Wellcome Trust: Pathfinder Awards, Medicine, UK 1215 views

Wellcome Trust offers Pathfinder Awards to fund pilot projects that address an unmet medical need or offer a new solution to a problem. The Lead applicant salary is not offered. Level of funding is £100,000 to £350,000 (max limit in exceptional circumstances only). Pathfinder Awards can last up to 18 months

Eligibility and suitability:

• distinct projects from applicants in the UK and Republic of Ireland
• partnerships between academia and industry based anywhere in the world
• concept applicants are testing must be at an early stage, with a strong and defined project focus
• At the end of a Pathfinder Award: innovation must be a credible asset that’s ready for further development
• Applicant must be ready to apply for more innovations funding or have a downstream partner to assist with product development.

Academic organizations: All no-profit research organizations are eligible. These organizations must sign up to wellcome grant conditions.

Commercial organizations: Commercial organizations may apply either as lead applicants or as collaborators.

Partnerships: Wellcome encourages partnership applications. Partnerships must include an academic or no-profit organization (as lead) and a commercial partner. If applicant is in a partnership, applications can be filed from anywhere in the world. If not in a partnership, applicant must be based in the UK or Republic of Ireland.

Partnership projects could:

• cover an aspect of product development related to any disease
• involve an established company that’s developed a product and taken it to market before
• help the lead organization access specialist knowledge and/or technologies that could improve their product
• After funding, a downstream development partner should be able to realize a public benefit.
• The development partner can be the company itself or a third party. Partnerships must show that they can support the research to this point.

Applications that focus on:

• discrete experiments to show proof-of-concept data assay or development
• a critical experiment to validate intellectual property (in strong cases)
• product development that benefits people with orphan and neglected diseases

How to apply

• Applicant must submit application through the Wellcome Trust Grant Tracker (WTGT).

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