The Sustainable Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Programme

Overview

The Sustainable Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Programme gives organisations the capacity to collaborate in developing new innovation, technologies, tools, data sets and approaches that ultimately contribute to a sustainable medicines manufacturing sector.

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to invest up to £1 million in expression of interest (EoI) projects for Grand Challenges in sustainable medicines manufacturing. This funding is part of the Sustainable Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Programme.

The aim of this competition is to provide seed funding to establish a consortium and prepare a case for a later, full sustainable medicine manufacturing themed Grand Challenge award. A Grand Challenge is a large-scale collaborative research and development (CR&D) award, up to £10 million, involving at least three partners across the medicines manufacturing supply chain.

Innovate UK define sustainable medicines manufacturing as the process of producing medicines in a manner that minimises environmental impact, conserves natural resources, and ensures economic and social sustainability. This approach focuses on reducing waste, energy consumption and emissions, while enhancing efficiency, safety and cost-effectiveness throughout the manufacturing lifecycle. It also includes the adoption of innovative technologies and practices that promote the long-term viability of the medicines manufacturing industry.

This competition will help unlock potential by giving organisations the capacity to collaborate in developing new innovations, technologies, tools, data sets and approaches that can ultimately contribute to a sustainable medicines manufacturing sector.

This is phase 1 of a 2-phase competition:

Phase 1: expressions of interest (EoI) phase (this competition)
Phase 2: full Grand Challenge phase

At this EoI phase we will support projects to:

build consortia
complete background information and data gathering
develop a proposal for the Grand Challenge phase

Only successful applicants at this EoI phase will be invited to apply for the Grand Challenge phase.

Scope

In the Grand Challenge phase we aim to support organisations with the potential to innovate and develop technologies for sustainable medicines manufacturing. Your project must address at least one of these three key pillars:

green chemistry
circularity
productivity and resource

Your project must also address both critical enablers:

regulations
measurements, standards and data

Your Grand Challenge project must demonstrate measurable improvements which lead to more sustainable processes, in at least one of the following areas:

productivity
waste reduction
emissions reduction
energy use reduction
resource efficiency

Expression of interest phase (EoI)

Funding for this EoI phase must be used to support the collaborative development of your application for the Grand Challenge phase.

This includes:

building a consortium
convening discussions
hosting workshops
engaging communities
collaborative bid writing
desk research
coordination of the consortium
developing mechanisms to gather impact and benefits data which will be required at the Grand Challenge phase

This list is not exhaustive.

Further details on the impacts and benefits data for the Grand Challenge phase will be shared with applicants who are successful in this EoI phase.

The Grand Challenge phase

Consortia awarded funding at the EoI phase will be invited to apply for the Grand Challenge phase competition, which will open in, or after, June 2025. Further details about the application timeline and requirements for this phase will be released in due course.

Grand Challenge phase funding must be used to invest in the capacity and capability of the consortia to deliver across four key goals:

drive disruptive and novel technologies or processes in medicines manufacturing to optimise production efficiency, minimise waste and reduce emissions, aligning with global sustainability goals
facilitate the effective implementation of innovative solutions and promote their adoption across the medicines manufacturing sector, ensuring scalability and widespread utilisation
enhance the UK’s attractiveness as a prime location for investment in medicines manufacturing, thereby stimulating economic growth and enhancing resilience in the sector
strengthen the UK’s manufacturing innovation ecosystem through collaborative partnerships between academia, industry, and government entities, promoting knowledge exchange and collaborative initiatives to enhance sustainable manufacturing practices

Who should be involved in a consortium?

Your consortium will be required to demonstrate how they will comprise a supply chain (where appropriate) capable of delivering and exploiting the Grand Challenge objectives.

The organisations in your project, as well as the relationships and their roles in the consortium, can change between the EoI phase and Grand Challenge phases.

Portfolio approach

Innovate UK want to fund a variety of projects across different technologies, themes, locations, markets and technological maturities. Innovate UK call this a portfolio approach.

Specific Theme

Innovate UK welcome proposals from collaborations across different sectors.

Your Grand Challenge project must focus on at least one pillar and address both enablers:

Pillar 1. Green chemistry:

biocatalysis, new chemocatalysis
flow chemistry
solvent free systems
sustainable solvents
biomanufacturing for active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), plastics and biopolymers
technology switches away from solid phase synthesis

Pillar 2. Circularity

recycle and reuse of materials, for example, solvents, water, plastics, packaging
identify materials with potential for circularity

Pillar 3. Productivity and resource efficiency

continuous processing
process intensification
digital processing, digitalisation, automation or robotics.
utilise shared data to enable use of artificial intelligence and machine learning
analyse waste in the supply chain
streamline development processes
reduction of energy use
increasing yield, productivity and efficiencies

These are examples of specific themes sitting within each of the pillars however this is not an exhaustive list and proposals do not have to be restricted to these.

Skills and training can be considered alongside any of the three pillars.

Enabler 1. Measurements, data and standards

align with emerging approaches, for example, life cycle analysis (LCA), carbon footprint reporting and demonstrating efficiency in resource efficiency and reduced emissions

Enabler 2. Regulations

identify regulatory challenges and propose solution

These are examples of specific themes sitting within each of the enablers, however this is not an exhaustive list and proposals do not have to be restricted to these.

Innovate UK encourage proposals that align with national innovation and policy priorities, such as those set out in:

Exclusions

For the EoI, we will not fund:

activity that does not contribute to the development of a proposal for the Grand Challenge phase of the programme
activity that an existing innovation network was already undertaking or so-called ‘business as usual’
laboratory based experimental development
non-human medicines
medical device manufacturing

For the Grand Challenge we will not fund infrastructure and facility design without appropriate demonstration.

This is not an exhaustive list and further details will follow at the Grand Challenge phase.

Innovate UK cannot fund projects that:

involve primary production in fishery and aquaculture
involve primary production in agriculture
have activities relating to the purchase of road freight transport
are not allowed under De minimis regulation restrictions
are not eligible to receive Minimal Financial Assistance
are dependent on export performance, for example, giving an award to a baker on the condition that they export a certain quantity of bread to another country
are dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example, if we give an award to a baker on the condition that they use 50% UK flour in their product

Funding Costs

Innovate UK have allocated up to £1 million to fund projects in this EoI phase competition.

Your total project costs will be up to 100% funded. The total project costs and grant funding request detailed within your application must match and must not exceed the maximum project size of £100,000. If your total project costs or grant funding request exceed the maximum then your application will be made ineligible.

You can make reference to any additional voluntary contribution in your application answers. It must not be detailed in the finance section.

Within your collaboration, priority for funding should be given to the organisations that would not be able to participate in your proposal’s development without financial assistance.

Research participation

The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 100% of the total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them. Of that 100% you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:

80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are a Je-S registered institution such as an academic
100% of your eligible project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not for profit organisation, Catapult centre, public sector organisation or research organisation

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