Tribute to Previous Success
Last year a total of 190 pre-proposals were submitted from 12 institutes in France and Germany with 19 finally receiving funding. Of those 190 pre-proposals 27 were from researchers at BIH, Charité and MDC. From our 27 proposals 6 were short listed and 5 went on to receive iAwards funding. The iAwards program kicked off with a celebration ceremony in Paris where all institutes and iAwards winners had the chance to meet and network as well as present their project on stage with their Sanofi counterpart. Congratulations again to the winners of last year!
We hope we can follow on from the previous success with even more success in the coming year.
The iAward program overview
The Sanofi iAwards program is a 3 year initiative with European partner institutes with the aim of establishing an early-stage research culture that can quickly translate innovative academic research into clinical testing that could lead to the development of effective and safer therapeutic solutions for patients. The three-year program invests up to two million euros per year in funding innovative projects selected from academic and clinical institutions which has expanded this year to include 18 institutes from France, Germany, the UK and Israel. Each selected project receives €100,000 for up to 1 year of research plus a dedicated Sanofi project champion, in-kind resources and expertise from Sanofi.
This year the Berlin Institute of Health, Charité – Universitätsmedizin and Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) will be joined by the following partners of the iAwards program
France: Inserm, Institut Curie, Institut, Gustave Roussy, Institut Pasteur, ICM, IHU Imagine, Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP)
Germany: Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE), German Diabetes Center (DDZ), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), Klinikum der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (KUM)
United Kingdom: University of Cambridge, King’s College London
Israel: Weizmann Institute
Therapeutic Areas of Interest
- Molecular Oncology
- Immuno Oncology
- Neuroscience
- Vaccines
- Diabetes
- Cardiovascular Diseases
- Rare Diseases
- Rare Blood Disease Disorders
- Immunology & Inflammation
- Biologics Research
Pre-proposals must provide objectives and work-plan achievable in 12 months and strong rationale for benefit to patients.
Criteria for Pre-proposals
The first round of the iAwards Europe Program requires a short project proposal using the Sanofi iAwards template. No other form of application will be accepted. The closing date for submission is 3rd January 2019. The proposals will be evaluated and those that are of interest to Sanofi will be asked to submit a second detailed proposal by 28th March 2019. Final funding decisions will be announced on May 23rd 2019.
The criteria for each pre-proposal include
- New and actionable knowledge about disease relevant targets, pathways and mechanisms
- Early stage compounds or biologics targeting novel disease mechanisms
- New models for validating disease relevant targets
- Technology platforms with the potential to significantly improve drug discovery and development
- Novel therapeutic modalities
Timeline of iAwards program
- Announcement of Request for Pre-Proposal: November 23rd, 2018
- Deadline of Submission of Pre-Proposals: January 3rd, 2019
- Notification of selected pre-proposals: February 14th, 2019
- Submission of detailed proposals: March 28th, 2019
- Review of detailed proposals: May 9th, 2019
- Information about funding decision: May 23rd, 2019
Please note: This program has pre-agreed terms and conditions which might not be appropriate for some projects and might exclude some projects from participating in the program. These terms cover, among other aspects, intellectual property rights, regulations regarding publications, material transfer aspects, and who can be involved in the projects. Please consult your Technology Transfer Office to clarify these points before submitting your proposal to Sanofi iAwards.