SBRI East - Questions & Answers Last updated 17/06/09    

FAQ 1: Is my business eligible to submit an application to the SBRI scheme?

SBRI is aimed at businesses working on the development of an innovative process, material, device, product or service. Successful applications will be those whose technology best addresses the specific needs identified, with the potential to make a measurable improvement to patient outcomes.

Any organisation can submit an application, although it is expected that the opportunities presented by the scheme will be particularly beneficial to SMEs. Applications from early stage companies and companies in the East of England are particularly welcome but these are not selection criteria.

Development contracts will be awarded only to individual companies. However, companies may also wish to demonstrate how that successful collaboration will enhance their overall development. Work may be subcontracted but the main contractor is required to identify who will carry it out.

FAQ 2: I am based at a University - may I apply?

Pre-start-up based personnel may apply, however if successful the applicant must set up as a company before the contact is issued. The principal investigators or named applicants must be employed by the business.

FAQ 3: What are the priority areas for innovations?

Applications will need to address the priorities set out in the NHS East of England Vision – Towards the Best Together, in particular those where innovation and new technology can make the most impact. In each case the challenge is to produce practical solutions which will make a substantial difference to the effective management of patients and improve healthcare outcomes. All proposals will need to demonstrate that they can contribute to reducing the carbon output from healthcare provision.

1. Keeping Children Active

The areas that affordable technology could be applied in are:

Motivating children at risk of obesity to take more exercise

Monitoring the amount of exercise that children are taking and encouraging them to be more active

2. Managing Long Term Conditions

We would like ideas that can be shown to make a difference to the care of patients with long term conditions. The areas that proposals should focus on are:

Remote monitoring of patients combined with decision support to better enable care from home

Innovative solutions to data and systems management with relation to patient care

3. Patient Safety

Specifically there are the following areas for improvement:

Better patient monitoring, accurate transfer and interpretation of data to determine correct treatment

Designing in best practice

Elimination of calculation errors in medication

FAQ 4: How do I submit my application?

All bids should be made using the Application form which will be made available for download here once the competition is formally launched in April.

Completed forms should be e-mailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it by 12 noon on 30 June 2009. You must also return a signed paper copy of the Application Form by 5pm on 3rd July 2009 to the following address: Health Enterprise East, CTBI, Papworth Hospital, Papworth Everard, Cambridge CB23 3RE

Details of the challenges and expected outcomes of the projects can be found in the Technical Specification. You are strongly advised to read the Guidance Notes before completing the application_form.

FAQ 5: What is the deadline for applications?

12 noon on 30 June 2009 - completed form by e-mail.

5pm on 3 July 2009 - paper copy by post.

FAQ 6: When will I find out if my application has been successful?

Successful applicants for Phase 1 will be advised in September 2009.

Please note: Once the competition is closed, no further dialogue will be entered into. In order to streamline the process for this competition, feedback to unsuccessful suppliers will not be available until after the contracts in Phase 1 have been let.

FAQ 7: How will the winning applications be chosen?

Bids will be selected by a process including peer review and initial scrutiny by a subpanel. Applications which are successful at the scrutiny stage will be considered by a final assessment panel. Initial scrutiny will be carried out in one or more stages depending on the number of bids received.

Assessment criteria will include:

· Match to NHS East priority

· Senior clinician/management endorsement

· Evidence base for proposed solution

· Fit with strategic direction of applicant

· Potential market and impact

· Stakeholder involvement

· Low carbon impact*

· Project plan

· Value for money

· Freedom to operate

The Assessment Panel will comprise representatives from the funding bodies, policy leads and technology specialists relevant to the applications and user representation. In some cases written reports from specialists will be sought.

As a condition of awarding the contracts, all awardees will be required to submit an 'end of contract' report that will be collated into a publicly available report.

*All proposals will need to demonstrate that they are contributing to achieving a low carbon environment.

More detailed selection criteria are available in the SBRI Guidance Notes.

FAQ 8: Should Project Costs include VAT?

VAT is the responsibility of the invoicing company, but it is expected that applications will be inclusive of VAT.

FAQ 9: Can Overheads and Profit be Included in Project Costs?

An element of profit and overheads may be included in project costs, however such an element must be realistic. Assessors will consider how feasible financial costs are in terms of 'value for money' at the assessment stage. Projects showing costs that are considered unreasonable will be rejected on these grounds.

FAQ 10: How much detail should I go into for the Carbon Impact Assessment?

Companies should follow the information given in the guidance notes, detailing their assumptions and making use of the examples given to calculate any actual CO2 savings in building energy use, travel or procurement. Where the proposed technology is likely to affect the carbon output from healthcare through a change in the care pathway, and data is not readily available to convert this into a CO2 saving, companies should quote the saving as the number of beddays saved, number of saved appointments or reduced admissions etc. During the course of the next few months we will be working with partners to devise a standard model that will convert the number of beddays saved etc into an estimated CO2 saving.

FAQ 11: How will the competition work?

The competition will be run in two phases.

Phase 1

Phase 1 is intended to show the technical feasibility of the proposed concept, and the development contracts placed will be for a maximum of £100,000 per project. We aim to fund several Phase 1 contracts in each topic, each for six months.

Phase 2

Only those projects that have successfully completed Phase 1 are eligible for Phase 2.

Phase 2 contracts are intended to develop and evaluate prototypes or demonstration units from the more promising technologies in Phase 1, and It is anticipated that funding will be between £250k - £750k per project. In exceptional circumstances and at the discretion of the panel this could potentially be increased to £1 million.

We would ideally like to see a product in use within two years (with the aid of fast track evaluation by the NHS), but longer lead times (perhaps up to four or five years before being in use) are also welcome. Lower cost projects are of course at an advantage but strong cases at the upper end of the range will also be considered.

Important notes:

Contracts will be awarded only to individual companies. However, applicants may identify components of the work which they wish to subcontract and may also employ specialist consultants or advisers if they believe this will increase the chances of the project being successful.

Winning companies will be expected to mobilise rapidly to start the project. It is important that projects run concurrently in order to make a fair assessment at the end of Phase 1 and that those selected move rapidly on to Phase 2.

Contracts will be let at this stage for Phase 1 only. Phase 2 is dependent upon successful completion of Phase 1 and will go to the most successful of Phase 1 contracts. However, suppliers should state now their goals and outline plan for Phase 2 as an explicit part of the path to full commercial implementation in their Phase 1 proposal.

Public, staff, NHS organisation and patient involvement are critical success factors for any innovation in the NHS. In the case of SBRI projects, the intention is that this should be addressed throughout both phases of the project. Any previous work in this area that has been carried out should be mentioned in the application, as it may be useful. Similarly health economics awareness can be considerable advantage in overcoming adoption issues within the NHS. It is not a condition of application that suppliers should have carried out previous development work. However, we do expect successful applicants to work with us on this topic and to consider these aspects in the implementation plan.

FAQ 12: Do State Aid rules, which apply to the expenditure of public funds within the European Union, apply to the funding awarded under SBRI and if so what are the restrictions?

The SBRI competition will result in a fully funded development contract between the company and NHS East of England - it is not a government grant and therefore does not constitute State Aid. Some additional project activities which can be identified as having a quantifiable value, such as support with writing the application bid, could constitute State Aid so companies should check whether this would be permitted under an exemption such as the 'de minimus' rule - where organisations may receive public funding up to 200k Euro over a 3 year period. For further advice please contact HEE.

FAQ 13: Who is managing this particular SBRI?

This scheme is being run by a combined management board including representatives from:

NHS East of England

East of England Development Agency (EEDA)

Health Enterprise East (HEE)

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

Technology Strategy Board (TSB)

Medilink

NESTA

Statement of Clinical Needs (SOCN)

Procurement Hub

FAQ 14: Who should I contact if I have any questions?

Questions and comments are very welcome while the competition is open.

Questions on the overall SBRI program should be emailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

Other contacts for help on technical specifications and specifics will be advised once the competition is formally launched.

All questions and answers will be published.

FAQ 15: What are the Terms and Conditions?

By applying, suppliers are automatically consenting to the terms and conditions of the competition. The section below sets out the main contractual points in lay terms. This is not a binding document but should be sufficient information as the basis for a bid. The full contract terms will be available on the Health Enterprise East website when the competition is launched.

Intellectual property rests with the contractor. NHS East of England will automatically acquire a royalty-free right to use the Results for the purposes of teaching and evaluating the results for the use in clinical patient care. In the case where the contractor fails to use reasonable endeavors to commercialise the results, NHS East of England will have the right to produce the product.

The contractor is, in effect, being asked to develop a technology including evidence of effectiveness and a manufacturing package, including designs and operating protocols. Where the technology development is successful, every effort will be made to reach agreement on a supply position with the contractor. However, the NHS makes no commitment to do so or to purchase any specific quantity.

The NHS recognises that there is uncertainty in technology development, and payment for the work carried out will be made irrespective of whether the goals of the project are achieved, provided that appropriate diligence has been applied. However, follow on contracts (for Phase 2 and beyond) depend on success.

Health Enterprise East will assign a monitoring officer to the project. The contractor undertakes to comply with any reasonable request for information on the progress and results of the project. Invoices may be submitted for staged payments according to an agreed schedule of milestones. The contractor should propose this schedule in the bid.

Payment will be made within 30 days of receipt of invoice.

Contracts will be issued immediately upon notification of success. If the contract is not signed by a date to be advised, the NHS East of England reserves the right to withdraw the offer.

Contract terms are fixed. No negotiation will be entered into.

Credit checks and other due diligence may be carried out by the NHS or its agents. This will be appropriate to the contract size.