91st Edition – June 2019

Advanced therapies feature in new IMI Call for proposals

Advanced therapies are a major part of IMI2 – Call 18, which IMI launched on 26 June. The two advanced therapies topics aim to accelerate research into advanced therapies for rare diseases, and support the development of engineered T cells to fight cancer. Other topics in the Call address artificial intelligence; the need for reliable, relevant health information; and ways of incorporating patients’ views and experiences into healthcare and cancer clinical trials. The full list of topics is:

• Central repository of digital pathology slides to support the development of artificial intelligence tools
• Health Outcomes Observatories – empower patients with tools to measure their outcomes in a standardised manner creating transparency of health outcomes
• Improving patient access, understanding and adherence to healthcare information: an integrated digital health information project
• Establishing international standards in the analysis of patient reported outcomes and health-related quality of life data in cancer clinical trials
• Accelerating research & innovation for advanced therapy medicinal products
• Supporting the development of engineered T cells

Find out more

• Visit the IMI2 – Call 18 web page
• Catch up on the webinars
• Read the press release

IMI launches new Call for proposals to help existing projects build on achievements

On 26 June, IMI also launched IMI2 – Call 19, which is a single stage restricted Call for proposals. It is designed to support further research activities to allow existing successful IMI consortia to build on the achievements of their initial action, move onto the next step of the research challenge, and maximise the impacts of the initial action results. As such the Call is restricted to the initial consortia of actions that fulfil the following two conditions:

• funded through topics launched under Calls for proposals in 2014 and of 2015, since only these actions are sufficiently advanced in their implementation to be considered for followup research activities;
• derived from topics where the topic text already informed potential applicants about the possibility of a later restricted Call.

In practice, the consortia that meet these criteria are: ADAPT-SMART, BEAt-DKD, DO-IT, HARMONY, INNODIA, ITCC-P4, MOPEAD, NGN-PET, PRISM, RADAR-CNS, RESCEU, RHAPSODY, TransQST.

Find out more

• Visit the IMI2 – Call 19 web page
• Catch up on the webinar

Interested in IMI2 – Call 18 or 19? Check IMI’s tips for applicants

There are a lot of things you can do to increase your chances of submitting a successful proposal.

Get informed: Webinars and info days are an excellent way to ensure you understand the Call topics as well as IMI’s rules and procedures. IMI has held webinars on all IMI2 - Call 18 and 19 topics plus our rules and procedures and opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – catch up on them here.

Find partners: Individual researchers are not eligible to receive funding through IMI Calls for proposals – you will need to join or form a consortium. Advice on how to find project partners can be found on our Finding Partners page.

Read and understand the Call documents: Take the time to read and understand the Call documents on the IMI2 – Call 18 and IMI2 – Call 19 pages, as well as the general documents for applicants.

Ask questions: If something in the Call documents is unclear, or if you have any questions about the Call topics or the rules and procedures, contact us – it’s our job to help you.

Find out more: visit our tips for applicants page.

Calling all patients – apply to be part of IMI’s pool of patient experts

IMI has involved patients in its projects and activities since the very beginning. Now, IMI wants to enhance the involvement of patients in all activities, for example by inviting them to provide input on scientific strategies; review project proposals; and assess the results of ongoing and closed projects. To facilitate this, IMI is establishing a pool of patient experts that is open to a wide range of patients (and family members and carers) with a chronic illness or condition that is linked to IMI’s Strategic Research Agenda. The conditions for being part of the pool are simple and people who are interested in getting involved can submit an expression of interest via the IMI website. When registering their interest, patients will be asked about their knowledge and experience of medical research and drug development, among other things. Whenever IMI has a task or activity that would benefit from patient input, the IMI Programme Office will turn to the pool to find the patient(s) with the most relevant knowledge and experience. For all tasks, patients will act in their personal capacity.

Benefits for patients of getting involved in this new initiative include the opportunity to influence IMI’s activities on both strategic and operational levels; work alongside experts from other sectors (academia, industry, regulatory, etc.); raise the profile of patients as equal partners in research in the IMI community and beyond; and learn first-hand about the latest research developments in their disease area.

Deadline for submitting expressions of interest: 16 July 2019

Find out more:

• Visit the IMI pool of patient experts web page

Catch up on the IMI Stakeholder Forum 2019

Over 350 people attended the IMI Stakeholder Forum 2019 on ‘Brain health and disease in the digital era - 2020 & beyond’. The event featured four panels addressing different stages of the healthcare journey, namely prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care. All panels included speakers from diverse backgrounds, including patients, regulators, academics, and representatives of small and large companies. The event was filmed and the recordings of all panels can now be found on the event web page, along with pictures from the event.

IMI at BIO 2019

IMI was busy at this year’s BIO Convention in Philadelphia, US, with two sessions in the educational programme and a spot in the exhibition at the European Commission’s stand. The first session, ‘Getting to grips with data quality issues through international neuroscience initiatives’, was part of the brain health track and included a discussion on IMI’s EQIPD project. The second session, ‘Building a brighter future for children: How will large paediatric trial networks help to deliver safe, effective medicines?’, was in the regulatory innovation track and focused in part on IMI’s c4c project.

Presentations from both sessions can be found on the BIO 2019 web page.

Sign up for the European Research and Innovation Days

Registration is open for the European Research and Innovation Days event, which will be held in Brussels, Belgium on 24-26 September 2019. The event aims to bring together stakeholders to debate and shape the future research and innovation landscape. It will do this via three parallel strands – a policy conference, the innovative Europe hub, and an exhibition.

The Policy Conference brings together high-level policy-makers, leaders from industry, finance, academia and the entrepreneurial community to debate and shape the future research and innovation landscape. It covers vital areas of science, engineering, medicine, and wider social and environmental concerns. IMI Executive Director Pierre Meulien is among the speakers in the conference.

Alongside the policy conference is the Innovative Europe Hub, which is billed as ‘a vibrant marketplace including brokerage spaces, participatory and cooperative sessions, pitching sessions and thematic labs’.

The Science is Wonderful exhibition showcases the very best EU-funded research, including IMI’s RADAR-AD and RADAR-CNS projects.

• Registration is free but obligatory via the forms on this web page.