HealthTech businesses can access innovation funding through R&D Tax Relief, Grant Funding and Patent Box. Explore qualifying activities, practical guidance, downloadable resources and real-world examples from across the HealthTech sector.
Funding and Innovation support for the HealthTech sector
HealthTech businesses often face long development cycles, extensive clinical validation and significant regulatory requirements before a product reaches market.
Whether you’re developing medical devices, digital health platforms, diagnostics, AI-assisted clinical software or life sciences technologies, much of that innovation may qualify for government funding.
Support is available at different stages of development, from early research through to commercial deployment, and often from multiple sources at once.
What funding is available?
Grant Funding
Grant funding can support ambitious HealthTech projects aligned with UK innovation priorities, helping businesses develop new technologies, generate clinical evidence and accelerate commercialisation.
Funding opportunities regularly exist across digital health, AI diagnostics, medical technologies, biomedical research and life sciences innovation.
If your business is overcoming scientific or technological uncertainty while developing new healthcare technologies, you may be able to claim R&D Tax Relief.
Typical qualifying projects include medical devices, digital health platforms, diagnostics, AI-assisted healthcare software, laboratory research and connected healthcare technologies.
If you’ve patented technology developed within your business, Patent Box may reduce Corporation Tax on qualifying profits to 10%.
For HealthTech businesses commercialising patented medical technologies,
it can become an important part of a long-term innovation strategy.
Innovation within HealthTech often extends well beyond software development. Examples of qualifying activity may include:
✅ Medical device design and development
✅ AI-assisted diagnostics and clinical decision support
✅ Digital therapeutics
✅ Clinical validation and evidence generation
✅ Connected medical devices
✅ Biomedical signal processing
✅ Laboratory automation
✅ Healthcare software platforms
✅ Bioinformatics and genomics
✅ Medical imaging technologies
✅ Secure NHS system integration
✅ Clinical data interoperability
✅ Prototype manufacture and destructive testing
⚠️ Eligibility depends on the scientific or technological uncertainty being resolved rather than the commercial objective of the project.
Innovation funding throughout the HealthTech project lifecycle
HealthTech innovation rarely follows a straightforward development path.
Different funding mechanisms can support businesses throughout research, prototype development, clinical validation, regulatory approval and commercialisation.
Understanding how grants, R&D Tax Relief and Patent Box work together can help businesses build a more sustainable innovation funding strategy.
⇊ Click here to download: Funding Through the HealthTech Project Lifecycle
We’ve developed a range of practical resources specifically for HealthTech businesses.
White Paper
The UK HealthTech Landscape: Innovations, Impact and Future Direction
→ A practical overview of the trends, opportunities and challenges shaping the UK HealthTech sector.
Guide
Build a Tax-Smart Innovation Strategy
→ A practical guide explaining how R&D Tax Relief, grants and Patent Box can work together throughout the innovation lifecycle.
Whether you’re developing medical devices, digital health platforms, diagnostics or life sciences technologies, we’ll help you understand which innovation incentives may be available.
✓ Our team includes scientists, engineers and healthcare specialists with experience across HealthTech, MedTech and Life Sciences.
✓ As a partner of the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre network, we understand the technical, clinical and regulatory challenges involved in bringing innovative healthcare technologies to market.
