The government is making £20m of grant funding available for new tech projects to reduce harm from drugs and alcohol, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced.
The grants will support the development of wearable tech, AI, virtual reality, treatment apps and other projects designed to ‘improve treatment, strengthen recovery, and reduce harm’, the department states. The funding is being delivered by Innovate UK as part of the Office for Life Sciences’ Addiction Healthcare Goals programme.
Grants of up to £1.5m will be available for early-stage innovations to help ‘promising technologies’ demonstrate effectiveness and strengthen their business planning, while awards of up to £10m will support later-stage ‘high impact’ projects that are already close to deployment and can demonstrate ‘real-world effectiveness, UK market readiness and progress towards regulatory approval’.
Previous projects to receive funding from the Office for Life Sciences include a chest-worn biosensor to detect the onset of life-threatening respiratory depression and alert emergency services and nearby naloxone carriers, a controlled-release patch for naloxone delivery and a handheld device for self-monitoring benzodiazepine use. A recent EUDA webinar heard that the drug and alcohol field had been slow to keep up with advances in digital technology, with the potential for innovation to improve service provision encompassing the behavioural, psychosocial, pharmacological and more.
‘Cutting-edge medicines and technologies could save thousands of lives lost to alcohol and drug addiction while improving outcomes for hundreds of thousands more,’ said science minister Lord Vallance. ‘Backing both late‑stage technologies and earlier‑stage innovations means we are creating a clear and rapid route from breakthrough ideas to real‑world impact. This is about using the UK’s scientific excellence to prevent avoidable deaths and support recovery, while helping innovative companies to grow and thrive in the UK at the same time.’
Applications are open at Innovate UK until 6 May.