Transforming medicines manufacturing: Grand Challenge

Funding for medicines development and manufacture technologies

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will invest up to £4 million in innovation projects to encourage the development and adoption of flexible, agile, scalable and sustainable technologies (FASST) across the supply chain for the development and manufacture of medicines.

This Grand Challenge will establish a consortium to develop technologies that are expected to support enhanced manufacturing processes, with significant and measurable improvements to the speed and efficiency of pharmaceutical processes across the supply chain. This should lead to shorter development timelines, reduced time-to-market for new products and increase patient access to medicines.

Your proposal must deliver the following benefits:

• drive economic recovery and levelling up by supporting job creation, skills development, and inward investment in medicines manufacturing
• drive health security and patient benefit demonstrating improved productivity and reduced time to market
• de-risk the use of transformative flexible, agile, scalable and sustainable technologies in medicines manufacturing
• address net zero and sustainability goals showing how flexible, agile, scalable and sustainable can improve resource and energy efficiency
• support equality, diversity and inclusion via project initiatives and project outcomes

Technologies in scope for this competition include but are not limited to:

• laboratory automation and development lab of the future
• digital twins
• predictive and autonomous supply chain management including predictive yield optimisation and real time tracking and tracing
• process analytical technology and real-time release testing
• continuous manufacturing and biomanufacturing
• modular manufacturing and biomanufacturing
• continuous processing and bioprocessing
• automated process and bioprocess development
• large scale manufacturing robots
• digital processes
• AI-informed decision support
• distributed manufacturing and biomanufacturing models
• sustainable platform processes, for example biocatalysis, bio-derived feedstocks
• data-driven manufacturing and biomanufacturing

Your project must demonstrate collaborative R&D across supply chains.

Find out more about Transforming medicines manufacturing: Grand Challenge.

First published 25 October 2023