NHG Health CMTi Clinician Innovator Career Scheme (CICS)

Open for applications in Apr and Oct

Last updated on 5 October 2026

Introduction

The NHG Health Centre for MedTech & Innovations (CMTi) Clinician Innovator Career Scheme (CICS) aims to strengthen a clinician’s innovation capabilities to improve patient care and human health through translational innovation. This seeks to support applicants in competing successfully for the National Medical Research Council (NMRC) Clinician Innovator Award (CIA) or equivalent within the next 2-3 years while further building their innovation careers.

Awardees will be offered access to LKCMedicine's library resources during the term of the award.

Key Features of Award

Project funding quantum of up to S$50,000, for up to 2 years; and
Salary support of up to 0.2FTE for up to 2 years, with an applicable annual salary cap by the applicant’s clinical designation (Table 1).
- NHG Health Host Institution will need to top up the difference if the awardee’s salary exceeds the applicable annual salary cap.
- Salary support will cover the total annual compensation, inclusive of salaries, CPF, fringe benefits, as well as bonus/incentive payments.

Table 1: Annual Salary Cap by Clinical Designation

Clinical Designation	Annual Salary Cap
Consultant	S$250,000
Associate Consultant	S$200,000
Health Science / Healthcare Professional	S$150,000

Eligibility

Applicants should be:
a) Medical doctors (i.e. clinically qualified with MD/MBBS/BDS) with primary appointments of Associate Consultant / Consultant at NHG Health institutions. Those without specialty training may apply if they are in clinical practice, excluding House Officers, Medical Officers and Residents. They should have either completed the Singapore Biodesign (SB) Innovation Fellowship or Faculty Fellowship or be able to demonstrate equivalent level of expertise in HealthTech innovation through project and grant experience as follows:
• Has completed at least one innovation project as lead Principal investigator (PI) supported by an intramural or extramural grant of at least S$50,000; or
• Has completed an innovation project as lead PI that has achieved implementation and/or commercial outcomes.
or
b) Health science / healthcare professionals with non-medical degrees, such as nurses, pharmacists, optometrists and other allied health professions listed on this website in clinical practice, with primary appointments at NHG Health institutions and hold a PhD or a postgraduate qualification recognised for NMRC CIA (opens in new tab).
Applicants who are non-clinically qualified or non-practising healthcare professionals may be considered on a case-by-case basis, if the proposed work is in human clinical research (i.e., research involving direct interaction with human subjects, excluding laboratory-only studies without clinical application), and they hold a PhD.
As awardees are expected to apply to NMRC CIA or equivalent by the end of their CICS award period, applicants should take note of the latest eligibility criteria of the national talent development programme and ensure that he/she is able to meet them.
Past NMRC CIA applicants who were unsuccessful may apply to the CICS on an exception basis.
The proposed CICS project should be a HealthTech product innovation project that aims to potentially address unmet clinical needs relevant to a medical condition/ disease in healthcare. Applicants should demonstrate the proposal’s healthcare impact and translation through potential commercialisation and/or implementation and adoption. Projects focusing on process optimisation or administrative improvements would fall outside the scope of CICS.
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 CMTi for assistance in matching of collaborator(s).
Any intellectual property (IP) developed in relation to the project would be managed in accordance with the prevailing NHG Health IP Policy.
Interested clinicians are strongly encouraged to contact the CICS Secretariat for discussion on suitability of the programme prior to applying, and to engage with CMTi for support in project scoping.
The applicant’s Department should be able to make provisions for the applicant’s innovation commitments during the CICS award period (if awarded) and continue to facilitate his/her career pathway as a clinician innovator beyond the CICS award.

Mentorship

Each applicant is required to nominate a mentor from NHG Health for 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 Health cluster level innovation activities and initiatives.

The mentor should be an established clinician innovator who:
a) Is involved in innovation with significant impact on clinical care;
b) Has had experience in a relevant area of innovation;
c) Has strong foundation and knowledge in HealthTech innovation;
d) Has had experience in supervising or providing innovation mentorship.

Applicants may also nominate additional mentor(s) including subject matter experts from industry where relevant.

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 CMTi.

Applicants may contact the CICS Secretariat to help facilitate matching of appropriate mentor if required or refer to the Academy of Clinician Scientists and Innovators (ACSI) mentors' directory (opens in new tab) and NHG Health CMTi Committee Members’ listing (available in CICS Information Sheet).

Submission

Applicants are required to submit all application documents (Table 1) in softcopy to the CICS Secretariat at 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 submission and ensure that the documents reach the CICS 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.

Table 2: CICS Application Timeline

Call Opening

06 Oct 2026 (Tue)

Application Submission Deadline
a) Application Form
b) Applicant’s Curriculum Vitae (CV)
c) Mentor(s)’ CV
d) Budget Breakdown Form
e) Written proof of intent to collaborate from Collaborator(s) (i.e., email or letter of intent) (applicable only if project requires collaborator(s) for technology development); and
f) Other Supporting Documents (e.g., SB Innovation Fellowship or SB Faculty Fellowship Certificate of Completion, etc.)

17 Nov 2026 (Tue), 12pm (SGT)

Resources

CICS Information Sheet - FY2026

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 CICS Information Sheet (opens in new tab).

CICS Application Package - FY2026

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

Download the latest CICS Application Package (opens in new tab).

Contact Information

For more information and further enquiries, please contact the CICS Secretariat:

Ms Adeline Chan
Clinician Scientist Development Office
Group Research and Innovation, NHG Health
Email: adeline.mx.chan@nhghealth.com.sg

Ms Valerie Yeo
Clinician Scientist Development Office
Group Research and Innovation, NHG Health
Email: valerie.mh.yeo@nhghealth.com.sg