The successful applicant will be eligible to apply for Innovate UK funding up to £60,000, to develop the proposed solution towards meeting this challenge. The funding will cover a maximum 3 month project.


Beyond Blood Diagnostics, a NATO DIANA company, is developing portable, cartridge-based blood analysis technologies for point-of-care and defence-relevant applications. Its handheld platform is intended to deliver a full blood count, including a five-part white blood cell differential, from a low-volume finger-prick sample. The system is designed for rapid, battery-powered operation in settings where conventional laboratory infrastructure, specialist operators and cold-chain logistics are unavailable.
For defence radiation biodosimetry, deployable assessment relies on serial leukocyte profiles because more precise laboratory methods cannot be used forward. Repeated counts during the first day are needed to assess the rate of lymphocyte decline relative to the neutrophil count. The cartridge must therefore produce consistent results from run to run, because error in each measurement propagates into the calculated trend.&nbsp;
Selective adhesion can alter both the absolute count and the clinically important ratio. Narrow triage bands mean that an unquantified loss fraction could change the severity category assigned to a casualty.
A successful solution would also strengthen blood-product decision-making in damage-control resuscitation, where platelet measurements can guide transfusion choices before laboratory support is available.

Challenge Background

Beyond Blood Diagnostics can reliably detect individual cells that reach the sensor, but a proportion of cells is lost within the cartridge through biofouling and adhesion to microchannel surfaces. Variation in cell position and orientation during flow also introduces positional blurring at the sensing region, affecting cell counts and volumetric measurements.
For red-cell volume, where the evidence base is most complete, the current system coefficient of variation is approximately 7%, compared with a clinical requirement below 3%. Previous investigation of COP, PC, PMMA, COC and glass; surface roughness and wettability; and buffer conditions has established useful operating limits but has not produced a sufficiently robust solution. Material selection and buffer chemistry alone are not expected to close the performance gap.
The challenge is to prevent, tolerate, quantify or correct for cell loss and positional variability within a mass-manufactured disposable plastic cartridge, so that the system achieves a coefficient of variation below 3% for the leukocyte differential under field-operating conditions.

The Challenge 

Any solution proposed should:
<ul>
<li>Reduce, tolerate, measure or computationally correct cell adhesion, biofouling and positional variability through the microfluidic pathway.</li>
<li>Preserve the relative representation of different leukocyte populations so that differential ratios are not distorted.</li>
<li>Deliver repeatable results across serial tests, cartridges and relevant operating conditions.</li>
<li>Be compatible with a compact, handheld, battery-powered analyser and a mass-manufactured disposable plastic cartridge.</li>
<li>Use finger-prick, low-volume blood samples and support rapid point-of-care analysis.</li>
<li>Avoid additional reagents, cold-chain requirements, laboratory-grade optics, specialist facilities or extra operator steps.</li>
<li>Minimise impact on cartridge complexity, manufacturing scalability and unit cost.</li>
</ul>
Beyond Blood Diagnostics is open to individual technologies or integrated approaches, including:
<ul>
<li>Advanced anti-fouling coatings, surface treatments or cartridge-compatible materials.</li>
<li>Novel passive or active microfluidic architectures that control cell transport, position or orientation.</li>
<li>Compact sensing or imaging methods that map cell behaviour, identify adhesion or improve positional resolution.</li>
<li>Calibration, reference or quality-control methods that do not add significant consumable cost or operator burden.</li>
</ul>

Functional Requirements 

The proposed solution must remain suitable for field deployment and volume manufacture.

Operating Conditions

<ul>
<li>Solutions that depend on conventional laboratory infrastructure or laboratory-grade optical systems.</li>
<li>Approaches requiring cold-chain storage, substantial additional reagents or multiple new manual steps.</li>
<li>Solutions that cannot be integrated into a low-cost disposable plastic cartridge or compact handheld platform.</li>
<li>Material or buffer substitutions with a shelf life of 24 months or below at room temperature.</li>
</ul>

Out of Scope

Successful applicants will be given an opportunity to pitch to Beyond Blood Diagnostics. The winning applicant, as selected by the company, will then be eligible to apply for up to &pound;60,000 grant funding to kickstart the development of the proposed solution through a 3 month project. Selected solutions will be trialled by Beyond Blood Diagnostics with potential for further adoption if trials are <a>successful</a>
&nbsp;
The benefits package for a successful applicant may also include:
<ul>
<li>Support from Innovate UK Business Connect</li>
<li>Support in the development of a prototype or pilot</li>
<li>Technical support</li>
<li>Invitation to attend or present at Innovate UK Business Connect events</li>
<li>A potential business collaboration</li>
<li>Investor introductions (if investment is required)</li>
<li>Support if any Innovate or similar competitions are relevant.</li>
</ul>
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Reward

<ul>
<li>Challenge launch: 5th October 2026</li>
<li>Deadline for applications: Friday 6th November 2026</li>
<li>Review of applicants: Monday 9th &ndash; Friday 13th November 2026</li>
<li>Selection and notification of finalists: Friday 13th &ndash; Tuesday 17th November 2026</li>
<li>Pitch Day: Wednesday 25th November 2026</li>
<li>Confirm selected solution provider: By Friday 4th December 2026</li>
<li>Submission to Innovation Funding Service (IFS): December 2026</li>
<li>Project length: 3-months. (Starting by 1st March 2027 and complete no later than 31st May 2027)</li>
</ul>
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Timescales 

Entrants to this competition must be:
<ul>
<li>Established businesses, academic institutions, start-ups, SMEs, or individual entrepreneurs</li>
<li>UK based or have the intention to set up a UK base</li>
</ul>
Your project must:
<ul>
<li>Have a grant funding request up to &pound;60,000 (eligible costs only, see below).</li>
<li>Start in March 2027 and complete by 31st May 2027</li>
<li>Carry out its project work in the UK.</li>
<li>Intend to exploit the results from or in the UK.</li>
</ul>
Applications will be assessed on: 
<ul>
<li>Relevance to the defined challenge</li>
<li>Benefit of implementation</li>
<li>Feasibility/economic viability</li>
<li>Innovative nature</li>
<li>Ability to launch in line with expected timescales</li>
<li>Credibility of applicant company</li>
<li>Coherence of the proposed business model</li>
<li>Development potential</li>
<li>Maturity of the solution</li>
<li>Suitability for the intended geographic market</li>
</ul>
If selected through this competition, you will be invited to apply for up to &pound;60,000 grant funding through the Innovation Funding Service (IFS). Applicants will need to upload the following documents to IFS once notified:
<ul>
<li>Project plan</li>
<li>Project costing</li>
<li>Minimal Financial Assistance (and de minimis where applicable) declaration (details can be found <a href="https://www.ukri.org/councils/innovate-uk/guidance-for-applicants/general-guidance/funding-rules/">here</a>)</li>
</ul>
Minimal Financial Assistance:
Grant funding in this competition is awarded as Minimal Financial assistance (MFA). This allows public bodies to award up to &pound;315,000 to an enterprise in a 3-year rolling financial period. If your application is successful and you are invited to apply for grant funding you will be asked to declare previous funding received by you. This will form part of the financial checks ahead of Innovate UK making a formal grant offer.

Eligibility and Assessment Criteria

Existing background IP associated with a potential solution will remain with Solution Provider(s). Where any new IP generation is envisaged, it will be subject to the mutual IP agreement of the solution provider(s) and challenge holder.
Any commercial deployment of a transferred solution or newly developed solution, through licensing, joint venture, partnership, or direct investment, will be subject to the commercial agreement between the solution provider(s) and challenge holder.
Where necessary, a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) may be signed to uphold confidentiality in the engagement between the solution provider(s) and challenge holder. (This would be expected to be after company selection, it is suggested that details of IP be not disclosed, focus on the outcomes of the technology proposed).
Innovate UK and Innovate UK Business Connect do not take any share of IP ownership or enter commercial ventures through the iX programme.

IP and Potential Commercial Routes 

The application form for this challenge will require applicants to provide company information and answer 3 questions - Idea Summary, Technology Readiness and Intellectual Property &ndash; each with a limit of 300 words.
Additionally, the following documents must be attached for your application to be considered: 
<ul>
<li>Project plan</li>
<li>Project costings &ndash; only eligible costs will be funded, please read the Innovate UK Costs guidance for further information</li>
</ul>
We recommend that you complete the application form in Google Chrome as other browsers may have compatibility issues. The application form does not need to be completed in one session and can be saved for future edits. Please ensure that you toggle &ldquo;Stage Complete&rdquo; for each section before submission. Note that you will no longer be able to edit your application once you have clicked &ldquo;Submit Idea&rdquo; at the bottom of the Summary page.

Application and Technical Guidance 

By submitting an application to this Innovation Exchange (iX) challenge, you acknowledge and agree that the information you provide will be shared with Innovate UK Business Connect and the challenge holder for the purposes of assessment and selection. All information submitted will be handled in confidence and shared only with those involved in the assessment and selection process under appropriate confidentiality expectations.
Please consider the level of detail you share in your submission to ensure it aligns with your own internal confidentiality or disclosure policies.
A selected panel of assessors will review and score your application. The panel of assessors will meet and agree a consensus score. Successful solutions will be selected by the challenge holder. Success will be based upon total consensus scores, a portfolio approach and capacity within the challenge holder&rsquo;s organisation to carry out the projects.
For more information on how Innovate UK Business Connect handles personal data, please refer to our&nbsp;<a href="https://iuk-business-connect.org.uk/privacy-policy/" target="_new">Privacy Policy</a>.

Reducing blood-cell loss and measurement variability in field-deployable microfluidic diagnostic cartridges.

Opportunity

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Challenge Background

This challenge is brought to you by:

Reducing blood-cell loss and measurement variability in field-deployable microfluidic diagnostic cartridges.Copy Link

Opportunity

Challenge opens

Challenge closes

Benefit

Challenge Background

This challenge is brought to you by:

Reducing blood-cell loss and measurement variability in field-deployable microfluidic diagnostic cartridges.