Advancing innovation in accelerated cancer diagnosis
Innovate UK is investing up to £25.4M to support collaborative projects focused on the clinical validation and evaluation of early cancer diagnostic technologies, with a strong emphasis on less common cancers and clear potential for NHS adoption.
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Competition Scope & Overview
Innovate UK, on behalf of the Office for Life Sciences’ (OLS) Cancer Healthcare Goals programme, will invest up to £25.4 million in innovative CR&D projects. This funding will be to support the clinical validation and evaluation of early cancer diagnostic technologies and devices.
This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received.
Projects addressing the needs of those with less common cancers are particularly encouraged. Less common cancers are defined as any cancer type outside of breast, prostate, lung, and bowel cancer. Less common cancers can include rare forms of these four cancer types.
The aim of this competition is to accelerate the development of diagnostic innovations that enable the earlier detection and diagnosis of cancer, particularly less common cancers.
Your project must focus on developing, validating or evaluating diagnostic technologies or approaches that demonstrate clear potential for clinical and health economic impact. Projects can generate robust evidence to support regulatory approval and future NHS adoption.
In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly, but we are still unable to fund it.
Our experience from similar competitions suggests that you could have a 15% chance of success.
We consider a range of factors when determining whether to provide funding to applicants. This includes an assessment of prior conduct, such as any outstanding payments owed to Innovate UK or UKRI. Such factors may influence the funding decision, potentially resulting in a refusal of funding or an award subject to additional scrutiny.
We also reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions. This may be in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations or broader government funding decisions.
This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief. We cannot guarantee other government, or third party sites will always show the correct competition information.
Official Applicant Guidance Documents
Advancing innovation in accelerated cancer diagnosis - Assessor Guidance for applicants.pdf
This document is official assessor guidance for the Innovate UK "Advancing innovation in accelerated cancer diagnosis" competition. It details all 21 application questions alongside the explicit scoring criteria and benchmarks used by assessors to evaluate proposals.
Download Official DocumentApplication Questions & Guidance Brief
Every question below carries specific word limits and guidance criteria.
Project summary
Official Guidance
Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign the right experts to assess your application.
Public description
Official Guidance
Describe your project in detail and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project.
Scope
Official Guidance
Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition. If your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why.
Applicant location (not scored)
Official Guidance
You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation, all partners and any subcontractors working on your project. We are collecting this information to understand more about the geographical location of all applicants.
Animal testing (not scored)
Official Guidance
Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing? You must select one option: Yes, No. We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare. Further information for proposals involving animal testing is available at the UKRI Good Research Hub and NC3R’s animal welfare guidance.
Permits and licences (not scored)
Official Guidance
Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project? We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date. You must select one option: Yes, No, In the process of being applied for, Not applicable.
International collaboration (not scored)
Official Guidance
Does your proposed work involve any international collaboration or engagement? You must provide details of any expected international collaboration or engagement. You must include a list of the names and the countries, any international project co-leads, project partners, visiting researchers, or other collaborators are based in. You must also include details of any subcontractors or service providers. If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration or engagement, your answer must confirm this.
Export licence (not scored)
Official Guidance
You must indicate whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance. You must select one option: Yes, No.
Trusted Research and Innovation (not scored)
Official Guidance
You must explain if your proposed project work relates to UKRI’s Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) Principles, including: a list of any dual-use (both military and non-military) applications to your research; a list of the areas where your project is relevant to one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act; whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance and the status of any applications; a list of any items or substances on the UK Strategic Export Control List. If your proposed work does not relate to UKRI’s TR&I Principles, your answer must confirm this. We may ask you to provide additional TR&I information at a later date, in line with UKRI TR&I Principles and funding terms and conditions.
Clinical problem
Official Guidance
What is the clinical problem your idea looks to address? Discuss the potential scale of the problem: what is the clinical need; how widespread is the issue; what are the consequences if it remains unaddressed. You must detail any research or evidence that supports your response. Your responses to this section must not consider the detail of your innovation but instead focus on the problem it addresses.
Clinical idea
Official Guidance
You must provide a detailed description of your idea. This must refer to the problem you have identified, and how this idea intends to address it. You must demonstrate how your idea addresses the identified clinical need. Do not consider market sizing, project management or risks.
Benefits
Official Guidance
You must outline the benefits you expect to result from your innovation in more detail. In your explanation, include specific metrics or indicators that you intend to use to measure these benefits.
Design
Official Guidance
How will you ensure that your innovation is designed with care and attention to its use, and is developed inclusively? You could consider: user needs, experience, and what they value; what testing you will do and how; any unintended negative impacts and how they can be avoided.
Milestones
Official Guidance
What are the key milestones that will you be aiming to achieve in this project? You must focus on what the funding you would receive from this competition would enable you to do. You must ensure these milestones fit within your anticipated timeline for project delivery.
Delivery of milestones
Official Guidance
What steps will you be taking to ensure the successful delivery of your milestones? Your response must consider what you can do to make sure you achieve the key milestones you have set out to time and at cost.
Route to market
Official Guidance
You must outline the key steps and timeline for bringing your idea to market. This includes the work required once this project has finished. In your response, include information on the following areas where relevant: product development milestones (describe the critical phases and checkpoints in your product development process); supply chain and manufacturing (explain your strategy for sourcing materials and manufacturing the product, including any partnerships or logistical considerations); sales channels and partnerships (identify your planned sales channels and any strategic partnerships that will facilitate market entry).
Top three risks
Official Guidance
You must outline the top three risks for your project in more detail. For each identified risk, explain what actions you will take to mitigate its impact. Risks can come from many areas, for example: Technical risks (product development, functionality of performance); Commercial or financial risks (market adoption, competition or profitability); Environmental or social risks (environmental impact, regulations, social acceptance); Regulatory risks (obtaining necessary regulatory approvals); Project management risks (timelines, team or resources).
Skills
Official Guidance
What skills, capabilities or experience does your team hold that will help you deliver the project? You must include any skills, knowledge, or experiences that are applicable, even if they are not from previous project completions.
Market size
Official Guidance
Estimate the realistic market opportunity for your idea. Provide an evidence based assessment through: 1. The Total Addressable Market (TAM): This is the total market demand for a product or service. It's the maximum revenue opportunity available if 100% market share was achieved. 2. The Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM): The portion of the addressable market that can realistically be captured by your idea. It factors in constraints like competition, geography, pricing, and how easily you can go to market.
Market growth
Official Guidance
How much do you expect your target market to grow over a two, five and ten year period? You must consider the key market trends or drivers underlying this growth. Highlight any research or evidence that supports these expectations in your response.
Competitors
Official Guidance
Who are your main competitors in the market? Where possible, include estimates of their market share and their approximate business size.
Differentiators
Official Guidance
How does your business or idea set itself apart from the competitors you have identified? Provide specific examples and evidence where possible.
Intellectual property details
Official Guidance
Describe your formal intellectual property (IP) strategy and the progress you have made. Include information on whether you have already applied for or had any IP approved, as well as any future plans for IP management.
Public funding
Official Guidance
How will public funding accelerate or enhance your idea compared to relying solely on private investment or internal resources at this stage?