The UK is offering £20m in addiction tech grants to cut harm and deaths linked to drug and alcohol addiction.
Delivered through Innovate UK, the funding sits within the government’s Addiction Healthcare Goals programme and will support new medicines, medical devices, wearables, virtual reality therapies, treatment apps and AI-enabled tools.
Around 15,000 people die each year in the UK due to alcohol and drugs, with hundreds of thousands more suffering. The impact is estimated to cost England £47bn a year.
Health minister Dr Zubir Ahmed said: “Addiction ruins lives and we need to look at any way we can help ease the suffering – and aid the recovery – of hundreds of thousands of people.
“Embracing new technology will help supplement all the work this government is already doing, including expanding access to vital drugs and providing billions in funding for drug and alcohol prevention treatment and recovery.
“Finding new ways to combat the scourge of addiction could save thousands of lives and billions of pounds.”
Applications opened on 16 February 2026 and close on 6 May 2026.
Awards of up to £10m are available for late-stage, high-impact projects that can demonstrate real-world effectiveness, UK market readiness and progress towards regulatory approval.
A second strand will support earlier-stage innovations, with awards of up to £1.5m.
Successful projects will also receive access to an education session from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, supporting innovators to navigate evidence requirements and the pathway to UK certification, approval and roll-out.
Science minister Lord Vallance said: “Cutting-edge medicines and technologies could save thousands of lives lost to alcohol and drug addiction while improving outcomes for hundreds of thousands more.
“Backing both late-stage technologies and earlier-stage innovations means we are creating a clear and rapid route from breakthrough ideas to real-world impact.
“This is about using the UK’s scientific excellence to prevent avoidable deaths and support recovery, while helping innovative companies to grow and thrive in the UK at the same time.”
Professor Anne Lingford-Hughes, chair of Addiction Healthcare Goals, said: “Too many lives are still cut short by drug and alcohol addictions, and healthcare innovations are urgently needed to address the immense personal, mental and physical health and societal impacts they cause.
“To meet this challenge, I am pleased to be working with Innovate UK to launch these Catalysing Innovation Awards, supporting the development of the most promising medicines, devices and digital tools to enhance treatment and care.
“These awards will support UK companies and innovators to build the evidence needed to show what works in real services, ensuring innovations reach the people who need them sooner, prevent deaths and strengthen recovery.”
