Call for expression of interests
“Innovation Vouchers” 2015
HEALTH2CARE – Call for expression of interests “Innovation Vouchers” 2015
Call for Expression of Interest - Specifications
Context of the call
The HEALTH2CARE project is a 2-year initiative (2014 – 2015), co-funded by the CIP program
(Competitiveness & Innovation) of the European Commission (DG Enterprise) coordinated by the
Rhône-Alpes Region. It aims, firstly, thanks to collaboration between clusters – I-CARE Cluster,
Lyonbiopole, Minalogic, Plastipolis - to enhance the cross-sectoral cooperation in the field of
personalised medicine.
HEALTH2CARE aims to gather different technological and applied sectors in Rhône-Alpes as
biotechnologies, medical devices, plastics, nanotechnologies, software, to investigate new value
chains by an open innovative approach. Personalised medicine mobilizes various techniques and
skills, going often beyond the perimeter of existing partnership between actors. Clusters involved in
the initiative have a key role to enhance this interdisciplinarity and in-fine to reinforce the
competitiveness of companies, more specifically SMEs, on this innovative and emerging sector.
To foster the emergence and the growth of innovative solutions, 2 calls for Expression of interests
will be launched between 2014 and 2015 in the frame of HEALTH2CARE. After a selection by a
European jury, support will be offered to the most promising applications; this support will
particularly be provided by the implementation of financial envelopes, so-called “Innovation
vouchers”, in order to benefit from support of external experts (selected by HEALTH2CARE among a
pre-established list).
Objective of the call
The objective is to foster the identification of product offers or cross-sectoral and/or cross-technical
solutions in Rhône-Alpes, in the field of personalised medicine, which could then be supported by the
HEALTH2CARE consortium and/or by a dedicated service offer. This offer should thus facilitate the
innovative projects structuration and their transformation into product(s) or business service(s).
Eligibility conditions of the projects
 Be presented by a SME, start-up in incubation or an academic research lab (close to
technology transfer); a single entity or a consortium with a lead partner identified can apply;
this lead entity being a member of one of the partner clusters and/or be established in the
Rhône-Alpes region,
 Be multidisciplinary, i.e. needing the integration of multiple technologies and actors, beyond
what is actually done in the field. Therefore, projects based on a consortium of actors
reflecting this cross-sectoral approach are encouraged.
 Addressing personalised medicine issue,
 Integrating the clinicians needs and/or the patients ones,
 Be, either an internal project of a SME needing the integration of new technologies, or a
multidisciplinary collaborating project in which the SME will be coordinator or partner.
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Project applications could be at different maturity stage, from the idea of a solution to a marketable
solution:
Categorie 1 Project idea based either on results from an academic research lab or core
competences / technologies mastered by a SME, but without any proof of concept yet.
Categorie 2 Solution with preliminary results with existing validation results (proof of
concept, prototype, etc.) which highlighted new needs (integration of complementary
technologies, regulatory issues, etc.)
Categorie 3 Solution ready to be put on the market in the coming months and for which
the objective will be on development aspects such as: private investment, access to
European markets, etc.
Why apply?
The support provided by HEALTH2CARE will be adapted to the needs of the projects according to
their maturity stage, as summarised in the following scheme:
For the most promising projects, some “vouchers” in the form of external and funded services,
will be set up to reinforce their chance to reach the market. A list of external consultancy firms
from Europe will be proposed by HEALTH2CARE.
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The “vouchers” will be defined regarding the formulated needs by the project holder and after the
evaluation by a jury. The “vouchers” amount will be, in average, between 7.000 and 10.000 euros; it
will represent up to 70% of expenditure.
The external services that could be financed with the “vouchers” could be:
 Business development (market feasibility, funding strategy, commercial action plan, etc.)
 Coaching for companies (mentoring, coaching and company development strategy, etc.)
 Support to product designing (for medtech companies mainly)
 Support for private investment (identification of funding partners, funding engineering, etc.)
 Intellectual property
 International Business development
 Regulatory affairs (regulation, European rules, etc.)
 Reimbursement policies
 Support to access European funding schemes (H2020…)
 Healthcare practices
 Recycling of medical waste (policies and rules, recycling processes, etc.)
HEALTH2CARE undertakes, throughout the process, to stay at the interface between different actors
in the project to ensure the optimal implementation of the vouchers.
Collective formation sessions could also be proposed according to identified needs.
Thanks to the HEALTH2CARE initiative, all selected projects could:
 Take advantage of advices from a European expert jury, who will evaluate the case.
 Reinforce their visibility at European scale,
 Benefit from the help of several clusters, partners at European scale (Spain, Germany, Italia,
etc.) to facilitate their approach of associated markets,
 Increase their innovation potential with the integration of new technological blocks,
 Allow access to European event to find partners (HEALTH2CARE forums)
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Application and project selection process
1. SMEs/entities that want to apply for the call should fill the online form:
http://lyonbiopole.com/formulaires/Health2CARE
Before June 12th 2015
Application must be filled in in English and
will be assessed by a European Jury
2. The applications will be evaluated by a jury composed of representative of partner cluster
and of European experts on the basis of the following criteria:
a. Relevance of the topic and the proposed solution,
b. Impact and economic potential (in term of industrial development),
c. Innovative aspect of the project,
d. Multidisciplinary/trans-sectoral project,
e. Adequacy with the personalised medicine field,
f. Medico-economic benefit expected,
g. Scientific and technologic quality.
The experts who will evaluate the applications will be submitted to confidentiality by a written
commitment. The expert list will be communicated after the closure of the call and the project
holder will have the possibility to refuse some members, on demand.
3. The most relevant projects will have the opportunity to meet our European experts for an
audition early July 2015. The final jury assessment will be based on these auditions to select
the best projects benefiting from “vouchers”.
4. The different types of support services will be set up from September 2015.
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