GO-Bio next

Very few busi­ness ideas in the life sci­ences are imme­di­ately ready for mar­ket­ing. In most cases, fur­ther, often extens­ive and expens­ive research is required before a product is ready for the mar­ket. Since 2005, the BMBF has there­fore sup­por­ted research teams wish­ing to val­id­ate life sci­ence find­ings and tech­no­lo­gies and exploit them in the form of a start-up com­pany in eight selec­tion rounds with its ​‘Bio­tech­no­logy Start-up Initiative’.

The new edi­tion of the fund­ing guideline, called ​‘GO-Bio next’, con­tin­ues to focus on the long devel­op­ment peri­ods and high fin­an­cial require­ments typ­ic­al of bio­tech­no­logy research projects.

The fund­ing is struc­tured in two phases. In the first phase, the BMBF funds research pro­jects at uni­ver­sit­ies and research insti­tu­tions, and in the second phase, it funds the con­tinu­ation of these pro­jects in the start-up company.

Sub­ject of funding

Start-up teams emer­ging from a com­pet­i­tion are to be sup­por­ted. These teams are to work on research top­ics with a high degree of innov­a­tion and prom­ising and demon­strable com­mer­cial­isa­tion pro­spects. The research top­ics can come from all branches of mod­ern life sci­ences and from the bor­der areas between bio­logy and its neigh­bour­ing sci­entif­ic and tech­nic­al dis­cip­lines. Pro­jects that are aligned with the object­ives of the ​‘Nation­al Research Strategy BioEconomy 2030’ and the fields of action of the health research pro­gramme are par­tic­u­larly eli­gible for fund­ing. Plat­form tech­no­lo­gies that con­trib­ute to these object­ives in upstream steps are also eli­gible for funding.

Fund­ing is provided for the work of the mem­bers of the found­ing team in fur­ther devel­op­ing their research top­ic with the aim of identi­fy­ing and tech­no­lo­gic­ally val­id­at­ing the applic­a­tion poten­tial of the devel­op­ment and pre­par­ing and imple­ment­ing com­mer­cial exploit­a­tion, primar­ily with­in the frame­work of entre­pren­eur­i­al independence.

Fund­ing is provided in two phases:

In the first fund­ing phase, the work­ing group will devel­op the proof of concept. At the same time, con­crete com­mer­cial­isa­tion strategies for the fur­ther imple­ment­a­tion of the res­ults will be developed. This includes, in par­tic­u­lar, the devel­op­ment and updat­ing of a busi­ness plan and the rais­ing of the own con­tri­bu­tion for a pos­sible second fund­ing phase. Only indi­vidu­al pro­jects at uni­ver­sit­ies or research insti­tu­tions will be funded.

In the sub­sequent second fund­ing phase, the proof of tech­no­logy is to be demon­strated and strategies for mar­ket launch (proof of mar­ket) are to be developed. At the same time, the busi­ness mod­el and cor­por­ate concept pur­sued are to be fur­ther spe­cified in order to ensure the long-term growth of the com­pany and the neces­sary fol­low-up fin­an­cing. Fund­ing is avail­able for indi­vidu­al pro­jects of the start-up com­pany or joint pro­jects of the start-up com­pany with the spin-off uni­ver­sity or research insti­tu­tion. Fund­ing is avail­able for R&D pro­jects, includ­ing the costs of obtain­ing, val­id­at­ing and defend­ing pat­ents and oth­er intan­gible assets, as well as innov­a­tion con­sult­ing ser­vices and innov­a­tion sup­port services.

The work plan must there­fore be geared towards spe­cif­ic com­mer­cial­isa­tion and applic­a­tion options. Par­ti­cip­a­tion in busi­ness plan com­pet­i­tions in the mean­time is expressly welcomed.

Grant recip­i­ents

Uni­ver­sit­ies and research insti­tu­tions where the start-up teams are based are eli­gible to apply for the first fund­ing phase. Small tech­no­logy-ori­ented cor­por­a­tions are eli­gible to apply for the second fund­ing phase.

At the time of pay­ment of a grant, the exist­ence of a per­man­ent estab­lish­ment or branch (com­pany) or oth­er insti­tu­tion serving the non-eco­nom­ic activ­it­ies of the grant recip­i­ent (uni­ver­sity, research insti­tu­tion) in Ger­many is required.

Research insti­tu­tions that receive basic fund­ing from the fed­er­al and/​or state gov­ern­ments can only be gran­ted pro­ject fund­ing for their addi­tion­al pro­ject-related expenses or costs under cer­tain con­di­tions, in addi­tion to their insti­tu­tion­al funding.

Type and amount of funding

The BMBF only funds indi­vidu­al pro­jects in both phases. The amount of fund­ing per pro­ject in both fund­ing phases depends on the indi­vidu­al pro­ject content.

Fund­ing phases

In the first fund­ing phase, the proof of concept for the research approach is to be developed or fur­ther developed and con­crete strategies for com­mer­cial­isa­tion in the form of a spin-off are to be developed. This con­cerns the con­tinu­ation of the busi­ness plan and the pro­vi­sion of the own con­tri­bu­tion for the second fund­ing phase. Only indi­vidu­al pro­jects from uni­ver­sit­ies and research insti­tu­tions are eli­gible for funding.

In the second fund­ing phase, the basis for the sus­tain­able devel­op­ment of the spin-off com­pany is to be laid by fur­ther increas­ing the matur­ity of the research approach, devel­op­ing strategies for mar­ket launch and fur­ther spe­cify­ing the busi­ness mod­el. The aim is to ensure fur­ther com­pany growth and the neces­sary fol­low-up fin­an­cing. The focus is on mar­ket- and demand-driv­en devel­op­ment in order to ensure com­mer­cial suc­cess. Only indi­vidu­al pro­jects of the start-up com­pany will be fun­ded. For pro­jects involving the devel­op­ment of innov­at­ive act­ive ingredi­ents, fund­ing is pos­sible up to clin­ic­al phase IIa.

What is funded

The fund­ing is inten­ded for the devel­op­ment of innov­at­ive R&D approaches in the life sci­ences with high com­mer­cial­isa­tion poten­tial up to a level of matur­ity that

• enables a suc­cess­ful spin-off (first fund­ing phase) or
• lays the found­a­tion for the sus­tain­able devel­op­ment of the spin-off com­pany (second fund­ing phase).

The pro­jects should address a major need in the life sci­ences and be char­ac­ter­ised by the fact that they can­not be imple­men­ted without pub­lic fund­ing due to their lack of tech­no­lo­gic­al maturity.

Pro­jects that fall under the focus areas of agri­cul­tur­al, food and nutri­tion research are expli­citly excluded.

In con­trast to EXIST Research Trans­fer, GO-Bio next is aimed at research pro­jects for which long devel­op­ment peri­ods, high fin­an­cial require­ments (even after the com­pany has been foun­ded) and a high devel­op­ment risk are fore­see­able at the time of application.

Pro­ced­ure

The pro­ced­ure is struc­tured in sev­er­al stages.