NHG Health CMTi Clinician Innovator Preparatory Programme Plus (CIPP+)

Introduction

The NHG Health Centre for MedTech & Innovations (CMTi) Clinician Innovator Preparatory Programme Plus (CIPP+) aims to encourage clinicians to participate in Health Technology (HealthTech) innovation to improve healthcare delivery and outcomes for their patients. The programme would also prepare them to compete successfully for the Singapore Biodesign (SB) Innovation Fellowship Programme or National Medical Research Council (NMRC) Clinician Innovator Award (CIA) or equivalent within the next 2-3 years and further build his/her career in HealthTech innovation.

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

Key Features of Award

1. Each awardee will receive a funding quantum up to S$50,000, for up to 2 years to cover:

   1. Salary support for innovation of up to 0.1 FTE, with an applicable annual salary cap by clinician’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.

   2. Local or overseas conferences/ trainings and related travel expenses;

   3. Services and expertise related to the innovation project such as biostatistics, bioinformatics, data analysis and management; and/or

   4. Other related support costs that help in the innovation project.
      

2. The CIPP+ funding is not applicable to cover any direct costs related to the innovation project or routine clinical care or services.
   

3. There should be an ongoing innovation project for the CIPP+ award to apply. At point of CIPP+ award announcement:

   • For projects that are ongoing/have started, awardees may determine the preferred start date within 3 months from award announcement;

   • For projects pending grant application outcomes, award commencement will be aligned with subsequent start date of collaboration / project agreement.
     

4. The funding would cease once the innovation collaboration / project agreement term ends or upon the 2-year award period, whichever is earlier. Award renewal is generally not allowable.

Eligibility

1. Applicants should be:
   a) Medical doctors (i.e. clinically qualified with MD/MBBS/BDS) with primary appointments at NHG Health institutions. Those without specialty training may apply if they are in clinical practice, excluding House Officers, Medical Officers and Residents.
   or
   b) Health science / healthcare professionals with non-medical degrees in clinical practice, such as nurses, pharmacists, optometrists, and other allied health professions with primary appointments at NHG Health institutions.
   

2. 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.
   

3. 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); and
   
   b) Have completed the NHG Health CMTi Clinician Innovator Preparatory Programme (CIPP) and is a Principal Investigator (PI) of an ongoing or new HealthTech innovation project that has been awarded or pending outcomes of competitive grant funding^1,2; and/or is in collaboration with industry partner(s); or
   c) Able to demonstrate equivalent level of foundational knowledge in HealthTech innovation and is a PI of an ongoing or new HealthTech innovation project that has been awarded extramural funding¹ of at least S$400,000.
   

4. Awardees and applicants of NMRC Human Capital Awards and Talent Development Programmes such as Transition Award (TA), CIA, Clinician Scientist Award (CSA), HPHSR CSA (HCSA) and Singapore Translational Research Investigator Award (STaR) may be considered for the CIPP+ on an exception basis.
   

5. As awardees are expected to apply for the Singapore Biodesign (SB) Innovation Fellowship Programme or NMRC CIA or equivalent within one year from the end of their CIPP+ award period, applicants should ensure they are able to fulfil the latest eligibility criteria for the respective programme.
   

6. The applicant’s Department should be able to make provisions for the applicant’s commitments towards HealthTech innovation during the CIPP+ award period (if awarded) and continue to facilitate his/her career pathway as a Clinician Innovator beyond the CIPP+ award.
   
   ¹Project or grant term must have at least one year remaining at the point of CIPP+ application.
   ²Examples of eligible funding sources, not limited to but including:

   • National Health Innovation Centre Singapore (NHIC) – Innovation to Develop (I2D), LeapX, Innovation to Adopt (I2A)

   • Agency of Science, Technology & Research (A*STAR) – MedTech Innovation and Development Acceleration Scheme (MIDAS) in Diagnostics & Digital Health

   • Enterprise Singapore (ESG) – Startup SG Tech (SSG Tech), Enterprise Development Grant (EDG)

   • Other Cluster/ Institutional-level Grants e.g., NHG Health CMTi-NHIC Joint HealthTech Grant, NHG Health CMTi HealthTech Grant, Ng Teng Fong Healthcare Innovation Programme (NTF HIP) Funding, Rapid Prototyping Grant, Small PROjects Utilising Teams (SPROUTS) Grant, NHG Health Coordinating Party Scheme, NHG Health Adoption & Scale Healthcare (NASH) Innovation Fund, etc.
     

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

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 CIPP+ 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 CIPP+ Information Sheet).

Submission

The Call for Applications is open throughout the year. Please contact the CIPP+ Secretariat to indicate your interest in applying for the CIPP+ and to obtain the application package.

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

Resources

CIPP+ 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 CIPP+ Information Sheet ↗ (opens in new tab).

CIPP+ Forms & Templates

The CIPP+ Forms & Templates zip folder consists of the following documents:
1) Variation Forms - Budget Variation, Unbudgeted Item, Time Extension
2) Interim Report Template
3) Final Report Template
4) Funding Guidelines
5) Protected Time Logsheet

Download the latest CIPP+ Forms & Templates ↗ (opens in new tab).

Past Awardees

Download the list of past CIPP+ awardees ↗ (opens in new tab).

Contact Information

For more information and further enquiries, please contact the CIPP+ 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