International collaboration in pharmacogenomics in personalised medicine

The offer is aimed at Swedish actors seeking funding for transnational research and innovation collaborations within the European partnership European Partnership for Personalised Medicine (EP PerMed).

The call for proposals aims to develop more personalized drug treatments including combination treatments (multi-medication) by:

• identify or validate new pharmacogenetic markers or signatures using (multi-)omics data in relation to drugs or drug combinations.
• study the use of pharmaco-omics strategies to evaluate the correct dosage, treatment efficacy or the risk of side effects and lack of treatment effect.

The call for proposals is a collaboration between over 30 organisations from around 23 countries. The EU Commission contributes with co-financing and each participating country covers the costs of its own actors in the approved consortia. In this call for proposals Vinnova supports Swedish participation.

Vinnova finances one Swedish party in a consortium with a maximum of SEK 3 million over three years. Vinnova can finance a maximum of two Swedish organizations in a consortium, with a total of SEK 4.5 million over three years.

Participant seeking funding must be Swedish legal entities (organizations) in Sweden. In this regard, a Swedish legal entity is considered to be a foreign organization that has a branch or establishment in Sweden. The costs in the project must be attributable to activities of the branch or establishment.

The international proposal must be submitted to the international portal in accordance with the information on the EP PerMeds website. After proposal has been submitted to EP PerMed, the Swedish applicant must also submit a parallel application to Vinnova.

This website contains supplementary information for Swedish actors. Please read the international the call text carefully for complete information on aim, thematic areas, what can be funded, formal eligibility requirements for applicant and instructions for submitting proposal. In the event that the information on this website and the international the call text differ, the international the call text applies.

With innovation, Vinnova wants to use the opportunities of new technology, knowledge and digitalisation to improve the individual's conditions for increased health and well-being in an equitable and sustainable way. The research and innovation financed through this international call for proposals will fill knowledge gaps and support the development of precision medicine, biomarkers and diagnostics. The projects will contribute to personalized prevention and ensuring that the right person receives the right treatment at the right time.

Contribute to a sustainable system transformation

Vinnova is tasked with promoting sustainable growth and system transformation. To implement sustainable system transformation, we have chosen to base ourselves on the UN's global sustainability goals, defined in Agenda 2030. Vinnova prioritizes two perspectives there: gender equality and climate change. All initiatives and project we finance should contribute to these perspectives.

In this call for proposals applications are assessment through the partnership EP PerMeds International Program Office. Vinnova does not conduct its own assessment of these perspectives. However, Vinnova may request information on how your project contributes to these perspectives for follow-up purposes.

This may involve the following aspects:

• whether women and men participate in the project on an equal footing, receive contributions and have influence and power over the project.
• how well the project analyzes and decides whether there are sex or gender aspects that are relevant to the project's problem formulation, solutions and effects.

Companies, universities, research institutes, authorities and private and public organizations can receive funding from Vinnova in this call for proposals. Funding can only be paid to legal entities with a Swedish corporate registration number.

Funding is only given to Swedish actors who apply as part of an international consortium according to the eligibility requirements set out in the international the call text.

Please note that participating countries and funders may have different rules for who can apply for funding. Read more about formal eligibility requirements under point 6 below and in the international the call text. There you will also find contact details for the international secretariat for EP PerMed, who can answer questions about the formal eligibility requirements and focus of the international call.

Activities

Regarding which activities the call for proposals refers to, please refer to EP PerMed call text

What costs can we finance?

Vinnova's funding is covered by state aid rules. The rules govern what types of costs we can finance. These are called eligible costs.

In this the call for proposals the following types of costs are eligible:

• Personnel costs: Salaries, social security contributions and other personnel costs.
• Equipment, land and buildings: Instruments, equipment and rent for premises other than regular business premises.
• Consulting and licensing costs: Consulting services, knowledge and patents purchased or licensed from an external party. Costs for consulting services from external parties may not exceed 20 percent of a project party's budget. We can accept a higher percentage than 20 percent in case of special needs. You must then justify the need for consulting services in proposal. This justification is taken into account in our assessment.
• Other direct costs: For example, materials, supplies and travel necessary to carry out the project.
• Indirect costs (overhead): Costs that are not incurred as an immediate consequence of but can be related to the project, such as regular premises and cleaning.
  Indirect costs may constitute a maximum of 30 percent of personnel costs. Universities, university colleges, and certain research organizations and government agencies have higher maximum limits depending on the type of activities.

What eligibility requirements apply to costs we finance?

For a cost to be eligible, it must be necessary for the activities of the project. Project costs must also be properly accounted for and separated from the organization's other costs. An organization may not claim someone else's costs as its own.

Read more about the eligibility requirements, limitations and exceptions that apply on Vinnova's website

Costs are stated in euros in the international proposal to EP PerMed's secretariat. When the parallel application is then submitted to Vinnova, costs must be stated in Swedish kronor and follow the maximum amounts stated under point 5. Use the exchange rate, euros to Swedish kronor, from the date when the call for proposals closed for proposal in step one. The exchange rate to be used must come from Sveriges Riksbank.

The state aid rules also govern how much of the costs we can finance. This is determined individually for each organization. We therefore differentiate between how much funding the project can receive, and how much each participant can receive.

How much funding can the project receive?

The total funding of the project and the consortium depends, among other things, on the number of participating parties and the national rules of the respective financiers. See the international the call text for all details and formal eligibility requirements for the consortium's proposal.

Swedish actors' participation in a project is financed by Vinnova with a ceiling of 3 million SEK per Swedish party over three years. If two Swedish parties participate in a project, Vinnova can finance a total of 4.5 million SEK.

How much funding can a participant receive?

As described above, Vinnova has a grant ceiling of 3 million SEK per Swedish party and 4.5 million in total for Swedish participation per project.

How much funding each participant can receive depends mainly on:

• what activities the party will carry out in the project
• party size and type of activities

For a full definition, see funding bases and levels

Non- state aid is support for organizations that do not engage in economic activities. This means that they do not offer a service or product on a market. This usually includes universities and university colleges, research institutes and other organizations. Vinnova can finance up to 100 percent of the costs of such an organization.

Industrial research can be simply described as seeking new knowledge through planned research or critical analysis to develop or significantly improve products, processes or services.

Experimental development can be simply described as combining, shaping and using existing knowledge to develop new or improved products, processes or services.

De minimis support is also called de minimis support. We can grant de minimis support, in accordance with the EU Commission Regulation (2023/2831) on de minimis support, for up to 100 percent of a project party's costs. An organization can receive a maximum of 300,000 euros over a three-year period in this form of support, regardless of the funder and project. This means that if the same organization has received de minimis support in other project from other funders in the past, it will affect how much support can be in this the call for proposals.

Submit a certificate of de minimis support when you submit proposal. This is required for us to be able to grant this support. Certificates of de minimis support can be found on this page

How much of the costs can we finance?

We grant funding in accordance with Article 25 of the EU Commission's General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER). The size and type of activity of the organisation determine the proportion of the costs we can finance, i.e. the maximum level of support. Se Stödgrunder and levels of support for funding, and the table below for an overview.

Bonus basics

If the project falls under any of these bonus bases, we can finance a higher proportion of the costs:

• Actual cooperation: Some level of cooperation between small and larger companies, between companies in two different European countries or between research organisations and companies
• Dissemination of results: Extensive dissemination through, for example, conferences or open databases.
• Other bonus basis

Read more in funding bases and levels of support

How do you determine whether an organization is engaged in economic activities?

An organization that offers any kind of service or product on a market is considered to be conducting economic activities and cannot be granted funds under non- state aid. It does not matter how the organization is financed, whether it is public or private, or whether it has a profit motive. It also does not matter what legal form the business has. For example, whether it is a limited liability company, a trading company, an economic association, a non-profit association or a foundation.

If you are unsure whether an organization in your project is conducting economic activities, contact call manager. However, the organization is responsible for assessing whether it is conducting economic activities.

See the international the call text for information on formal eligibility requirements including national guidelines. See also “We also assess financial status” under section 7. If the requirements are not met, proposalwill be rejected.

Eligibility requirements on organizational form of project parties

• All Swedish project partners must be Swedish legal entities and conduct activities in Sweden. We do not grant funding to individual companies.

Eligibility requirements for parallel applications

• Parallel application stage 1 must be submitted no later than February 25, 2:00 PM.

Please note that participating countries and funders may have different rules for who can apply for funding. For full formal eligibility requirements it is important to read the international the call text.

What do we assess?

In this call for proposals assessment takes place according to the criteria described in the international the call text.

How do we assess?

Assessment of proposal is carried out through the secretariat, the international program office for EP PerMed. An external international expert panel reviews the applications and produces a ranking list. The assessment is carried out in competition between submitted applications. Decisions on funding are based on the ranking list and the funders' available budget.

Vinnova also assesses financial status

Before distributing applications for assessment of applications and before making a decision on funding, Vinnova also makes an assessment of the organizational and financial status. We use information we receive from credit reports, currently from Dun & Bradstreet.

In order for us to grant funding, this applies:

• Organizations seeking funding for personnel costs must be registered as employers with the Swedish Tax Agency.
• Organizations must not be insolvent, undergoing liquidation or corporate restructuring. They must also not have unpaid debts with the Swedish Enforcement Authority.
• Limited liability companies must not have used up half or more of their share capital.

The secretariat at the EP PerMeds International Program Office will notify the decision to the coordinator of the entire international consortium.

Vinnova will also send a decision in which we either grant or reject your Swedish proposal. In the decision, we state how much funding each party in the project will be granted. Our decision cannot be appealed.

What happens if you are granted funding?

Om Vinnova grants your proposal, you must follow our general terms and conditions for funding. The conditions include, among other things:

• That the Swedish project partners should sign a document in which you approve your participation and undertake to implement the project ( participant's approval).
• That you will regularly report to Vinnova during the project period how the project is progressing, costs incurred and results achieved.
• The consortium agreement between the project parties in the international project applies as a project agreement according to the specific term for the call for proposals and must be in place no later than one year after the start of the project.

See our general terms and conditions and get help understanding and fulfilling them

We may also decide to add supplementary special conditions. In such a case, they will be stated in the decision. You will also need to follow the special conditions that apply according to the international the call text.

Could you have to pay back funding?

If you do not follow Vinnova's term, you may be required to repay the loan. This also applies if you have been granted funding incorrectly or for an amount that is too high.

For information about how your international proposal is handled, see the EP PerMeds website.

Your parallel application to Vinnova will be registered when the call for proposals at Vinnova closes. We will then send an email confirmation to the person responsible for the user account, the project manager and the signatory. If you have not received a confirmation within 24 hours of the call for proposals closing, please contact us.

Once the call for proposals is closed, you cannot change anything in proposal. You can only supplement it if we ask you to.

Who can read your proposal?

Your proposal will be read by Vinnova employees and the external evaluator participating in this the call for proposals. Everyone works under a duty of confidentiality.

Applications submitted to us become public documents. This means that we must disclose them if requested. However, we keep confidential information that we believe could cause financial harm to the individual if disclosed. This could include information about business and operational conditions, inventions or research results.

Read more about how Vinnova handles public documents and confidentiality