Innovators invited to secure funding for new technology to transform neurological care

Funding available for industry and academic teams developing digital and technology-enabled approaches to improve community-based neurological care.

N-CODE, led by the University of Plymouth, has launched its new Innovation Challenge, inviting researchers, businesses, and technology developers to develop ideas that could transform how neurological care is delivered across the NHS.

Up to £12,000 is available to industry-led projects, and up to £30,000 for academic-led projects.

Under the theme “Shaping what’s next in neurological healthcare”, the challenge will support innovative concepts using technologies such as wearables, digital biomarkers, artificial intelligence, and mathematical modelling.

The focus is on ideas that could help move neurological care closer to where people live and support earlier diagnosis, better monitoring, and more effective management of neurological conditions.

The challenge is aligned with the three shifts at the heart of the NHS’s 10-Year Health Plan for England:

• Hospital to community – supporting care closer to home and within local communities.
• Analogue to digital – using technology and data to improve how people manage their care and how clinicians identify problems earlier.
• Sickness to prevention – identifying risk earlier and supporting more proactive approaches to health and wellbeing.

The challenge is open to ideas at an early stage. Applicants do not need to have a finished product or solution. Instead, proposals should clearly set out the problem they have identified, their idea for addressing it, and the difference they believe it could make.

There are two funding routes available:

Industry-led route

• Up to £12,000 award
• 3–5 winners
• Lead applicant must be a UK-registered business

Academic-led route

• Up to £30,000 award
• 3 winners
• Lead applicant must be eligible for UKRI funding

The challenge is looking for concepts that could build on N-CODE’s work developing technologies that bring neurological care closer to home, including applications across conditions such as epilepsy, dementia, stroke, and functional neurological disorders (FND), as well as related neurological and neurodevelopmental conditions.

A spokesperson at N-CODE said: “The future of neurological healthcare will depend on bringing together different perspectives, disciplines, and forms of expertise. This Innovation Challenge is an opportunity to take promising ideas and explore what they could mean in practice, particularly when it comes to delivering care closer to home and identifying opportunities to intervene earlier.

“We’re deliberately encouraging ideas at an early stage. You don’t need to have a finished solution. We want to hear from people who understand a problem and have an idea for how technology and research could help address it.”

Applications are now open, with submissions closing at 5pm on 18 November 2026. Winners will be announced during the week beginning 11 January 2027.

Researchers, businesses, and technology developers with an idea that could help shape the future of neurological healthcare are encouraged to apply.

Find out more and apply.