FAQs

Yes, it is often the case that research will traverse through these funding pots as they progress in technology and commercial readiness levels, and we encourage this approach.

The specific project that is funded during the PBIAA needs to be completed within the funding window, however, it is expected that the research will continue to develop through the translation pathway post PBIAA.

The PBIAA does not fund IP protection but you can request funds for IP reviews as part of a Due Diligence project. All partner Universities have experienced IP and commercialisation teams that can ensure relevant IP is appropriately protected and explored, and you are strongly encouraged to engage with your university team at an early stage in the process.

Postdocs and ECRs are very much encouraged to apply.

Yes

As a Postdoc if you are requesting funding for 100% of your time it’s possible for your project to run past the end of your current contract as the IAA can fund your time (this is not the case for academics). If however you are requesting funding for only part of your time e.g. 50% then the project will need to be completed within the timeframe of your existing contract of employment. In any case line manager approval will be needed. We do ask that you have a Co-investigator who is permanent member of academic staff to make sure that there is some continuity in case you get a job elsewhere so the piece of work can continue.

Yes, this is the simplest route to demonstrating economic impact in the region. We recognise there are some cases where you might have multiple partners and only one of them is based in Yorkshire e.g. a Yorkshire based manufacturer and a design company elsewhere in the UK. If you are aiming to spinout the panel will be understanding that you might not want to link directly to a company. We are open to justifications of economic impact without a Yorkshire based company, but this would need to be robust.

Projects must start within 6 months of the award date.

We encourage resubmissions, we will provide feedback to applications and encourage those projects which could be funded in future rounds with some amendments to resubmit.

We have intentionally not set project lengths to allow applicants to be flexible with how they want to run things. It might be that you have some industry investment that allows you to run the project for longer, or you want to run the project part-time around some existing work. In any case overheads are underwritten by your school which enables you to do more with the funds awarded by the IAA.

NB: Overheads do still need to be included in the costing submission despite being underwritten.

Representatives from both Leeds and Sheffield universities as well as our wider project partners e.g. Medipex and industry to allow for a breadth of expertise in assessing applications.

135 projects across all streams, approximately 40 proof of concept, 45 proof of feasibility and 50 proof of market/due diligence.

If your project is focused on data processing of existing clinical data to create a new AI method then this wouldn’t be in scope. However if you are using AI as part of a diagnostic or therapeutic device that would need to go down the regulatory route to get to market then yes this would be in scope. We encourage anyone with queries on this to contact the team via pbiaa@leeds.ac.uk

Applicants are encouraged to work with Medipex and similar external organisations to gain help with due diligence, market identification and regulatory advice. How are they different to in-house university support?

Medipex and other organisations such as Medilink offer specialist advice for MedTech innovators, with a deep knowledge of the regulatory and market conditions within the sector. We still actively encourage you to work with your university commercialisation teams for IP advice, external support is intended to provide more targeted MedTech specific advice.