New Zealand-Singapore Leveraging AI for Healthy Ageing 2025 Call for Proposals

This investment seeks novel, scalable, cost-effective AI solutions to address neurological and mental conditions among older people. The goal is to reduce the healthcare burden, address the wider societal impacts of ageing, and improve the quality of life for the older population. To achieve this, we need to:

• extend healthy years of life
• enable personalised care
• develop preventative strategies
• and/or facilitate the long-term management of various conditions.

This information gives an overview of the opportunity and outlines MBIE’s requirements for New Zealand based applicant partners.

New Zealand and Singapore applicants must jointly develop a single proposal that will be submitted to AI Singapore (AISG) through the Grant Management System (GMS) portal.

All funding and application information including the investment objectives, priorities and application information (including proposal template) are outlined in AISG Call for Proposals.

Leveraging AI for healthy ageing(external link) — AI Singapore

About this opportunity

This opportunity is a bilateral initiative funded by the New Zealand and Singapore governments to lift cooperation through science, innovation, and technology (SI&T) collaboration.

Both Singapore and New Zealand face rapidly ageing populations, resulting in a rise of health issues for older people, such as dementia, depression, and cardiovascular diseases. These health issues require long-term management and resources, increasing the overall burden on the healthcare system, further compounded by an increasing shortage of healthcare professionals.

To address these issues, there is an urgent need for innovative technological solutions that can complement and augment our existing healthcare system to enhance healthcare delivery and improve patient outcomes.

Investment priorities

Proposals must focus on a fundamental technical problem or challenge and have a novel technical application in AI. Applications of AI must have health outcomes for older people at its core.

Proposals must address the following Challenge Problem:

“How can AI help enhance health outcomes (including brain health) for older individuals at risk of age-related conditions?”

Projects must identify the research areas where AI can be leveraged to improve health outcomes in an ageing population. Examples of topics include (but are not limited to):

• the detection of cognitive decline and degenerative neurological conditions (e.g. Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s)
• mental health and wellness (depression, anxiety, and social isolation)
• age-related risk factors for poor health
• interactions between brain health and the immune system (e.g. microbiome).

Projects are anticipated to build skills and have applications in some or all of healthcare for aging people including:

• medical imaging
• medical devices and digital health (medtech)
• remote patient monitoring
• digital twin technology
• generative AI tools
• brain injury
• genomics and bioinformatics
• medical transcription
• personalised/precision medicine
• health data integration
• public health and surveillances.

The funding available

MBIE has up to NZ$12 million (excluding GST) available for investment over three years through the Catalyst Fund. New Zealand research teams will be able to apply for up to NZ$4 million (excluding GST) per project. Up to 3 research projects will be funded.

Co-funding

• Collaborations with industry partners are highly desirable (though not mandatory).
• Co-funding may be in cash or in kind.
• The National University of Singapore through AI Singapore (AISG) will fund Singapore researcher activities on each project for an equivalent amount of work (taking into account varying levels of overhead funding from project costs between the countries).
• Singapore research teams will be contracted directly via AISG.

How funding can be used

What is fundable

Research funding from New Zealand can only be used to fund New Zealand researchers’ activities and reasonable expenses directly related to the project including:

Research activity expenses for:

• personnel
• direct project costs, including consumables required for the project.
• indirect costs (overheads) (i.e. operational costs borne by the applicant organisation not covered by the direct costs specified in the project).
• subcontractors.

Research exchange expenses for:

• flights/transport
• accommodation
• travel visas and travel insurance
• meals (excluding alcohol).

Travel costs should not exceed 25% of the budget and all expenditure by individuals should adhere to the rules of the organisation they are affiliated with.

What is not fundable

The research funding must not be used for:

• expenses unrelated to the delivery of the contract
• capital expenditure (unless otherwise agreed in writing with MBIE)
• dealing with accidents or disasters during the term of the contract
• expenses outside any categories listed in the project budget (without prior permission from MBIE)
• Singaporean researcher activities and expenses
• salaries of individuals employed by New Zealand local or central government.

Who can apply

For a proposal to be assessed it must meet the eligibility criteria set out below. Proposals that do not meet all of these criteria will be declined for funding on eligibility grounds.

• The grant call is open to any New Zealand-based research organisation. Each joint team must be led by 1 Principal Investigator (PI) from Singapore and 1 PI from New Zealand. The New Zealand PI may be either an AI researcher or a health domain leader for example, health researcher or clinician with knowledge and experience. 
• The New Zealand PI must be employed by a New Zealand-based research organisation, or a New Zealand-based legal entity representing a New Zealand-based research organisation.
• Proposals must not be hosted by or led by a department of the public service as listed in Schedule 2 of the Public Service Act 2020
• The New Zealand project team is required to confirm they have the agreement of their host institution before submitting their proposal, for example, from their Research Office. You will need to provide evidence of this agreement when you submit your proposal. Please refer to the Endorsement Form under Supporting Documents on the AISG website.  
• Each project must have at least 1 New Zealand industry/clinical/health agency partner that is able to contribute access to relevant proprietary datasets, and who is able to commit at least 5% of total project costs in cash or in-kind.
• Proposals must not benefit a Russian state institution (including but not limited to support for Russian military or security activity) or an organisation outside government that may be perceived as contributing to the war effort.
• A single, unified proposal must be written in English and submitted by the Singapore team on behalf of the New Zealand team through AISG’s Grant Management System (GMS) portal. Email submissions will not be accepted unless exception is granted by AISG and MBIE. 
• The proposal must meet all submission timeframes and formatting requirements.

Applications are open to both public and private New Zealand-based research organisations. Proposals will be assessed against their public benefits and private organisations should clearly indicate how their proposal will benefit New Zealand.

Application information

The Application Process will be managed by AISG.

New Zealand and Singapore applicants must jointly develop a single proposal using the proposal template provided on the AISG website and submitted in the AISG Grant Management System (GMS) portal. The Singapore partner will be responsible for submitting the proposal. 

1. Before developing your proposal, you are encouraged to consider the eligibility criteria, the assessment criteria, and the terms and conditions relating to this opportunity.
2. Applicants submit their joint proposal in through the AISG online portal by 17 March 2025 12:00pm (SGT) / 5:00pm (NZST)

The information in your proposal is used for assessment and will form the basis of the contract for the project if your application is successful.

Video presentation as part of your application

An 8-minute recorded presentation (in English) is also required for submission along with the full proposal. Teams are to focus on the following aspects of the proposal:

• scientific novelty 
• target goals and potential health, economic and social impact
• data strategy and AI technologies
• testbed availability and test plans
• team’s expertise and how the team is leveraging existing capabilities and resources to deliver success
• added value from Singapore-New Zealand research collaboration.

Key documents

When developing your proposal, we encourage you to consult the following resources.

Information from AI Singapore

Leveraging AI for healthy ageing(external link)

Information about MBIE science funding

Catalyst Fund

Catalyst Fund Investment Plan 2024-2028

The Vision Mātauranga policy

Key dates

All dates and times are NZ standard times (unless otherwise stated) and are subject to change. To be notified of any changes subscribe to our "International Science" newsletter list.

Subscribe(external link)

Information webinar

To help facilitate connections and maximise opportunities for New Zealand researchers to participate in this Call for Proposals, AISG is hosting a webinar for New Zealand and Singapore researchers.

The webinar is on Thursday 12 December 2024, at 2:00pm-4:30pm (NZDT) / 9:00am – 11:30am (SGT).

This webinar will provide an opportunity for potential applicants to be briefed by MBIE and AISG on the opportunity and participate in a Q&A session.

Organisations interested in submitting an application to this Call for Proposals are strongly encouraged to participate in the webinar, particularly if they do not currently have research connections with AISG. Potential applicants do not have to attend the webinar to be eligible to apply for funding.

Register for webinar(external link)

Assessment information

Submitted proposals will undergo an eligibility check by AISG and MBIE. All eligible proposals will go through the following assessment process. 

Stage 1: Technical Review Panel 

AISG will select independent technical reviewers to assess and score each proposal on a 1-7 scale for each of the three assessment criteria. The focus of the technical review is to determine whether the proposals are technically sound, implemental, and feasible. Each proposal will be assessed by three technical reviewers.

The Technical Review Panel will report scores and comments for each proposal, and overall rank. The report will be provided to the New Zealand and Singapore assessors for Stage 2. 

If there are more than 20 proposals received, only the top 20 ranked proposals from the Technical Review Panel will be put forward to the Review Committee.

Stage 2: Review Committee 

AISG and MBIE will each appoint 3-5 assessors to form their own Review Committee to assess the proposals. Proposals will be scored on a 1-7 scale for each of the three assessment criteria and provide comments. The technical reviews from stage 1 will be made available to the Review Committee. This is an opportunity for Singapore and New Zealand to consider their respective countries context. Each proposal will be assessed by 3 assessors. The Review Committee will provide a ranked list of proposals.

Stage 3: Consensus Decision

A representative from AISG and General Manager – Science System Investment and Performance for MBIE will make funding decisions based on the ranked proposal list and recommendations from each Review Committee. 

Conflicts of interest

If you are submitting a proposal, check the list of assessors below for any potential conflicts of interest. If you identify an actual, potential, or perceived direct or indirect conflict of interest, you must notify us before the application closing date by emailing the details for further discussion to internationalscience@mbie.govt.nz

Conflicts of interest may occur on 2 different levels:

1. A direct conflict of interest, where an assessor is:
   
   • directly involved with a proposal (as a participant, manager, mentor, or partner) or has a close personal relationship with the applicant, for example, family members
   • a collaborator or in some other way involved with an applicant’s proposal.
2. An indirect conflict of interest, where an assessor:
   
   • is employed by an organisation involved in a proposal but is not part of the applicant’s proposal
   • has a personal and/or professional relationship with one of the applicants, for example, an acquaintance
   • is assessing a proposal under discussion that may compete with their business interests.

Assessors

MBIE assessor names will be published here before 28 February 2025.

The assessment criteria

Assessors will assess proposals on each of the criteria (below) and them score them from 1 (Low quality) to 7 (High quality).

Funding decisions

The General Manager, Science System, Investment and Performance at MBIE will make the final funding decisions on which New Zealand research organisations will receive funding and may:

• set pre-contractual conditions which must be met before the investment is contracted
• set special conditions in addition to the general terms and conditions set out in the Fund’s Funding Contract
• vary the contract title (in consultation with the applicant)
• vary the proposed term of the project
• vary the funding allocated from that proposed
• require the proposed project plan be negotiated to MBIE’s satisfaction to reflect the changed funding.

MBIE will advise all New Zealand applicants of the funding decision by email. Details of the successful projects will be published on MBIE's website.

Contracting, reporting, and monitoring

Contracting

Successful New Zealand research organisations will enter into a funding contract with MBIE subject to any special conditions being met. Please check the funding contract template in the Key documents section.

Payments

The contract holder must manage the approved funding to ensure delivery of the contracted project. Subject to specific contract conditions, and the contract being signed by both parties.

Payments will be made in equal quarterly instalments from the start of the contract.

All funding will be paid in New Zealand dollars to New Zealand-based bank accounts (no international financial transfers).  Any foreign currency transactions will be the responsibility of the New Zealand research organisation(s).  

Reporting and monitoring 

Funded organisations will be required to submit an annual progress report and a final report at the end of the contract. All reporting with be done in Pītau – MBIE’s online Investment Management System. 

Annual reports will include:

• overview and highlights 
• status of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• update on collaboration
• potential risks
• expenditure summary
• plans for the next reporting period
• a short project update for publishing on the MBIE website.

All reports will be shared with AISG.

Contact

For further information please contact:

New Zealand-based applicants: internationalscience@mbie.govt.nz

Singapore-based applicants: grantcall@aisingapore.org