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Objective – Funding purpose

The aim of the Technology Transfer Fund is to fund projects which have commercial/clinical innovation potential but still lack documents in support of their economic exploitation and require the appropriate validation. The Technology Transfer Fund is characterized by a straightforward application process with a high degree of flexibility in the allocation of funds. The funds are limited to a short period of use. They are to be used explicitly for the validation of the commercial potential. The fund therefore includes the possibility of awarding contracts for industrial-standard services to third parties whereas personnel costs shall be funded in exceptional cases only. In addition to financial support, the Technology Transfer Fund offers the possibility of professional advice as part of the expert assessment process. The external experts will contact all the applicants in person to discuss the project application in any given case and to comment on the submitted project plan. The applicants will therefore have the opportunity to discuss their projects in detail with the experts. This individual contact between applicants and assessors is a special and important element of the BIH Technology Transfer Fund. The fund offers the applicants in-depth professional advice regardless of whether the applications were selected for funding.
Applicants who are not granted funding are specifically asked to submit their revised project proposals when the next call for applications is published. 

Requirements and selection criteria

All MDC and Charité employees are invited to hand in a project application. The application must be co-signed by the research group leader respectively.
Proposals can be submitted for projects aiming at the development of new medical devices (Medical devices, Health IT (eHealth), medical services, etc.).
The main criteria influencing the decision when selecting the projects for funding include the scientific quality, medical need and the marketing potential of the target product. The market readiness of the project is explicitly of secondary importance.
Instead, the quality of a proposal is judged by the expected progress in the validation of the commercial viability based on the requested funds and the intended project work. For exploratory projects, which are not fully underpinned by scientific evidence, funding can also be made available for validation, consolidation or the generation of additional data if these measures will further the commercial viability.

Type, scope and amount of funding

  • The selected projects will be allocated up to € 50.000 of funding.
  • As a general rule, the project term should not exceed 9 months.
  • Follow-up applications can be submitted. They will be competing for funding with newly submitted applications.
  • Costs directly related to the project are eligible for funding: material costs, costs for third-party contracts and, in exceptional cases, personnel costs.

Procedure

The applications must be addressed to the BIH Board of Directors and submitted via the BIH website (Application Portal) by EOB (3pm local time) on 20 January 20th, 2016.
The project description (in German or English) should not exceed five pages and should include the following points:
  • Summary of subject and aim of project
  • Description of planned product or service
  • Medical demand and commercial potential
  • State of research and state of own preliminary work (bibliography may be attached)
  • Explanation of superiority and advantages over current medical science standards
  • Brief outline of IP situation
  • Description of the advance in development to be attained with the help of the funding and the resulting conclusions as to potential usage
  • Work schedule and milestone plan (In case of awarding of contracts to third parties this has to comply with the effective procurement directives. The designation of specific favored firms in the request is excluded and may lead to disqualification of the project proposal.)
  • Financial plan
  • Name of a contact person for the assessors and their contact details
Applicants will be notified of the receipt of their application and the name of their assessor.  
 
Assessment level 1:
The applications will be distributed to several external assessors who will get in contact with the relevant applicants by telephone. The name of the assessor assigned to your project will be communicated to you upon the application deadline. The external assessors will draw up a shortlist in a joint selection process.

The assessment level 1 period will last approximately two months.   Assessment level 2:
The applicants shortlisted at level 1 will be invited to present their projects to a selection board during a symposium . They will have 10 minutes for the presentation followed by discussion. The selection board will be composed of representatives from MDC and from Charité and independent external experts. The assessment level 2 period will last approximately one month. The symposium  is expected to be held on 20 April 20th, 2016.   The decision on funding will be made immediately after the symposium and the successful applicants will be notified. Projects can be started subsequently. Applicants receive feedback on their project application during the telephone call with their assessor in the first assessment level. There will be no further feedback concerning the final funding decision. Please note that there will be no information about the assessment of your application in comparison to other applications.
The technology transfer offices at Charité and MDC are coordinating the application process and can help scientists with the application procedure. It is therefore highly advisable to contact the relevant technology transfer office before submitting an application.
All awarded projects will be posted on the BIH website.
A legal claim for funding does not exist.
In the course of the project, applicants are supported by the technology transfer offices. It is intended to invite the funded applicants after the completion of the projects and evaluation of the results, in order to present their results in the context of a BIH seminar.

The next combined calls for the BIH Technology Transfer Fund regarding “Pharma”and “Medical Devices” is expected at the end of 2016/beginning of 2017.  

Confidentiality

All the parties involved in the application and selection process are required to sign a written declaration of confidentiality. The relevant technology transfer offices at MDC and Charité would like to be contacted in advance about any projects where the protection of intellectual property is a particular priority.

Contact persons

Dr. Anette Schröder
Technology transfer, Charité
Tel. 030-450 570 243
anette.schroeder@charite.de

Dr. Sigrun Szepanski
Technology scout, Charité
Tel. 030-450 570 825
Sigrun.Szepanski@charite.de 

Dr. Katrin Voigt
Manager technology transfer, MDC
Tel. 030-9406-4227
k.voigt@mdc-berlin.de

Dr. Jeanette Libera-Körner
Manager technology transfer, MDC
Tel. 030-9406-2833
Jeanette.Libera-Koerner@mdc-berlin.de

Deadline for applications: 20 January 2016, 3 p.m.