The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has opened the first round of its new Strategic Infrastructure Partnerships (SIPs), with up to £45m available for awards lasting between three and five years.
The funding will support two priorities under the 10-Year Health Plan for England: developing technologies that enable people to live independently at home, and reducing demand on urgent, emergency and primary care services.
Up to £15m will be available for each Strategic Infrastructure Partnership.
The NIHR said the new partnerships are intended to bring together expertise, facilities and resources from across its research infrastructure and the wider health and care system to address challenges that cannot be tackled by individual organisations or disciplines.
Applications must be led by a HealthTech Research Centre and an Applied Research Collaboration, with an eligible NHS organisation in England acting as host.
Partnerships can also involve NHS providers, universities, local government, charities, community organisations and industry.
What the funding means for healthcare estates
For the healthcare estate, the programme comes as the NHS looks to shift more care away from hospitals and towards community-based models of treatment and support.
Successful partnerships are expected to generate evidence, support implementation and help overcome barriers to adopting new technologies and approaches that could enable more care to be delivered outside acute hospital settings.
“These new Strategic Infrastructure Partnerships will help us do exactly that – tackling challenges both locally and at a national scale, and turning the very best research and innovation projects into practical improvements for patients and communities across the country,” said James Frith, Minister for Health Innovation.
The NIHR said SIPs will be “challenge-led, collaborative and impact-focused”, supporting partnerships through the development of evidence, implementation and adoption of innovations.
The funding forms part of the NIHR’s wider research infrastructure as the organisation marks its 20th year.
The NIHR will hold a webinar on the funding opportunity on 14 October.
“Our research infrastructure is full of passionate experts, with boundless experience,” said Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care and CEO of the NIHR.
We want them to unite, combining their strengths with industry, local government, charities and many other partners, to accelerate exciting innovations and research.
