NHG CMTi Clinician Innovator Preparatory Programme (CiPP)

Applicants should be:
a) Doctors (i.e. clinically qualified with MD/MBBS/BDS) with primary appointments at NHG institutions.
OR
b) Health science / healthcare professionals with non-medical degrees, such as nurses, pharmacists and other allied health professions with primary appointments at NHG institutions.

All applicants should also fulfil the following criteria:

a) Demonstrate interest in HealthTech innovation and intention to develop himself/herself as a Clinician Innovator (CI) but have little or no innovation experience;

b) Able to commit time to complete the required courses under the CiPP training curriculum and project within the award period;

c) Applicants are recommended to commit an estimated 0.1FTE to complete their innovation project within the award period, with the approval from their Reporting Officer.

The proposed project:

a) Must be a HealthTech product innovation project that aims to potentially address unmet clinical needs relevant to a medical condition/ disease in healthcare
^{Note: Scope of proposals pertaining to the development of new software (e.g. digital apps, artificial intelligence for diagnosis and/or intervention, etc.) shall be limited up to prototyping and pre-clinical testing (i.e. inclusion of clinical trials involving patient data is not allowed).}

b) Must be a project with specific aims that can be achieved within the award quantum;

c) Should have a realistic timeline that ensures that applicable ethics approval(s), finalisation and execution of relevant agreements, and set deliverables can be completed within the award term;

d) Must specify the plans for obtaining follow-up grants for subsequent Proof of Concept and/or Proof of Value.

Applicants are to ensure that the appropriate collaborator(s) essential to technology development for their proposed project, are secured where required, before applying. Applicants may reach out to NHG CMTi for assistance in matching of collaborator(s).

Interested clinicians are strongly encouraged to contact the CiPP Secretariat for discussion on suitability of the programme prior to applying.

To provide support for applicants in scoping their projects and for feedback on their proposals, there will be coaching sessions held during the Call period.

All applicants are encouraged to register for this session with NHG CMTi as soon as there is interest to apply and at least 2 weeks prior to the call deadline.

Registration is on a first-come-first serve basis and timeslots are subjected to the coaches’ availabilities. Register for a coaching session here or scan the QR code below.

If the proposed project encompasses a software/digital technology component, applicants are required to complete the e-learn module on eLEARN prior to the coaching session for a more fruitful discussion.

Please follow the steps to access the module:
1) Login to your NHG eLEARN Account
2) Select "Marketplace"
3) Search “Digital Health Applications (DHA) Clinic”
4) Select “Register” to enrol and complete the module.

Each applicant is required to nominate a mentor who is an institution representative on the NHG CMTi Committee (refer to Information Sheet). The CiPP Secretariat may help to facilitate the matching of appropriate mentor if required.

Each applicant will receive mentorship in the following areas:
a) Guidance in their clinician innovator career development
b) Advice on their innovation project
c) Navigation to appropriate innovation resources
d) Engagement in institution or NHG cluster level innovation activities and initiatives.

Applicants may propose other qualified NHG mentor(s) that is not part of the NHG CMTi Committee, with justifications and, subject to approval.

During the award, awardees will be granted access to the subject matter experts on an adhoc basis in area(s) of their own interest. Proposed topic areas may include venture building, medical technology development cycle, medical device regulatory affairs, intellectual property, etc. This will be subsequently facilitated by NHG CMTi.

Applicants are required to submit all application documents (Table 1) in softcopy to the CiPP Secretariat at NHG Group Research and Innovation through their Institution’s Clinical Research Unit / Clinical Research and Innovation Office (CRU/ CRIO).

The Institution’s CRU/ CRIO will set an internal deadline for the above submission and ensure that the documents reach the CiPP Secretariat by the stipulated deadline. Please check with your institutions for the deadline. Applications submitted after the call closing date and time will not be considered.

This document contains important information about the objective of the programme, award components, eligibility, application procedure, evaluation criteria and expected deliverables etc., and should be read carefully before proceeding to apply.

Download the latest CiPP Information Sheet.

The CiPP Application Package consists of the following documents:
1) Information Sheet
2) Application Form
3) Application Checklist (for reference only)
4) Funding Guidelines (for reference only)

Download the latest CiPP Application Package.

The CiPP Forms & Templates zip folder consists of the following documents:
1) CiPP Variation Forms - Budget Variation, Unbudgeted Item, Time Extension, Change of Project Scope
2) CiPP Interim Report Template
3) CiPP Final Report Template
4) Annex for CiPP Interim & Final Report Template (Research & Innovation Outcomes Tracking)
5) CiPP Funding Guidelines

Download the latest CiPP Forms & Templates.