15/06/2026
Funding Scheme Launched To Speed-Up Innovative Health Research
A multi-million pound initiative to help speed up the development and testing of health and social care innovations has today been announced.
The NIHR Innovation Catalyst will fund and support the best research across medtech, digital health, biotech and pharmaceuticals.
The initiative, launched during the NIHR’s 20th year, supports a key government commitment set out in the Life Sciences Sector Plan. It will also work in support of the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan.
The Catalyst aims to help new ideas get approved and in use faster across the NHS and the wider health system.
This year’s pilot looks at providing care outside the hospital and towards a neighbourhood health service.
Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Chief Executive Officer of NIHR, said: “We have made remarkable improvements in health and social care since the NIHR was set up 20 years ago, with the life sciences sector in the UK as vibrant and dynamic as it has ever been.
“The NIHR Innovation Catalyst will see ambitious research funded to help innovators get their ideas out into the NHS and wider health care system, so we can help even more people, particularly supporting neighbourhood health.”
Health Innovation Minister, Preet Kaur Gill, said: “This Government is investing through NIHR to get the best innovations into the NHS faster. My ambition is to see the UK’s life sciences sector grow and deliver more of the cutting edge technologies that will save and improve lives.
“The Innovation Catalyst will support high potential innovations to move from development into real world use helping patients benefit sooner while strengthening our health and care system.
“I encourage organisations with innovations that can make a real difference to come forward and apply.”
The UK is a world leader in health technology. But new ideas that could change care often take a long time to develop the NIHR said.
The NIHR Innovation Catalyst aims to help that. It supports a key goal in the Life Sciences Sector Plan, to develop and review high-value innovation.
It will use a new funding model to help strong ideas move forward quickly and meet the biggest needs in health and social care.
It will bring real benefits for the public and patients while supporting the UK’s economy.
This is a new way to fund research, helping the best ideas move from first thoughts into real use faster and more efficiently.
The Catalyst uses a milestone plan, giving more money each time a goal is reached, so ideas can grow without delays.
As well as funding, teams will get full support, including links to places that test ideas, people who invest, and experts who guide new products into use.
The pilot of Catalyst, which is now open, welcomes ideas from lead organisations, including:
•NHS and social care providers
•Higher education institutions
•Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
•Not-for-profit organisations
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A multi-million pound initiative to help speed up the development and testing of health and social care innovations has today been announced.
