Available Funding Opportunities
We can support you as you develop your concept or prototype, by connecting you with collaborative partners from across industry, academia and health and care and by identifying funding and further support opportunities.
Fife Start-Up Grant
Availability: Open
Closing Date: 31st January 2025
Value: Up to £500
Duration: Not specified
Eligibility: You may be eligible if you intend to start a new business based in Fife, or have started one in the past 6 months.
Summary:
Fife Council’s Start-Up Grant can provide individuals who intend to start a business in Fife with up to £500 towards the costs involved in starting to trade. Eligible costs include things such as equipment, stock and certification.
The Start-Up Grant opens for applications on 1 April 2023. The deadline to apply is 31 January 2025.
Grants are offered at the discretion of a Business Gateway adviser, so you must be working with Business Gateway Fife to be considered.
The grant is paid retrospectively. This means that after their application is approved, applicants will need to cover the project costs upfront, then submit a claim with evidence of the money spent to receive their grant. You cannot claim for expenses incurred before your application was approved.
Applications are completed by a Business Gateway adviser, then checked, signed and submitted by the business that’s applying.
The Start-Up Grant is delivered by Business Gateway Fife on behalf of Fife Council and is fully funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
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Invention for Innovation
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
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Opthalmic innovation call
InnoScot Health
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
Find out more and apply
Sustainability Innovation Call
InnoScot Health
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
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Knowledge Transfer Partnership
UK Government
Availability: Ongoing
Closing Date: None – apply at any time
Value: Part-funded grant.
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: Aimed at improving business’ competitiveness and productivity through funded partnership with academics and researchers.
Location: UK
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NHS Innovator Accelerator
The AHSN Network England
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
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Standard Innovation Vouchers
Interface
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
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Spin Out Support Programme
IBioIC
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
Apply Here
Further NIHR funding for Scottish Researchers
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:
- Evidence Synthesis
- Invention for Innovation (i4i)
- Research for Social Care (RfSC)
- Programme Grants for Applied Research programme (PGfAR)
- Programme Development Grants
Location: Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland
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SMART:Scotland Grant
Scottish Enterprise
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
Apply Here