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The Biomedical Engineering Programme (BEP), under the Science and Engineering Institutes (SCEI) of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), aims to foster Clinician-Engineer collaborations to develop medical devices and solutions to improve patient care and cost-efficiency of the healthcare system. The BEP supports collaborative research projects with emphasis on devices, procedures, diagnosis, and clinical systems. Projects will have to be driven by needs identified by Clinicians that are matched to a potential technological solution from the SERC Research institutes (RIs).
All funded projects must demonstrate high potential for commercial output and show a high likelihood of rapid impact on patient care. The applications for this grant call are not restricted to a particular clinical area. There will be 2 application categories as follows:
Funding Information
a) Proof-of-Concept (POC) Application
| Estimated Funding Amount |
Estimated Duration |
| $0.25M - $0.5M |
12 - 18 months |
i. Concept Generation - testing of a potential technology on the clinical need
ii. Building of prototype - can be a physical device, an IT system, algorithm etc.; generate bench data
iii. Estimated number of funded POC projects: 10 projects
b) Proof-of-Value (POV) Application
| Estimated Funding Amount |
Estimated Duration |
| $1M - $1.5M |
18 - 24 months |
i. Design Freeze - refinement of existing prototype; to lock in the design of the prototype for pre-clinical or clinical trials
ii. Animal (invasive device/technology)/Human (non-invasive device/ technology) trials
iii. Estimated number of funded POV projects: 6 projects
Application Criteria
1) Each proposal must involve collaborations between a Clinical Lead Principal Investigator (PI) and a Technical Lead Principal Investigator. The Clinical Lead PI must be primarily employed by a publicly-funded restructured hospital, national specialty centre or medical school and the Technical Lead PI must be employed by a local publicly-funded institution.
2) The two Lead PIs must fulfill the following conditions:
a. The Clinical Lead PI should:
i. Be a registered medical practitioner or a registered nurse in Singapore and have access to patients or an Allied Health staff;
ii. Be primarily employed by a local publicly funded restructured hospital, national specialty centre or medical school;
iii. Reside in Singapore for at least 9 months in a year;
iv. Part of the Clinical Lead PI's personal manpower cost can be funded up to a certain cap, subject to the amount given under the POC and POV grants.
b. The Technical Lead PI should:
i. Possess a minimum academic qualification of a Masters Degree;
ii. Must be an investigator from a A*STAR SERC RI OR Non-A*STAR Publicly-funded Institutes (Universities, Polytechnics and Publicly-funded Institutes);
iii. Reside in Singapore for at least 9 months in a year
iv. If Technical Lead PI is not affiliated to a SERC RI, he/she has to ensurethe inclusion of a SERC Co-Investigator on the team. The BEP office can provide the connections to the relevant SERC researchers. If the Technical Lead PI/Co-Investigator is from the universities, polytechnics or other public-funded institutes but holds an adjunct position at any of the A*STAR SERC RIs, he/she may be considered as a SERC team member. The adjunct appointment holders will need to obtain approval from their SERC RI ED to participate in the grant.
3) All other researchers from A*STAR (SERC and BMRC), publicly-funded hospitals and academic institutions can participate as Co-Investigators and can receive funding for manpower, equipment and other operating expenses as agreed by all parties in the grant.
4) Collaborators from Private Companies (Local/Overseas) and Overseas Institutes can participate in the grant by providing background technology or in-kind contributions in terms of manpower or time, and share in the proceeds if project is successful. However, collaborators will not receive any funding. Other Local Publicly Funded institutions can also be collaborators.
Schedule of Annual Call
There are 2 calls a year, usually in May and October.
Application Procedure
Please submit the following documents to NUHS Research Office, NUHS Tower Block, Level 11 by 29 Dec 2011(Thursday), 5pm
| SoM PIs |
NUH PIs |
|
- 1 original hardcopy of the 4-page Pre-Proposal, duly-signed by Clinical and Technical Lead PIs and their respective HoDs.
|
- 1 original hardcopy of the 4-page Pre-Proposal, duly-signed by Clinical and Technical Lead PIs and their respective HoDs.
|
| ** Please do not staple the hardcopy forms. Kindly use paperclips/ binder clips to bind them together instead. |
Invitations to submit full proposals will be sent out to shortlisted applicants by Feb 2012. The full proposals are due on Mar 2012, giving applicants 1 month (4 weeks) to craft the proposal.
More Information:
1. BEP 2011 Grant Call_Information sheet
2. BEP 2011 Grant Call_FAQs
3. A*STAR website
Contact Us
For any urgent grant matters, you may also contact Ruth at 67723709, or ruth_gao@nus.edu.sg .
