Go-Bio Initial
5 University of Cologne Scientists Receive Go-Bio Initial Funding for Innovative Research
We are pleased to announce that five scientists from the University of Cologne have been awarded the esteemed Go-Bio Initial funding. This marks a significant milestone for the university, representing its first-ever receipt of this funding opportunity.
The Go-Bio Initial funding focuses on supporting research in the "fuzzy front end of science," encouraging the exploration of innovative ideas even in the absence of extensive research backing. This initiative recognizes the potential of unconventional approaches and aims to foster scientific progress through risk-taking and experimentation.
Go-Bio Initial is a two-stage funding program.
The first stage is an initial conceptual period during which an idea for potential commercial exploitation and an implementing strategy are to be developed, and the appropriate partners are to be identified, on the basis of first scientific findings. This stage is focused mainly on non-experimental work and funding is provided only to individual projects at universities or research institutes which run for a term of up to 12 months.
This is followed by a feasibility stage during which the development work is taken to the proof-of-principle stage. Funding is provided to individual and collaborative projects which run for a term of up to 24 months. Businesses may be involved in feasibility projects as associated partners.
About Go-Bio Initial:
Through its "GO-Bio initial" funding program, the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) aims to identify and develop early research ideas in life sciences that have a clear potential for innovation.
Its purpose is to support project work in order to advance research outcomes to a level where they become eligible for other more established programs which support validation activities, new business founding and cooperation between businesses, such as the "VIP+", "EXIST-Forschungstransfer", "KMU-innovativ" or "GO-Bio" programs. The overall goal is thus to translate promising innovative ideas directly into practical solutions.
Most programs to fund research and development require a great deal of preparatory work and a high degree of specificity at the very start of a project, which is typically not attained at the early stages of an innovation process. At the beginning, there is often only no more than a general idea about the product or service to be created.
Therefore, the funding under the GO-Bio initial program kicks in at a very raw and early stage of ideas for exploitation, when there is not even necessarily a patented technology to put them into practice. Likewise, the path for exploitation is not required to be final at the start of the funding process, because in many cases that path is difficult to foresee with any certainty at an early stage of innovation.
Learn more about Go-Bio Initial: https: //www.go-bio.de/gobio/de/go-bio/go-bio-initial/go-bio-initial.html
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