AusBiotech has welcomed the Victorian Medical Research Acceleration Fund, a new grant fund aiming to accelerate early-stage commercialisation of health and medical research and support its translation into health and economic outcomes.
The competitive program leverages funding from philanthropic, industry and international sources. It's designed to capitalise on Victoria’s comparative advantages in medical research, increase the efficiency of the Victorian health system and further enhance the Victorian economy’s investment attractiveness.
The Acceleration Fund was launched on Friday by Minister for Health Jill Hennessy, providing $3 million per annum “to help address current market gaps and deliver rewards for research.”
The fund is part of the Victorian Government’s $20 million plan - Healthier Lives, Stronger Economy: Victoria’s Health and Medical Research Strategy 2016-2020 – which aims to support Victoria.
Funding under the Acceleration Fund is divided into two tiers with Tier 1 funding for proposals up to $100k and Tier 2 funding for proposals up to $500k. Tier 1 is to support early stage innovations including discovery research, clinical research and health practice, or an idea or innovation to attract peer review funding or investment by industry. Tier 2 funding will support a small number of research proposals to ‘fast track’ translation into health and economic outcomes.
Matched funding will be required to demonstrate capacity to collaborate and undertake research that has a clear pathway to translation.
Round 1 applications are now open until Friday 14 April 2017 and more information can be found at online.