Supporting Healthy and Active Later Life: Apply for Funding

Up to £40 million is available for healthy ageing ‘trailblazer’ projects

Innovate UK is to invest up to £1.5 million in stage 1 – and a further £38 million in stage 2 – of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) Healthy Ageing Trailblazers Competition.

The aim of the Trailblazers is to encourage businesses and public sector led collaborations, including social enterprises, to develop and demonstrate new business models and products working at scale to provide new and sustainable services for older people.

The competition will fund projects across seven themes of the Healthy Ageing Challenge Framework drawn up by the Centre for Ageing Better:

• sustaining physical activity
• maintaining health at work
• designing for age-friendly homes
• managing common complaints of ageing
• living well with cognitive impairment
• supporting social connections
• creating healthy and active places

There is a focus on the first three themes and on exploiting benefits across all the themes. Projects that address healthy ageing challenges outside the themes will also be considered.

For stage 1 of the competition, you can apply as a single applicant. You can apply for a grant of up to £100,000 to conduct research and develop a business plan.

Only projects successful in stage 1 will be invited to apply for stage 2 to develop and implement the products, services or business models. Stage 2 proposals must be collaborative with eligible project costs up to £6 million.

The deadline for applications is at midday on 27 November 2019. Businesses and public sector organisations of any size may apply.