrists for face-to-face appointments so waiting lists and backlogs grew.

This in turn meant that individuals with eye problems saw a worsening of their condition over the course of the pandemic and it is only now that we are beginning to see a return to normal practice. However, there remains a significant accumulation of people still requiring treatment and so encouraging the diverse NHS Scotland workforce to come up with new ways of working and identifying ways to reduce that backlog is vital.

Submitting your idea is a simple process – taking approximately 5-10 minutes – and all are confidential.

Location: Scotland

Availability: Open

Closing Date: Not specified

Value: Up to £25,000 of initial funding

Duration: up to 4 months.

Eligibility: NHS Scotland staff

Summary:

InnoScot Health is seeking sustainable, forward-thinking ideas from health and social care professionals that can help support NHS Scotland to adapt, develop and strengthen in response to climate change.

Encouraging NHS Scotland’s diverse workforce to come up with new ideas that achieve sustainable outcomes is vital, and is at the heart of the latest InnoScot Health innovation call.

The behaviours of NHS Scotland’s 160,000-strong workforce will influence how the service mitigates and adapts to climate change impacts; and so, encouraging this diverse workforce to come up with new ways of working is vital.

The package of support for health and social care staff with ideas to support NHS Scotland includes £25,000 of initial funding, regulatory support, project management and the innovation expertise of InnoScot Health.

Location: Scotland

Availability: Ongoing

Closing Date: None – apply at any time

Value: A typical KTP project delivers a package of support valued at around £80,000 to £100,000 per year.

Duration: 12-36 months

Eligibility: Aimed at partnerships between a UK-based business of any size or non-profit organisation, an academic organisation and a suitably-qualified graduate.

Summary:

Since 1975, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) have been helping businesses and organisations innovate for growth. They are unique collaborative partnerships between businesses and universities, colleges, research organisations and Catapults. KTPs create positive impact and drive innovation.

There are different types of KTPs, each addressing a specific need:

classic KTPs: help build better products and services
management KTPs: help build better businesses
third sector and charity KTPs: help create more robust income streams
public sector management KTPs: help UK’s public services to innovate and improve their services

Each KTP addresses a specific challenge and enables the transfer of knowledge, technology, and expertise from the academic partner to the business or organisation. Funded by Innovate UK and the partner business or organisation, the program provides support for a partnership, including the placement of a highly qualified graduate, known as a KTP Associate, within the business for a period of 12-36 months.

The KTP Associate works with the business to implement innovative solutions to identified business challenges, using the knowledge and expertise gained through their academic training. The academic partner provides support and guidance to the KTP Associate throughout the project. The business benefits from the transfer of knowledge and expertise, as well as access to new technologies, specialist facilities and technical expertise. KTPs have been shown to be highly effective in driving innovation and growth and are a valuable tool for businesses and organisations seeking to stay ahead of the curve in today’s rapidly changing economic landscape.

Location: UK

Availability: Applications for the 2026 intake will open in Summer 2025.

Closing Date: Not Specified

Value: Not Specified

Duration: Not Specified

Eligibility: The NIA is open to applicants from any background, including SMEs, clinical entrepreneurs and academia, with innovations of any type that solve a problem for the NHS

Summary:

To be successful, your innovation should be:

• In use in at least one site, in the NHS or elsewhere
• Supported by an evidence base and able to demonstrate better patient and/or staff outcomes
• Ready to spread across the NHS
• Led by an applicant who is open to learning and sharing insights
• Aligned with one of the 2023 call themes (to be confirmed)

Location: Not Specified

Availability: Open

Closing Date: Not Specified

Value: Between £1,000 and £5,000

Duration: Not Specified

Eligibility:

Applications from all company sectors are welcome. However, vouchers are only available to SMEs, sole traders, social enterprises and third sector organisations with main business operations in Scotland, working with Scottish Universities or Scottish Further Education Colleges.

Summary:

There are two types of Standard Innovation Vouchers:

Product/Process/Service Innovation Voucher – to support outward innovation to develop a new product, process or service.
Workforce Innovation Voucher – to support inward innovation to develop the company’s internal workforce such as new or enhanced workplace processes, innovative workplace practices and innovative business expertise. This does not include staff CPD or to finance any external training courses.

Location: Scotland

Availability: Open

Closing Date: N/A

Value: Up to £20, 000 towards Higher Education Institutes (HEI) costs

Duration: Less than a year

Eligibility: The projects must be led by at least one of Scotland’s talented Higher Education Institutes (HEI).

Summary:

The Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) invites applications for proof-of-concept projects from researchers with an ambition to spin-out a company within 1-2 years of the project ending.

Spin-out projects should focus on innovative applications of biotechnology and address a real market need or commercial opportunity.

This call invites applications from academic researchers addressing challenges that could be addressed with a biotechnology solution with the near-term ambition of forming a spin-out or start-up company.

Location: United Kingdom

Availability: From Autumn 2023

Closing Date: Various (depending on programme)

Value: Various (depending on programme)

Duration: Various (depending on programme)

Eligibility: Researchers and in some cases SMEs (depending on programme)

Summary:

From autumn 2023, health and social care researchers in the devolved administrations will have increased access to health and social care research funding via the National Institute for Health and Care Research. This expands the list of NIHR research programmes that are available to researchers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Researchers and in some cases SMEs will be able to access the following NIHR research programmes from autumn 2023:

Location: Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland

Availability: Open

Closing Date: All year round

Value: Up to £100,000

Duration: 6 – 18 Months

Eligibility: Small or medium sized business, university spin-out or an individual based in Scotland

Summary:

The SMART: SCOTLAND grant is one of our research and development (R&D) grants that aims to support high-risk, highly ambitious projects.

It covers conducting feasibility studies. It’s only available to small and medium enterprises (SMEs)* based in Scotland and supports activities that have a commercial endpoint.

Location: Scotland

Availability: Open

Closing Date: Wednesday, 21st January 2026 at 13:00

Value: NIHR are custodians of public funds and value for money is one of the key criteria that peer reviewers and commissioning committee members will assess applications against.

Eligibility: There are no specific eligibility requirements or restrictions for applicants to this funding opportunity.

Summary:

The Health and Social Care Delivery Research (HSDR) Programme is looking to fund high quality research about early action and prevention within Health and Social Care Services. This is a 2-stage, commissioned funding opportunity. To apply for the first stage you should submit an outline application. If invited to the second stage, you will then need to complete a full application.

ARI 1 calls for research to evaluate health and social care interventions and services which address gaps in knowledge of preventative strategies, early diagnosis techniques, and effective interventions for individuals at increased risk of long-term conditions and chronic disease. The NIHR HSDR Programme invites applications with a clear focus on prevention to address this research area. This research could be within primary, secondary, or tertiary prevention services or span all of them.

NIHR are looking to fund research which has the potential to inform prevention services at a national level, and therefore local or regional evaluations are unlikely to be fundable. Similarly, evaluations focused on emerging technologies will require evidence of readiness for research on large-scale service delivery, including the published evidence base. All research should consider health and/or social care inequalities, or research focusing on how reducing inequalities can be integrated into prevention services. Alongside this, increasing access to neighbourhood health and social care services, moving care from hospitals into the community, and/or avoiding hospital admissions in the context of prevention are of particular interest to HSDR.

Availability: Open

Closing Date: Wednesday, 29th October 2025 at 12:00

Value: Maximum of £1,000,000 + VAT

Eligibility: There are no specific eligibility requirements or restrictions for applicants to this funding opportunity.

Summary:

Despite the success of programmes such as Connecting Scotland, many individuals still struggle to access essential services because of low digital skills, limited confidence, or a lack of access to devices and connectivity. This Challenge seeks innovative, user-centred solutions that focus on people who may have some access to devices or connectivity but face barriers in using digital services safely and effectively. Proposals should address varied user needs, helping individuals engage with services including financial tools, education and employment. Connectivity and devices matter – but skills and confidence are critical to unlocking meaningful digital inclusion.

Availability: Open

Closing Date: Tuesday, 11th November 2025

Value: £200,000 for the Foundation Phase and £5 million to £8 million for the Impact Phase

Eligibility:

You can apply to this call if you are a team:

From any relevant discipline. We consider a broad range of disciplines to be relevant to mental health science, including but not limited to those listed in our principles of mental health funding.
From eligible organisations.
Based anywhere in the world (apart from mainland China). The research itself must take place in the United Kingdom and/or low- or middle- income countries.

Summary:

This award is structured in two phases:
Foundation Phase (open to applications week commencing 28 July 2025)

This first phase of the funding call will provide teams with £200,000 to build their teams and develop their detailed proposal for their research study over 12 months. We expect to make around 20 awards in the highly competitive Foundation phase of this funding call.

This research proposal must be for a definitive effectiveness study and assessment of strategies for implementation and scaling of a psychological and/or a social intervention. The research must take place in the UK or a low- and middle-income country (LMIC). The proposal must capture multiple outcomes that are relevant to people with lived experience and implementing partners, including mental health outcomes, functional outcomes and full economic evaluation.

Projects will be chosen for the Foundation Phase based on:

the existing evidence of efficacy for the intervention
potential for being taken to scale, with the cost of the intervention low enough to be sustainable in the proposed context
potential for sustainable partnerships between research teams and implementing partners
outline plans for real-world testing of the effectiveness and implementation of the intervention

Teams taking part in the Foundation Phase will be invited to be part of a community of practice to participate and share learning in key areas relevant to developing, implementing and scaling psychological and/or social interventions. Wellcome will provide support to teams during the Foundation Phase as they develop their research proposals.

Impact Phase (open to applications February 2027)
In the second phase of the funding call, all funded teams from the Foundation Phase will be invited to apply for the Impact Phase. We expect the award amount for the Impact Phase to be between £5 million and £8 million and the duration to be up to 5 years. The upper limits will be confirmed during the Foundation Phase.

Available Funding Opportunities

i4i Product Development Awards (PDA) - October 2025

High-Growth Spinout Programme

NIHR

BHF Healthcare Implementation Fund - Round 5

Invention for Innovation

Opthalmic innovation call

InnoScot Health

Sustainability Innovation Call

InnoScot Health

Knowledge Transfer Partnership

UK Government

NHS Innovator Accelerator

The AHSN Network England

Standard Innovation Vouchers

Interface

Spin Out Support Programme

IBioIC

Further NIHR funding for Scottish Researchers

SMART:Scotland Grant

Scottish Enterprise

Early action and prevention within Health and Social Care Services

New CivTech Challenge Launched - Challenge 11.9

Wellcome Funding: Mental Health Award – Transforming Early Intervention