LeapX

Partnering to move late-stage innovations towards clinical & commercial inflection point

Aim

• Support the development of late-stage, clinically significant healthcare innovations that are medium- to high-risk and commercially viable, enabling them to reach a value inflection point for commercialisation and adoption

• Align stakeholder interests and leverage public and private sector partnerships to de-risk technologies and accelerate translation.

Eligibility

• Principal Investigator must hold primary appointment in a public healthcare institution and be salaried by the institution

• Minimum 20% fresh funding commitment from co-funding partner(s) towards the total project quantum

Note: Partner(s) may include local public healthcare cluster/institute, local public sector entity/national programme office (RIE entity), Industry, International partner

For any queries concerning eligibility, please contact the Grant Secretariat at grant@nhic.cris.sg.

Funding quantum and duration

• NHIC’s funding quantum is capped at S$750,000 (inclusive of max. 30% indirect costs) and will be awarded to the public healthcare host institution on a reimbursement basis for expenses incurred under the approved proposed of work.

• The duration of NHIC funding support is up to 2 years.

Funding criteria

Funding is considered if the application satisfies the following criteria:

• Well defined, quantifiable and clinically significant unmet healthcare need.

• Medium to high-risk innovative solution, i.e., emerging or deep-tech innovations with moderate to high development costs. For example, Class B-D or equivalent; therapeutics, clinical diagnostics, clinical decision-making tools among others.

• The technology has achieved sufficient maturity beyond early technical feasibility, supported by relevant proof-of-concept, preclinical, pilot, or early clinical data appropriate to the modality. The proposal should demonstrate readiness for late stage productisation/ clinical validation.

• Detailed plan outlining the project deliverables and short to long-term endpoints including but not limited to: competitive landscape, productisation, regulatory approval roadmap, clinical validation plan, commercial strategy, and deployment.

• The proposed project may include late stage productisation activities and clinical validation activities.

• The applicant team should possess the technical, clinical, operational, and commercial capabilities required to execute the proposed workplan and achieve key translational milestones.

• Potential to result in two or more of the below expected outcomes.

  Categories​	Post-Grant Outcomes​
  BioTech​	Reach First-in-Human (FIH) Phase within 2 years that represents a significant value inflection point for the innovation (e.g. therapeutics or implantable medical devices).  ​
  MedTech​	Achieve first market regulatory approval within 2 years​ Piloted and deployed in operational environments within 3 years​
  All categories​	Attract private investments/commercial revenue of at least S$1M within 5 years Result in new or changes in local and/or international clinical practice within 5 years

Grant Schedule

The grant is open on a rolling basis.

Focus areas (not limited to): Medical devices, Digital Health, Therapeutics, Diagnostics

Note: Process innovation projects are not eligible to apply.

Application process and evaluation

LeapX applicants must pre-engage with your respective NHIC cluster managers before proceeding to submit an official application.

Two-stage process

Stage 1: Review

Document required: PowerPoint template-based application. Download here.

The application may be submitted by the PI directly via email to grant@nhic.cris.sg. Please ensure that the key stakeholders are on copy (cluster/institute level offices and co-funding entity)

Email subject to reflect “NHIC LeapX Application: Add Name of clinical PI (PHI) – Add Co-funding partner”

Note: Applicants using the co-funding entity template are only required to complete the first two slides of NHIC’s LeapX template for Stage 1. Also ensure that your slide deck covers content associated with the guiding questions listed in NHIC template. Limit to 20 slides.

Assessment to check that the minimum criteria is met with clear evidence, and an independent clinical review to validate the healthcare value.

Stage 2: Evaluation

• Shortlisted applicants will be invited to submit an NHIC supplementary form to be signed by the PI, collaborators, and endorsed by the public healthcare institution and co-funding partner.

• NHIC will leverage co-funding partner’s existing project evaluation panel and mechanism where appropriate, with an NHIC management representative added as part of the panel to conduct a joint evaluation to finalise funding decision.

If the co-funding entity does not have an existing framework for a joint evaluation panel, NHIC will convene an evaluation panel.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Please refer to our list of FAQs for more information here.