Apply for the 2025 Catalyst Grant now
What is the Catalyst Grant?
The Digital Science Catalyst Grant is an international initiative to support innovation in new software tools and technologies to advance research and create meaningful change. The program supports and invests in early-stage ideas in the novel use of technology with an award of up to £25,000 for the most promising ideas that aid science and further its impact on society.
Turn data into discovery. Shape insight into impact.
In today’s data-rich, attention-poor world, how we understand and communicate data is just as important as what the data says. This year, the Catalyst Grant challenges innovators to push the boundaries of data visualization – not just as a communication tool, but as a driver for prediction, insight, and action.
We’re looking for game-changers who are turning raw data into intuitive stories, elegant dashboards, and predictive visuals that empower researchers, institutions, funders, and decision-makers alike.
Who we’re looking for
We’re seeking early-stage startups, research projects, and moonshot thinkers building tools and technologies that:
- Model complex data to uncover hidden patterns, trends and predictive insights
- Use advanced technologies, including AI and machine learning, to uncover patterns that traditional analysis might miss
- Visualize high-dimensional data to improve understanding and support better decision-making
- Deliver intuitive web and mobile-first solutions for scientific storytelling or discovery, reducing time-to-insight
- Design stunning UI/UX for dashboards, publications, grants, patents, policy, omics, lab notebooks, etc
- Enable interactive exploration of real-world evidence that helps automate the way people interrogate, interpret and act on research-related data
If you’re working at the intersection of science, design, and data, this is for you.
Apply for the 2025 Catalyst Grant now
Grantee benefits
Catalyst Grant aims to support innovative initiatives:
- Receive up to £25,000 equity-free funding
- Access Digital Science’s network of technical and research experts
- Raise the profile of your project through our global presence
- Be part of advancing research and creating societal impact
Background
The Catalyst Grant was born of our desire to help early-stage software ideas come to fruition. We invest in the community, and we come from the community. Our team is made up of people with research backgrounds and decades of experience within research software. For us, the grant’s real value is in starting conversations, some leading to awards, but the majority to the sharing of advice, the making of introductions and the cultivation of ideas.
Apply for the 2025 Catalyst Grant now
View past winners
2024
PostPub
Dr Achal Agrawal
Dr Moumita Koley
VIRUS
Dr Lonni Besançon
Dr Fabrice Frank
2023
Atom
Tomer du Sautoy
Hamilton Evans
Future Metric
Dr Amy Nelson
Dr Mohamad Zeina
2020
Sciflow
Dr. Carsten Borchert Frederik Eichler
SciSwipe
Mariëlle van Kooten
Anton Pols
2019
BPT Analytics
Dr. Andrii Buvailo
Nikos Tzagkarakis
MLprior
Denis Volkhonskiy
Vladislav Ishimtsev
Nikita Klyuchnikov
Pavel Shvechikov
Intoolab
Nikos Tzagkarakis
2018
Cadmore Media
Violaine Iglesias
Simon Inger
ConfRef.org
Kai Eckert
Aliaksandr Birukou
Andrey Gromyko
Paper Digest
Dr Yasutomo Takano
Dr Cristian Mejia
sci.AI
Roman Gurinovich
Rationally
Kristin Lindquist
Scismic
Danika Khong
Elizabeth Wu
2017
Ripeta
Dr Leslie McIntosh
Open Syllabus Project
Joe Karaganis
Researchably by FuseMind
Vivo on the Blockchain
Mike Conlon
Datax
Kevin Wong
Animate Your Science
Tullio Rossi
Katalysis
Alex Tran Qui
Eveline Klumpers
SOPBuilder
Sylvain Longet
Worldbrain
Oliver Sauter
2016
Figures
Xavier Armand
Dominic Benoscek
Chuong Nguyen-Thanh
HackScience
Ali Afshar
Ignacio Willats
HipDynamics
Maximilian Kerz
Davide Danovi
Writefull
Juan Castro
Alberto Villar
2015
Ada Lovelace Day
Suw Charman-Anderson
Penelope
James Harwood
TetraScience
Alok Tayi
2013
Authorea
Nathan Jenkins
Alberto Pepe
Bionetbook
Oren Schaedel
2012
Newsflo
Ben Kaube
Tom Poole
2011
Nutonian
Michael Schmidt
PsyToolkit
Reuben Robbins
Hear from previous winners
Artificial intelligence hypothesis validation platform sci.AI wins Digital Science Catalyst Grant
April 4, 2018Artificial Intelligence Hypothesis Validation Platform sci.AI Wins Digital Science Catalyst Grant
2019 Catalyst Grant Winners: AI‑powered innovations in pharma analytics & research tools
September 25, 2019
Digital Science announces Catalyst Grant winners, supporting AI-based innovations to benefit research
February 29, 2024Resource Library
Digital Science’s 2025 Catalyst Grant seeking innovations to “see the future” with data visualization
Digital Science announces Catalyst Grant winners, rewarding innovations to safeguard research integrity
Digital Science’s Catalyst Grant calls for innovations to safeguard research integrity
Reach out
For any other inquiries, we’d love to hear from you. Contact the Director of Portfolio Development, Steve Scott.
