Today Health Data Research UK has announced a £3M funding competition for projects that will inform and shape the design and specification of the Digital Innovation Hub Programme: a UK-wide infrastructure for health data research and innovation.
Between six to eight ‘Sprint Exemplar Innovation Projects’ made up of academic, NHS and industry consortia will be funded through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to demonstrate real world examples of using health data in a responsible way to improve health and drive innovation across the UK. They will establish “confidence in concept” of the Digital Innovation Hub Programme technology solutions and proof of readiness for research that will make game-changing improvements in the health of patients and populations and accelerate innovation in UK life sciences.
This competition is an early step towards delivery of the Digital Innovation Hub Programme, which aims to create a UK-wide infrastructure to securely and safely connect regional health and care data with biomedical data. It will lead to the creation of between three to five Digital Innovation Hubs across the UK within a single interoperable, trusted and secure governance framework. This ambitious initiative is funded by UK Research and Innovation as part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy and will pave the way for NHS, academic researchers and industry innovators to harness scientific knowledge and emerging technologies to develop new drugs and devices and improve health services.
Applications for the ‘Sprint Exemplar Innovation Projects’ are sought from partnerships that include industry, NHS health and care systems, and academia from across the UK. Each Sprint Exemplar Innovation Project must have close working partnerships with regional NHS organisations, as well as advanced health data science capabilities and clinical knowhow needed to deliver novel and scalable sprint projects. The successful projects will receive funding amounts of between £100,000 and £400,000 and will be approximately six to ten months in duration, although this will be dictated by the needs of each project.
The ‘Sprint Exemplar Innovation Projects’ aim to build upon best practice to identify and develop the processes, technical solutions, knowledge and skills needed to deliver robust, secure and scalable solutions that will benefit the Digital Innovation Hub Programme.
Announced in July 2018, Health Data Research UK is leading the Digital Innovation Hub Programme on behalf of UK Research and Innovation. This four-year programme (September 2018 to July 2022) is funded by the UK Research and Innovation’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, receiving £37.5M, and is part of the Data to Early Diagnosis and Precision Medicine Challenge.
To find out more about the Digital Innovation Hub Programme and to sign up to our events, please visit the Health Data Research UK website here.
For further information about the competition for Sprint Exemplar Innovation Projects and to apply please visit the Medical Research Council’s website. The closing date for applications is 9am on 7 December 2018.
Apply now via the MRC website
