What is the Medilink Solstice Leicester?
Medical technology businesses in Leicester and Leicestershire can apply to cover 50% of their clinical evaluation costs, thanks to a project delivered by Medilink East Midlands and part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the East Midlands Academic Health Science Network (EMAHSN).
SoLSTICE has three types of support, all work as intervention rates- so only part of the money is provided, and would need proof of spend to claim the grant- so not provided ahead of any work:
- Innovation Grants– £1,000-£20,000 (up to a maximum £66,00 total project cost)- support for innovation to develop a new product or process with an intervention rate of 32.5%. Money is paid after spend is completed so for larger grants it is often useful to profile (spread out) the spend so you can part claim during the project. It is all about your company purchasing a skill set or service so can’t be spent internally and usually can’t be spent on equipment consumables- but can be used to purchase project management to ‘build a prototype’.
- Travel Grants– £500- £3,000 (up to 10,000 total travel costs)- to attend medical/health related workshops and conference anywhere in the world that are around your innovation area. Intervention rate is from 30% to 50% depending on the size of the grant requested. A maximum of 2 delegates per conference, and flights, travel, hotel and conference costs are covered but not ‘subsistence’ or gala diners etc.
- MedTech Trails Grants– up to £50,000 grant for £100,000 or more of total project cost. Maximum intervention rate of 50%. the grant is to support trails, feasibility studies and evaluation of new products. This would be the hardest funding to access as it would be competitive with other proposals and the funding partner- AHSN- will determine which projects are funded.
These grants are delivered as part of the SoLSTICE project, which is a £1.22million scheme, part-funded by ERDF. SoLSTICE provides free and impartial support and advice to Leicester and Leicestershire businesses working in, or looking to work in, life sciences; to innovate and create new products and services. The East Midlands Academic Health Science Network (EMAHSN) is the project delivery partner for SoLSTICE and is also part-funding the project.
Through the SoLSTICE programme, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the East Midlands Academic Health Science Network, The programme offers support to SME’s to innovate products, services and processes.
The aims of the Medilink Solstice Leicester programme are focused on improving the economic performance of the Life Sciences sector within the locality of LLEP, by enabling SMEs to increase their competitive advantage through innovation and stimulating interaction between business, research entities and the NHS.
