WIREDGOV

Organisations can apply for a share of £40 million to develop ideas that could help people to enjoy healthier and more active lives in older age.

The number of people in the UK aged over 75 will rise from 1 in 12 today to 1 in 7 by 2040. A third of children born today can expect to live to 100.

This rising life expectancy poses a significant challenge for health services. It is also an opportunity for businesses to develop new products and services that will help us all to lead healthy and active lives in older age.

The UK Government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Healthy Ageing Challenge is a £98 million investment to support businesses and researchers to develop these new products and services.

It is part of the Ageing Society Grand Challenge that aims to ensure people enjoy 5 extra years of healthy and independent life by 2035.

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, has up to £2 million from the fund to invest in stage 1 of the Healthy Ageing Trailblazers competition.

Businesses and public sector organisations are being encouraged to show how products, services and business models that support people as they age could be scaled up.

Up to £38 million could be available in a second phase to support the development of the best ideas in a series of large projects.

Projects must meet healthy ageing challenges

The competition aims to establish large, multi-disciplinary, collaborative projects that demonstrate new business models and products working at scale to provide new and sustainable services for older people.

It will fund projects across 7 themes of the Healthy Ageing Challenge Framework drawn up by the Centre for Ageing Better:

• sustaining physical activity
• maintaining health at work
• designing for age-friendly homes
• managing common complaints of ageing
• living well with cognitive impairment
• supporting social connections
• creating healthy and active places

There is a focus on the first 3 themes and on exploiting benefits across all the themes. Projects that address healthy ageing challenges outside the themes will also be considered.

Competition information

• the competition opens on 23 September 2019, and the deadline for applications is at midday on 27 November 2019
• businesses and public sector organisations of any size may apply
• stage 1 projects could range in size up to £100,000 and stage 2 projects up to £6 million
• an online briefing event will be held on 4 October 2019