Notice

Competition guidance: Biomedical Catalyst 2017 round 2 late stage award

Updated 17 May 2017

This notice was withdrawn on 21 September 2017

This competition is no longer open. Search current funding opportunities.

1. Dates and deadlines

Competition opens	30 March 2017
Competition briefing	4 April 2017
Final date for registration	Midday 31 May 2017
Submission of the full application including finance forms, appendices and Je-S forms deadline	Midday 7 June 2017
Applicants invited to interview	8 September 2017
Interview panel (MAC)	Week commencing 2 October 2017
Decision to applicants	20 October 2017

Please read the full competition scope before you make your application.

2. Funding

The Biomedical Catalyst scheme is funded by Innovate UK, Medical Research Council (MRC) and Scottish Enterprise. The scheme has 4 award categories:

• feasibility
• primer
• early stage
• late stage

These are designed to support the progression of an idea from concept through to commercialisation. Each round of the scheme includes one or more of these categories. Companies must decide which category is most appropriate for their planned work.

In Biomedical Catalyst 2017 round 2 there is up to £12 million of funding available for research and development projects that address the challenges described in the competition brief.

This competition is for late stage awards only. Projects should have total eligible project costs of £250,000 to £4 million. They must be between 12 to 36 months in duration.

3. Requirements and eligibility

To be eligible for this competition, projects must fall under the industrial research category but can potentially overlap the experimental development category. A full definition of these categories is available in the general guidance for applicants.

• applicants must address the specific requirements of the competition as outlined in the scope of the competition brief
• you may be eligible to receive different rates of funding depending on the type and size of your organisation and the activity that you are doing in the project
• Innovate UK will fund up to 70% for micro/small enterprises and 60% for medium enterprises in the industrial research category
• any work packages judged to be experimental development will be funded at 45% for micro/small enterprises and 35% for medium enterprises
• the level of total research participation is set at a maximum of 50% of total eligible project costs
• if there is more than one research organisation (including universities, non-profit distributing research and technology organisations, Catapult centres, public sector research establishments, research council institutes and charities or public sector organisations undertaking research) in the project, the maximum 50% of eligible costs must be shared between them
• projects should be led by a UK micro, small or medium business enterprise (SME). No large organisations will be funded through this competition
• companies should apply either individually or in collaboration with other UK SME businesses or UK-based research organisations
• in certain circumstances we will consider academic-led applications. Please visit the MRC website for more information
• any one company may be involved in up to 3 applications to this round of the competition but may only be the lead partner in 1 application in this round
• businesses may only lead 1 active project in any 1 category at any time. The exception is when a new project represents a progression from one award to the next category of awards. For example, if you hold both a feasibility and an early stage award, and the feasibility project finishes, you may apply for an early stage award to continue that specific programme of work, while holding your original early stage award. This is subject to approval and evidence of sufficient resource to run 2 projects in parallel
• total project costs must be between £250,000 to £4 million
• project duration must be between 12 and 36 months. They should start by 1 February 2018 and finish by 1 February 2021
• if an application is unsuccessful, you may use the feedback received to reapply for the same project once more into any Innovate UK competition

4. Competition process

Application for the Biomedical Catalyst 2017 round 2 late stage awards is through a 2-step process:

• 1: Written application
• 2: Presentation and interview by major awards committee

Progression between stages will be by invitation only and informed by independent expert review.

Written applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be assessed by up to 5 external assessors who are experts in the area of innovation identified in your application.

Assessors will score applications consistently and in line with scoring matrices. They will provide written feedback for each marked question.

We will then select a portfolio of projects to attend an interview panel. These applications will:

• be high quality
• range across the scope of the Biomedical Catalyst

We aim to build a portfolio that is consistent with the spend profile of available funding. Innovate UK reserves the right to maximise the funding available across high-quality projects. This means that the portfolio of projects funded may not adhere to a strict ranked sequence of the assessor score. However they will all meet or exceed the quality line which will be agreed throughout our independent external assessment process.

The major awards committee will score each project in line with scoring matrices. After discussion they will recommend a ranked list of applications to be funded by Innovate UK and its affinity partners. Short written feedback will be provided to all applicants that attend the interview panel.

Affinity partners, MRC and Scottish Enterprise will consider co-funding opportunities for high-quality projects that fall within their strategic priority areas.

5. How to apply

Before you apply into an Innovate UK competition, it is important to understand the whole application process. The information below is specific to this competition. In addition, please read our general guidance for applicants which will give information on:

• funding rules
• project costs
• state aid
• how to submit your application
• categories of research and development
• participation in a project

You will receive an email acknowledgement of your registration followed by a second email up to 48 hours later. The second email will contain a username and password for our secure upload facility along with a unique application number and form.

Application: Once you have received your unique username and password, you can sign into the secure website to access the finance forms for this competition.

Please note: Only finance forms named ’Project Finance Form April 2017.xls’ will be accepted into this competition. Previous versions of the finance form will be ineligible. When you register for the competition you will have access to our secure site. You will be able to download the finance form from the public area of this site.

Submit your documents. You or your lead partner should submit to your FTP site:

• your application form supplied with your unique application number for this competition (mandatory)
• project finance forms for every non-academic partner (including the lead organisation) in your project (mandatory)
• Je-S submission PDF output document, confirming a ‘with council’ status for every academic partner in your project, if any (mandatory)
• project appendices as PDF documents, labelled correctly as per the appendices guidance in section 10

Submissions using the incorrect application form will not be considered eligible.

Submissions without complete or with missing finance forms, or with appendices which do not align with the requirements in section 8, will not be considered eligible. All submission documents must be submitted in the correct file format as explained in this document. Any document in an incorrect format will result in the entire application not being sent for assessment.

Eligibility check: only applications that meet the eligibility criteria for the competition will be sent for assessment and receive feedback. You will be notified if your application is ineligible with a full explanation as to why. Innovate UK reserves the right to declare applications as ineligible.

Assessment: Once the competition submission deadline is reached, all eligible applications are sent for assessment.

Interview: following the written stage, successful applicants will be invited to give a presentation and interview to the major awards committee. For applications that are invited to present at the panel, any additional feedback from the committee chairs and guidance will be available on the secure FTP site to help you prepare. The committee guidance document will provide a description about the panel process, detailing specific areas to consider in preparation for interviews. Applicants invited through to committee will also have the opportunity to provide a 3 page response to the feedback from the written application.

Notification: We will notify the lead organisation of the outcome of the application by the date stated in the timeline, using the email address provided in the application form.

Feedback: Approximately 4 weeks after you have received your notification email, we will give feedback on all applications that have been assessed. The lead applicant can access and download the feedback by signing into the secure FTP site where you uploaded your application documents. It is the responsibility of the lead to communicate the feedback with the rest of the consortium, if applicable. No additional feedback can be provided and there will be no further discussion on the application.

6. The application form

This section explains the structure of the Biomedical Catalyst 2017 round 2 late stage awards application form and offers guidance on what to answer in each question.

The structure is as follows:

• application details
• summary of proposed project
• public description of the project
• gateway question: scope
• public funding
• academic collaborators
• section 1: Business proposition and project details (8 questions)
• section 2: Funding and added value (2 questions)
• other funding from public sector bodies
• finance summary table

There are 10 questions in Sections 1 and 2. Each question is worth a maximum of 10 points and carries a minimum expected score to be considered for further progression. Minimum expected scores are detailed for each of the 10 questions in the application description below.

Please make sure that you upload the final version of your application by the deadline. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not upload a blank or incomplete application form. You should also follow these steps:

• you can only use the application form provided. It contains specific information including a unique reference number for your project
• the application form contains specific fields. It is important that you complete each field and submit a fully completed form. Incomplete forms will be considered ineligible and won’t be sent for assessment
• the application form must not be altered, converted or saved as a different version of Microsoft Word
• the space provided in each field of the form is fixed. You must restrict the content of your responses in each of the fields to the space provided
• the typeface, font size and colour are predetermined and cannot be changed. Illustrations and graphics cannot be included in the application form
• the light grey shaded fields are completed automatically from other information entered on the form, for example, the total columns of a table. These cannot be overwritten
• you should be able to see your total answer to the question when looking at the application form in print view. Any text that cannot be seen in this view or when the form is printed will not be assessed
• your answers to the questions should be completed using the font Calibri 12

Confidentiality

Affinity partners co-funding the Biomedical Catalyst scheme will be given access to applications.

As part of our objective to stimulate and support UK innovation, we have established a close network of Affinity partners. This list is made up of organisations that can help Innovate UK fund and support innovative businesses. Our joint aim is to speed up sustainable economic growth for the UK.

In some cases, we may share the public description of your project with other potential funding bodies, for example Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and agencies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These bodies may wish to contact you about providing funding or other support for your proposal.

Assessors are contracted to keep secret and confidential any information that is reviewed as part of the assessment process.

Field	Guidance
Competition name	This field will show the full name of the Innovate UK competition to which the form applies. You do not need to enter anything here.
Document ID	This field is completed automatically.
Applicant number	This field is completed automatically and is the reference that you should use on all correspondence (this is the 5 or 6 digit number after the dash).
Application details
Project title	Enter the full title of the project.
Technology area	Please select from the drop down list.
Is your project relevant/related to addressing the challenges of antimicrobial resistance?	Please select yes or no.
Research category	Please select from the drop down list.
Have you or your company previously submitted the same or a similar application into a previous round of the Biomedical Catalyst?	Please select yes or no. If yes, please provide your previous application number.
How are you intending to match-fund the grant?	Please select from: existing funds revenue seeking new investment other
Project timescales	Enter the estimated start date and its planned duration. Projects must start by 1 February 2018 and finish by 1 February 2021.
(Lead) organisation name	Enter the full registered name of the (lead) organisation for the project. If you are not in a consortium application, these will be your organisation details. The lead organisation will be the main point of contact between Innovate UK and the project team.
(Lead) organisation contact details	Enter the full name, postcode, email address and telephone number of the main point of contact between Innovate UK and the project.

6.1 Summary of proposed project (not scored)

Guidance

Provide a short summary of the project, its objectives and the steps leading to these, and why it is innovative.

This summary is not scored. It will guide the selection of assessors with experience to assess both the technical work packages and business objectives, as well as introducing your proposal to the assessors. It will not be used for any public dissemination. It should cover, in brief:

• the technological challenge, business need and market opportunity to be addressed
• the technical subject matter of work packages planned and the deliverables for this project
• assuming successful completion of this project, what are the next steps
• how the innovation will ultimately improve on the current state of the art

Please provide up to 3 keywords or phrases that best describe the healthcare challenge you are addressing and the nature of the solution.

6.2 Public description of the project (not scored)

Guidance

To comply with government practice on openness and transparency of public-funded activities, Innovate UK has to publish information relating to funded projects. Please provide a short description of your proposal in a way that the general public can understand. Do not include any commercially confidential information, for example intellectual property or patent details.

Please describe your project. Funding will not be provided to successful projects without this.

6.3 Gateway question: Scope

Guidance

How does this application align with the specific competition scope?

• all applications must align with the specific competition scope criteria as described in the relevant competition brief
• to demonstrate alignment, you need to show that a clear majority of the project’s objectives and activities are aligned with the specific competition

6.4 Public funding

Guidance

This section is to help us understand your track record in delivering and exploiting publicly funded projects. It may be used to inform a funding decision.

Have you received public funding in the previous 5 years? Please note, your funding history may influence the decision on whether to fund your project.

• please select yes or no
• if yes, set out the value and identity of the funding body. If funding body is Innovate UK, list the project numbers. Summarise the project aims and outcomes, and progress towards commercialisation. Outline if the present proposal represents a direct progression from a previous Innovate UK / Biomedical Catalyst award

6.5 Academic collaborators

Guidance

This section helps us to identify any academic collaborators. This is so that we can manage potential conflicts of interest during the assessor selection process. Please highlight where projects are looking to translate previously publicly funded research (a core aim of the Biomedical Catalyst and part of metric collection). This information is mandatory however it will not be used to inform funding decisions.

Does your project have an academic partner?

• please select yes or no
• if yes, list the lead investigator’s name, department and institute. Please also state if the academic partner has or has had a role in the lead company or any collaborating businesses. If this project is translating previously UK publicly funded research, please summarise the former research (including research funders)

7. Competition questions

All questions apply to all project partners and are scored out of 10 marks. Each question is allocated 2 pages.

7.1 Section 1: The business proposition and project details

Question 1: What is the healthcare need that this project addresses and what impacts will your solution have?

Minimum score required to progress: 7

Describe the healthcare challenge or issue that your project seeks to address. Supply evidence that the healthcare need is real and how your project will address this. Define the market that will generate demand for your proposed solution. How will the project outputs and/or the innovation lead to a commercial opportunity for your business?

How will the outputs of the project meet the healthcare need? Give any input you have from healthcare professionals, patients or representatives of the onward supply chain.

Quantify the potential positive impact on socio-economic factors and healthcare at a patient and community level. Detail the number of anticipated users and the benefits your solution will provide, with estimated timescales.

Question 2: What is the underpinning scientific evidence to support your solution?

Minimum score required to progress: 7

Detail all relevant prior experimental/technical evidence which can explain how the previous results link to the proposed study. All projects are expected to be taking forward robust prior research on your technology, product prototype or process, including demonstration in an appropriate model system. Outline any preclinical or clinical work conducted to date and the outcomes.

Please use Appendix A to present relevant figures such as chemical structures, graphs or schematics with relevant descriptions only (maximum of 2 pages). This should not be used as an overflow of answers to the application form questions.

Question 3: What is innovative about your idea?

Minimum score required to progress: 6

Identify the extent to which the project is innovative, from a commercial, scientific and/or technical perspective. Reference existing products and practices that are currently in use and those known to be under development both in the UK and internationally. Discuss the benefits and shortcomings of these (both technical and commercial) compared with your solution. This could include the results of competitor analyses or literature surveys.

In evaluating this section assessors will also consider:

• if you have provided evidence that it will push boundaries over and beyond current leading-edge world science and technology
• if it is looking to apply existing technologies in new areas and if so, what are the challenges in doing so
• if it could be innovative in the area of application

The timeliness as well as novelty of your research, and/or proposed innovation, should be highlighted and explained in an industrial and/or academic context.

Question 4: What technical approach will be adopted and how will the project be managed?

Minimum score required to progress: 6

Please provide an overview of the technical approach including the main objectives of the work.

Describe where you are now and where you want to get to at the end of the project (‘deliverables’). Describe the stages of the project (‘work packages’) and link the main areas of work together with their resource and management requirements.

Identify milestones and go / no-go points. Note: projects may be approved subject to interim review at key decision points.

The assessors will also consider:

• is the technical and methodological approach appropriate to the needs of the project? Are the innovative steps achievable through your proposed approach
• is the project plan sufficient in comparison to the complexity of the project? For example, have you provided sufficient detail to allow assessors to understand the tasks involved and the resources required
• is any study design robust? For example, if the timing of key milestones are realistic
• if you have demonstrated sufficient resource commitment and capability to undertake the project
• whether you have identified clear management reporting lines

If relevant please compare and contrast alternative research and development strategies and describe why your proposed approach will offer the best outcome.

Please provide justification for the use of animals or human subjects and the numbers of animals, samples or other being tested. Relevant regulatory and ethical approval processes must be included in project planning.

Please use Appendix B to provide a detailed Gantt chart only (maximum of 2 pages). Please use Appendix C to provide additional information on study design, protocol and approach only, such as experimental detail (maximum of 2 pages).

Question 5: Do you have freedom to operate?

Minimum score required to progress: 6

Detail any existing intellectual property (IP) which may affect or which is relevant to project delivery and exploitation. State the ownership of IP and where necessary, how rights have been assigned. Provide evidence that you have freedom to operate without infringing other patents (summarise results of patent searches etc).

Detail the IP that you expect to be generated as a result of your project.

Describe your strategy for protecting the knowledge arising from the project. If a collaborative project, how will you assign IP rights to project partners?

Question 6: How do you intend to exploit the opportunity?

Minimum score required to progress: 6

How will the outputs of this project take you nearer to your objectives, and what will the steps be in this journey?

Describe how these outputs will be exploited including, where applicable:

• the route to market (such as direct sales and licensing)
• reconfiguration of the value system
• changes to business models and business processes
• other methods of exploitation and protection

Provide evidence that the proposed solution would be commercially viable for the target market (consider cost of manufacturing at launch, at scale, and pricing). You should describe the size of the market opportunities that this project would create, including details of:

• current nature of the specific markets at which the project is targeted (for example, is it characterised by price competition amongst commoditised suppliers? Is it dominated by a single leading firm? What are the channels to market?)
• the dynamics of this market, with estimates of current size; past and predicted growth rates
• any anticipated disruptions from other technologies
• how you would gain market share for the project outcome, taking account of possible constraints on market access and penetration, including any potential competitors

Where the end point of your project will be an intermediate step towards commercialisation (such as, out-licensing), describe:

• any obstacles to exploitation and commercialisation of your innovation
• what is the estimated timescale to revenue generation? Estimate the likely impact of the project outputs on your business and non-academic partners’ forecasts for annual turnover. For example, any licensing revenues, profit, exports and/or research and development spend (as a percentage of turnover if appropriate) and employment (in FTEs) for your last financial year

Question 7: What are the risks (technical, commercial and environmental) to project success? What is the project’s risk management strategy?

Minimum score required to progress: 6

Innovate UK recognises that projects of this type are risky, but we ask that the project has adequate arrangements for managing this risk. Please focus on the arrangements for managing and mitigating risk as follows:

• identify the key risks and uncertainties of the project and provide a detailed risk analysis for the project content and approach. Include the technical (including regulatory), commercial, managerial (including managing stakeholders) and environmental risks as well as other uncertainties (such as ethical issues), associated with the project
• develop a risk register, identifying the main risks as high / medium / low (H / M / L)
• discuss the potential impact of these scenarios. State how the project would mitigate all significant and relevant risks

Identify project management tools and mechanisms that will be used to minimise operational risk. This should include the arrangements for managing the consortium where applicable.

Question 8: Does the team have the right skills and experience and access to facilities to deliver the project and exploit it?

Minimum score required to progress: 6

Please detail the expertise and track record of the project participants, including collaborators and subcontractors, to show your capability to deliver the project and exploit the output.

In evaluating this, the assessors will also consider whether:

• the project participants have the right mix of skills and experience to deliver the project successfully
• the project will access clinical / academic expertise where necessary and appropriate
• the project builds the UK supply chain and addresses end-user needs
• in collaborations, are the consortium’s formation objectives clear? Is extra benefit gained from the collaboration, for example, increased knowledge transfer? Is the consortium greater than the sum of its parts
• the work being conducted is done so internally where possible. If subcontractors are being used, is there adequate justification for the choice made
• the project has access to the appropriate facilities

If you are planning to use subcontractors outside the UK then you must provide evidence that no UK alternative exists or strong justification to support your choice of non-UK contractor.

7.2 Section 2: Funding and added value

Question 9: What are the resources required to deliver the project and their cost?

Minimum score required to progress: 6

Indicate the anticipated project cost making clear the level of contribution from any project participants and the level of funding required.

This information should complement the financial summary table in the application form.

Please use this section to detail the resources required to carry out the project (for example, materials, capital equipment, infrastructure and people). Break down all costs and justify them (for example, quotations to evidence value for money). This should include all internal and external costs.

Costs must be consistent with the category of research and development being undertaken. Please see our funding rules guidance for more information on the rules for the various categories.

In evaluating the costs, assessors will consider:

• is the budget realistic and justified for the overall scale and complexity of the project
• are the budget and resources for work packages adequate and justified
• is the allocation of costs transparent
• does the financial support required fit within the limits set by the specific competition
• does the funding request provide value for public money
• has it been explained how the partners will finance their contributions to the project

More information on eligible and ineligible project costs can be found in our project costs guidance.

Note: Where individuals have roles in 2 or more participating collaborative organisations, costs will be closely scrutinised.

Question 10: How does financial support from Innovate UK and its funding collaborators add value?

Minimum score required to progress: 6

Could this project could go ahead in any form without public funding? What difference would public funding make to your organisation (such as faster progress to market, ability to access expertise or specialist resources, support for pursuing a higher risk strategy or diversification)?

Tell us why you are not able to wholly fund the project from your own resources or other forms of private-sector funding. What would happen if the application is unsuccessful?

Explain how failure to secure public funding for this project would change the nature of activity the collaborating partners would undertake (and related spend profile).

Other funding from public sector bodies

If you have included one or more entries in column 7 of the finance summary table (on the following page), please provide:

• the names of the bodies
• the name of the programme or scheme from which the funds are provided
• the amount of the funds

8. Finance summary

This table lists the total eligible project costs by participant. Please note that only certain project costs are eligible for grant funding under UK State Aid rules. For information on eligible project costs and how to complete the finance forms see the Innovate UK guidance.

Column 1 Organisation name	Please provide the full names of the (lead) organisation and any participants in the project consortium (organisation names as noted in Companies House).
Column 2 Organisation registration number	Companies should provide the Company Registration Number (as noted in Companies House). Universities/HEIs should enter their RC number/charitable status/legal entity registration number etc.
Column 3 Enterprise category	Please select your enterprise category. SME definition is based on the EU definition Medium sized: Headcount <250: Turnover <=50 million euros or balance sheet total <=43 million euros Small: Headcount <50: Turnover <=10 million euros or balance sheet total <=10 million euros Micro: Headcount <10: Turnover <=2 million euros or balance sheet total <=2 million euros
Column 4 Postcode where majority of work will be done	Please provide the postcode of each organisation participating in the project.
Column 5 Contribution to the project by each organisation (£)	Please list the total contribution to be made to the project by each organisation.
Column 6 Funding sought	Please enter the funding sought for each participant organisation for this competition.
Column 7 Other funding from public sector bodies	Please include any funding for the project from any other public sector bodies which has been applied for separately, and not as part of this competition. Funding from other public sector bodies might include other applications to research councils, other government departments, devolved administrations, other public sector organisations and some charities. The purpose of this column is to provide Innovate UK with information on the total public funding for the project.
Column 8 Total (£)	The total cost of the project for each participants. This is the sum of columns 5, 6 and 7 and will be entered automatically.
Bottom row Total (£)	The total of each column will be entered automatically.

Each non-academic participant in your project must provide a partner finance form. This must be submitted with the application form by the lead applicant. Each finance form provides a detailed breakdown on each participant’s total eligible project costs listed in your finance summary table.

9. Project appendices

You may only include appendices A, B and C of additional supporting information for questions 2 and 4 with the late stage awards application form, as described in the guidance to those questions. Submission of any additional appendices/documentation not described in this document will result in your application being judged as ineligible and not sent for assessment. Applications submitted with incorrect content or file name will be ineligible and the application will not be sent for assessment.

In order that assessors can open and read the appendices, each appendix must:

• conform to the maximum length specifications stated for each question
• be submitted in PDF
• be legible at 100% zoom/magnification
• display prominently the last 6 digits of your application number and appendix letter (A, B or C) in the filename of the application form, for example ‘AppendixA-123456’

Please do not submit appendices longer than the specified lengths. Assessors are instructed to only read appendices to the lengths specified in the guidance.