Innovation Centre Challenge Fund – AY2015/16
Introduction
1.
This paper is for the attention of the CEOs of the Innovation Centres and their
potential partners. It sets out the background and process for the first year of
the Innovation (Centre) Challenge Fund or ICF in academic year (AY) 2015/16.
Background
2.
The Innovation Centre (IC) programme was launched in 2012. There are
currently eight ICs in operation1.
3.
The Scottish Government’s programme for Government (2014/15) 2 has as part
of its purpose “…to create a more successful country, with opportunities for all
of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth.”
4.
The programme plans to support innovation through “…building on the
successful creation of Scotland's first eight Innovation Centres by supporting
the Centres to work together on industrial and societal challenges through a £1
million Innovation Challenge Fund. This will call for action across more than one
industry sector stimulating multiple Centres to draw collaboratively on the
expertise of our world-leading universities and other stakeholders to bring
innovative, industry focused solutions to market to benefit the people and
economy of Scotland.”
5.
Scotland CanDo3, the Scottish Government’s strategy for innovation and
entrepreneurialism, highlights Scotland’s ambition and determination to be a
more innovative nation. The ICF should also be seen as one way that will help
the ICs deliver on the strategy.
6.
Any challenge should be a national or regional priority relevant to an ‘industry’
and/or the public sector and the impact should be for the public good in
Scotland.
1
http://www.sfc.ac.uk/innovationcentres
http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0046/00464455.pdf
3
http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0043/00438045.pdf
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7.
A key outcome of the ICF should be a demonstration of how the Innovation
Centres can collaborate together and with others on issues of national
importance to Scotland.
Aims and objectives
8.
The following objectives shall apply to the ICF:
 Purpose: to encourage collaborative multi-disciplinary responses to
Scotland’s industrial and societal challenges;
 Outcomes: activities that demonstrate feasibility, routes to development;
 Impact: over time new products and processes will be developed and
commercialised, enhanced stakeholder relations, social inclusion and a
stronger IC community etc.
The Innovation Challenge Fund AY2015/16 – innovation in cancer
9.
For the first year4 (AY2015/16) SFC, in partnership with the Chief Scientist’s
Office (CSO), has decided to target the fund in the area of health and to explore
the opportunity to align the ICF with recent strategic developments focussed on
cancer within the Scottish Health Directorate and NHS Scotland.
10. This year’s challenge fund is defined as:
“Outcomes for cancer patients in Scotland lag behind those of our Northern
European counterparts. We are inviting proposals for collaborative activity to help
Scotland to become a world leading carer for people with cancer and supporting
their full participation in society.”
11. The SFC has made available up to £1M for investment in the ICF. This funding
will be allocated to the ICs to fund IC and academic activity. It is expected that
other cash and in-kind contributions and investments will be made by industry,
NHS, third sector and/or others.
Briefing to the cancer challenge
12. The following briefing is intended as a guide only.
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This is the first year of the Challenge Fund. It is envisaged that future years will focus on other challenges of
national importance to Scotland.
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13. Outcomes for cancer patients in Scotland lag behind those of our Northern
European counterparts5. The reasons for this disparity are only partly
understood and require further analysis, research and innovation.
14. To improve our outcomes will require action on multiple fronts including, for
example innovations that target:
 Diagnosing cancer at an earlier stage: this offers the greatest potential for
transformational improvements in patient outcomes. Investment in early
diagnosis research has been limited in the UK and internationally making this
an important area of focus for the future;
 Basic understanding of cancer: there is a need to better understand what
causes and drives cancer;
 Cancer prevention: exploring new approaches to lower the risk of getting
cancer, Including supporting the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle and
avoiding exposure to known cancer-causing substances;
 Medicine: optimise the chance of survival for every individual, through
precision medicine approaches to treatment;
 Early detection of recurrence: novel clinical, imaging and “omics”
approached for the early detection of recurrence of multiple solid cancers.
Criteria
15. It is envisaged that the ICF will support ‘phase-one’ activity i.e. we are looking
for one or more projects (between six and twelve months in duration) that will
demonstrate feasibility and potential routes to development. The potential for
‘phase-two’ activity would be subsequently considered by participating
consortia, Scottish Government, NHS and other relevant stakeholders.
16. Ideally, we would like to fund as small a number of proposals as possible in
order to achieve focus and promote cross-IC collaboration. However, we will
consider supporting more than one proposal where it is clear they will operate
as a cohort and will deliver strands of activity targeted at delivering solutions to
the challenge as defined.
17. Any proposal should6:
5
Roberta de Angelis, Milena Sant, Professor Michel P. Coleman et al ‘Cancer survival in Europe 1999-2007 by country and
age: results of EUROCARE-5 – a population based study’ - The Lancet Oncology: Vol15, Issue1, January 2014, Pages 23-34
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These criteria are not exhaustive and are intended as a framework to guide the development of any
proposal/s.
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 clearly address the ‘challenge’;
 involve more than one IC in the collaboration, be inter/multi-disciplinary and
have a nominated lead-IC;
 have explicit NHS support and engagement – evidenced by ‘sign-up’ from the
CEO of participating NHS institution/s;
 have an identified NHS person who will act as the lead problem solver or
owner and can commit the appropriate amount of time to ensure the
‘project’ is focussed on delivery of agreed outcomes;
 include a fully costed six month work-plan. SFC funding will support 100% of
IC and academic related costs. It is expected that other cash and in-kind
contributions and investments will be made by industry, NHS, third sector
and/or others;
 include expected outcomes deliverable within six months and predicted
longer term impacts where relevant;
 provide evidence that any collaboration agreements or other agreements,
such as IP management, have at least reached in-principle approval with all
relevant parties concerned;
 demonstrate that a fair and robust process has been used to identify
academic and any other partners;
 demonstrate how the Innovation Centres will directly engage and benefit
from the activity – for example, IC staff engagement, Board engagement with
progress, exposure to inter/multi-disciplinary activity, learning, case studies,
strengthening the IC community.
Process
18. As part of the Scottish Government’s Cancer programme a facilitated ‘Cancer
Frontiers’ meeting will be held on 7 July 2015 in Edinburgh. It is intended that
this event will bring all ICs, NHS, industry, Scottish Government, charities and
others together to better understand Scotland’s ‘challenges’ in this area and to
explore potential collaborations and proposal ideas.
19. The event is intended to be an open sharing of ideas and to pave the way for
further more detailed conversations. The theme will be ‘collaboration’ and the
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ICF will be considered as one potential mechanism. No final agreements or
decisions will take place at the event.
20. Proposals should be submitted to the Scottish Funding Council (to Keith
McDonald, Senior Policy Officer, [email protected]) by Noon, 8 October
2015. Proposals should fully address the criteria and be no more than 10 sides
of A4 - inclusive of any annexes or other relevant material.
21. Proposals will be evaluated by a small, expert panel appointed by SFC in
consultation with Scottish Government Health Directorate.
Monitoring and evaluation
22. A monitoring and evaluation framework (MEF) has been established for the ICs.
Any project funded from the challenge fund will be monitored by SFC following
the principles and processes of the MEF. SFC and its partners also envisage
holding a further Frontiers meeting at an interim stage to discuss progress.
Indicative schedule
Launch and 2015 ‘Cancer Frontiers’ meeting, Edinburgh
7 July 2015
Deadline for proposals
8 October 2015
Assessment
October 2015
Funding decisions
November 2015
Frontiers meeting to discuss progress
January 2016
Final outcomes reported to SFC
TBC
Outcomes disseminated and potential for phase 2 activity
explored at 2016 Frontiers meeting
TBC
Further information
23. For further information please contact: Sophie Lowry, Senior Policy Officer,
[email protected]; or Keith McDonald, Senior Policy Officer,
[email protected].
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