MATcelerate HEALTH Funding
Round 3

The Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials is offering grant funding for research, development, and innovation sprint projects through Round 3 of its MATcelerate HEALTH funding programme.

PLEASE NOTE:

• Applications to this call are restricted to researchers from the MATcelerate HEALTH partner Universities who are working with their University Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs).
• Projects for this round must be materials-led with a clear materials innovation at their core.

MATcelerate HEALTH is a Royce facilitated initiative designed to accelerate the commercialisation of advanced materials technologies within the healthcare sector. It functions as an industry-driven accelerator, connecting leading research universities with global companies to help bridge the gap between academic innovation and market-ready solutions, e.g. in terms of:

• Complex interdependencies between materials, biological systems, and clinical environments
• Integration challenges across academic research and industrial development
• Scalability, manufacturing, and regulatory hurdles that increase risk profiles
• Limited early engagement with end-users, clinicians, and industry partners

The programme provides £50,000 up to £85,000 in funding for selected projects to supports short sprint projects to de-risk critical aspects of commercialising materials-based health technologies and turning high-impact technologies into investable solutions.

By leveraging Royce’s cutting-edge capabilities, along with industry and investor networks, the programme aims to transform technologies emerging from universities and hospital settings into viable, investable solutions. This will be achieved through close collaboration with leading UK universities and several of the country’s largest NHS Trusts. It is committed to improving patient outcomes through advanced, smart medical devices, while addressing the environmental impact of medical waste, reducing healthcare costs and maximising delivery efficiency.

MATcelerate HEALTH seeks to:

• Increase the volume and quality of advanced materials investment opportunities for university translational and spin-out funds, along with private/corporate investors
• Increase the effectiveness of participating Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) and industry partners licensing teams
• Provide industry with access to breakthrough materials technologies for healthcare
• Encourage university researchers to translate research in high-priority areas by providing them with a highly effective way to engage industry
• Accelerate the real-world application of materials discovery and manufacture through commercialisation at pace

Start Your Application

TECHNOLOGY OPTIONS

• Biomaterials
• Medical Devices
• Flexible electronics e.g. sensors
• Equipment/medical instruments
• Sustainable materials e.g. PPE/alternative packaging

TECHNOLOGY SECTORS

• Medical devices
• Diagnostics
• Biotechnology

Projects must be materials-led with a clear materials innovation at its core.

It is the responsibility of applicants to explain how their application aligns with the scope of this programme.

This programme funds projects that have total project costs of between £50,000 and £85,000.

Applications are currently only accepted from the following HEIs:

• University of Bristol
• University of Cambridge
• Imperial College London
• The University of Manchester
• University of Oxford
• University College London
• University of Liverpool
• The University of Sheffield
• University of Leeds
• Warwick University

To be eligible, your project must:

• Start on 01 April 2027 and finish by 1 October 2027 (6 months)
• Be a collaboration between an HEI and its TTO (i.e. fully supported and only included unencumbered IP)
• Incur all Royce-funded costs within the project’s duration
• Be a new project or activity that has not already started – please note that you can re-apply using a previously submitted unsuccessful application, provided that you have effectively addressed any feedback
• Be within the scope of MATcelerate HEALTH
• Be led by either a researcher holding a permanent academic position (e.g. lecturer or equivalent) or a holder of an early career fellowship who is granted the same stature as a permanent academic staff member.
• Projects must primarily fund work outside of universities, unless there is a good reason for it to be done within the university. These should be organisations where work will be done under contract (e.g. CROs, clinical testing facilities, regulatory consultants, specialist consultancies). If working with companies that could potentially license/commercialise the technology, their permission must be obtained. TTOs must ensure no conflict of interest or breach of confidentiality.

Full eligibility information, funding models and eligible costs are available in the MATcelerate HEALTH 3 guidance document.

SUBMITTING YOUR APPLICATION

Applications must be made by using FlexiGrant Portal.

The application form has four parts.

Part 1: Applicant details & technology overview

On this page, you will be asked to provide details of the applicant HEI (under ‘Lead organisation’) and the TTO (under ‘Collaborator’), as well as information on the project background, development status, intellectual property, technology, and the overall project overview.

Part 2: Project specification & Costs 

On this page, you should provide details of your proposed project, including its scope, rationale, target patient population, milestones, deliverables, partners, risks, and costs. You are required to describe your project, and how it meets the scope of the scheme. Applicants are responsible for ensuring their proposals are within scope of this scheme.

You are also required to complete a budget table with proposed project costs. Use of third-party services are encouraged, and projects are requested to have already established the scope, costs, dependencies and feasibility of any work prior to application submission.

Part 3: Clinical, commercial & market context

On this page, you should provide details of the competitive landscape, market dynamics, route to market, and regulatory pathway for your proposed technology, building on the clinical need described in Section 2.

Part 4: Next steps (post-project development and funding plan)

You are required to detail what further work, if any, would likely be required at the end of the project to get the technology ready for licensing or spinout formation/funding.

DEADLINE

Royce must receive applications by 5pm on 17 November 2026. You will not be able to apply after this time.

HOW WE WILL ASSESS YOUR APPLICATION

Applications will be assessed for both eligibility and quality.

After the application deadline, all applications received will be assessed against the eligibility criteria listed in Section 2 of the guidance document.

All eligible proposals will then be reviewed by the industry partners against the following criteria:

• Clinical Need & Impact
• Technology Solution & Innovation
• Project Design & Feasibility
• Commercial Opportunity
• Future Development

As this is a competitive process, not all projects can be funded. Royce will provide all eligible applicants with feedback. Detailed scoring/ranking will not be provided.

Up to four projects will be shortlisted and invited to work with an industry partner to refine their PoC project and develop a slide deck presentation for the in-person Investment Committee (IC). Project leads will have 10 minutes to pitch their project to the IC, followed by a 10-minute Q&A session.

The IC, comprised of industry partners, will evaluate the presentations and recommends funding for a decision by the Henry Royce Institute.