Medicines Manufacturing Data Institute: Phase 1
Phase 1 provides seed funding to establish a consortium and prepare a high-quality application for a subsequent Phase 2 award of up to £5 million to build the Medicines Manufacturing Data Institute (MMDI).
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Competition Scope & Overview
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will invest up to £500,000 from the UKRI Life Sciences Growth Sector. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received.
The aim of this phase 1 competition is to provide seed funding to establish a consortium and prepare a case for an award in phase 2 to establish the Medicines Manufacturing Data Institute (MMDI).
The Medicines Manufacturing Data Institute (MMDI) aims to be a trusted, secure and federated national data hub, enabling organisations across the medicines development and manufacturing ecosystem to securely capture, share and use data. See Supporting Information for further details.
Your proposal must use the funding in this phase 1 competition to support the collaborative development of a high quality application for phase 2.
This competition is split into two phases:
Medicines Manufacturing Data Institute: Phase 1 (this phase) Medicines Manufacturing Data Institute: Phase 2, MMDI Delivery
Only successful applicants in this phase 1 stage will be invited to apply for phase 2.
Phase 2 will be a large scale collaborative research and development (CR&D) award of up to £5 million. It will bring together a leading consortium of at least three partners to establish a Medicines Manufacturing Data Institute, enabling greater data sharing and collaboration across the medicines manufacturing sector.
This initiative will strengthen sector productivity, competitiveness and sustainability, while:
reducing development timelines and experimental waste improving manufacturing efficiency speeding up the delivery of new medicines to patients
In applying to this competition you are entering into a competitive process. This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly but we are still unable to fund it.
We consider a range of factors when determining whether to provide funding to applicants. This includes an assessment of prior conduct, such as any outstanding payments owed to Innovate UK or UKRI. Such factors may influence the funding decision, potentially resulting in a refusal of funding or an award subject to additional scrutiny.
We also reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions. This may be in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations or broader government funding decisions.
This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief. We cannot guarantee other government or third party sites will always show the correct competition information.
Official Applicant Guidance Documents
Medicines Manufacturing Data Institute Phase 1 - Assessor guidance for applicants.pdf
This document is official assessor guidance for the Innovate UK "Medicines Manufacturing Data Institute: Phase 1" competition. It details the scoring criteria and specific questions applicants must address to successfully secure funding.
Download Official DocumentApplication Questions & Guidance Brief
Every question below carries specific word limits and guidance criteria.
Project summary
Official Guidance
Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign experts to assess your application.
Public description
Official Guidance
Describe your project in detail, and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project.
Scope
Official Guidance
Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition. If your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why. You must also explain why your organisation is best placed to lead phase 1 and demonstrate how it meets the requirements for a lead organisation. The lead organisation should be able to: convene the full medicines manufacturing ecosystem; enable industry to drive the strategic direction, setting priorities, defining use cases.
Applicant location (not scored)
Official Guidance
You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation and any partners or subcontractors working on your project. We are collecting this information to understand more about the geographical location of all applicants.
Minimal Financial Assistance declaration (not scored)
Official Guidance
You must download the declaration template. You must complete this, declaring any funding received under Minimal Financial Assistance (previously referred to as Special Drawing Rights) or de minimis awards, (from any source of public funding) in the applicable period. Each partner must complete all the fields on their form before uploading. The lead applicant must write ‘declaration attached’ in the question text box. The lead applicant must upload all the completed declarations as an appendix. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It must be legible at 100% zoom. You must keep all documentation relating to Minimal Financial Assistance (previously referred to as Special Drawing Rights) and other de minimis awards for a period of six years. You must be prepared to release it to any public funding body which requests it.
Animal testing (not scored)
Official Guidance
Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing? You must select one option: Yes, No. We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare. Further information for proposals involving animal testing is available at the UKRI Good Research Hub and NC3R’s animal welfare guidance.
Permits and licences (not scored)
Official Guidance
Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project? We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date. You must select one option: Yes, No, In the process of being applied for, Not applicable.
International collaboration (not scored)
Official Guidance
Does your proposed work involve any international collaboration or engagement? You must provide details of any expected international collaboration or engagement. You must include a list of the names and the countries, any international project co-leads, project partners, visiting researchers, or other collaborators are based in. You must also include details of any subcontractors or service providers. If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration or engagement, your answer must confirm this.
Export licence (not scored)
Official Guidance
You must indicate whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance. You must select one option: Yes, No.
Trusted Research and Innovation (not scored)
Official Guidance
You must explain if your proposed project work relates to UKRI’s Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) Principles, including: a list of any dual use (both military and non-military) applications to your research; a list of the areas where your project is relevant to one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act; whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance and the status of any applications; a list of any items or substances on the UK Strategic Export Control List. If your proposed work does not relate to UKRI’s TR&I Principles, your answer must confirm this. We may ask you to provide additional TR&I information at a later date, in line with UKRI TR&I Principles and funding terms and conditions.
Sector need
Official Guidance
Why does the UK medicines development and manufacturing sector need the Medicines Manufacturing Data Institute (MMDI), and what opportunities could it unlock? Describe: the challenges currently limiting the effective use, sharing and exploitation of data across medicines development and manufacturing; why these challenges cannot be adequately addressed through existing mechanisms or by a single organisation; why a MMDI is needed and the strategic importance; the opportunities that could be unlocked through a successful MMDI; how the MMDI could benefit the wider ecosystem beyond productivity gains.
Vision for the Medicines Manufacturing Data Institute
Official Guidance
What is your initial vision for the Medicines Manufacturing Data Institute (MMDI)? Whilst it is expected that the concept of the MMDI will be fully developed during the phase 1 project stage, it is important for us to understand your initial starting point. Describe: the proposed structure and framework of the MMDI; your proposed use case or list of potential use cases to be explored; the capabilities, services, or data infrastructure that could be developed; the stakeholders who would benefit and how; the long term outcomes and impact your vision could enable for the UK medicines development and manufacturing ecosystem with the use case in mind.
Pathway to phase 2
Official Guidance
What will you deliver during phase 1 and how will this support a phase 2 proposal? Describe: the activities to be undertaken, including how the consortium will engage and convene the wider medicines development and manufacturing community; the key stakeholders and partners to be engaged and why; the expected outputs and deliverables for phase 1 that will inform decision making for phase 2; how these will inform a phase 2 implementation project; how the activity aligns with the MMDI vision and mission; how it will support key questions related to trusted data sharing, interoperability, federation, governance, standards or data access.
Leadership and Capability
Official Guidance
Why are you best placed to lead this activity? What is the structure of your team? Describe: why you are best placed to lead this activity, supported by evidence: including knowledge of the sector and the ability to convene relevant stakeholders; the organisations involved and their roles, if applicable; the relevant expertise, experience and capabilities within the team, consortium and any proposed subcontractors to deliver phase 1 activity; access to the resources, infrastructure, networks and stakeholders needed to deliver the project successfully.
Project delivery and risk management
Official Guidance
How will you deliver and manage your project? Describe: the main work packages of the project, including the lead partner responsible for each and the associated costs; your approach to project management, including the governance, reporting structures, tools, and mechanisms you will use to deliver the project successfully; the key milestones, deliverables, dependencies, and decision points within your project plan; the main risks and uncertainties associated with the project, including technical, commercial, managerial, stakeholder engagement, data governance, and environmental risks; how you will monitor, manage, and mitigate these risks; any critical project inputs, such as resources, expertise, stakeholder participation, data access, or external dependencies; any regulatory, ethical, data protection, or compliance considerations and how these will be managed.