Austrian Life Sciences: Funding Opportunities 2024-2026

The call for proposals for 2024 to 2026 began on March 8, 2024, with a total of 45 million euros available for funding from the Federal Ministry of Labor and Economy under the transformation initiative.

The deadline for scheduling a preliminary meeting for the “lead project” was July 7, 2024, with these meetings concluding by August 12, 2024. Consequently, the final submission deadline for funding applications is September 9, 2024. The “Flagship project” funding instrument is anticipated to be available again in 2025.

Austrian Life Sciences aims to achieve the following goals:

Increasing Austria’s attractiveness as a research location

High development costs, long development times and great technological development risks are particular challenges faced by companies in the Life Sciences sector. In order to meet these challenges and maintain Austria’s attractiveness as a research and development location for companies, relevant funding opportunities are needed along the entire value chain. Research and development (R&D) of new, effective, high quality, safe, as well as available and affordable medicines and medical devices which address unmet public health needs are key to public healthcare provision. To prevent a brain drain and increase Austria’s attractiveness as a research location, funding must be available to cover both early as well as later development phases.

Increasing Austria’s competitiveness as a location for clinical studies

Clinical studies are a key component in translating new medical findings to healthcare practice. They contribute to an efficient and effective healthcare system focused on the needs of the patient and society as a whole and stimulate a competitive healthcare sector.

Topics and Project Durations

• Digitalization of health aspects (diagnostics, telemedicine, medical devices, etc.)
• Development of new, effective, high-quality, safe, available, and affordable medicines and medical devices
• Interventional phase I and II clinical studies and clinical trials of medical devices per EU regulations
• Flagship projects in the field of clinical research

Project durations are 12 to 18 months for industrial research and development projects, 12 to 24 months for clinical studies, and 24 months for flagship projects.

Budget and Call for 2024 to 2026

The call for proposals started on March 8, 2024, with 45 million euros allocated for funding from the Federal Ministry of Labor and Economy.