Calls

MedTechLabs research center is a collaboration between KTH Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Karolinska Institutet (KI), and Region Stockholm. MedTechLabs’ main objective is to perform world-leading demand-driven research in medical technology, aiming for better and more cost-effective health care. The research should lead to improved diagnostics, therapy, and patient management. Therefore, the focus is primarily on research with a potential to be applied in a clinical environment within five years. Another objective is to create conditions required for implementing and disseminating new knowledge and methods in Region Stockholm, and then nationally and internationally.

Achieving these goals involves interdisciplinary collaboration in technology and medicine in the Stockholm region. Researchers from KI and KTH will work together to develop technology and methods in a clinical environment. The center will be developed through a new program area with new constellations.

Call for funding

MedTechLabs announces a call for funding of research programmes in the areas of (1) Precision health and (2) Data-driven healthcare research.The research should be focused on medical technology with clear clinical applications for preventing and treating widespread diseases.

Precision health aims for increased and more equal health by using data about the individual’s biology, lifestyle and environment to prevent, diagnose and treat with precision. Recent advancements in technology and knowledge mean that medicine now faces new opportunities to quickly obtain large amounts of biological data from patients. Using this information effectively will allow us to achieve molecularly precise diagnoses and thereby tailor individual treatments—i.e. precision medicine. Today, society’s resources are mainly spent on diagnosis and treatment, and very little on prevention. Precision medicine will provide great and cost-effective opportunities to give more people a longer healthier life.

Data-driven healthcare research: The “data-driven” concept springs from the modern technological advances that continue to produce mountains of systematic, comprehensive, and deep data.  Researchers that can use the available data can mine it and discover unexpected and unpredictable relationships and new knowledge. At the same time, computing power, machine learning, AI, and other technologies available to process the data, have dramatically improved and present great opportunities for those who successfully link it to clinical research.

Each programme must involve one programme director from KI and one from KTH. The programmes should have the potential to deliver breakthrough developments within precision health and/or data-driven healthcare research, in areas characterized by high disease burden in society. 

The research programmes should clearly describe the health challenge that will be addressed, the proposed approach, how patients will benefit from the research, and the respective contribution of the collaborating KI and KTH researchers. 

MedTechLabs intends to support one to two programmes in the range of SEK 2–7 million per year and programme respectively, during four to five years. The call opens April 4^th and closes June 7^th , 2023. The estimated project start is January 1^st, 2024.

Conditions for applying

• The research should be focused on medical technology with clear applications for preventing and treating widespread disease.
• The applicants must include one Programme Director from KI and one from KTH. Both applicants must have a level of activity in the project of no less than 20% of a full-time equivalent and must be employed at least 20% by the respective administrating organisations throughout the grant period. Both Programme Directors must have at least a docent or Associate Professor title. 
• The application should describe clearly how the programme will secure careers for younger researchers.
• Patient benefit must be clearly stated.
• Patient organization in the design of studies must be included
• Research leaders regardless of whether they have previously had funding from MedTechLabs can apply. However, Program Directors, i.e. leaders of the existing program areas cannot apply again.

How to apply
Applications will be processed through Region Stockholm’s portal for research applications, read more in  document_258442_MedTechLabs_2024_Call_updated_12-04-2023.pdf (pdf 270 kB) for instructions how to apply.

Summary: The summary shall outline:

• What will be done
• Why it is impotant, and
• How the new knowledge will benefit patients and healthcare.

The research programmes should be maximum 10 pages in Arial font size 12 pt, line-spacing 1.15, and should include:

• Purpose and aims: State the overall purpose and specific aims of the research programme.
• State-of-the-art: Summarise briefly the current research frontier within the research programme. State key references.
• Significance and scientific novelty: Describe briefly how the collaborative programme relates to previous research within the area, and its importance in the short and long term. Describe also how the programme moves forward or innovates the current research frontier.
• Preliminary and previous results: Describe briefly your own and participating researchers’ previous research and pilot studies within the research area that make it probable that the collaborative programme will be feasible. State also if no preliminary results exist.
• Research programme: Describe the collaboration, including the following items:
  • Theory and method: Describe the underlying theory and the methods to be applied in order to reach the programme goal.
  • Describe the involvement of patients in the designs of the studies.
  • Time plan and implementation: Describe summarily the time plan for the programme during the grant period, and how the reserach will be implemented.
  • Programme organisation: Clarify the contributions of yourself and the participating researchers to the implementation of the programme. Describe and explain the competences and roles of the participating researchers in the programme, and also any other researchers or corresponding who are important for the implementation of the project.
  • Potential impact: The content and scientific relevance of the programme to what extent the programme could contribute to better health, and in which patient groups.
  • Novelty: Describe The extent to which the proposed research exceeds the state-of-the-art in the field, as well as its innovation potential.
  • If there is an element of AI in the proposed programme, it should be clear how AI is used in a new way to achieve the goals. The proposals should clearly distinguish elements of AI (eg. machine learning and/or deep learning) from that of other advanced analytics.
  • Ethical considerations
  • Feasibility: Please describe:
    • how the programme will access clinical data and/or patients
    • the availability of the required infrastructure
    • ethics, regulatory considerations and patient safety
    • data management plan
  • Gender and equality aspects: Please describe how gender and equality aspects will be taken into account, both regarding the hypothesis/issue/purpose of the programme as well as the researchers.
  • Programme directors and added value of research collaboration: Describe the planned collaboration between KI and KTH; it should be clearly described how each Programme Director is central to the programme’s implementation. Describe the excellence of the research groups.Describe how the planned research collaboration will enable the researcher to engage in research tasks that are more comprehensive and challenging than would be possible if the researchers worked individually. State the central scientific questions of the research collaboration, how the collaboration will be built up and/or developed. Your application may include several more participating researchers with a doctoral degree, whose scientific competence will be crucial for the implementation of the proposed research. The participating researchers should be listed in the application, as well as how each will contribute. Account for any international collaboration in your research.
• Other applications or grants: Describe the relationship with other applications to or grants from other funding bodies for the same programme (from you or another researcher).
• Please provide the following information also, when relevant.
  • Equipment: Describe the basic equipment you and your team have at your disposal for the programme
  • Need for infrastructure: Specify also the need for local infrastructure, if depreciation costs for this are included in the application.

Additional required documents:

• Two-page CV for each Programme director
• The 10 most relevant publications for each Programme Director

• A letter from the head of a clinical unit or equivalent, indicating how the programme will be anchored in a clinical setting and that support to implement the programme will be provided.
• A signed support letter from each Programme director’s Head of Department.
• Budget. List personnel costs, costs for patient participation, other costs and any other funding for the programme. The model of SUHF for overhead costs for the respective administrative organization should be applied in the budget calculations. Please use the provided budget template and adjust for the indirect costs at your department.