LSIMF is part of the Global Britain Investment Fund whose focus is on the manufacture of human medicines (drug substance and drug product), medical diagnostics and MedTec products. They especially welcome applications from companies willing to use their emerging technologies at scale in commercial manufacturing, which can be either an upgrade or extension of an existing facility, or a brand-new manufacturing facility.

Nonetheless, those applications mostly aligned with the fund’s objectives will be prioritized, which are 1) the creation of an economic opportunity through investments that will provide high-wage, high-skilled jobs, 2) the deployment of cutting-edge innovations, 3) the increase of health resilience, and 4) minimizing the impact on the environment.

In addition, they will mainly support applicants who are developing highly innovative products in the following areas: complex medicines, innovative medical technologies, and diagnostics; as well as those including innovative process technologies, such as flexible manufacturing enabling product switching, scalable manufacturing, novel manufacturing processes, technologies aim at minimising your impact on the environment, continuous manufacturing, and digital twins.

2022 is the launching year for this new fund, so there is no information yet about companies that have been awarded.

General information

Within the requirements of the projects, we find that they must be related to the manufacture of human medicines, diagnostics, or medical devices. In addition, the projects must have a total investment value of more than £12 million.

They provide substantial financial support with:

-a total fund of £60M that will be used to provide capital grants.

The individual amount received by each company will depend on the number of applicants as well as on the decision of the Ministers.

For further information about the fund, take a look at the LSMIF’s guidelines. 

Application process

The application process is composed of a series of stages:

-Stage 1, Expression of Interest form: its aim is to identify those projects strongly linked to the fund’s objectives. Applicants should answer some questions related to the company details, eligibility, project details and benefits.

-Stage 2, Interview with Expert Panel: participants will have to give a five-minutes presentation to summarize their investment. The remaining 25 minutes will correspond to the Panel that will ask questions to assess the project and evaluate its link to the fund’s objectives.

-Stage 3, 1-2-1 Application Guidance Meeting: participants successful at Stage 2 will be invited for a call in order to discuss the needed information to complete the Application form and outline how the Due Diligence process will work.

-Stage 4, Application Form: participants must complete all questions in the Application form.

-Stage 5, Due Diligence: it consists of an economic, financial, project delivery, risk analysis and subsidy control assessment of the application.

-Stage 6, Board Review and Ministerial Decision: the final decision on awarding the grant will depend on Ministers.

-Stage 7, Grant Offer Letter: if the application is successful, winners will receive the terms and the details of the grant, such as the amount and the profiling of the grant across the years.

-Stage 8, Grant Payment and Post-Award Monitoring: a monitoring officer will be assigned to winners for the duration of the project in order to ensure the value for money and deliverability.

The first deadline is due 31^st March 2022, although the process will open once a month until November so that applicants can apply anytime. Nonetheless, once the whole fund has been allocated, the process will close, and no more applications will be admitted.

 Last update: March 17, 2022.