These are Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competitions funded by the Office for Life Sciences (OLS) and the Scottish Health Industry Partnership (SHIP).

These competitions form part of the UK Addiction Healthcare Mission and UK Life Sciences Vision and support the Scottish Government National Mission to reduce drug related deaths and harms.

OLS and SHIP are investing up to £5 million inclusive of VAT across the two competitions. Their purpose is to develop disruptive, innovative solutions that focus on detecting, responding to, and intervening in, early acute risk of non-fatal and fatal overdose.

Competition 1 – SBRI: Overdose detection, response and intervention feasibility (this competition)

This competition is for feasibility study projects which have not yet reached prototype development.

This is phase 1 of a potential 2 phase competition. The decision to proceed to phase 2 will depend on success in phase 1 and the assessment of a separate application.

Competition 2 – SBRI: Overdose detection, response and intervention demonstration

This competition is for projects with technology already at an advanced stage of development, and near ready to be deployed in a real-world environment.

This is a single-phase competition.

It is your responsibility to ensure you are submitting your application to the correct competition for your project. You will not be able to transfer your application and it will not be sent for assessment if it is out of scope.

In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process.

Any adoption and implementation of a solution from this competition would be subject to a separate, possibly competitive, procurement exercise. This competition does not cover the purchase of any solution.

SHIP and OLS reserves the right not to award any contracts. SHIP and OLS give no guarantee or warranty as to the nature, or number of projects funded.

This competition closes at 11am UK time on the date of the deadline.

‍

Eligibility

Your project

Projects must:

• aim to start by 1 August 2023
• end 4 months after the agreed start date
• work in conjunction with a test bed research partner by delivering R&D services to develop a solution
• acquire evidence which will support future product approval and use of the innovations across the UK health systems (Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England)

As part of your application, you must engage with a suitable research and innovation partner to serve as a 'test bed'. The test bed research partner is required to develop your proposed solution, gain relevant clinical and non-clinical advice and to determine the extent of required work within the test bed.

Suitable test bed research partners could include the NHS Scotland Regional Test Beds, or equivalents located in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, for example:

• National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR infrastructure)
• Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs)
• Life Sciences Hub Wales
• Drug and Alcohol Research Network (DARN)

You can also propose any other suitable UK based alternative.

Applicant

To lead a project, you can:

• be an organisation of any size, registered in the UK, European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA)
• work alone or with others from business, research organisations, research and technology organisations or the third sector as subcontractors

Contracts will be awarded to a single legal entity only. However, if you can justify subcontracting components of the work, you can engage specialists or advisers. This work will still be the responsibility of the main contractor.

Organisations are advised to only lead on one application per technology identifying a suitable research partner.

Organisations are asked to confirm if they would be willing to work with other research partners.

This competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian or Belarusian entity as lead or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian or Belarusian source.

‍