There are many national and international priority healthcare needs. Some of the current priority needs are reducing waiting time for scheduled care, increasing capacity in acute care, improving management of chronic disease, care in the community, mental health, health promotion. Further information and reference material is provided in the HIHI Open Call 2022 Briefing Document.

There is no quota for the number of applications selected for shortlisting or eventual winners. The number of applicants to progress through the review stages depends on the quality of the applications submitted. Previous calls selected as many as 15 winning innovations.

The winning innovations will be:

• awarded the title of HIHI Healthcare Innovation 2022
• entitled to use HIHI winners stamp
• offered the opportunity to work with HIHI to pilot their innovation in an Irish healthcare setting
• issued with a final HIHI Pilot Report and a published Case Study

HIHI will work with a winning company to pilot their product or service in an Irish healthcare setting. HIHI will seek out a suitable location to pilot this innovation from its network. A HIHI project manager will be assigned to work closely with the company and to manage this pilot. The scope of the pilot will be agreed with all parties (company, healthcare site, HIHI) in a HIHI project agreement document. HIHI will oversee the management of the pilot, gather and analyse the results of the pilot and prepare a final project report.

Companies should note that a HIHI pilot:

• is conducted at no cost to healthcare setting (the company must provide the innovation and any necessary training free for duration of pilot)
• is carried out and executed with all reasonable skill and care
• is not part of a HSE procurement process
• requires the company to obtain all regulatory and ethical licences, consents and approvals necessary to allow it to carry out the pilot
• requires the company to affect and maintain in force all necessary insurance coverage for the performance of its obligations
• requires that each party complies with all applicable laws and with due regard for health and safety of all involved
• ensures that each party shall retain all right and title to, and interest in its own project intellectual property
• requires that all confidential information is maintained as secret and confidential

Case studies of some previous pilot projects can be found at: https://hih.ie/case-studies.

No, HIHI does not provide funding for pilots from this call. HIHI however, will at no cost to the company, identify a clinical setting for the pilot, work closely with the company to deliver the objectives of the pilot, provide expertise, project management the pilot, analyse the outcome of the pilot and provide a final report on completion of the pilot.

No, a winning company does not have to pay HIHI, the clinical champion or healthcare setting to pilot its product or service. However, the pilot will be conducted at no cost to healthcare setting and the company must provide the product or service and any necessary training free for duration of pilot.

Companies or individuals who are not eligible to apply to the HIHI Open Call 2022 can request support from HIHI through the HIHI Innovation Portal. HIHI provides support to companies and individual whose innovation is not market-ready but is at idea or prototype stage. See https://hih.ie/engage/innovation-portal