Center for Global Health R&D Policy Assessment

The Innovative Developing Country Research Awards is a proposal for a pilot investment program drawing from the Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR). The SBIR program in the United States provides federal grants to small businesses engaged in innovative R&D. By law all public procurement agencies with extramural research budgets in excess of $100 million must spend 2.5% of these budgets on contracts or grants to small businesses. This proposal, building from Charles Wessner’s submission to the WHO Expert Working Group on R&D Financing, calls for co-funding from innovative developing countries to stimulate novel R&D to address health needs in developing countries. The program would make small grants to small and medium sized enterprises in host countries and to local university-industry R&D partnerships. Grantees will be required to formulate Global Access Plans for products under development and/or provide preferential pricing for any products that arise. Grantees will also receive technology management, commercialization assistance and other business support.