WIREDGOV

Status: Forthcoming

Key features: Investment of up to £4.5m in the development of innovative technologies that will enable and improve diagnostic analysis of samples from cells, tissues and tumour biopsy.

Programme: Collaborative research and development

• Award: Up to £4.5m

• Opens: 28 Oct 2013

• Registration closes: 04 Dec 2013

• Closes: 11 Dec 2013

Summary

The Technology Strategy Board is to invest up to £4.5m in the development of innovative technologies that will enable and improve diagnostic analysis of samples from cells, tissues and tumour biopsy.

This competition addresses key objectives in the UK stratified medicine roadmap on the use of biomarkers and related technologies suitable for regulatory approval to detect and characterise disease and allow stratification of the way patients are treated. Stratified medicine refers to the ability to offer the right treatment to the right patient at the right time. The grouping, or stratifying, of patients according to their response to a particular treatment, will have significant therapeutic benefits and improve patient outcomes.

Projects must be business-led and collaborative. They should last no more than three years. We are primarily seeking to fund industrial research, with a business partner attracting 50% public funding for their project costs (60% for small and medium-sized enterprises SMEs). Where academic partners are involved, their costs must be no greater than 50% of the total project costs. We expect project applications to range in size from £200k up to a maximum project size of £1.5m. We may consider larger projects, but applicants should discuss this with the Technology Strategy Board before making an application.

This is a two-stage competition that opens on 28 October 2013. The deadline for registration is noon on 4 December 2013, and the deadline for expressions of interest is noon on 11 December 2013. The deadline for projects invited to submit a full-stage application is noon on 12 February 2014. A briefing event for applicants will be held on 7 November 2013. 

Click here for full competition details and updates.