Innovation grant scheme for healthtech start-ups launched by HEE

An innovation grant scheme has been launched by Health Enterprise East to help smaller health tech companies.

MedTech NAVIGATOR, the development programme from Health Enterprise East (HEE), has launched the scheme which aims to support innovation in the East of England over a three-year period by encouraging collaboration and knowledge transfer between industry and NHS experts in the region.

Funded by a £1 million European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) grant, projects could include helping to develop, or test, new or improved products, processes and services; providing expertise and access to information on care pathways and workflows as well as tapping into clinical and scientific expertise.

Chris Warwick, consultant and programme manager for the MedTech NAVIGATOR at HEE said: “We have seen how SMEs can struggle to access the expertise available in our NHS, and understand how essential the right knowledge and support is to successfully developing and commercialising new products for the healthcare market.

“We hope that this scheme will support innovation and knowledge transfer in the healthcare sector by encouraging collaboration between researchers, clinicians and SMEs, especially in these challenging times.”

The new scheme is available to UK businesses that meet the European Union definition of a small and medium sized enterprise, partner with an eligible knowledge provider and can match fund 50% of the total project costs.

Further information about the MedTech NAVIGATOR Innovation Grants, including eligibility, funding and outcome expectations is available on the programme website.