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Clinician Scientist Development Office (CSDO)

NHG Health CMTi Clinician Innovator Preparatory Programme (CIPP)

Open for applications in Apr and Oct

Last updated on 6 October 2026

Introduction

The NHG Health Centre for MedTech & Innovations (CMTi) Clinician Innovator Preparatory Programme (CIPP) aims to introduce clinicians to the foundational skills and knowledge required for health technology (HealthTech) innovation through innovation training and project experience, as well as to foster a healthy innovation culture in NHG Health.

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

Key Features of Award

Diagram outlines key components: S$20K award including $3K for structured innovation training and mentorship.

Awardees are required to complete the programme within 2 years.

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 and Medical Officers.
    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. Senior Residents enrolled in an NHG Health Residency Programme  who are in their final two years of residency and intend to continue with NHG Health upon completion of residency may be considered on an exception basis. Such applicants will be required to submit additional supporting documents.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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. Projects focusing on process optimisation or administrative improvements would fall outside the scope of CIPP.
    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.

  6. 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).

  7. Any intellectual property (IP) developed in relation to the project would be managed in accordance with the prevailing NHG Health IP Policy.

  8. Interested clinicians are strongly encouraged to contact the CIPP Secretariat for discussion on suitability of the programme prior to applying, and to engage with CMTi for support in project scoping.

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

Applicants are required to submit all application documents (Table 1) in softcopy to the CIPP 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 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.

Table 1: CIPP 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) 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
e) Supporting documents indicating continuation with NHG Health post-residency and support from Residency PD and HOD (applicable for Residents only).

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

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 Application Package - FY2026

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 (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, Change of Project Scope
2) Interim Report Template
3) Final Report Template
4) Funding Guidelines

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