Academia
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Find out about our latest funding opportunities and read our tips for applicants.
'Working with industry colleagues we have gained an incredible amount – ranging from technical expertise, to compounds and reagents to project management with milestone driven programmes.'
Simon Lovestone of the University of Oxford
To mark IMI's 10th anniversary, we created a series of video testimonials from our key partners and stakeholders. Watch the testimonial from Prof. Chantal Mathieu, INNODIA Project Coordinator, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven:
Are you an academic institution or a research institute interested in applying for IMI projects? On this page you can read about the benefits of participation, find help and advice, and links to other resources which can help you get started.
A big international community
More than 970 academic teams from all over the world currently participate in our projects. Together with industry, SMEs and other partners they form IMI consortia which are tackling some of EU’s biggest health challenges.
Academic and research institute partners are the backbone of our projects, bringing in valuable resources and expertise, and helping our projects achieve outstanding results. Interested in who they are, where they’re located and which projects they are participating in? Find out with the help of our interactive map tool.
The benefits of collaboration
Our calls are highly competitive, and academic partners participating in IMI consortia are often leaders in their research areas. They tell us that they are benefitting from participating in our projects in a number of ways, including:
- Forming new networks and partnerships. Being part of consortia involving top teams from industry, academia, SMEs and regulators, helps academic partners build lasting collaborations and networks. This often results in spin-out projects and new funding opportunities.
- Building reputation and visibility. IMI research is published in some of the most prestigious journals in the world, and has a citation impact of 1.93 - nearly twice the EU average. Together with participation in international conferences and other opportunities for networking, this helps academic partners increase their reputation and visibility on an international level.
- Access to infrastructure, technology and resources. Academic partners in IMI projects get access to resources to pursue important research questions. This includes funding, and access to industry resources such as clinical trials, compounds, infrastructure and cutting-edge technology.
- Learning industry standards. In the drug development process, the pharmaceutical industry follows very rigorous methodology. Participating in IMI projects allows academic participants to gain insight into that process and learn from it.
- Become more objectives-driven. Academic and industry partners often work in very different ways. While the industry is very results-driven, academic partners are more open to doing pure research. By participating in IMI projects, academic participants learn to be more impacts-oriented.
- Access to funding. In IMI projects, universities and research centres get 100% of their eligible costs reimbursed.
Interested in learning more about the benefits of participation? Read interviews with academic partners already participating in our projects.
Apply for IMI funding
IMI publishes a number of Calls for proposals throughout the year.
- Learn about the application procedure and find out about the latest Call for proposals
- Check out the indicative subjects of future Calls for proposals
- Stay up to date – sign up to the monthly IMI Newsletter
- For immediate notifications of IMI news, join the IMI LinkedIn group or follow us on Twitter
Getting to grips with intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) represents a challenging area for collaboration involving so many diverse stakeholders. IMI’s IP policy has proven effective at protecting project partners’ interest while encouraging the sharing and exploitation of knowledge. The IP policy’s strength lies in its flexibility; this allows it to be readily adapted to the needs of each project. Thanks to the IP policy, project partners are sharing compounds, data and knowledge with one another in an unprecedented way.
Read more about our IP policy
Contact the IMI IP helpdesk
Help and advice
- For questions about our Calls for proposals, application procedures, and funding rules contact the IMI Infodesk
- Read our tips for finding project partners
- Looking for local support? Contact your local States Representatives Group member or your local National Contact Point (NCP)
Need more help with the application process? Visit our tips for applicants page.