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

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

The lead applicant in phase 1 must be an organisation who can:

• convene the full medicines manufacturing ecosystem
• enable industry to drive the strategic direction, setting priorities, defining use cases

The lead applicant in phase 2, in addition to being able to carry out the above, must also demonstrate the ability to:

• oversee large scale, multi-partner virtual infrastructure programmes
• provide a trusted and neutral governance and leadership through the project and beyond
• drive commercialisation of the MMDI

The lead applicant may differ between phase 1 and phase 2 but they must be able to demonstrate that they have the ability to carry out all required tasks.

To collaborate with the lead in phase 1, your organisation must be a UK registered:

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

The consortium for phase 2 can include, but is not limited to:

• data architecture hosts
• business development lead
• regulators
• end users, for example, data users and data depositors
• advisory group or steering board

An eligible organisation can only lead on one application. Any further applications by the same organisation as lead will be made ineligible.

An eligible organisation that is leading an application can be included as a collaborator in two further applications and if not leading, can collaborate in any number of applications.

Your project must:

• have a grant funding request between £50,000 and £100,000
• have a grant funding request that matches your total project costs
• last between three and six months
• not start before 1 January 2027
• end by 30 June 2027

We are aiming for projects to start on 1 January 2027. Applicants need to be aware that this will require an accelerated project set up period and you must be able to put the necessary arrangements in place to support a rapid project mobilisation.

Any organisation receiving funding must carry out its project work in the UK, intend to exploit the results in the UK, and spend most of the funding within the UK.

The aim of this phase 1 competition is to provide seed funding to establish a consortium and prepare a case for an award in phase 2 to establish the Medicines Manufacturing Data Institute (MMDI).

Your project must use the funding in this phase 1 competition to support the collaborative development of a high quality application for phase 2. It is important that you understand the vision for the Medicines Manufacturing Data Institute (MMDI), as this will inform your Phase 1 activities and provide the foundation for your Phase 2 proposal.

The long term vision for the MMDI is an institute that:

• is delivered by an organisation that provides trusted, neutral leadership and has the capability, governance and long term commitment required to operate and maintain the MMDI beyond the funding period
• enables the collective action on shared challenges through trusted collaboration that accelerates innovation, productivity and sector wide impact
• is inclusive and supports organisations of all sizes across the medicines development and manufacturing ecosystem to contribute or access relevant data
• is designed for scale, demonstrating value through targeted proof of concept use cases in Phase 2 while building a pipeline of industry relevant applications
• leverages existing capabilities where possible by aligning with relevant data architectures, standards, platforms and initiatives to enable efficient, lower risk and faster implementation
• delivers tangible technical value through a clearly defined access and operating model
• drives adoption through a credible commercialisation and adoption strategy that attracts both national and international customers
• achieves commercial and financial sustainability beyond the funding period through a credible commercialisation strategy and a clear approach to securing industry investment and support
• enables regulatory acceptance of digital and AI enabled approaches, supporting their safe, effective and wider adoption across the sector
• acts as a catalyst for the adoption of common standards and frameworks across the medicines development and manufacturing ecosystem
• builds trust in data driven approaches through evidence, standards and best practice that increase confidence in AI, digital tools and model informed development and manufacturing

Eligible activities in phase 1 include, but are not limited to:

• building a strong consortium to successfully deliver the MMDI phase 2
• hosting workshops, engagement events, and consultation activities
• convening stakeholders and facilitating collaboration across the sector to assess sector needs, challenges, and opportunities for value creation
• engaging relevant communities, industry participants, regulators, and other stakeholders
• identifying, validating and prioritising proof of concept use cases that demonstrate sector value
• scoping and assessing potential data host organisations, including their capabilities and suitability
• exploring data sharing and data access activities to build understanding and reduce risk, including identifying the legal, technical and governance requirements needed to enable effective and sustainable data use
• producing reports, evidence, and recommendations to inform the phase 2 proposal
• exploring relevant national and international initiatives and capturing lessons learned
• identifying opportunities to leverage existing data assets, standards, platforms, and infrastructure
• developing options for long term commercial and financial sustainability beyond the initial funding period
• collaborative development and preparation of the phase 2 application

This list is not exhaustive, and you may propose additional activities that support the development of a robust and credible phase 2 application.

Your phase 1 project must deliver:

• a blueprint for the MMDI, setting out the proposed vision, objectives, governance model, federated data architecture, operating model, implementation approach and roadmap for delivery
• a committed delivery consortium, bringing together the partners, stakeholders and capabilities required to deliver phase 2 and support the long term success of the MMDI
• a landscape and options assessment, reviewing relevant UK and international data initiatives, demonstrators, governance models, standards and infrastructure, including lessons learned, opportunities for alignment and areas of differentiation
• a prioritised use case and implementation plan, demonstrating a clear industry need, strong market pull, expected sector benefits and suitability as an initial Phase 2 demonstrator
• an initial data governance, trust and interoperability framework, identifying the standards, governance arrangements, security requirements and interoperability mechanisms needed to support trusted data sharing within a federated model
• a business model and value proposition, demonstrating how the MMDI will deliver value, encourage adoption and achieve long term financial sustainability
• an initial roadmap for scale and adoption, setting out how the MMDI could evolve from an initial use case into a sustainable national capability

These outputs must provide a strong evidence base and strategic framework for a phase 2 proposal and support the long term development and operation of the MMDI.

As mentioned above, your phase 1 project must deliver a prioritised use case and implementation plan. Your proposed use case can either be application based to address a need across multiple modalities, or focus on a specific modality.

You must propose an initial use case as part of your phase 1 application, and provide clear evidence and justification to support your proposed use case. This can include:

• a clearly identified industry need
• strong market pull
• expected benefits to the medicines development and manufacturing ecosystem
• the potential for wider adoption

During your phase 1 project, you must further develop and validate your proposed use case. Following stakeholder engagement, technical feasibility and emerging opportunities, the use case may be refined or changed for Phase 2.

You must demonstrate how your proposed use case could scale to support additional use cases over time, helping to build a pipeline of opportunities that strengthens the UK’s competitive position in medicines development and manufacturing.

In phase 1 we will not fund projects that:

• involve the construction, refurbishment, or operation of physical building infrastructure
• involve medicines discovery or non-human medicine data
• include use cases that are not related to medicines development and manufacturing
• do not clearly contribute to the development of a future phase 2 proposal
• focus primarily on networking, engagement, or community building activities without a defined phase 2 ambition and delivery plan
• focus on laboratory based experimental research or development
• solely generate new experimental data through wet-lab activities
• involve the procurement or implementation of commercial IT or data management systems
• primarily benefit a single organisation rather than the wider medicines development and manufacturing ecosystem
• are led by an organisation that cannot demonstrate experience of convening multi-stakeholder consortia and engaging key medicines development and manufacturing stakeholders

​In Phase 2, in addition to the above, we will not fund projects that:

• directly duplicate, rather than build upon, activities already being delivered by existing innovation networks, Catapults, trade associations, or other sector organisations
• focus solely on the development of AI, digital twins, software platforms, or analytics tools without demonstrating how they support the objectives of the MMDI
• primarily benefit a single organisation rather than the wider medicines development and manufacturing ecosystem

The Phase 2 requirements listed in this brief reflect our current expectations and may be updated. Any changes will be communicated during Phase 1.

Innovate UK will hold an in person networking event in London, 10am-4pm on 9 September 2026: register to attend.

There will also be an online briefing event at 10am on 11 September 2026: click here for the joining link (Zoom).

Before applying you should contact a member of the Innovate UK Medicines Manufacturing team to discuss your application.

If you would like help to find consortium partners, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Health team.