Sustainable Medicines Manufacturing Innovation: Collaborative R&D

To lead a project your organisation must be a UK registered:

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

You must collaborate with other UK registered organisations and you must also involve at least one grant claiming micro, small or medium sized enterprise (SME) in your project. More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.

If the lead organisation is an RTO it must collaborate with two businesses (one SME, and one business of any size).

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)
• catapult centre

A business, research and technology organisation (RTO), catapult centre, charity, not for profit or public sector organisation can lead on no more than two applications but can be included as a collaborator in any number of applications.

Your project must:

• have a grant funding request of between £500,000 and £2 million
• last between 12 and 24 months
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
• start by 1 February 2025
• end by 31 January 2027

You must collaborate with other UK registered organisations and you must also involve at least one grant claiming micro, small or medium sized enterprise (SME) in your project.

The aim of this competition is to drive innovation in sustainable medicines manufacturing across three key pillars:

• green chemistry
• circularity
• productivity and resource efficiency

You must also consider both critical enablers:

• regulations: how to overcome any regulatory barriers to adoption of your innovation
• measurements, standards and data: approaches to capture data that support the measurement and reporting of sustainability indicators aligned with industry standards

These new manufacturing innovations are expected to support more environmentally sustainable manufacturing processes with significant and measurable improvements in at least one of the following areas:

• productivity
• waste reduction
• emissions reduction
• energy use reduction
• resource efficiency

Funding must be used to invest in innovation 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

You must also consider how to overcome any regulatory barriers to adoption of your innovation, alongside approaches to capture data that support the measurement and reporting of sustainability indicators aligned with industry standards.

We welcome proposals from collaborations across different sectors.

Your project must focus on at least one pillar and address both critical 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 solutions

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.

An online briefing event was held on Monday 2 September: click here to view the recording. Briefing slides are available to download at the IFS link below.

If you would like help to find a collaboration partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Health team.