How to get involved

IMI owes its success to the involvement in its activities of people from industryuniversities and research institutessmall and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), patient groups, regulatory authorities, and others. This page gives a general overview of the different ways you can get involved in IMI.

 

Become a partner in an IMI project

Any organisation carrying out work relevant to our objectives can participate in our projects. To join a new project, you will need to form or join a consortium and apply for support in response to an open Call for proposals. Details of the Call topics, who is eligible to receive funding, and information on how to apply are published with each Call.

 

Participate in an ongoing project

Some of our projects have open calls, generating interesting opportunities for SMEs and other researchers:

  • European Lead Factory - IMI’s European Lead Factory (ELF) is a High Throughput Screening project open to all defined molecular targets in all human disease areas. Any researcher from a European academic institution or SME can apply for their potential drug target to be screened against a 500 000 compound library at no cost to the researcher. The ELF also invites all chemists to submit their innovative ideas for novel compound libraries. For more information, visit the project website.
     
  • ENABLE – Industry, SMEs and research organisations developing potential antibiotics against gram-negative bacteria can join our ENABLE project as partners. Once they join, they will work with a diverse range of experts in microbiology, pharmacology and chemistry to help them advance their molecule through the drug development process until it is an attractive candidate for clinical testing. Details of how to submit a programme to ENABLE can be found on the project website.

 

Propose an idea for a project

Organisations can suggest ideas for IMI projects by filling in a simple form. Organisations that choose this option should be aware that if their idea is adopted and ultimately used in one of our Call for proposals, they will have to apply for funding like any other organisation. Their proposal would therefore be evaluated by independent experts alongside all other proposals received for the topic in question.

 

Join a project advisory board

Most of our projects have a number of committees that provide advice and guidance on issues such as ethics and patient involvement. Committee members who are not also full project partners do not receive funding directly from IMI, although the project may be able to reimburse some expenses. For details of opportunities in this area, contact the projects directly. Contact details for all projects can be found in the project factsheets.

 

Participate in our events

Throughout the year, we organise a number of events, including consultative workshops, webinars, and meetings. If you are interested in participating, we encourage you to regularly check our list of future events or subscribe to our newsletter.

The IMI Stakeholder Forum is our biggest annual event which brings together the entire health and medicines research and development (R&D) community. The event provides IMI stakeholders with a unique opportunity to stay up-to-date with, and provide feedback on, IMI’s latest developments and upcoming opportunities. This event holds an official advisory function to IMI.

 

Become an evaluator

If you have a high level of expertise in fields relevant to IMI, and can be available for occasional, short-term assignments, you can apply to become an evaluator in IMI Calls for proposals. To apply, please register first on the Horizon 2020 Participant Portal and then send us an email expressing your interest.

 

Join IMI as an Associated Partner

The Associated Partner category was created with the goal of opening up our activities to a wider range of stakeholders. As such, examples of organisations that could become IMI Associated Partners include philanthropic organisations and charities that run their own health research programmes, as well as organisations working in sectors related to healthcare such as ICT, imaging, diagnostics, animal health, etc.

 

Join EFPIA

EFPIA members (including corporate members, members of national EFPIA associations, and EFPIA ‘Partners in Research’) are entitled to contribute to our projects and see that contribution matched by EU funding. As EFPIA members, they are also fully represented on the IMI Governing Board, and can contribute to EFPIA’s broader research policies. For details of the different categories of EFPIA membership, contact EFPIA directly.

 

Become an IMI member

Currently, IMI has two full members: the European Union and EFPIA. According to the legislation creating IMI2, other organisations may also apply to become full members of IMI2 (with all the rights and responsibilities that membership entails). If your organisation is interested in this option, contact the IMI Programme Office.