22 October 2024

Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation (HNCDI) funding call for life science projects

The Innovation in Life Sciences funding call seeks applications from organisations in the life sciences sector to create HNCDI projects that apply emerging digital technologies, such as supercomputing, data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and quantum computing, to industrially relevant and impactful research and innovation to further drug discovery and precision medicine in the UK.   

We are seeking project proposals that will leverage newly developed and existing digital technologies to improve the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of solutions within the life sciences sector.

The Innovation in Life Sciences call will focus on the following themes of:

  • Drug discovery
  • Personalised medicine and treatment recommendations
  • Patient-specific responses to drug treatment
  • Predictive analytics for patient outcomes

The applicable technology areas for consideration are but limited to: 

  • AI enhanced modelling and simulation
  • AI enhanced data analytics
  • Scalable AI
  • Exascale computing
  • Quantum computing

Most projects are anticipated to fall in the 3 – 12 month timeframe, with maximum project duration being fixed at 12 months.

UKRI would like to announce the latest funding call for the following areas of focus:

  • Data-driven Drug Discovery
  • Personalized Medicine and treatment recommendations
  • Predictive analytics for patient outcomes by integrating patient data such as genetic information, medical history, lifestyle habits, and environmental factors.
  • Quantum-enhanced techniques for drug discovery, patient representations, and healthcare optimization problems.

Funding allocation of this call is approximately £2-3 million, with the aim of supporting the development of Proof-Of-Concept techniques and helping to scale and commercialise them where appropriate.

Funding will cover

• Up to 72 months of staff time (combined with STFC and IBM resources)

• Compute resources to enable the initiation of between 4-8 projects

The project must commence between April 2025 and June 2025 (and conclude by March 2026).

Technology Areas

  • MODELLING & SIMULATION | Providing targeted and faster results through the application of AI techniques to modelling & simulation applications.
  • DATA ANALYSIS AND ENGINEERING | New insights through the application of data science, high-performance computing, and AI to build innovative products and processes.
  • SCALABLE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | enabling solutions to operate at the size, speed, and complexity required to deliver effective capabilities.
  • QUANTUM COMPUTING | Developing quantum computing approaches to in-depth simulations, complex multi-dimensional optimization challenges, and enabling discovery.

Dates:

The competition will be open for Expression of Interest forms from the 14th October 2024 to the 29th November 2024 with projects anticipated to commence at the start of March 2025.

Further information:

https://www.hartree.stfc.ac.uk/news/2024/09/24/life-sciences-sector-call-for-proposals/

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