New and improved biological drugs in healthcare

With this offer, we want to develop and improve biological drugs in collaboration with the health care system to further strengthen Sweden's position in biological drugs.

The next generation of biological drugs involves complex challenges where healthcare needs to be involved early in the value chain. It is also important that new biological drugs become available to healthcare and patients. This call welcomes innovative project where researchers, companies and healthcare collaborate to develop, improve and make available biological drugs.

The proposal must include at least two project parties, an organization in health care and a company. Universities, colleges, research institutes and patient associations can also participate, but there are no eligibility requirements. One of these parties must be the main applicant ( coordinator). The parties must have prepared the project proposal jointly.

A project can apply for a maximum of five million kronor over two to three years.

The call aims to give Sweden a leading role in the field of biological drugs by strengthening collaboration between healthcare, business and research. Collaboration increases the opportunities for health care to receive new biological drugs, increases the connection between research and treatment, as well as the development of new diagnostics and individualized treatment strategies. In this call for proposals, we place special focus on new individualized treatments for very seriously ill people.

We are looking for project in different steps in the value chain, for example:

• in the early phase where new or existing biological drugs are developed to improve use, reduce side effects and thereby increase patient benefit.
• the aim of developing processes to streamline production and increase availability.
• in the later phase to improve formulations or distribution systems that make it easier for healthcare and the patient.

The next generation of biological drugs entails a complex challenge where both industrial and clinical competence is needed already in the definition phase of the research challenge. The projects will contribute to better and more effective biological drugs and increase the availability of health care. The financial contribution from Vinnova to the health and medical care party will make it possible to free up resources so that active collaboration can take place.

The project must be of a general nature. The innovation must be in general methods, techniques or platforms, and the results must be transferable to other project that can benefit from the new knowledge.

A biological medicinal product here refers to a preparation whose active substance has been produced in or purified from material of biological origin. Vinnova has the task of promoting sustainable growth by improving the conditions for innovation. Improved conditions for innovation strengthen the capacity to achieve the goals for sustainable development in Agenda 2030. Through our efforts, we contribute to the global commitment to achieve the goals.

Collaboration, concentration and innovation will be crucial to achieve the goals in Agenda 2030. With this call for proposals, we want more people to collaboratively develop their innovative capacity and create new solutions that contribute to the goals, within the framework of the call's priorities.

Gender equality is a prerequisite for sustainable growth and is found in Agenda 2030, as an objective in itself but also as a perspective that should permeate the work with all objective. The call must therefore contribute to a gender-equal development of society linked to two main perspectives.

One aspect that Vinnova follows up and assesses is whether both women and men receive the grant on an equal basis, participate in and have influence over the project (see section Assessment of received applications and the actor criterion).

Another important aspect is about analyzing and deciding whether there are gender and / or gender aspects that are relevant within the solution's problem area and utilization. This question is mandatory for all applicant and can be found under the heading " Project tasks".

In this call for proposals, the question is the basis for assessment under the potential criterion (see section Assessment of received applications).

Results from research and innovation that are made freely available provide an increased opportunity for more people to contribute to solutions to societal challenges. The call will contribute to more results being made freely available to everyone and scientific publication will take place with open access.

Vinnova has the task of promoting sustainable growth by improving the conditions for innovation. Improved conditions for innovation strengthen the capacity to achieve the goals for sustainable development in Agenda 2030. Through our efforts, we contribute to the global commitment to achieve the goals.

Our work to contribute to the goals in Agenda 2030

Project must consist of at least one health care organization and at least one company. Universities, colleges, research institutes and patient associations can also be involved, but there are no eligibility requirements. One of these parties must be the main applicant ( coordinator). The parties must have prepared the project proposal jointly.

A company that is a beneficiary must be registered as a limited company in Sweden with active activities in research and development as well as business operations.

International parties are welcome to participate in the proposed project, but can not be the project coordinator. Organizations registered outside Sweden must have a branch or place of business in Sweden in order to receive funding.

If necessary, appropriate research and innovation infrastructures can be used, to add expertise and networks, but these cannot be thecoordinator

Activities for funding can be applied for

This call for proposals finances activities within collaborative projects of the type “Industrial research” or “Experimental development”, as defined in Vinnova's support ordinance.

Eligible costs

Our funding is through funding. Funding for organizations that conduct financial activities covered by rules on state support.

The rules govern, among other things, the types of costs and the proportion of them that may be covered by funding.

Government support for financial activities (companies)

Rules for which costs are eligible

In this call, each project apply for a maximum of SEK 5 million.

The project period can be between 2 and 3 years.

The call's preliminary budget is a maximum of SEK 50 million.

We will only assess applications that meet the following formal eligibility requirements:

• Project must consist of at least one health and medical care organization and at least one company with research and development in Sweden
• The coordinator is a Swedish organization and consists of a party from the health service, a company or a research organization.
• The project parties are legal entities.
• Companies applying for funding must be registered as a limited company.
• Proposal is in Swedish or English.
• Proposal contains all mandatory appendices according to section (10) How to apply, written in the mandatory templates within the specified maximum number of pages.
• Proposal does not contain any appendices other than the mandatory appendices provided by Vinnova.

What do we assess?

Applications that meet the formal requirements will be assessed on the following three criteria, each of which consists of a number of sub-criteria:

Potential

• Relevance of the project in relation to the aim call and the impact goals program (see appendix)
• The project's potential to contribute to improved healthcare and / or value for the patient
• The project value's novelty value and degree of innovation
• To what extent does the project increase collaboration between healthcare and industry
• To what extent is the project idea focused on generic solutions and widely applicable knowledge
• Scientific quality in issue and method and potential to contribute to new progress
• The potential project results to contribute to increased gender equality

Actors

• Knowledge, competence and experience of the members of the project group; especially with the project manager and other key people
• Access to relevant competence in the project group, regarding for example clinical competence, technology, business models and science
• Players' ability to describe and relate to competitors and collaboration opportunities, both nationally and internationally
• The project partners' involvement in the project, with working hours and other resources
• Existence of new collaboration, between project partners who have not previously collaborated
• Engagement of end users and others who can benefit from project results
• How well the team (key people) is composed in terms of gender distribution, as well as the distribution of power and influence between women and men

Feasibility

• A project plan that clearly describes how specified activities are to be carried out
• Plans and activities that demonstrate the commitment, participation and mutual communication of all parties
• The project activities, schedule and milestones are realistic and relevant in relation to what is required to achieve expected results
• Reasonable budget as well as credibility in funding and access to other resources for implementation
• Relevance and credibility of the risk analysis
• A credible plan for the implementation and use of project results
• Ethical considerations, where applicable
• How well gender equality aspects are integrated into the project plan

The assessment takes place in competition between received applications.

Applications that meet the formal requirements will be assessed by international experts.

The highest-ranked project proposals are called for an interview, in which at least one representative from each participant and other key actors are expected to participate. The interviews aim to clarify any ambiguities in the applications and clarify the collaboration between the participants in the project.

The results from the interviews, together with previous assessments, form the basis for recommendations for decisions.

Vinnova reserves the right to have a portfolio perspective when selecting applications that are recommended for decision.

The formal decisions are made and communicated to the applicant by Vinnova.

About our decisions

How much each party in the project is granted in funding stated in the decision. Funding will be granted with the support of Vinnova's ordinance SFS 2015: 208]. The basis for support is stated in the decision and also governs which costs are eligible.

Our decision to grant or reject a proposal is not subject to appeal.

Term for granted funding

For granted funding, our general terms and conditions for fundingapply. The terms and conditions include rules on project agreements, conditions for payment, follow-up, reporting and utilization of results.

Our rules and term for funding

To apply for funding, fill in a web-based form on Vinnovas Intressentportal, which can be accessed via www.vinnova.se. There you also upload the following attachments:

Project description

The project description may amount to a maximum of 10 single-column A4 pages in portrait format, with 12 points of black text. References to web pages and similar information will not be considered.

CV Annex
The CV appendix must include the CV of the project manager, a representative of each participant and other key people in the project. Varje CV may include a maximum of 1 A4 page, written in 12-point black text.

All project partners must be included in the CV appendix, including project partners who are not applying for funding.

Budget

The project budget must be reported in Vinnova's eservices portal. In addition, a separate budget appendix must be filled in. The budget of all project partners must be reported, including the budget for project partners who do not apply for funding.

Certificate support must be signed and attached to the proposal for the actors seeking such. See more information under section (6) What we finance. It is mandatory to use the template that Vinnova provides on the call's website. It is not allowed to change the font, font size or formatting.

The scope of the annexes may not exceed what is stated above and no further annexes may be attached.

Templates for attachments can be found further down on the announcement page.