Deadline: October 09, 2025
The CHI-Zone Small Grants Programme is inviting UK-based technology SMEs and consortia to develop Extended Reality (XR) solutions that can transform community healthcare provision.
The focus of this programme includes education and training solutions for staff and patients, new biosensing diagnostics, protocolised mental health treatment, engaging rehabilitation, alternative therapeutics associated with depression and anxiety, pain management and obesity, and solutions designed to combat isolation.
Grant awards of up to £20,000 are available and each recipient will, also, receive tailored support from CHIL and the VEC over a period of six months to help realise their prototyping ambitions – alongside access to clinical input from Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust. This funding and support must be used to deliver a defined new project or significant new development/validation phase.
This programme seeks to align with the NHS 10-year Plan by supporting solutions that embody the shift from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention while addressing the productivity challenges in healthcare delivery. Successful applicants will benefit not only from grant funding but also technical guidance and input from clinicians and academics, making it an ideal platform to prototype or accelerate innovative digital healthcare solutions.
Grant recipients will work alongside the University of Liverpool’s Civic Health Innovation Labs (CHIL), the Virtual Engineering Centre (VEC), and clinicians from Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust. This collaborative approach aims to provide support with scoping, refining digital initiatives, assessing feasibility, and identifying the right tools and approaches in areas such as immersive technologies, AI, and data readiness.
The programme offers additional advantages including mentoring, testing, exposure to specialist facilities, equipment access, and engagement with healthcare providers to develop impactful XR products and services. With this combination of funding and expertise, recipients will be positioned to explore new concepts, accelerate innovations, and deliver solutions that can generate transformative outcomes in community healthcare.
For more information, visit CHI-Zone.
