Coeliac UK, the UK charity for people who need to live gluten free, along with Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, have £180k available for research and are inviting applications from UK businesses and researchers.

Coeliac UK in collaboration with Innovate UK are launching a second research call to industry and researchers to make improvements for people living with the autoimmune condition, coeliac disease.

Total project costs can range from £50k to £250k and researchers and businesses can jointly apply for a share of the funding up to the maximum £180K available.

1 in 100 people in the UK have coeliac disease, but half a million people in the UK are undiagnosed. The average time to diagnose the disease is 13 years.

Hilary Croft, CEO of Coeliac UK said: “We want to change the course of coeliac disease treatment through improved diagnostics, technology and food innovations that truly bridge the gap between people, health professionals and products.

“Research has the power to do this and by combining forces with Innovate UK and industry, our charity demonstrates its unwavering commitment to the UK’s growing gluten free community.”

Kathryn Miller, Innovation Lead for Food and Nutrition at Innovate UK, said: “It’s fantastic to be working with charities such as Coeliac UK to promote innovations that will have a real, positive impact on people’s lives.

“Innovate UK has long supported businesses innovating in the areas of healthcare diagnostics, digital support and enhancing nutritional quality of foods, themes already supported through joint Coeliac UK / Innovate UK funding awarded earlier this year.”

Applicants can find out more about this competition at: www.coeliac.org.uk/innovateuk and must apply by the closing date: 16 September 2019, 10:00 (GMT+1).