Last Minute Applications

Writing proposals for Federal grants is a time consuming task that requires much planning and administration. This process typically takes 3-6 weeks to complete for a standard high quality application; more complex applications may take longer. However, the brief periods often allotted between release of a funding opportunity announcement and its deadline, as well as limited availability of research partners, may severely restrict the ideal timeframe.

When the deadline is rapidly approaching, an experienced team that is well prepared with a streamlined approach for submission can make this process flow smoothly. FreeMind’s experienced, methodological and highly motivated professional team have helped dozens of companies and academic groups to submit on time (and win) large scale applications in a process that started 14, 10, and even 7 days before the deadline.

Our templates structure the writing in such a way that the presentation is made easy, saving you the time of planning the structure. All that is left for you to do is to pour the scientific content into the pre-made mold. Our primary goal is not saving time but winning the award, nevertheless we are regularly able to significantly reduce the time allocated by our clients, and focus their attention to the scientific aspects of the application alone. We optimize the scientific presentation and structure, assist in finalizing the budget and all administrative cores, plan and complete flow of information aspects and finalize the compilation of the package and reduce the load of some of the more technical items.

We would, of course, prefer to have the time to complete a thorough and detail oriented application, and to perfect the application. For that purpose we would recommend an earlier start rather than a later one. However, if time does not allow the more optimal writing timeline, we will allocate as many individuals as necessary to complete the best quality application in the time available.

 

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The Path to Large Scale Funding Opportunities

As life science research is becoming more complicated, requiring collaborative activity and significant resources, funding agencies, such as NIH and DOD, have shifted significant portions of their budgets towards supporting large scale, multi-project clinical activities of both academic institutions and companies. The funding agencies put forth great effort in creating and allocating budgets to programs and mechanisms that allow implementation of such scientific work. These include RFPs, U19s, grants and contracts solicited through Roadmap programs, and other opportunities, with fund proposals for over $5M. Such large scale solicitations fund advanced clinical trials, construction projects, product development, building centers of excellence, and more. In addition, in recent years, virtually all funding institutes within NIH allow for large scale projects to be submitted through the main unsolicited (investigator initiated) route, pending a brief institutional pre-approval process.

Being multi-project in nature, such applications require multidisciplinary collaborations with multiple laboratories and organizations, often bringing together academic and industry partners, and numerous commercial subcontractors. As such, creating an application can be a particularly daunting task, requiring a great deal of coordination between all partners, and skilled and experienced project management focus in order to integrate the scientific and technical sections for a single and coherent presentation. In addition, such large scale applications require submission of large and complex budgets for which detailed justifications must be added to complement the specific scientific and research plan presented. Lastly, these programs define very specific regulations that must be followed. The brief periods typically allotted between the dates of publication and submission add another source of pressure.

FreeMind’s team is particularly adept at large scale funding opportunities. We take it upon ourselves to devise a timeline for completion of the project, coordinate the specific tasks among all partners and collect all relevant scientific and technical sections in a timely manner. We ensure that all the components are integrated into a cohesive, focused, and competitive proposal. We follow the submission and post submission processes, and aid the clients in any negotiations that are necessary to get the award. Our expert consultants, analysts, managers and writers have extensive experience allowing them to identify the weakness, scientific or administrative, and strengthen them to produce a competitive and winning application.

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Join the FreeMind Network – Become our Partner!

FreeMind sustains a growing network of leading companies and organizations, all with a strong and common interest in assisting the life science market and creating a common ground and collaborative framework for academia-industry collaborations.
Our extensive and intimate understanding of the market, coupled with our designated knowledge of non dilutive funding sources and their promotion to a strategic position with many companies and investors a like, offers a great network that serves both our clients and partners. FreeMind is a leading tool for top tier service providers within the life science market that are willing to expand their services or to benefit their clients. FreeMind’s collaborative efforts with its partners include educational activities such as presentations, workshops, webinars, round tables and financial benefits to their clients.

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A Strategic Source of Funding from Basic Research to Clinical Trials

Non dilutive funding is available for every conceivable kind of research or development effort, whether it is an academic or industry project. Government agencies, as well as state organizations and private foundations, release daily hundreds of different solicitations covering topics that are of interest to public health and medical and life science research. Although these are just a small portion of the total number of awards granted annually by NIH, DOD and other such organizations, they represent a great funding opportunity for researchers within industry and academia. A greater number of awards are granted to unsolicited investigator initiated projects, focusing on virtually every field and every stage of research and product development. Research funded covers all ranges of scientific endeavors, from basic science, whose applications are not yet known, to product-oriented and translational research, clinical trials, training grants, and construction projects to provide facilities for research and medical care.

Funding agencies cover very small to very large scopes of projects. The NIH has mechanisms to fund exploratory research, where only an initial direction is being investigated to see if it’s worth pursuing. These are typically of short duration and a more limited budget. Standard R01 grants are geared towards research in progress, driven by a hypothesis and supported by strong preliminary data. These projects typically last up to 5 years, with a budget of $1-3M. It is important to stress and clarify that ALL entities are eligible for funding from such sources and are eligible to receive such awards, including for-profit companies, foreign entities and academic research organizations. In addition to these, American small businesses are also eligible for SBIR and STTR grants, geared towards development of products with commercial potential. Large scale grants and contracts offer sizable sources of funding of greater than $5M to cover large scale clinical trials, major construction projects and more.

FreeMind Group helps researchers in every field, every stage, and every scope of biomedical research and development, and for all research entities, academic and industry alike. In many cases, a process that started in an early pre-clinical stage application and award has then grown to clinical stages awards.

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Leveraging the Work of Academic Centers

Over the last decade, many academic institutions established specialized centers that articulate their expertise in specific fields. These centers have the advantage of highly specialized human and physical resources. By virtue of their specifically defined purpose, they bring together the top experts in the field, working in proximity to each other for mutually beneficial and especially productive research.

In order to cultivate their centers, academic institutions must confirm that centers and their researchers are adopting a strategic approach towards non dilutive funding. That approach must take into account the center mission, resources, challenges and the changing funding atmosphere in order to be able to identify all of the relevant funding opportunities, both solicited and unsolicited and make the most of these opportunities to maximize the level of funding brought to the center and the institute at large.

FreeMind, through its experience working with academic and other large research institutes is particularly poised to work with academic centers as a whole or with any of their constituent laboratories, in order to secure funding for the specialized research that is conducted. We work with the administration to devise a strategic plan that incorporates a global view of the center and its special needs. We then assist with the compilation of all grants and contracts, including center grants, construction contracts and other applications to secure funding for establishing the center’s infrastructure and research capabilities. And as with any other researcher, we work with the center’s scientists on an individual basis to obtain funding for their laboratories

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