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 at the Care Show
The Care Innovation Challenge returns to the Birmingham Care Show 7th – 8th October. Come and say hello at Stand D40 where our five semi-finalists will be sharing their solutions.
2026 Semi-finalist interviews
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The Care innovation Challenge returns to St Monica Trust's The 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 Chocolate Quarter retirement village in Keynsham recently. St Monica Trust are striving to be a centre for excellence for healthy ageing and care innovation so spending time in the iconic Chocolate Quarter no doubt made the opportunity all the sweeter for our semi-finalists!
The Care Innovation Challenge 2026 returns to the Birmingham Care Show this October. Visit us at stand D40 where our 5 semi-finalists will be presenting their innovations.
- 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
Semi-finalists’ exciting day of pitching at St Monica’s Trusts Chocolate Quarter retirement village
This year’s semi-finalists pitch their solutions at St Monica Trust’s 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 Chocolate Quarter retirement village in Keynsham recently. Read all about the day here and click the button below to view our photo album.
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