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Funding for life sciences and health

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In life sciences, many years pass between the first idea and market entry. During that time costs accrue for preclinical work, trials, approval and quality assurance with no revenue against them. Financing those phases purely through equity or investor rounds usually dilutes more than necessary. Public funding in this sector is therefore rarely a bonus. It is a fixed part of the financing strategy. This page covers which projects typically qualify and how funding can be planned across the development phases.

3D Spark
Heineken
UltiMaker
2R
Coolblue
ABN AMRO
Folienwelt
KPN
qlero
Vattenfall
PostNL
mm lab
ProRail
NS
Deutsche Firmenkredit Partner
Jumbo
ANWB
ENTIAC
Bynder
selecta one
Universiteit Utrecht
Nedap
DC Smarter
VDL
Gasunie
ZWF
Fugro
Unit4
Unternehmensgruppe Albert Weil
Zeeman
Basic-Fit
fierythings

The pressures shaping your roadmap

For funding purposes, the development phase your project sits in is decisive. That matters particularly in life sciences and health, because research, preclinical work, clinical validation, approval, scale-up and market access follow different funding logics.

A project that is too early for one instrument can be exactly right for another. From that follows the approach for this sector: not one application at the right moment, but a funding roadmap across the whole development period, matching each phase to the right instrument.

Preclinical and early clinical development

Work whose outcome is not established at the outset, including methods for testing efficacy and safety.

Medical device development

Design, verification and validation, where technical questions remain open rather than known solutions simply being applied.

Software as a medical device and digital health

Algorithms, data platforms and applications whose reliability and regulatory conformity still have to be developed.

Biotechnological processes and manufacturing

Process development, scaling up production methods and work on reproducibility and yield.

Diagnostics and biomarkers

Developing and validating new diagnostic methods, including the data analysis they require.

Investment in laboratory and production technology

Equipment needed for development or later manufacture, through instruments other than development funding.

The programmes behind it

  • Horizon Europe: for collaborative research and development, usually in multi-country consortia.
  • EUREKA Eurostars: for international R&D projects by smaller companies.
  • EIC Accelerator: for market-facing innovation with breakthrough potential, combining a grant with optional equity.

  • Forschungszulage: a tax-based instrument for eligible research and development expenditure, also relevant for companies without profit because an excess amount is paid out.
  • ZIM and kmu-innovativ: grant programmes for development work, the latter through thematic calls.
  • Dedicated clinical trial programmes: available depending on the trial phase.

  • WBSO: the base instrument for development work, reducing payroll tax for staff working on research and development. It works monthly and also applies without profit.
  • MIT R&D: for collaborative development projects between SMEs, opened regionally with differing windows and themes.

What to watch in this sector

In life sciences and health, applications rarely fail because the subject is not relevant. Risk usually arises from how the development phase is classified, from regulatory requirements and from the structure of the partners.

01

Development or regulatory obligation?

Clinical evaluation, validation, quality management or documentation do not qualify automatically. What decides it is whether they are part of a genuine development risk, or whether they primarily fulfil a regulatory obligation for a product that is already defined.

02

Structuring collaborations cleanly

Many projects need hospitals, research institutes, laboratories or CROs. These partners have to be technically necessary, contractually properly integrated and correctly allocated in the costs. Unclear roles or poorly delimited contracts quickly lead to queries or reductions.

03

Choosing the right development phase

A project can be too early for one programme and too late for another. Between preclinical work, clinical validation, approval and market entry in particular, the exact phase decides which instrument fits and what evidence is expected.

The pressures shaping your roadmap

Clinical evaluation, verification, validation, quality management and documentation are not formalities at the end of a project. They influence product design, trial planning, data quality and development decisions from the outset, and the effort involved has risen sharply.

Many years often pass between research, preclinical work, clinical testing, approval and market entry without reliable revenue. Financing is especially demanding in that phase because technical, clinical and regulatory risk come together.

Cell and gene therapies, biomarkers, companion diagnostics and personalised approaches shift development and production from standardised methods towards more specific, sometimes patient-proximate processes. That has substantial consequences for manufacture, scale-up, quality assurance and evidence.

How we work

We do not start with the application but with the question of which phase your projects sit in and which parts qualify. Our specialists know the programmes and the evaluation practice in this sector.

STEP 1

Review the roadmap.

We go through your plans and separate what qualifies from what does not.

STEP 2

Match the programmes.

We map the qualifying work to instruments at regional, national and European level.

STEP 3

Build the application.

We write against the actual evaluation criteria rather than the project description.

STEP 4

Protect what is awarded.

We keep documentation audit-ready throughout the funded period.

Numbers you can hold us to

0.5Billion

funding realized in 2025

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Resources & Insights

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Case Study Manufacturing · WBSO · SME

TSD Tooling & Precision

Tools that are accurate to within a thousandth of a millimetre: that calls for research, development and expensive prototypes. With the WBSO (the Dutch R&D tax credit) and Ignite Group’s technical knowledge, TSD…

Read the case study: TSD Tooling & Precision
Whitepaper PDF · 11 pages · 2026

Turning Innovation into Predictable Cash Flow

How CFOs use public funding programmes as a strategic financial tool

Download the whitepaper: Turning Innovation into Predictable Cash Flow
Case Study Footwear retail · SLIM · EIA · MIA · MDIEU · Large enterprise

Schuurman Schoenen

A family business with 650 employees, 49 stores and the conviction that the person behind the product is what counts. Together with Ignite Group, Schuurman Schoenen translated that vision into its own academy, more…

Read the case study: Schuurman Schoenen

I only need to supply the necessary documents and Ignite Group takes care of the rest. It gives us the freedom to focus on developing our technology and selling our products.

Eric Pellis Co-owner and Managing Director, INUTEQ
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FAQs about funding advisory

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Yes, but not across the board. Clinical trials can qualify where they form part of a research, development or validation project. Depending on the phase, dedicated trial programmes, national development schemes, tax-based instruments or European instruments such as the EIC Accelerator apply. Pure approval routine has to be distinguished from that.

Yes. Many instruments look at the project, the development phase and the financing capacity rather than at revenue. Tax-based instruments can also be relevant for companies without profit, because an amount exceeding the tax liability is paid out.

Partly. Work where it is open whether and how evidence can be produced may qualify. Pure mandatory documentation of a completed development stage does not. We make that delimitation before the application.

Through a funding roadmap. Completed, running and planned phases are each matched to the right instrument. The same work cannot be funded twice, but different phases can be funded differently.

Yes, usually for the better. Collaboration with hospitals and research institutes strengthens many applications but brings its own requirements for roles and cost allocation.