Invitation to Tender: Innovator support for the Wellcome Snakebite Innovation Prize

What are we commissioning 

Challenge Works (part of Nesta) is commissioning an expert organisation, incubator, accelerator, or consortium of individual contractors to deliver comprehensive innovator support services for the Wellcome Snakebite Innovation Prize (WSIP) finalist teams operating across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

The selected support provider(s) will design and deliver a 10-month innovator support programme running from January 2027 to October 2027. This package will assist up to 15 finalist teams – comprising up to 10 Launch Track finalists and up to 5 Growth Track finalists – to advance their technological, social, logistical, or systems-level innovations across high-burden settings. Because finalists will be geographically distributed, selected partners must demonstrate the capability to work with innovators across multiple regions, adapting mentorship to local operational contexts while facilitating cross-regional cohort learning and collaboration, where appropriate. 

This tender is issued as a single overall contract envelope of up to £200,000 (excl. VAT). However, Challenge Works expects to contract more than one organisation or individual and to split the total budget and workstream responsibilities into smaller targeted contracts according to the specific competencies and strengths submitted by bidders. Crucially, organisations are not expected to cover all required competencies in-house. Challenge Works will adjust the allocated budget and scope for selected providers based on the specific workstreams they are commissioned to deliver.

Proposals will be evaluated with a rigorous emphasis on value for money. Bidders should present transparent, cost-effective pricing structures that maximise direct mentorship, expert access, and practical support delivered to finalist teams.

Core objectives of the innovator support programme:

• Tailored 1-on-1 and cohort assistance: Provide a support package that combines cohort-wide capacity-building with direct expert mentorship tailored to each finalist’s solution type, maturity level, and operational context.
• Equitable support: Deliver support in a balanced and equitable manner across both Launch and Growth tracks, recognising their different development stages.
• Alignment with the judging criteria: Guide finalists to strengthen their solutions, evidence base, and operational pathways in alignment with WSIP’s judging criteria, without the support provider directly developing the solutions.
• Leveraging ecosystem networks: Mobilise trusted networks of clinical, technical, regulatory, and business advisors – including local ecosystem consultants in high-burden geographies.
• High-quality final submissions: Support finalists to prepare robust, evidence-backed final submissions and compelling pitches for the winners judging phase in late 2027.