This month SBRI Healthcare announced the winners of the two categories of Competition 19, our first Phase 3 competition, funded by NHS England in collaboration with the AHSN Network and the Accelerated Access Collaborative. Unlike other competitions, Competition 19 is a new, standalone funding round, open to late-stage solutions and technologies looking to move from clinical evaluation to real-world implementation.
Winning innovators were not required to pass through Phase 1 and 2 competitions, but had to demonstrate how their solution is now at the stage of gathering the evidence needed to gain wider implementation across the NHS. Innovations which have been developed working closely with patient groups and the public, interpreting patient needs, were encouraged to apply and access the 9 month funding project of up to £500,000.
Professor Mike Lewis observed: “SBRI Phase 3 was launched to accelerate the journey of promising innovations and take them one step closer to getting implemented in the NHS before starting their growth and expansion. Innovators themselves expressed their interest and desire to access funding to support their implementation and the programme has successfully backed 12 incredibly promising technologies, harnessing strong collaborations and partnerships with NHS stakeholders.
We are always fascinated to find how innovative and dynamic the health community is in the UK and this new competition has demonstrated this continued trend and the breadth of new technologies that have the ability to address critical needs.”
Dr Liz Mear, Chair of the SBRI Phase 3 Panel commented: All the projects we assessed were of high quality and will improve the lives of our service users and/ or our staff as they are rolled out. They will make a positive difference to improving young people’s mental health and/or to supporting the reset and recovery of health and care services. I look forward to seeing the achievements from these SBRI-funded schemes as they are implemented.