Project Funding

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMFTR, former BMBF) commissioned the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) in 2023 to develop a National Strategy for Gene and Cell-Based Therapies. Around 150 experts from various stakeholder groups collaborated to create the paper and develop a roadmap to improve healthcare and strengthen Germany's position in the field of gene and cell-based therapies. These innovative therapies offer promising possibilities for treating severe and rare diseases, as they are tailored to individual patients.

The measures of the National Strategy aim, among other things, to accelerate the translation of research results into clinical practice and to strengthen Germany's international competitiveness in the field of GCT. Two specific funding formats have already been initiated: Firstly, targeted project funding according to the SPARK method recognizes and promotes projects based on their translational value. Secondly, a novel national tandem program supports the development of know-how and the national and sectoral networking of research-active clinical and non-clinical scientists.

Project Funding according to the SPARK Method

Individual or collaborative projects are funded in two tracks: Track 1 supports early-stage individual projects with up to 50,000 euros for a duration of one year. Track 2 is intended for more advanced projects that have already filed an invention disclosure or patent. These can be funded on a larger scale with more than 50,000 euros for a maximum of two years.

In line with the SPARK method developed at Stanford University (https://sparkmed.stanford.edu/), detailed work plans are developed for funded projects. The selected teams participate in the SPARK-BIH program and receive milestone-based funding as well as comprehensive project-specific advice from an interdisciplinary network of experts, access to the Global SPARK Network, and targeted educational offerings in the form of workshops and webinars on the topics of translation and entrepreneurship.

More Information can be found on the DLR Webpage.

The founded projects can be found here.