Proof of Concept is the highest Yorkshire MedTech funding stage, supporting projects to achieve key technical milestones and further validate technology in relevant environments.
Use these funds to de-risk your technology by answering key questions about performance in a relevant real-world setting. This stage can include further technical development and validation studies – for example, early in vivo safety/efficacy studies or small-scale clinical studies.
At this stage we are looking for all projects to have a clear roadmap to commercialisation, with clinical and commercial partners in place.
Review these criteria carefully before beginning your application. Projects must meet all eligibility requirements to progress to full assessment.
Proof of Concept applications require the highest level of technical and commercial maturity of our three funding stages. It is essential that all applications demonstrate engagement with your institution’s technology transfer office and have a clear IP strategy in place.
We will be looking to see that your follow-on plans are realistic and likely to support continuation along the translational pathway.
See call guidance for full details. Examples include:
Accompanied by project management capacity to ensure successful delivery.
Applications follow a two-stage process. Round 5 funding is now open for applications, as follows:
First, submit an Intention to Submit form by 16 March 2026. This brief form (approximately 10 minutes to complete) allows for early engagement and enables the review process. Everyone who completes an Intention to Submit by the deadline is eligible to move to full application.
You will receive an application reference number from us in response to your completed Intention to Submit. Use this reference number when submitting your full application.
Your full application must be submitted by 5pm on Fri 17 April 2026.
We use a dedicated application form for Proof of Concept applications – download the form and guidance document below. These provide detailed instructions on completing each section.
Allow adequate time to develop your technical approach and engage with potential partners before the deadline.
Proof of Concept applications require early engagement with your institution’s technology transfer office/commercialisation team. We strongly recommend discussing your project with them at the earliest opportunity. They must review and sign off the IP section of your Proof of Concept application.
Further guidance is also available in our webinar recordings hosted on our YouTube channel.
We will be running further impact funding rounds during summer and autumn 2026. Please complete our contact form to register for updates if you’re interested in later rounds.
Comprehensive guidance covering eligibility and application requirements. Essential reading before starting your application.
Required first step for all applicants. Complete this form by 16 March. You will receive an application reference number in response, which is needed for your full application.
Detailed application form to be completed and submitted by 5pm on 17 April 2026. Requires the application reference number you received in response to your Intention to Submit.
Visit our YouTube channel to review previous information sessions and webinars covering key insights to support your application, from common pitfalls to Q&A.
Successful applications define specific technical milestones and success criteria. Vague objectives like “develop prototype” aren’t sufficient. Specify performance targets, validation methods, and how you’ll demonstrate readiness for the next stage. Your technical approach should reflect lessons learned from feasibility work and address identified technical risks.
Applications must demonstrate a clear understanding of the IP position, which will have been established through prior work and engagement with your technology transfer office/ commercialisation team. This includes clarity on freedom-to-operate, protection strategy for your innovations, and approach to managing foreground and background IP, including partners. Your technology transfer office sign-off confirms your IP strategy is sound. Strong applications explain how IP protection supports commercialisation objectives, rather than viewing it as administrative requirement.
Applications need realistic plans for translation beyond Yorkshire MedTech funding. This might be licensing to established companies, spinout formation, or partnership development.
Strong applications include evidence of commercial interest (letters of support, partnership discussions, market validation from end users). Generic statements about “seeking commercial partners” aren’t sufficient. Explain why your chosen pathway suits your innovation and what steps you’ll take during the project to advance commercialisation.
Projects at this stage benefit from diverse expertise. Strong applications involve clinical partners for validation, industry partners for manufacturing or regulatory guidance, and potential commercial partners. Explain each partner’s role and how they contribute to success. Letters of support should be specific about partner contributions, not generic endorsements. Projects with only academic team members may encounter questions around commercialisation potential if this isn’t otherwise clearly defined.
Compelling projects are able to provide a clear explanation of how they will make a positive impact on Yorkshire’s medical technology sector and economic benefit. Suitable examples include where a Yorkshire-based spin out company benefits from the project, or is formed in the region on completion of the project, creating jobs in the region; or where a licencing arrangement is created between the university and a regional business who will assist in commercialising the technology. Simply stating that a project will benefit patients in the Yorkshire region, especially when any benefit is likely to be similar nationally, is unlikely to be sufficient. Similarly if the industrial partner commercialising the work is based outside the region, this on its own is unlikely to constitute a clear, planned impact on the MedTech economy in Yorkshire.
Postdocs and Early Career Researchers are very much encouraged to apply.
Yes
If you are requesting funding for 100% of your time as a postdoc, it’s possible for your project to run past the end of your current contract as Yorkshire MedTech 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.
The specific project that is funded during the Yorkshire MedTech (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.
Engage your technology transfer office as early as possible, ideally 2–3 months before the application deadline. They need time to assess your IP position, review freedom-to-operate, work with you on your protection strategy and follow-on plans. Last-minute technology transfer office involvement often reveals issues requiring substantial work before application and could result in a sub-optimal application. Technology transfer teams can provide valuable input on strengthening your application all round.
Technology transfer expertise in commercialisation strategy is valuable. If disagreements arise, work collaboratively to understand their concerns. They may identify risks or opportunities you haven’t considered. Their sign-off requirement means you must reach a mutually acceptable position.
Technical challenges discovered during Proof of Concept are valuable learning. Strong projects have contingency plans for managing technical risks and stop/go milestones. Applications should identify potential risks and explain mitigation approaches. If validation reveals fundamental issues, honest assessment is valued over persisting with flawed concepts. Some projects successfully pivot to alternative applications based on Proof of Concept learning.
Yorkshire MedTech does not fund IP protection but you can request funds for IP reviews as part of a Proof of Market 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.
We assess each application independently. If you have multiple distinct projects at different development stages, you can submit separate applications. Each must stand alone and meet eligibility criteria for its target stage.
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.
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.
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
To ensure relevance, projects must have a co-investigator from an appropriate clinical specialty and a commercial partner (either an industrial partner or, where a case can be made that this is not appropriate, then a commercialisation support organisation). The partner should provide financial or in-kind support commensurate with the commercial opportunity.
An appropriate collaboration agreement must be in place between collaborating partners as a condition of funding. Whilst formal agreements aren’t required at application, evidence of substantive commercial interest could strengthen your application. Letters of support from potential partners should be specific about their intended involvement, not generic endorsements – see the call guideline document for information on format and content of Letters of support. If you have preliminary term sheets or memoranda of understanding, include them. Applications proposing commercial partnerships should explain what agreements will be in place before project commencement.
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 spin out, the panel will be understanding that you might not want to link directly to a company at this point, but please ensure this is clearly articulated and justifed. We are open to justifications of economic impact without a Yorkshire-based company, but this would need to be robust.
Whilst we have indicated typical project lengths based on experience, 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 Yorkshire MedTech.
NB: Overheads still need to be included in the costing submission despite being underwritten.
Contact our team to discuss your project's readiness and technology transfer requirements.