Open Call for CaixaImpulse Innovation Program

Deadline: 30-Mar-23

The CaixaImpulse is announcing its Innovation program that helps to transfer scientific knowledge to society and encourages the creation of new products, services and companies related to life sciences.

It supports innovative biomedical projects by helping them to validate their asset/s and define their valorisation and exploitation strategy, and by bringing them closer to the market.

Through the CaixaImpulse Innovation Programme, LCF aims to support researchers in transferring scientific knowledge into services, products or businesses that create value for society by:

Supporting and guiding the execution of defined activities that will take the Asset/s from the development stage through to commercialisation.
Increasing the capacity of Project Leaders and their teams to successfully bring their Asset/s out of the lab and into the market.
Triggering a cultural change in the research ecosystem in which researchers leading innovation projects can successfully achieve their entrepreneurial goals.

For this purpose, LCF has defined a multi-tool programme to accompany Project Leaders and Projects on such a journey. The Programme relies on three pillars:

Financial support: The Beneficiary Institution will receive funding through a Grant to advance the execution of the activities presented in their Proposal according to specific goals (validation and testing, prototyping, design of business strategies, etc.)
Support activities: The Project Leader can receive specialised training in valorisation and business skills (e.g. project management, technology valorisation, licence agreement negotiation, business creation and fundraising). They can also be assigned a mentor who will help guide the advancement of activities, as well as create collaboration and business opportunities. LCF may invite other organisations and team members (e.g. other LCF grantees, such as selected projects in other calls). Such “visiting” attendees will not be considered as participants of the Programme nor will they present their advancements.
Expert advice: The Project Leader and Project Team Members will have the opportunity to access consultants according to their specific needs (intellectual property, legal, regulatory, etc.).

Funding Information

The Programme is organised in Stages according to the needs of each Project:

Stage 1 is designed to support Projects that are generating a Proof of Concept of the hypothesis of value from scientific findings for a potential Asset/s and initiating the search for IP Right protection. It provides funds up to EUR 50,000 over a maximum period of 24 months.
Stage 2 is designed to support Projects that have already identified and characterised the Asset/s through proof of concept validation and are refining the prototype design through validation of the intended use (e.g. evaluating its sensitivity, efficiency and/or safety; initiating animal model development for the desired indication, or identifying preclinical compound candidates, optimisation, etc.). It provides funds up to EUR 150,000 over a maximum period of 24 months.
Stage 3 is designed to support Projects that are on the path to regulatory filing and require an advanced characterisation of the Asset/s (e.g. performance testing, identification of clinical sites, etc.), need to refine financial viability strategies and/or are exploring exploitation models. It provides funds up to EUR 500,000 over a maximum period of 24 months.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible Projects must be from the life sciences field, in the specific scientific areas corresponding to the European Research Council Peer Review Evaluation Panels categorisation.
Within the scientific areas defined above, the Asset/s must belong to one of the following business areas:
- Therapeutics.
- Medical devices.
- Diagnostics.
- Digital health.
Applicant Institution
- The Applicant Institution will be the entity that owns or co-owns the Asset/s, whose main activity is located and registered in Spain or Portugal and which has submitted the application form in its own name.
- Applicant Institutions must be public-sector or non-profit organisations, including universities and university foundations, research centres, technological centres, hospitals, and hospital foundations.
- The Applicant Institution must provide the Project Leader with sufficient scientific and administrative support to ensure the proper management and development of the Project.
- Projects may be submitted by a consortium of public-sector or non-profit legal entities from non-European Union member states, provided that they are eligible under EU laws, as long as they are led and represented by one Spanish or Portuguese Institution that owns or co-owns the Asset/s. In the case of a consortium, in addition to the Applicant Institution, a maximum of 4 members is allowed and the sum of the budgets of institutions located outside of Spain or Portugal cannot exceed the 30% of the total budget of the Project.
- Even if the Project abides by the ownership criteria, LCF shall retain the right to declare it as non-eligible if, prior to the signing of the Agreement, the Asset/s has been transferred to a for-profit institution, except for the case of Spin-off Companies that have been incorporated in the framework of the Programme.
Project Leader
- The Project Leader (PL) must be an individual linked to the Applicant Institution with tertiary qualifications (university graduate, professor or doctor). The Project Leader does not need to be the leader of the research (i.e. principal investigator) that generated the Asset/s.
- The Project Leader is expected to commit to the development of the Project and must attend the mandatory activities developed in the framework of the Programme.
- The person acting as Project Leader may be involved in more than one application per call, but may not be appointed as Project Leader in more than one.