Funding competition Medicines Manufacturing Skills: Centre of Excellence

UK registered organisations can apply for up to £5.3 million to establish and coordinate a skills centre of excellence (CoE) to tackle the skills gaps of the medicines manufacturing sector.

Competition opens: Tuesday 26 September 2023
Competition closes: Wednesday 22 November 2023 11:00am

This competition is now closed.

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Description

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work on behalf of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to invest up to £5.3 million to establish a skills centre of excellence (CoE).

The aim of this competition is to strengthen the UK's medicines manufacturing skills and training ecosystem and increase the flow and retention of talent needed by the sector to grow.

This will be achieved by establishing a centre of excellence (CoE) to coordinate and work with the medicines manufacturing skills and training community to deliver appropriate training and skills provisions.

Your proposal must clearly demonstrate how the CoE will:

coordinate the end-to-end talent pipeline to address multiple medicines manufacturing skills barriers and deliver sustainable training provision
fill key gaps in the UK’s workforce talent and training capabilities
support micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
work with and enable the existing skills and training marketplace
build awareness of careers in medicines manufacturing
take a national approach by joining up skills and training activity in medicines manufacturing and sharing best practice
be maintained after the period of funding with a sustainable and financially viable business model
have an active leadership role in equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) for medicines manufacturing skills
align with The Life Sciences Vision (2021)

In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process.

This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated.

Funding type

Grant

Project size

Your project’s grant funding request can be up to £5.3 million.

Who can apply

Your project

Your project must:

start on 1 April 2024
end by 31 March 2026
have a grant funding request of up to £5.3 million
last between 12 and 24 months
carry out its project work in the UK
intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

Projects must always start on the first of the month and this must be stated within your application. Your project start date will be reflected in your grant offer letter if you are successful.

You must only include eligible project costs in your application.

Under current restrictions, this competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian or Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian or Belarusian source.

If your project’s grant funding request falls outside of our eligibility criteria, you must provide justification by email to support@iuk.ukri.org at least 10 working days before the competition closes. We will decide whether to approve your request.

If you have not requested approval or your application has not been approved by us, you will be made ineligible. Your application will then not be sent for assessment.

Lead organisation

To lead a project or work alone your organisation must be a:

business of any size
academic institution
research and technology organisation (RTO)
charity
not for profit
public sector organisation
research organisation

More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.

Project team

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

business of any size
academic institution
charity
not for profit
public sector organisation
research and technology organisation (RTO)
research organisation

Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once partners have accepted the invitation, they will be asked to login or to create an account in IFS. They are responsible for entering their own project costs in the application.

To be an eligible collaboration, the lead and at least one other organisation must apply for funding when entering their costs into the application.

Non-funded partners

Your project can include UK partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding. Their costs will count towards the total project costs.

Subcontractors

Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.

Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.

All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.

Number of applications

A business, academic institution, research organisation, research and technology organisation (RTO), charity, not for profit or public sector organisation can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in two further applications.

If a business academic institution, research organisation, research and technology organisation (RTO), charity, not for profit or public sector organisation is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications.

Previous applications

You cannot use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.

We will not award you funding if you have:

failed to exploit a previously funded project
an overdue independent accountant’s report
failed to comply with grant terms and conditions

Subsidy control (and State aid where applicable)

This competition provides funding in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Further information about the Subsidy requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk).

Innovate UK is unable to award organisations that are considered to be in financial difficulty. We will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage.

EU State aid rules now only apply in limited circumstances. Please see our general guidance to check if these rules apply to your organisation.

Further Information

If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 or the State aid rules, you should take independent legal advice. We are unable to advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations.

You must always make sure that the funding awarded to you is compliant with all current Subsidy Control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom.

This aims to regulate any advantage granted by a public sector body which threatens to, or actually distorts competition in the United Kingdom or any other country or countries.

Funding

Up to £5.3 million has been allocated to fund a centre of excellence (CoE) in this competition. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

If your organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically but for the purpose of this project will be undertaking commercial or economic activity.

For the purposes of this competition, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:

up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation
up to 50% if you are a large organisation

For more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance.

If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.

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 could 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 project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not for profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation

Your proposal

The aim of this competition is to strengthen the UK's medicines manufacturing skills and training ecosystem and increase the flow and retention of talent needed by the sector to grow.

Your proposal must clearly demonstrate how the CoE will:

coordinate the end-to-end talent pipeline to address multiple medicines manufacturing skills barriers and deliver sustainable training provision
fill key gaps in the UK’s workforce talent and training capabilities
support micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
work with and enable the existing skills and training marketplace
build awareness of careers in medicines manufacturing
take a national approach by joining up skills and training activity in medicines manufacturing and sharing best practice
be maintained after the period of funding with a sustainable and financially viable business model
have an active leadership role in equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) for medicines manufacturing skills
align with The Life Sciences Vision (2021)

Your proposal should also demonstrate how the CoE will:

deliver schools or further education engagement
deliver medicines manufacturing apprenticeships
deliver industry ready talent from academia
deliver improved accessibility and provision of professional or modular training
deliver technical courses and vocational training in medicines manufacturing, including through undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing professional development
attract and support those entering the sector from other sectors
deliver upskilling and reskilling of the existing medicines manufacturing workforce
develop or adopt a competency framework to ensure that all training providers meet a minimum standard

This list is not exhaustive, and we encourage you to identify other skills requirements or approaches to delivering the CoE in your project proposal.

Specific themes

The Office for Life Science (as part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology) has identified some key capability and skills gaps within the medicines manufacturing industry through direct conversations and surveys.

You must explore and address as many of these themes as practically achievable:

sustainable manufacturing
regulatory skills
bioprocessing
biologics manufacturing
cell and gene therapy manufacturing
disruptive technologies
digital and data
automation and robotics
cleanroom operations
good manufacturing practice (GMP) operations
quality control and quality assurance (QA/QC)
equality, diversity and inclusion

This list is not exhaustive and we encourage you to identify other skills requirements within the industry in your project proposal.

Projects we will not fund

We are not funding projects that are:

not related to the medicines manufacturing skills and talent agenda
building infrastructure

We cannot fund projects that are:

dependent on export performance, for example giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country
dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product

26 September 2023: Competition opens
28 September 2023: Online briefing event: watch the recording
22 November 2023 11:00am: Competition closes
19 December 2023 11:03am: Applicants notified

Before you start

You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.

Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure:

that all the information provided in the application is correct
your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria
all sections of the application are marked as complete
if collaborative, that all partners have completed all assigned sections and accepted the terms and conditions (T&Cs)

You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline. You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline.

What we ask you

The application is split into three sections:

Project details.
Application questions.
Finances.

Accessibility and inclusion

We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes providing support, in the form of reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us. Watch the video on how we are making our application process more accessible and inclusive for everyone.

You must contact us as early as possible in the application process. We recommend contacting us at least 15 working days before the competition closing date to ensure we can provide you with the most suitable support possible.

You can contact us by emailing support@iuk.ukri.org or calling 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

1. Project details

This section provides background for your application and is not scored.

Application team

Decide which organisations will work with you on your project and invite people from those organisations to help complete the application.

Application details

Give your project’s title, start date and duration.

Project summary

Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign the right experts to assess your application.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Public description

Describe your project in detail and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This could happen before you start your project.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Scope

Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition. If your project is not in scope it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

2. Application questions

The assessors will score all your answers apart from question 1. You will receive feedback for each scored question. Find out more about how our assessors assess and how we select applications for funding.

You must answer all questions. Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers.

Question 1: Project partners location (not scored)

You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation, any partners or subcontractors working on your project.

We are collecting this information to understand the geographical location of all applicants.

Your answer can be up to 400 words long.

Question 2: Ability to respond to the identified need

How will you respond to the skills and talent needs of the medicines manufacturing sector?

Explain:

the main motivation for this project
the nature of your current business and any partners
any work you have already done or are aware of, to respond to this need, for example, if the project focuses on developing an existing capability or building a new one and how this links to the aim of this competition
any previous technical and business planning work you may have conducted in relation to the proposed project and your freedom to operate
how this project fits with your current product, service lines or offerings

Your answer can be up to 1000 words long.

You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It can include diagrams and charts. It must be a PDF, up to 2 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 3: Approach and innovation

What approach will you take in establishing and coordinating the centre of excellence (CoE)?

Explain:

how you will respond to the challenge identified
how you will improve and build on other existing skills initiatives
how you will identify, prioritise, promote and deliver a broad range of skills and training outcomes
how you will co-ordinate the activities of appropriate delivery partners across the UK
how you will work towards developing a sustainable and financially viable business model for the CoE to ensure it continues to be resourced after the funded period
how you will ensure that it is open and available to all stakeholders, from both a wide spectrum of the medicines manufacturing industry sectors and other sectors including industry and academia
how you will build partnerships with educators and training providers across all levels

Your answer can be up to 1000 words long.

You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It can include diagrams and charts. It must be a PDF, up to 2 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 4: Team and resources

Who is in the project team? Describe how they have the right skills and experience to deliver the CoE and its identified benefits?

Explain:

the roles, skills and experience of all members of the project team that are relevant to the approach you will be taking
how you have considered equality, diversity and inclusion in your project team
the resources, equipment and facilities needed for the project and how you will access them
the details of any vital external parties, including key partnerships, stakeholders, contributors and subcontractors, who you will need to work with to successfully carry out the project
the current relationships between project partners and how these will change as a result of the project, if your project is collaborative
any roles you will need to recruit for

Your answer can be up to 800 words long.

You can submit one appendix to support your answer. This can include a short summary of the main people working on the project to support your answer or an organogram. It must be a PDF, up to 4 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 5: User awareness

Who are the users of the CoE and how will they engage with the CoE? How have they been considered or involved in the design of your offer and capabilities?

Your users can include but are not limited to:

content creators
training and course providers at further or higher education organisations
businesses, employers and employees in the medicines manufacturing industry
businesses, employers and employees with potential to move into the medicines manufacturing industry
school, college and university students, and learners looking at potential careers in the medicines manufacturing workforce

Explain:

the markets you will be targeting in the project, and any other potential markets, either domestic, international or both
the size of the target markets and userbase for the project outcomes, backed up by references where available
your current position in the markets and supply or value chains outlined, and whether you will be extending or establishing your market position
how you propose to attract and communicate with potential users of the CoE
the structure and dynamics of the target markets, including customer segmentation, together with predicted growth rates within clear timeframes
the target markets’ main supply or value chains and business models, and any barriers to entry that exist

Your answer can be up to 800 words long.

Question 6: Interaction with the UK medicines manufacturing community

How will the CoE develop and connect with the UK's existing medicines manufacturing industry and skills, training and education providers?

Explain:

how you will identify and address EDI challenges in the sector
how you will identify and connect with organisations to develop this ecosystem
how you will connect with the other activities in the community to enhance the value of the CoE
how the project team will build the relationships required to make this ecosystem work
how this will impact on the resources and capabilities that the CoE can offer to its users
how this will impact on the value of the CoE in delivering future needs
your strategy for raising awareness both within, and external to the medicines manufacturing sector
your strategy for raising the profile of the medicines manufacturing sector and career prospects

Ideas for integrating the CoE with existing networks and initiatives to enhance the benefits to the UK together are welcome.

Your answer can be up to 800 words long.

You can submit one appendix to support your answer. This can include letters of support from industry, education providers and other stakeholders. It must be a PDF, up to 4 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 7: Outcomes and impact

What will be the direct impact of the CoE on the UK medicines manufacturing industry?

Explain:

the expected impact of the project on the medicines manufacturing industry
the likely impact of the project on the organisations involved
the expected impacts on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the medicines manufacturing industry
how you will measure your impact, for example, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) or similar metrics
how you will protect and exploit the outputs of the project, for example, through know-how, patenting, designs or changes to your business model
your strategy for targeting the other markets you have identified during or after the project
how your project aligns with the Life Sciences Vision

Describe and, where possible, measure:

any expected impact on government priorities
any expected environmental impacts, either positive or negative
any expected regional impacts of the project

Your answer can be up to 1000 words long.

You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF, up to 2 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 8: Project management

What is the governance structure and operating model of the CoE, and how will the project be managed?

Explain:

the main work packages of the project, indicating the lead partner assigned to each and the total cost of each one
your approach to project management, identifying any major tools and mechanisms you will use to get a successful and innovative project outcome
the governance structure, operating model and management reporting lines
how the CoE management will develop and maintain an understanding of medicines manufacturing skills needs and challenges
how you will use this knowledge to keep the CoE relevant to changing needs in the UK medicines manufacturing industry
how you will manage and monitor progress, including both the project and post funding phase
how the finances will be managed and planned for unexpected events
how concerns or issues will be highlighted early to all affected stakeholders and who these stakeholders will be
your project plan in enough detail, in both the funded phase of the project and post funding phase, to identify any links or dependencies between work packages or milestones

Your answer can be up to 800 words long.

You must submit a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF, up to 2 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 9: Risks

What are the risks to the CoE’s success and what is your risk management strategy?

Describe:

the main risks and uncertainties of the project, including the technical, commercial, managerial and environmental risks
how you will mitigate these risks
any project inputs that are critical to completion, such as resources, expertise, data sets
any output likely to be subject to regulatory requirements, certification and ethical issues, and how you will manage this

Your answer can be up to 800 words long.

You must submit a risk register as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF, up to 2 A4 pages long and no larger than 10MB in size. The font must be legible at 100% zoom.

Question 10: Costs and value for money

What is the financial commitment required for the CoE? How much will the project cost, and how does your bid represent value for money and long-term viability?

In terms of the project goals, describe:

the total eligible project costs
the grant you are requesting
how each partner, if applicable, will finance their contributions to the project
how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer
how it compares to what you would spend your money on otherwise
the balance of costs and grant across any project partners
any subcontractor costs and why they are critical to the project
details of future investments for the continuation of the CoE

Your answer can be up to 800 words long.

3. Finances

Each organisation in your project must complete their own project costs, organisation details and funding details in the application. Academic institutions must complete and upload a Je-S form.

For full details on what costs you can claim see our project costs guidance. You can also view our Application Finances video.

Background and further information

Medicines manufacturing is a highly regulated sector which uses advanced manufacturing and analytical technologies to develop products. Workers are required to be highly skilled to meet stringent regulatory requirements to produce medical products, and to communicate on technical subjects. For businesses to remain competitive and adopt emerging technologies and processes, continuous training is required. This creates a unique set of skills and training requirements for the sector.

This drives the need to develop specialised skills sets and demands stringent training requirements. The sector’s skills and training needs are by the pace of innovation of new products, processes and technologies requiring continuous upskilling and agile workforce.

A coordinated end-to-end national medicines manufacturing skills ecosystem via a centre of excellence is critical in supporting the sustained growth and resilience of the UK’s medicines manufacturing sector.

The term ‘centre of excellence’ is used to describe a one stop shop, delivered by a single organisation or consortium. This will be open to collaborations across the sector to deliver skills solutions to the market barriers and challenges that are affecting the flow and retention of talent into medicines manufacturing.

Data sharing

This competition is jointly operated by Innovate UK, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) (each an “agency”).

Any relevant information submitted and produced during the application process concerning your application can be shared by one agency with the other, for its individual storage, processing and use.

This means that any information given to or generated by Innovate UK in respect of your application may be passed on to DSIT and vice versa. This would include, but is not restricted to:

the information stated on the application, including the personal details of all applicants
scoring and feedback on the application
information received during the management and administration of the grant, such as Monitoring Officer reports and Independent Accountant Reports

Innovate UK and DSIT are directly accountable to you for their holding and processing of your information, including any personal data and confidential information. Data is held in accordance with their own policies. Accordingly, Innovate UK, and DSIT will be data controllers for personal data submitted during the application. Innovate UK’s Privacy Policy is accessible here.

Innovate UK complies with the requirements of GDPR, and is committed to upholding the data protection principles, and protecting your information. The Information Commissioner’s Office also has a useful guide for organisations, which outlines the data protection principles.

Find a project partner

If you want help to find a project partner, contact Innovate UK KTN.

Support for SMEs from Innovate UK EDGE

If you receive an award, you will be contacted about working with an innovation and growth specialist at Innovate UK EDGE. This service forms part of our funded offer to you.

These specialists focus on growing innovative businesses and ensuring that projects contribute to their growth. Working one-to-one, they can help you to identify your best strategy and harness world-class resources to grow and achieve scale.

We encourage you to engage with Innovate UK EDGE, delivered by a knowledgeable and objective specialist near you.

Assessment

Your application will be reviewed by up to 5 independent assessors based on the content of your application and their skills or expertise relevant to your project. All of the scores awarded will count towards the total score used to make the funding decision unless you are notified otherwise.

You can find out more about our assessment process in the General Guidance.

Your submitted application will be assessed against these criteria.

Medicine manufacture skills centre of excellence - assessor guidance for applicants.pdf (opens in a new window)

Next steps

If you are successful with this application, you will be asked to set up your project.

You must follow the unique link embedded in your email notification. This takes you to your Innovation Funding Service (IFS) Set Up portal, the tool that Innovate UK uses to gather necessary information before we can allow your project to begin.

You will need to provide:

the name and contact details of your project manager and project finance lead
a redacted copy of your bank details
a collaboration agreement, if applicable
an exploitation plan

In order for us to process your claims, you must make sure you have a valid UK business bank account. It can take several weeks for a new account to be created if required. We recommend starting this process as early as possible to avoid any delays to your project start date.

The bank account which grant is to be paid into must:

be a business account in the same name as the organisation listed in IFS
be from a UK bank regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)
have a cheque and credit clearing facility

Online accounts are eligible as long as they meet the above criteria.

Innovate UK will accept most banking societies apart from:

Viva Wallet
Intesa Sanpaolo
Equals Money UK Limited

If you have any doubts that your bank account will not meet Innovate UK's funding criteria, you can use the sort code checker. If you input the sort code and find a tick next to the ‘BACS Direct Credit payments can be sent to this sort code’, this will give you an indication that the bank account you hold is acceptable.

Finance checks

We will carry out checks to make sure you are an established company with access to the funds necessary to complete the project.

You must check your IFS portal regularly and respond to any requests we have sent for additional information to avoid any delays.

Failure to complete project setup may result in your grant offer being withdrawn.

Your Grant offer letter (GOL)

Once you have successfully completed project setup, we will issue your GOL.

The GOL will be made available on your IFS portal. You will need to sign and upload this for us to approve. Once approved we will send you an email with permission to start your project on your confirmed start date.

You must not start your project before the date stated on your email and GOL. Any costs incurred before your agreed start date cannot be claimed as part of your grant.

If your GOL is approved on or before the fifteenth of the month it will be dated from the first of that month. If your GOL is approved after the fifteenth, it will be dated the first of the next month.

If your application is unsuccessful

If you are unsuccessful with your application this time, you can view feedback from the assessors. This will be available to you on your IFS portal following notification.

Sometimes your application will have scored well, and you will receive positive comments from the assessors. You may be unsuccessful as your average score was not above the funding threshold or your project has not been selected under the portfolio approach if this is applied for this competition.

Contact us

If you need more information about how to apply or you want to submit your application in Welsh, email support@iuk.ukri.org or call 0300 321 4357.

Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).

Need help with this service? Contact us