The Care Innovation Challenge
Driving Innovation in Adult Social Care
The Care Innovation Challenge is an annual, hackathon-style programme designed to spark creative, practical, and sustainable solutions for the adult social care sector.
Empowering Ideas and People
The programme is about igniting fresh ideas, building confidence, and opening doors to networks and opportunities that continue long after the Challenge ends.
Care Innovation Challenge 2026
The Care Innovation Challenge returns to Coventry University on 27–28 June 2026.
Applications are now closed.
Molly Baldini shares her Challenge success story
Molly’s journey with the Care Innovation Challenge is nothing short of a success story. Coming to the Challenge weekend for the first time in 2025, Molly developed her idea, delivered a great pitch to the judges and earned a well- deserved spot in the semi-finals at the Birmingham Care Show. Since the Challenge ended, Molly has gone from strength to strength and secured funding through the Alzheimer’s Society Accelerator Programme. DentaBlue has developed from an idea to a tested prototype and will be hitting virtual shelves by the end of the year.
The Care Innovation Challenge 2026 kicks off with the Innovation Weekend on 27th-28th June and this is what you can expect!
- Creative weekend of idea generation and prototype trialling
- Mentoring from industry experts
- 5 finalists receive funding and further mentoring to prepare for the final
- Winning team receives £1,000 in prize money and further mentoring to develop a viable business.
Our Bluesky Feed
What a Challenge!
Congratulations to our 2025 winners, Making Space!!
What a year it’s been for the Care Innovation Challenge! The 2025 Care Innovation Challenge concluded last week at the Birmingham Care Show where Team Making Space were crowned the 2025 Challenge winners with their Co-production game. Read all about the Challenge final here.
Message
"Boy has it been an exciting year for the Challenge. All our mentors have been blown away by the amount that our five finalists managed to do since the Innovation Weekend. They've developed their concepts and done user testing and made the best use of the three months of mentoring they've received since. There can of course only be one winner and we're thrilled for Team Ellyfe! We look forward to supporting them as they go forwards."
News
Semi-finalists’ exciting day of pitching at St Monica’s Trusts Chocolate Quarter retirement village
We were thrilled to offer our 2026 semi-finalists the brilliant opportunity to pitch their innovations to two key audiences at NCF’s members, St Monica Trust’s
Another successful Care Innovation Challenge sees five amazing innovations into the semi-finals
The 2026 Care Innovation Challenge weekend, facilitated by National Care Forum and hosted at Coventry University’s Techno Centre on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th June.
Excitement builds as the Care Innovation Challenge 2026 approaches
The National Care Forum (NCF) – the leading association for not-for-profit social care is looking ahead to the 2026 Care Innovation Challenge Weekend where industry