i4i Product Development Awards

i4i PDA NICE Early Use

Supports innovators with medical devices, in vitro diagnostics, or NICE-classified digital health technology through NIHR i4i PDA Early Use opportunities.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

The i4i PDA NICE Early Use — April 2026 is a themed commissioned sub-call running in parallel with the main i4i Product Development Awards April 2026 cycle under NIHR's Invention for Innovation programme. It carries the reference ID 2026/400 and specifically targets innovations positioned for evaluation via NICE's early-use pathways — regulatory mechanisms through which NICE can recommend health technologies for NHS use before full evidence of effectiveness is available. Eligible technology types are medical devices, in vitro diagnostics (IVDs), and NICE-classified digital health technologies.

Unique among NIHR i4i sub-calls, the NICE Early Use sub-call publishes no upper or lower funding limit — budgets are flexible to the evidence-generation requirements of the specific innovation and its NICE evaluation pathway. Projects may run for up to 36 months. NIHR funds 100% of eligible project costs; no match funding is required. As with the parent PDA April 2026 cycle, at least one SME co-applicant (≤250 staff, ≤€50M turnover) is required, and applicants must hold prior experimental data supporting technical feasibility. The same application calendar applies: outline deadline 29 April 2026 and full application deadline 27 May 2026, both of which have now passed.

The scheme is open to universities, research organisations, nonprofits, and for-profit organisations meeting the SME co-applicant condition; individual applicants are not eligible. Applications are submitted through the NIHR awards management system. Teams planning for the next cycle should track the NIHR competition dates calendar for the October 2026 PDA launch; the NICE early-use themed sub-call may recur alongside it. Proposals should include explicit reference to the specific NICE early-use evaluation pathway the innovation is targeting, and should explain how the project's evidence plan maps onto the data requirements of that pathway.