Transforming Cancer Therapeutics

To lead a project or work alone your organisation must be a UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME).

Project team

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

An SME can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in two further applications.

If an SME is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications.

A large business, academic institution, research and technology organisation (RTO), charity, not for profit or public sector organisation can collaborate on any number of applications.

Your project must:

• have total costs between £150,000 and £4 million
• not exceed a grant request of £2 million
• have at least 50% of the total project costs shared by the SMEs, if collaborative
• start by 1 Aug 2024
• end by 31 July 2026
• last between 6 and 24 months
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

If you have requested an overall grant of over £500,000, and your online application is successful at written assessment, you may be invited to attend an interview.

You must not claim more than £2 million in grant against your total project costs. A minimum of 50% of your total eligible project costs must be incurred by SMEs, if collaborative.

The aim of this competition is to support innovation projects that focus on advancing next-generation immunotherapies for cancer or life-changing treatment options for childhood cancers.

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.

Your project can include:

• experimental evaluation at laboratory scale
• use of in vitro and in vivo models to evaluate proof of concept or safety
• exploration of potential production mechanisms
• prototyping
• product development planning
• intellectual property protection
• a demonstration of clinical utility and effectiveness
• a demonstration of safety and efficacy including phase 1 and 2 clinical trials
• regulatory planning

Your project can focus on one or more of the following:

• next generation immunotherapies and immunomodulatory drugs
• manipulation of the tumour microenvironment to promote immune responses against solid tumours
• novel therapeutics that consider the unique characteristics of paediatric or young people’s cancers
• clinical decision support tools to optimise therapeutic dosing for children and young people

This list is not intended to be exhaustive.

Innovate UK will hold an online briefing on Thursday 17 November at 11am: click here for the joining link.

If you would like help to find a project partner, contact Innovate UK KTN’s Health team.