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EIT Raw Materials today launched an open call for funding of up €200,000 as part of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s €60 million crisis response initiative. Start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs working on aspects of raw materials supply, including exploration, mining, recycling and improved methods for processing minerals and metals, can apply for funding until 12 June 2020. The call is open for companies hit by the economic consequences of the pandemic and for projects that can directly or indirectly mitigate technological, market and value chain challenges linked to the crisis.
The government of Canada announced C$450 million in funding to universities and health research institutes to keep essential research running, and so they can retain research staff funded by industry or philanthropic sources who are not eligible to access existing COVID-19 support measures. In addition to maintaining research-related activities during the crisis, the money will help universities to ramp research back up once physical distancing measures are lifted. The funding is part of Canada’s COVID-19 economic response plan.
The European Commission today launched a portal providing a single point of access to information on all COVID-related research calls and providing real time updates on funding opportunities across the European Research Area. In addition to Horizon 2020 calls and deadlines, there is a section for national research programmes.
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s (EIT) Urban Mobility programme has announced a €6 million call as part of a €60 million crisis response initiative launched by EIT today. EIT Urban Mobility is holding pitching events until 22 May to help participants find partners and create consortia. It is promising simplified procedures and says research must be completed by the end of the year. Application deadline: 31 May. The call is part of EIT’s €60 million crisis response initiative, which will fast track €40M to help SMEs that are running short of cash during the crisis, and €20 million to fund COVID-19 projects. Further calls will be launched in the coming weeks through the EIT’s eight knowledge and innovation communities in health, climate change, digitisation, food, sustainable energy, urban mobility, manufacturing, and raw materials.
The Henry Luce Foundation in partnership with the US Social Science Research Council has launched a call for research into the social, economic, cultural, psychological, and political impact of Covid-19 in the US and globally. The call is open to international researchers. Applicants must be PhD holders in any social science disciplines or related interdisciplinary fields. Grants of up to $5,000 per project are available. Application deadline: 1 June.
The European Commission approved a €25 million direct grant state aid to support COVID-19 related R&D activities in Wallonia, the southern region of Belgium. The programme, open to all companies based in Wallonia, will fund research in diagnostics, therapies and vaccines, covering 80 per cent of eligible costs for SMEs, and 60 per cent for large companies. The commission also approved a €11.5 million for a Maltese scheme to support investments in the production of coronavirus-relevant products such as vaccines, ventilators and protective equipment.
To date, tests of existing drugs in the treatment of COVID-19 infections have focussed on patients who are ill enough to be in hospital. Now, a UK study is being rolled out to test repurposed drugs in older patients who show symptoms of COVID-19, in the hope of reducing hospital admissions. People aged 65 and over with coronavirus symptoms can now register via an online questionnaire to find out if they are eligible to take part in the study, which is being run by the primary care clinical trials unit at Oxford University. More than 500 general practitioner surgeries in the UK are also recruiting people aged 50-64 with a pre-existing illness, or aged 65 and over, into the trial. In the first phase, the trial is evaluating whether a seven-day course of hydroxychloroquine, used for acute malaria and certain types of arthritis, can reduce the severity of symptoms. The antibiotic azithromycin will soon be added to the study.
Intelligent Fingerprinting is working with researchers at Imperial College London on a 10-minute COVID-19 test that aims to detect the virus in sweat. This would represent a new and non-invasive method to detect COVID-19, which can be used by non-medical staff in care homes and workplaces. The test relies on taking ten fingerprint sweat samples that are analysed by a portable device, with results on-screen in ten minutes. Intelligent Fingerprinting, a spin out from Imperial College, says it does this without creating any hazardous biological waste.
The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) has selected eight projects for funding under its fast-track call on coronavirus diagnostics and treatments and said it will increase funding for the call from €45 million to €72 million. The in-kind contribution of pharmaceutical companies is unchanged at €45 million. In total, IMI received 144 proposals of which 120 met the basic eligibility criteria for support. All eligible proposals were evaluated by independent experts, and due to the large number of high quality proposals, IMI decided to increase the funding. Of the eight projects, five focus on diagnostics and three on treatments. The diagnostics projects aim to develop tests that can be used at the point of care, including a doctor’s surgery or patient’s home, and which will deliver results within 14 to 40 minutes. The therapies projects are mostly aiming to repurpose existing drugs. In total, the projects include 94 organisations, with SMEs accounting for over 20 per cent of the participants and 17 per cent of the budget.
The Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII) on Monday awarded almost €3.5 million from Spain’s COVID-19 research fund to 37 new projects aiming to improve short-term management of the coronavirus pandemic. The projects will study the biology of the virus, search for new drugs, and attempt to improve the management of the disease in Spain. Since the launch of the €24 million fund in late March, 90% of the budget has been allocated to 117 research projects. The funding call, which is open to universities and businesses from Spain and other countries, will be closed in the coming day when the last winners are announced.
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