May 2023 Newsletter

DigitalScotland: Tayside Regional Event

In 2023 Futurescot are delivering a series of economic and digital transformation events across Scotland and have announced that the first of these unique forums will be DigitalScotland: Tayside. This full day event will take place at Abertay University in Dundee on 8th June 2023 to get under the skin of efforts to boost the digital economy across the Tay Cities region. Featuring national and local government speakers, as well as leading tech entrepreneurs, the conference reflects growing efforts to ‘level up’ the digital economy and drive increasing levels of participation, innovation, and productivity.

Skin Cancer Detection using Artificial Intelligence Phase 1 SBRI Closing Soon!

NHS Forth Valley, on behalf of the AI Dermatology Consortium, NHS Scotland and SHIP are hosting the AI Dermatology Open Innovation Challenge. This challenge will provide an opportunity for companies to enhance or refine existing AI algorithms developed using healthcare data, for testing in redesigned community to hospital referral pathways. This will lead to accelerated detection and diagnosis of skin cancer and better use of constrained healthcare resources. Watch this video to learn more about the project. Organisations can apply for a share of £500,000 inclusive of VAT, over the 2 phases of the competition. Applications deadline is 11am on 19th May 2023.

Medicines and Dementia SBRI Phase 1 Applications Closing Soon!

SHIP have launched a new SBRI competition looking at developing disruptive innovative solutions to support those at risk of dementia to manage their medications. Organisations can apply for a share of up to £240,000 inclusive of VAT across both phases. Applications deadline is 11am on 24th May 2023. Projects can focus on one or more of the following:

• identification of people utilising clinical risk factors for example cardiovascular risk factors, family history, diabetes, or hypertension
• adherence to medicines for conditions identified as being linked to development of dementia such as delirium, confusion and other risk factors that may be highlighted by the applicants which will require supporting evidence

Implementation of the future Medical Device Regulations

The Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) are now introducing measures that will extend acceptance of CE marked medical devices in GB beyond 30th June 2023. This is primarily to smooth the transition to a future regime and help ensure continued supply of medical devices to the GB market. The MHRA are aiming for core aspects of the future regime for medical devices to fully apply from 1 July 2025. In setting this timeline, they have taken on board feedback from external stakeholders, including concerns about limited capacity of conformity assessment bodies.

Applications Open for the Data Science Accelerator 2023

The Data Science Accelerator is a programme helping the public sector in Scotland to build data science capability, speeding up the adoption of new tools and innovative practices. The accelerator is managed by Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland, National Records of Scotland, and Registers of Scotland, and delivered in partnership with The Data Lab, Scotland’s innovation centre funded by the public sector. Applications must be submitted by 31st May 2023.

The GEARed-UP Project Report

A study led by Edinburgh Napier University recommends developing a national framework for care home data – to benefit residents and inform Scotland’s health and social care services. The research proposes a series of practical steps to strengthen the data of care homes and ensure that the currently available data can be used by providers, researchers, policy makers and innovators to make improvements. The study, which has been presented to industry leaders and delivery partners, will also feed into a Scotland-wide Care Home Data Review, which is currently underway.

SMART: SCOTLAND grants

The SMART: SCOTLAND grant is one of Scottish Enterprises’ research and development (R&D) grants that aims to support high-risk, highly ambitious projects. It covers conducting feasibility studies that help to show your idea could work in the real world. It’s only available to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) based in Scotland and supports activities that have a commercial endpoint.

Digital Transformation 2023 Event

Holyrood Connect’s 10th annual flagship Digital Transformation event for the Scottish public sector is returning for another year. The event will continue to allow delegates to engage with thought leaders and experts and keep informed about the latest digital developments. This full day event will take place on 6th June 2023 at Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh. The agenda features a range of topics from sustainable digitalisation of the public sector to people-centred technology change.

Venture Builder Incubator

Early bird applications are now open to join the University of Edinburgh Venture Builder Incubator. As an early bird you will get feedback on your application and the chance to submit it again. The Venture Builder Incubator is a curated programme of interactive, online workshops and in- person events designed to provide PhDs, postgraduate students, early career researchers and academic staff with the skills and knowledge to maximise the impact of their research and support the creation or new start-ups.

Diabetes – Remote HbA1c Monitoring SBRI Open Innovation Challenge Closing Soon!

SHIP are funding a Diabetes – Remote HbA1c SBRI Open Innovation Challenge. The challenge is now open for applications from this link until 11am on Monday 5th June 2023.  The aim of the competition is to develop disruptive innovative solutions that deliver sustainable, accessible, and equitable remote HbA1c self-testing. Applicants can apply for a share of a total challenge fund of £250,000, inclusive of VAT and split across two phases.

HISES Innovation Event

HISES are hosting an Innovation Event on 8th June, 14.00 – 16.00. This virtual event will provide an update on nationally driven and locally initiated innovation activity across the South East Regional Test Bed, with presentations from staff, academia and industry partners involved in a range of these innovation projects, including those being led by staff from NHS Lothian, NHS Borders and NHS Fife who have joined the national Innovation Fellows / Scholarship programmes.

NHS Scotland Event 2023

Registration is now open for the NHS Scotland Event 2023, which will take place on Monday 19 June at the SEC in Glasgow. This event will focus on priorities for the recovery and renewal journey, building on the learning from collaborative working to deliver the highest quality person-centred, safe and effective integrated care for every individual in Scotland, and laying the building blocks for future transformation in service delivery.

Latest funding opportunities

Check out the latest health and care funding opportunities from across the sector on the funding section of our website.