AusBiotech report: Gates offers novel grants for novel ideas

Australian and New Zealand research groups and biotech companies are being encouraged to apply for grants of up to $100,000 in a new fast-track initiative from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The grants, under the foundation's new Grand Challenges Explorations initiative, are aimed at encouraging early-stage research projects that offer new ideas - even if they haven't been tested - to help solve pressing health needs in the developing world.

The initiative was launched by the foundation, the world's most wealthy philanthropic organisation with assets of US$60 billion - including most of the personal fortunes of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett - in South Africa a fortnight ago.

Its director of global health technologies, Dr Carol Dahl, urged Australian groups to sign up for the grants when the first round is announced early next year during her opening address at the AusBiotech conference in Brisbane today.

"We have three main hopes for this initiative," Dahl said. "We want new ideas that have not been explored, we want to involve scientists from a range of disciplines and we hope to receive applications from around the world."

Grand Challenges Explorations will be managed under a series of topics, the first series of which will be announced next year. Grant applicants will be asked to submit relatively short funding proposals, which will be fast-tracked if successful.

The grants will be approximately $100,000 each but successful projects will be eligible for additional funding.

Dahl also said encouraged Australian biotech companies to consider approaching the foundation for financial assistance for ideas that may help solve global issues, such as those outlined in its Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative.

"Big Pharma usually joins with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on a not-for-profit basis, but small companies do work for us for profit," she said.

One notable project involves Queensland University of Technology's Professor James Dale, the government of Uganda and US biotech ProCell, which is developing a banana crop with added micronutrients, to confront malnutrition in the African nation.

Another project involves Melbourne-based technology company Invetech, which is working with bioengineer Professor Paul Yager of the University of Washington on a point-of-care diagnostic system for the developing world.