The m4 Award, the pre-seed competition of the Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology, is entering its fourth round. Academic startup teams are supported in translating excellent research into innovative products and technologies and receive assistance in validating their projects and bringing them to spin-off stage.
The pre-startup funding is intended to enable companies to obtain follow-up financing. Project funding can be applied for for up to two years (up to a maximum of €250,000 per year). All funded projects also receive intensive project support on the path to company establishment.
Teams of scientists at universities, university hospitals and non-university research institutions in Bavaria who are researching application-oriented projects with spin-off potential that address the challenges of future medicine are eligible to apply.
Possible topics:
- innovative active ingredients and targeted therapies
- individualized vaccines and immunotherapies
- gene therapy approaches and cell therapies
- new therapy formats for rare diseases
- novel anti-infectives and antibiotics
- Microbiome-based applications and technologies
- innovative platform technologies for biomarker identification, prediction,
- Prognostics, diagnostics or drug discovery and development,
- including bioinformatics / big data
The following criteria are crucial for the selection:
- high innovation potential and technical-scientific originality
- viable business model and high spin-off potential
- clear unique selling points compared to the competition
- committed and qualified team with a fundamental willingness to start a business
- significant technical-scientific risk positive intellectual property rights situation
- Connectivity at the end of the funding period
Process and dates
1. Submission of a 4-page short description of the project
The short descriptions will be reviewed formally and thematically, and recommendations will be made for the preparation of a project outline. Applicants will receive comprehensive advice.
2. Submission of a 10-page project outline
The m4 Award jury, made up of industry experts and investors, reviews the project outlines and invites selected projects to present.
3. Presentation to the m4 Award Jury
Based on the outline and project presentation, the m4 Award jury recommends the most promising projects for funding. The formal application is submitted to the Jülich Project Management Agency.
Submission of abstracts: 7 March 2017
Submission of project outlines: 29 May 2017
m4 Awards ceremony: October 2017
BioM as central coordination point of the m4 Award offers you free advice at all stages of the competition. All information exchanged as part of the competition will be treated confidentially. All rights of use and publication remain with the participants.
