The Defence and Security Accelerator on behalf of the Office for Veterans' Affairs (Cabinet Office) is seeking proposals that will improve Veteran health.

The Veterans' Health innovation Fund is a new themed competition on behalf of the Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA). The competition seeks applications that improve the treatments, techniques and pathways for meeting veterans’ physical and mental health needs. Outputs from the competition will improve UK capability to improve veterans’ lives through advancing technologies, interventions and treatments in health, and will ultimately enable the UK to better inform the future commissioning of treatments.

The OVA particularly welcomes bids that give due regard to minority veterans (e.g. women, LGBT+, ethnic minorities etc.) and their unique circumstances.

Up to £2.7 million is available to fund multiple proposals from the Veterans’ Health Innovation Fund, with up to £300,000 (including VAT where applicable) available per proposal.

The competition is looking for proposals which address the following challenges areas:

o Challenge 1: Digital, data and technology. This challenge area is aimed at harnessing the latest digital, data and technology capabilities to improve our understanding of veterans’ healthcare needs.

o Challenge 2: Surgical technology, bioengineering and rehabilitation with blast injuries. This challenge area is aimed at proposals that offer improvements in innovative surgical techniques, bioengineering and rehabilitation interventions to support veterans who have been subject to blast injuries.

o Challenge 3: Public Health, pain management, hearing loss and visual impairment. This challenge area is aimed at improvements for veterans in the areas of pain, hearing loss and visual impairment. In addition, we are interested in applications that plug knowledge gaps and/or trail interventions for public health challenges faced by veterans, especially in the areas of addiction, cardiovascular disease prevention, mental health and nutrition.

o Challenge 4: Initiatives to help identify and/or provide solutions to disparities in female veterans’ health and healthcare. This challenge area is interested in projects that could improve our understanding of female veterans’ health challenges, and what care pathways can be put in place to better support them.

Further information, including the Competition Document, is available on the GOV.UK website.

The deadline to submit a proposal is midday on Wednesday 31st August 2022.

A webinar has been scheduled Monday 18th July 2022 at 10:30 to provide more information on the challenge areas and the opportunity to ask questions in the Q/A. If you would like to learn more about the programme, please register on the Eventbrite page.

Competition queries including process, application, commercial, technical and intellectual property aspects should be sent to the DASA Help Centre at accelerator(at)dstl.gov.uk, quoting the competition title.

Contact details for the Office for Veterans’ Affairs is:

The Office for Veterans' Affairs
Cabinet Office
1 Horse Guards Road
London
SW1A 2HQ
United Kingdom
Email veterans(at)cabinetoffice.gov.uk
(The OVA does not advertise a 'phone number.)