NIHR Horizon Scanning Centre (NIHR HSC) Recommissioning

Key features

• Proposals can be up to £22 million for an initial period of 5 years with a review built into year 3. 
• This commissioning cycle has a one year transitional period built in to support embedding new ways of working / hand over as necessary whilst providing continued policy support.
• This newly commissioned NIHR HSC will include higher expectations on governance, a greater focus on national priorities, and will be an internationally recognised centre of excellence and capacity building in horizon scanning and data analytics.
• The new centre will balance short term information needs alongside longitudinal tracking of trends. 
• The competition will be a single stage application form and will be made available on the NIHR Research Management System (RMS) on 10 September 2024. The deadline for applications will be 1pm 05 November 2024 (with Expression of Interest (EoI) to be submitted by 1pm 09 October 2024).

Transition board

From April 2025 the successful applicant will have a one year handover period with the current centre as part of due diligence and contracting. A formal transition board will need to be established to oversee a number of elements required to move towards the new iteration of the HSC. Membership of the transition board will include the NIHR Scientific Director for Innovation and key stakeholders and report progress to the DHSC Deputy Director for NIHR Programmes. The transition board will meet quarterly, or more often as agreed at the kick-off meeting with NIHR secretariat and key stakeholders to ensure that the transition remains on track to open the new centre in April 2026. The kick-off meeting is to be held no later than 1 month after the award is notified.

The transition board will oversee:

• Data arrangements
• Selection of members of the Advisory and Management Board
• Establishment of KPIs during the transition itself
• Mapping of stakeholders and networks in the ecosystem that will be recipients of outputs, or amplify others messages as part of the additional requirements of the new iteration (including those that may not be current beneficiaries of HS)
• Work with stakeholders to agree methodology to determine national level priorities and scanning methods capable of responding to stakeholders needs
• Any pilot ways of working between partners and broader stakeholders that support new ways of working in the new contract such that formal governance arrangements can be implemented within Q1 of the new contract
• Maintain current contracted work until the new contract takes over e.g. the medicines feed to NICE

Role of the NIHR HSC

The life sciences industry is a key sector of international competitiveness for the UK. Horizon scanning provides broad underpinning support for the Council for Science and Technology’s advice to the government on the ambition to strengthen the UK’s position as a science superpower. As such there will be extensive stakeholder engagement required to determine national research priorities and scanning needs, as well as tailoring of the outputs to the respective lenses of different audiences. 

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has funded a horizon scanning centre consistently over approximately 30 years to provide support to health technology assessment and to alert the health and care system to new technologies and innovations so that the NHS is ready to take advantage of better treatments for patients.

Horizon scanning as a research tool has increased in visibility in recent years and many parts of the health and care system are developing systems to support horizon scanning. Whilst it means different things to different groups, each group needs to build capacity to identify the right scope and then to translate the information into actionable insights. If all agencies carried out their own scanning, this would represent a significant level of duplication of effort and a central group able to support definition of the research, development of appropriate methodology and support to analyse and interpret the information is a powerful model and one that has been adopted internationally.

The NIHR HSC will support UK health system needs. It is specifically focussed on those needs identified via NHS demand signalling and NICE priorities and has a formal role to identify emerging trends in new (and potentially game-changing) innovations in healthcare products and technologies at an early stage of development (medicines, devices, digital etc.) to help identify potentially actionable trends. It produces research outputs that inform national policy and decision making for stakeholders across the health and social care system to:

• Provide internationally leading horizon scanning capability to collaboratively support the identification of new technologies and drugs to benefit UK citizens, and promote the growth of UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) competitiveness.
• Support health and care delivery in the UK in the assessment of new and emerging health and care technologies to support policy makers to utilise the early warning and prepare the system for investment / adoption / regulatory change. 
• Disseminate research outputs to a wide variety of audiences and in different formats to support best practice sharing, community engagement and knowledge transfer into actionable information.

The outputs from NIHR HSC will impact on both the implementation and realisation of several Government policies and strategies including but not limited to:

• The UK Innovation Strategy (2023)
• The 5 -year strategic plan for NICE (2021-2026) (.PDF) (.PDF) 
• NHS Long Term Plan and especially the MedTech Funding Mandate (.PDF) (.PDF)
• UK Life Sciences Vision
• Medical Technology Strategy
• Policies related to access to new medicines in the NHS e.g. 2024 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing Access and Growth
• Taking account of the NHSE Integrated Rules Based Pathway Consultation 
• Taking account of new emerging technology commitments
• Best Research for Best Health: The Next Chapter including in support of the NIHR industry strategy 

The HSC will be expected to adapt and evolve as policies and strategies are updated (e.g. the next 10 year NHS plan).

Next iteration of NIHR HSC

The HSC conducts research at the science / policy interface and uses intelligence, data and insights to support policy makers. It develops tools and uses evidence synthesis to present robust, reliable, quality assured data, with appropriate data limitations, that can be used to balance evidence for strategic policy development as well as offering broader UK life science support. 

The HSC is contracted to support a 5 year fore view of the medicines and MedTech (medical devices, in vitro diagnostics and digital technologies) fields and support a narrative on what is informing these changes. The 3 primary stakeholders will continue to be NHS England, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), and the NIHR, but also include any organisation that has made investments in HS capability that the HSC can support such as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). Together these stakeholders will determine most of the requirements and drivers of HS research needs and resource utilisation.

The health and care policy and regulatory landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years both within the UK and across Europe resulting in policy and regulatory challenges and requirements for information at an increased pace, sometimes leading to competing demands for horizon scanning resources in similar topic areas. However, whilst stakeholders may require different scan types (deep dive, rapid review etc.) clinical evaluation data takes time to generate. Therefore, an opportunity exists to increase the UK’s capacity to understand HS data, its generation, limitations and robustness to increase the use of the intelligence delivered by creating more capacity and capability with stakeholders to co-create meaningful outputs and generate a more holistic view overall, as well as to challenge how existing data can be complemented and reframed to change its impact to different audiences. This will support the greater reuse of data (take once use many) and increase engagement between the centre and policy makers and is a key requirement of capability building in this iteration of the HSC.  There is also expected to be extensive networking and knowledge mobilisation to support the more pronounced capacity building element in this contract and this is likely to bring in wider engagement with organisations such as the Health Innovation Network, as well as engagement with UK Plc health and care organisations.

The next iteration of the NIHR HSC will continue to develop world leading methodology (capability) and this will for the first time need to be benchmarked against other countries. The first benchmarking exercise will fall under this contract but the expectation is that ongoing metrics will be collected to support future benchmarking exercises that will occur in future recommissioning cycles.

This iteration of the HSC is also an opportunity to expand on the current activity to engage with underserved communities, to understand their health needs and be more inclusive in knowledge dissemination to support research priorities that can be included in commissioning research activity, a key element of the NIHR strategy.

Finally, whilst there is the expectation of an annual planning cycle, an ad hoc mechanism to approve other work is required as long as delivery resources are available, and Management Board agrees the work plan. A justification for the balance between annual planning and the ad hoc budget is required.

Elements that applicants need to specifically address in their application include:

1. A description of the proposed structure of the HSC and how it will be embedded across the research ecosystem:

   1. To demonstrate a deep understanding of the UK health and care system policy and regulatory environment including knowledge not yet in the public domain of policy issues through existing stakeholder relationships
   2. The expectation is that there will be a lead organisation to hold the research contract but that collaborators / sub contractors can be included where appropriate

    

2. The HSC will need a shared responsibility model with stakeholders for research delivery. Considerations include: 

   1. How will data be shared between stakeholders i.e. data sharing agreement, licence to access, fee structure
   2. Demonstrate ability to work across the ecosystem at different levels
   3. How will key groups of stakeholders be included to decide research topics for national level scanning

    

3. How an international benchmarking exercise to demonstrate world leading capability will be conducted:

   1. Demonstration of QA processes and framework, examples of best practice in data visualisation and ability to produce outputs for a range of different audiences including policy makers and the public
   2. Initial elements for ongoing metric collection (see below in Governance) and reporting to support benchmarking every 5 years 

    

4. Be transparent about how decisions are made to decide on scanning priorities and allocate resources:

   1. How will a balance between different stakeholder scanning needs be achieved for national benefit; for any particular topic what will the balance be between deep dive or quick level scans? How will topics be decided? Timescales for delivery? 
   2. How will data insights be built upon to account for the different timescales that stakeholders require information on, recognising that different parts of the system are working to different time horizons?
   3. What approaches will be trialled to allow stakeholders to work on national level topics but develop outputs relevant to their needs?

    

5. To develop a centre of excellence in horizon scanning with a clear role for capacity building with technical analysts and policy makers in both horizon scanning methods and the policy environment in which HS takes place:

   1. How will technical horizon scanning skills be developed at the centre, is there a career path for analysts, how will continuous improvement be captured?
   2. How will the centre build capacity in policy stakeholders ability to work with the data limitations from scans to generate meaningful outputs

    

6. Enhance engagement and dissemination with underserved communities: This is a key issue for DHSC and its agencies and ALBs, what expertise does the lead applicant or consortia hold in this area?

    

7. Collaborating with industry: How will the HSC gain insight from industry and build collaborative relationships?

Governance

The NIHR HSC will need to demonstrate a high level of transparency in ways of working and governance arrangements. The NIHR HSC will need to:

• Establish an Independent Advisory Board possibly with international and devolved nation representation to support world class research, and drive the benchmarking strategy and capacity building remit. The Advisory Board will be the annual budget approval body and will be responsible for developing and managing a balanced scorecard approach to support international benchmarking and top level outcomes. Possible indices include international standing (committee representation, publications, other); community engagement (underserved, unmet clinical need, profile of community engagement work etc.); improving best practice (increasing reuse of data, dissemination to different audiences); increasing national level reach (network engagement, one to many information sharing); capacity building development (secondments, other); innovation service support for UK SMEs, charity engagement. 
• The Advisory Board should agree on a clear, transparent and published mechanism that internal or external stakeholders can follow to engage with the HSC.
• Create a Management Board to be approved and chaired by the NIHR Scientific Director for Innovation, that will include representatives of the stakeholders, any financial contributors to the NIHR HSC, and others invited / agreed to by the Scientific Director for Innovation or NIHR CSA. The primary goal will be to prioritise, agree, and plan delivery of high level annual scanning topics for sign off by the Advisory Board including proposing an annual budget. The Management Board will be held accountable for scanning outputs, their quality assurance and dissemination to stakeholders, the advisory board and the wider communities. The management board will map to identify what level of data, outputs and timescales are required to plan horizon scanning and assign HSC resources for delivery in detail on an annual basis. The aim is to prioritise and plan the majority of annual resources to maximise the use of data, capacity development and support best practice sharing to deliver the national objectives. At the same time two/ three/five year horizon mapping will be loosely identified which will further support the capacity building remit and interchange between the centre and stakeholders. A level of ad hoc annual budget can be reserved as determined annually by the Management Board for added value activities including rapid reports, policy specific requests, and disease area investigations with the balance between business as usual and ad hoc activities being accommodated by the applicant. 
• All management board financial contributing stakeholders will endeavour to agree to the annual plan of high level topics and resources required to deliver them.

The Management Board will devise a  mechanism for requesting and approving ad hoc queries expecting this to be only a small portion (10-20%) of the available budget for the centre in any year.

Commercial offering

During the first 12 months of operation the newly contracted organisation will be required to bring forward a proposal to commercialise some of the NIHR HSC offering in line with the DHSC contract expectation of commercialising IP developed by its funding. This will help fund the services, and help UK SMEs, charities and potential inward investors in the Life science space understand the potential of the UK market and bring innovation to market quicker. It is intended that the host organisation will agree that any funds generated from commercial ventures will flow back into the HSC for spending on HSC capacity building. From the second year, any such revenue should be apportioned by the Management Board according to the HSC Governance process.

Capacity Building

The NIHR HSC will be expected to establish the horizon scanning centre as a globally recognised centre of excellence and capacity building in horizon scanning and support a programme of exchange opportunities or secondments to support knowledge utilisation and the generation of actionable outcomes with key stakeholders. As an example, the NIHR HSC might make use of policy fellows in a mixed model of formal secondments and short term shared working agreements. This will support stakeholders develop capability to interpret scanning outputs relevant to the lens they need to view it from whilst having greater understanding of where, and how information is derived, and its limitations and knowledge gaps. Once data provenance is understood it will also help address the proactive vs reactive requests for information and help manage stakeholder requests.

The NIHR HSC will have a remit for academic capacity development and training across the full career spectrum, from predoctoral to post-doctoral, that supports greater equity of opportunities for all. While the focus should be on developing early career researchers, consideration should be given to all stages of the academic career pathway, in particular, post-doctoral skills and training as well as future career development. Training and support should be in line with the principles and best practice set out within the Researcher Development Concordat.

Partnerships are expected to demonstrate how they align with the national offer from the NIHR Academy, including in areas of need for research capacity development. The NIHR HSC will be expected to appoint a named Academic Career Development Lead (ACDL) who will participate in and contribute to the NIHR Academic Career Development Forum. The ACDL will also be expected to sit on the advisory board to provide top level insight into development opportunities. They will work in partnership with the NIHR Academy to share best practice and encourage excellence in career development and training. Individuals whose academic career development is being supported through NIHR HSC funding will also benefit from NIHR Academy membership.

In summary, the expectation would be to develop a role for horizon scanning capability development in two critical areas:

• Through secondments across government partners, external stakeholders, industry (SMEs) and charities; bridge the knowledge interpretation gap which is a key skill in short national supply. 
• Be a centre for training data analysts/data miners/artificial intelligence and the next generation of horizon scanning capability. 

Engagement and Addressing Unmet Need

As a funder NIHR wants to use this HSC iteration to bring greater synergy across the NIHR offering in the health and care landscape. The NIHR’s mission includes partnering with communities, carers, patients and the public to improve the relevance, quality and impact of our research, this includes helping to identify unmet need as well as identifying interventions aiming to address these. This is relevant across several scales, from supporting NHSE demand signalling and NICE priority projects as well as taking a wider role in supporting the NIHR in its research commissioning and dissemination remit. This will form part of the benchmarking outcome metrics. This will include better engagement with NIHR infrastructure and programmes, and the potential offering of the NIHR to industry (particularly SMEs). The NIHR HSC would be expected to support any designated NIHR dissemination unit in disseminating findings via the NIHR HSC networks. The HSC will collaborate with other data collating, and analysing units within NIHR e.g. CBI (Centre for Business Intelligence) to ensure reduction of duplication, sharing of knowledge and tools. 

In agreement with the findings and outcomes of the DHSC independent report on Equity in medical devices, the NIHR HSC will be expected to collaborate widely to help address potential bias that can be introduced at every stage of the health technology lifecycle. The NIHR HSC will have a population focus and complete regional level analysis in order to build evidence around underserved communities and help people with the worst health outcomes.  e.g. by working with NIHR research inclusion team. 

The NIHR HSC will need to demonstrate the ability to support regional networks to expand their research and dissemination activities and work with key stakeholders to coordinate national scanning activity maximising the use of information and agreeing timelines to deliver scans.

Summary of HSC outcomes

In summary, the aims of the next iteration of the contract for the NIHR HSC are to:

• provide 5 year HS foreground for medicines and MedTech (medical devices, in vitro diagnostics and digital health technologies) in a flexible system wide offer to evidence users of HS outputs
• extend current national capability and benchmark it internationally to support the UK science leadership ambition 
• coordinate national health and care scanning supporting a wide range of stakeholders
• build shared responsibility to provide actionable insights from data and support evidence based policy outputs for decision making
• work collaboratively with the wider innovation and adoption landscape to improve efficiencies in identifying new products to benefit health and care from early to late stage research
• Contribute to our nation’s international competitiveness, and encourage inward investment and trade by identification of products and services that may benefit the UK health and care system
• Support the role of the NIHR as a funder in identifying and addressing unmet needs by working collaboratively in innovative ways to impact the population with the highest health burdens
• Establish new governance and reporting structures

Selection criteria

Applications will be reviewed against the following assessment criteria:

• A high degree of understanding of the complexities of the innovation ecosystem that meets the needs of the key stakeholders and UK health and science policy
• The track-record of the applicants in conducting world-class research based horizon scanning for healthcare and medical technologies in terms of peer reviewed research
• The existing research capacity and any plans for increasing capacity in horizon scanning
• The strength and quality of governance arrangements - a model that can provide both long term development on key national priorities and an ad hoc reactive model to support policy development
• The strength of the plan to become a centre for expertise and capacity building in horizon scanning and plans for increasing capacity including through the provision of training which supports diverse career paths and promotes inclusion
• The strength of the strategic plan for patient and public involvement and engagement
• The proposed commitment and contribution from the lead organisation, consortia to the NIHR HSC
• Ability to work in partnership via integration, collaboration and synergy with relevant components of the NIHR and wider policy and research ecosystem
• Value for money

Supporting documents

• NIHR Horizon Scanning Centre (NIHR HSC) Guidance for Applicants

Application form template

You can download a template of the application form below. Please use this template as a guide to help you prepare your application. This Word document of the Outline Application form is to be used as a guide only. It is designed to help you complete the online application form only. For example, to see how many characters are accepted in each section and to see how information in the form is laid out. Please do not try to use this as an application form. You must submit your application in our online application system which you can access by clicking on the 'Apply now' links when a funding opportunity is open.

How to apply

The NIHR HSC application process is a one stage application with the requirement to submit an expression of interest. 

Funding applications must be submitted via the NIHR Research Management System (RMS). Applications must be submitted by 1pm on 5 November 2024.

The expression of interest form is intended to provide an indication of interest to the secretariat to aid in planning of Committee and external peer and public review. Please submit your expression of interest form by 09 October 2024. 

Application process

Applications will consist of the following

• Initial scope check by NIHRCC secretariat
• External peer and public review
• Rebuttals to peer and public review
• Committee assessment with applicant interviews

In-person interviews with the Committee are scheduled for 06 February 2025. Please keep this day free for potential interviews.

The Department of Health and Social Care will ratify proposals recommended for funding.

Please note DHSC terms and conditions of the Research Contract will apply and terms are non-negotiable. Examples of NIHR Research Contract templates and further information are available through the website.

Contact details

• For help with your application contact NIHRHSCCommissioning@nihr.ac.uk