Introduction
The i4i Digital Health Technologies for Children and Young People’s Mental Health call encourages proposals addressing a range of children and young people’s mental health conditions particularly in geographical regions that have been historically under-served by research activity or where there is a high unmet mental health burden.
The following top tips are far from exhaustive but should help you think about the critical aspects of your project in order to develop a compelling case. We don’t expect you to have all of the answers, but please ensure you address the headings highlighted in bold; your narrative should include only those points relevant to your project proposal.
Describe the unmet patient and clinical need you are addressing
- How do you know there is an unmet need for your technology? This call will fund the development of technologies at any stage of their translational pathway as long as proof-of-concept has been demonstrated.
- What is the evidence base for the unmet need (e.g. literature/NICE guidelines, market research)?
- How does the proposal address populations with high mental health and care need in the UK?
- How does the proposal build on existing evidence or practices within mental health?
- How does the proposal address stated regional or national priorities in mental health, and validate how they are of particular research need?
- How would the implementation of your technology into the healthcare system address this unmet need? We do not expect a health economic model but the use of published figures can be useful to argue your case.
Describe your proposed solution and the level of innovation that underpins
- Briefly explain how your product works, ensure that your technical description is clear and can be understood by a generalised scientific audience.
- Clearly describe entry and exit points indicating the current stage and the desired stage of your technology at the end of the project.
- How significant is the level of innovation of your technology? For example:
- In what ways is it breakthrough or transformative?
- What is its competitive advantage?
- What is its potential to change technology or clinical practice?
- Briefly explain how you propose to develop your medical technology into a market ready product.
- Does the proposal include an appropriate range of multidisciplinary and methodological approaches?
Describe your value proposition - the benefits to patients and healthcare
- What evidence do you have that your medical technology is feasible?
- What is the demonstrable benefit of your technology? Does it reduce mortality or morbidity, improve quality of life, reduce misdiagnosis, improve patient outcomes and experiences, or connect patients with the healthcare system?
- What patient groups will benefit from your innovation?
Describe how you plan to use the funds to develop your medical technology
- Why is this funding essential for the development of your medical technology?
- Describe your project plan with clearly defined work packages, timelines and deliverables. It might be useful to provide a summary of each work package and its approximate cost.
- How will you ensure that the project will be managed effectively?
- If applicable to your technology, have you considered regulatory and ethical aspects?
- What are the risks associated with your project? How will you mitigate against them?
Describe the strengths of the project team
- Who are the key players in your project team? Who will lead which work package, and why did you choose them? If you lack expertise in a particular area, how will you fill the gap?
- Briefly describe your experience in successfully applying for funding and delivering projects. Please note that this is not a prerequisite.
- Highlight recent formal/informal collaborations that are relevant to your application. Please note that a formal collaboration is not part of the eligibility requirements for this call.
Describe your IP and Commercialisation strategy
- How are you going to get your technology adopted in the NHS?
- What are the UK and global markets for your product? Who are the key players? What penetration do you realistically expect to achieve?
- Do you have Freedom to Operate, and what is the evidence for this? Are there any third party rights to your technology?
- Who will own the foreground IP and what relevant background IP is associated with your technology (e.g. copyright, patents, trademarks, trade secrets)?
- Does the proposal include clear plans for implementation, knowledge mobilisation and dissemination?
- What are your plans after the Digital Health Technologies for Children and Young People’s Mental Health project? Do you intend to apply for another NIHR award or funding from another organisation? What are your long term commercialisation plans?
Describe how your project provides value for money - financial projections
- Explain why your projected spend offers value for money.
- If you are an SME, show the projected cash flow forecast for the year of the Digital Health Technologies for Children and Young People’s Mental Health award and its impact on the financial health of your company.
Patient and public involvement (PPI)
- Does the proposal clearly demonstrate how patients, service users and/or carers are involved and engaged in the research, and how the proposed research is relevant to them?
- It is essential to set out your plans to involve patients/service users, carers and the public in the Expression of Interest. If invited for Stage 2, your patient/service user, carer and public involvement plans will be assessed by the funding committee including patient/service users, carers and public members.
- Information and resources to assist you can be found on the NIHR website (a definition of patient and public involvement in research, briefing notes for researchers on how to involve patients/service users, carers and the public and payment guidance for researchers and professionals).