Lung Foundation - Public-Private Partnership allowance
Public-Private Partnership allowance
Health~Holland (Top Sector Life Sciences and Health) and the Lung Foundation enable consortia of researchers and companies to apply for a grant (Public-Private Partnership(PPP) allowance) for basic, translational or applied research. The maximum amount of support in 2017 is €432.000. Research projects have to contribute to the goals and objectives of both the Topsector LSH and the Lung Foundation.
Lung Foundation aims
The Lung Foundation works with three main research themes, divided into different (non-exclusive) topics (“research agenda”): 1) Prevention of lung diseases and lung damage; 2) Diagnosis of lung disease: earlier, more specific, and guiding treatment; and 3) Care and treatment: innovative and personalized. The PPP funding allocated to the Lung Foundation will be used for proposals that fit these themes.
Health~Holland aims
The topsector LSH has designed roadmaps to address priorities in health outcomes (age-related, chronic, acute, infectious, orphan and neglected diseases) and along the healthcare chain (from prevention through diagnosis to cure and care). The roadmaps represent the areas in which public and private parties are committed to co-innovate. Research proposals will have to fit one of these roadmaps. The roadmaps can be found under downloads.
Funding conditions
The PPP-funds are meant to stimulate economic activity in the health sector. Therefore, companies should participate in the project consortium in such a way that their involvement provides an added value to the project.
In contrast to last year, the Lung Foundation will only consider research proposals for funding that fit the research categories industrial research and experimental research. For industrial research, funding is maximized at 50% of the total eligible project costs, and for experimental development this is 25%. Research in projects is often a combination of fundamental, industrial and experimental research. A (smaller) part of the project can still be fundamental research, but the maximum funding in 2017 is set at 50% of total eligible project costs. Universities and/or the companies have to finance the remaining part of the project costs, either in kind or in cash.
Note: the Lung Foundation will not provide additional funding to support project costs not covered by the PPP grant.
In order to stimulate the public-private partnership, the participating companies should provide a minimum of 15% of the eligible project costs, either in cash or in kind (for small and medium companies). When large companies are involved 2/3 of the 15% of the eligible costs should be provided in cash (10% of total eligible project costs).
The consortium has to sign a consortium agreement following the PPP-allowance regulation. This agreement describes agreements of the partners on intellectual property rights and the roles and contributions of each of the partners. A template for this agreement can be found under downloads.
A PPP-grant awarded project will have to start before December 31, 2017 with a deadline for finishing the project in November 2021 (no extensions possible).
For background information on PPP-allowance, definitions of the research categories and requirements for research projects please read this document (Dutch). (Or see downloads.) The Lung Foundation will grant the PPS-allowance to the consortium.
Procedure & timeline
On May 8th, 2017 – in order to organize a timely review process – a provisional title and abstract of the project, and 5 recommendations for independent (foreign) reviewers have to be submitted to research@longfonds.nl
The deadline for full applications is June 12th, 2017. Applications can be submitted to research@longfonds.nl
The final decision is expected mid October 2017.
Before the grant agreement between the consortium and the Lung Foundation can be finalized, the awarded consortium has to provide a signed consortium agreement. The signed consortium agreement has to be sent to the Lung Foundation within a month after the grant decision.
The full application and its budget should be submitted using the dedicated forms (see downloads). Additional information on eligible costs and the LSH roadmaps as well as the consortium agreement template can also be found under downloads.
Conclusion
The Ministry of Economic Affairs, Health~Holland and the Longfonds offer a unique opportunity to the lung research community to obtain funding for economically viable research. The Longfonds believes that economically viable research will also benefit patients and is therefore willing to facilitate and enable a successful application procedure.
