• DASA has launched a new Themed Competition: the Veterans’ Health Innovation Fund
• Funded by the Office for Veterans’ Affairs (Cabinet Office)
• Up to £2.7 million funding available for innovative veterans’ healthcare technologies and solutions

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) is pleased to launch a new Themed Competition called the Veterans’ Health Innovation Fund. Run on behalf of the Office for Veterans’ Affairs (Cabinet Office), this competition seeks cutting-edge technologies and innovations that improve the techniques and pathways for meeting veterans’ physical and mental health needs.

Outputs from this competition will improve UK capability to save and enhance lives through advancing technologies, interventions and treatments in health. This will enable better future commissioning of treatments.

Key dates and funding

Up to £2.7 million is available to fund multiple proposals for the Office for Veterans’ Affairs Health Innovation Fund, with up to £300,000 available per proposal.

The deadline to submit a proposal is midday 31 August 2022.

Do you have an idea? Read the full competition document and submit a proposal.

Driving innovation in veterans’ healthcare

The Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA) was awarded £5m by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the October 2021 Budget to drive innovation in veteran’s healthcare, to ensure that treatment is informed by the latest research and developments in clinical care.

While the UK has developed cutting-edge treatment and technologies to support former service personnel who are wounded, injured or sick, this competition seeks to build on existing successes, plug knowledge gaps, and develop new research that will support veterans’ healthcare.

This will improve the UK’s ability to save lives through advancing technologies, interventions and treatments in health.

Challenge areas

Submitted proposals must address 1 or more of the following challenges areas:

Challenge 1: Digital, data and technology

This challenge area is aimed at harnessing the latest digital and technology capabilities to improve our understanding of veterans’ healthcare needs. Examples include:

• artificial intelligence
• virtual reality
• using data to predict long-term health outcomes
• using non-invasive technologies to treat veterans

Challenge 2: Surgical technology, bioengineering and rehabilitation with blast injuries

This challenge area is aimed at proposals that offer improvements in innovative surgical techniques, bioengineering and rehabilitation interventions to support veterans who have been subject to blast injuries. Examples include:

• regenerative engineering
• customised metabolic prosthetics
• intervention technologies for conditions, including mild traumatic brain injury

Challenge 3: Public Health, pain management, hearing loss and visual impairment

This challenge area looks into the impact of pain, hearing loss and visual impairment. DASA and the OVA are particularly interested in applications that offer to trial interventions and treatments to improve the health outcomes of veterans. This challenge area is also interested in bids that look at treatments for public health challenges faced by veterans.

Challenge 4: Initiatives to help identify and/or provide solutions to disparities in female veterans’ health and healthcare

This challenge area is interested in projects that could improve our understanding of female veterans’ health challenges, and what care pathways can be put in place to better support them. For example, proposals that look at addiction (including alcohol misuse) and other mental health conditions such as those that result from exposure to trauma.

Want to learn more about these challenge areas? Read the full competition document here.

Webinar

18 July 2022

This webinar will provide more information on the challenge areas and how to submit a proposal. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions in the Q&A. If you would like to get involved, please register on the Eventbrite page.

Register now

Submit a proposal

Do you have a solution or novel approach that may help our ability to drive innovation for veteran’s healthcare? Submit an idea and help DASA and OVA ensure veterans’ treatment is informed by the latest research and developments in clinical care.

Learn more and submit a proposal.

In early 2022, whilst on routine maritime security operations, Royal Navy ship HMS Montrose seized Iranian weapons from speedboats being operated by smugglers in international waters south of Iran. The weapons seized included surface-to-air-missiles and engines for land attack cruise missiles, in contravention of UN Security Council resolution 2216 (2015).

This is the first time a British Naval warship has interdicted a vessel carrying such sophisticated weapons from Iran.

The seizures, which occurred on 28th January and 25th February 2022, took place in the early hours of the morning. HMS Montrose’s Wildcat helicopter, equipped with state of the art radar systems, was scanning for vessels smuggling illicit goods. The helicopter crew spotted small vessels moving at speed away from the Iranian coast.

During the February interdiction, United States Navy destroyer USS Gridley supported efforts by deploying a Seahawk helicopter to provide critical overwatch during the operation. On both occasions, the Wildcat helicopter pursued the vessels and reported back to HMS Montrose that they could see suspicious cargo on deck.

A team of Royal Marines approached the vessels on two Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boats before securing and searching the vessel. Dozens of packages containing advanced weaponry were discovered, confiscated and brought back to HMS Montrose.

Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey said:

The UK is committed to upholding international law, from standing up to aggression in Europe to interdicting illegal shipments of weaponry that perpetuates instability in the Middle East. The UK will continue to work in support of an enduring peace in Yemen and is committed to international maritime security so that commercial shipping can transit safely without threat of disruption.

The seized packages were returned to the UK for technical analysis which revealed that the shipment contained multiple rocket engines for the Iranian produced 351 land attack cruise missile and a batch of 358 surface-to-air missiles.

The 351 is a cruise missile with a range of 1,000km. It is regularly used by the Houthis to strike targets in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and was also the type of weapon used to attack Abu Dhabi on 17th January 2022, which killed three civilians.

On Friday 24 June, the Ministry of Defence hosted the Panel of Experts established pursuant to Security Council resolution 2140 (2014), which concerns the conflict in Yemen. The panel inspected the seized weapons and received a technical brief by the UK’s Defence Intelligence analysts.

Commanding Officer of HMS Montrose, Commander Claire Thompson, said:

These interdictions demonstrate the professionalism and commitment of the Royal Navy to promoting stability in this region. I am extremely proud of my crew – the Royal Navy sailors, aircrew and Royal Marines involved in these endeavours and the significant positive impact they are having in maintaining the international rules-based order at sea.

The UK retains a permanent presence in the Middle East, with HMS Montrose having been deployed to the region since early 2019, actively supporting multi-national maritime security operations and protecting the interests of the United Kingdom and its allies. The ship operates under the control and direction of the UK Maritime Component Command (UKMCC), based in Bahrain.

In the wider Gulf, HMS Montrose regularly works alongside international partners as part of the 38-nation coalition Combined Maritime Forces (CMF). CMF is the world’s largest multinational maritime partnership, which exists to counter illicit non-state actors. HMS Montrose, a Type 23 frigate, has taken part in numerous successful operations to seize illicit drugs in the Gulf of Oman, most recently in January when £15 million worth of heroin, methamphetamine, hashish and marijuana were seized.