Please note :
The deadline for receipt of applications has closed
The African Network for Drugs and Diagnostics Innovation (ANDI) is
being established with the mission to promote and sustain African-led
health product innovation to address African public health needs
through the assembly of research networks and building of capacity to
support human and economic development.
ANDI's vision
is "to create a sustainable platform for R&D
innovation in Africa to address Africa’s health needs".
Achieving these goals will involve closer collaboration among
research institutions and investigators in a manner that leverages
existing capacity to support product development while building new
capacity on the African continent. It will also involve the
identification, funding and management of a portfolio of projects,
infrastructural development across Africa, and support for broader
South-South and North-South collaboration.
The initial mapping of the health R&D landscape in Africa, in
support of ANDI activities, showed that capacity for product R&D and innovation
exists. However, this capacity is not effectively utilized to
solve Africa's health problems due to the lack of collaboration
within Africa, lack of funding and lack of coordination of
existing research efforts. It has therefore become necessary to
identify existing Centres of Excellence for health product R&D
and their core competences as well as the challenges they face. These
centres are expected to participate in the implementation of ANDI
projects which will be linked to capacity building as well as
stimulation of intra-African collaboration and networking.
Details of the Call for Centres of Excellence:
The ANDI task force has adopted a two-stage approach for
identifying ANDI projects (Figure 1): the first stage is through a
call to identify Centres of Excellence for Health Innovation, the
second is a call for specific projects.
The objective of this first call is to identify existing Centres of
Excellence with capacity and expertise in the various areas of health
product R&D across Africa which could become technical partners
of ANDI in support of its mission and vision.
Definition:
Centres of Excellence are virtual or physical centres of
sustained distinction in research in key areas of national and global
knowledge that simultaneously generate highly qualified human
resource capacity. They concentrate and build on existing capacity
and resources to enable researchers to collaborate across disciplines
on long-term projects that are locally relevant and internationally competitive.
Specific objective of the call:
a) To identify centres that will form the basis for an
integrated network of competency and convergence centres in health
innovation in Africa
b) To identify institutions with promising technology platforms
to support the above objective
c) To establish a network of Centres of Excellence that could
support local training, technology transfer and diffusion in Africa
d) To map existing centres with specific capacity, capability and
infrastructure in the various product R&D areas
e) To identify Centres of Excellence that could form the backbone
for concerted and coordinated collaboration, support pan-African
institutional technology transfer and diffusion as well as
broader South-South collaboration
Figure 1: Two-stage approach for identification of ANDI
projects: the first stage is the call for Centres of
Excellence focusing on one or more of the core capacities
highlighted in the diagram (see also the scope of the call below).
The second stage will be a call for ANDI projects which can tap
into the expertise of identified Centres of Excellence.
Scope of the call:
Health innovation as used here covers the entire
product R&D value chain, including basic research and genome
sciences, discovery and development of new drugs, vaccines,
diagnostics, insecticides and those based on traditional medicines
and natural products, as well as medical devices, relevant
technology platforms in health product R&D and techniques in
process engineering/manufacturing and any other relevant areas of
expertise. Please refer to core capacity described in Figure 1.
Centres of Excellence with competency in communicable and
non-communicable diseases that disproportionately affect the
African continent are encouraged to apply.
Eligibility criteria for Centres of Excellence:
1. Be based in Africa (core)*
2. Be a public, private or non-governmental research and/or
development institution or university (core)
3. Track record of achievement in a specific or multiple areas of
the product value chain as measured by international peer
reviewed publications, patents, technologies developed,
products discovered, developed, manufactured or commercialized,
evidence of previous or ongoing activities and a reasonable
level of funding (core)
4. Have staff with a track record in the specific area(s) of
competency within product value chain R&D (core)
5. Willingness to partner with ANDI (core)
6. Willingness to partner with other institutions in Africa on
specific projects, training and capacity-building activities (core)
7. Have functional research infrastructure including telephone,
fax, e-mail and internet (core)
8. Track record of achievements in a disease(s) that
disproportionately affect Africa
9. Willingness to engage in South-South and North-South
collaborations as well as technology transfer activities
10.Demonstrated track record in intra-African and international
collaboration is an advantage
11.Sustainability of the institution as evidenced by budget
allocation over the past 3 years
*Only institutions that meet the core criteria (1-7) are
encouraged to apply.
Incentives for centres to apply:
Potential for designation of the centre as an ANDI Centre of
Excellence in a specific area.
It is foreseen that selected centres will play an active future
role in ANDI-funded projects and capacity building in the
specific areas of competency.
The centre will be linked with specific projects in other
institutions in order to support capacity and innovation development
in Africa.
Application guidelines:
An institution can submit more than one application only
if the focus of each application is different and that they come
from different units/departments within the institution. However,
all applications must be signed by the head of the institution.
Applications using the attached template should be
submitted by the head of the institution and should contain the
following information:
- Name and complete physical address of the institution
- Title, name and full address of the head of the institution
including e-mail address, telephone and fax details
- Name of specific unit/department or laboratory within the
institution
- Title, name and address of the Leader of the proposed Centre of
Excellence with e-mail, telephone, fax contacts (if different
from head of institution above)
- CVs of senior investigators
- Area(s) of competency
- Track record of the proposed Centre of Excellence - as
measured by the number of international peer reviewed publications,
patents, technologies developed, products discovered, developed,
manufactured or commercialized, evidence of previous or ongoing
activities (over 5 years).
- Annual budget of the Centre of excellence (over the past
three years)
- Number of staff working in the area of competency
- Track record of the institute in capacity building in the
area of competency
- Challenges, if any, including resources (human and
financial), infrastructural and how ANDI can help
- References or letter of support from other institution or
ministry or government department
Please note that the application may be up to, but should not
exceed 30 pages, including annexes.
Funding:
This call is not a call for funding of Centres of
Excellence but rather a mechanism to identify centres and how
they can work with ANDI in the implementation of projects.
However, institutions applying are expected to identify any
immediate challenge(s) they are facing which may delay their
progress in the short term. If this challenge is related to
financing, the exact amount required to resolve the situation
should be mentioned in the application, with clear justification.
Application deadline and review process:
Applications should be submitted electronically** on or
before 15 August 2010. All applications will
be evaluated by the ANDI Task Force, based on the set criteria.
All institutions fulfilling the core criteria will be announced
at the 3rd ANDI Stakeholders' Meeting in Nairobi. Further
evaluation of a select number of institutions, including site
visits, will be undertaken during the first quarter of 2011.
Final selection of ANDI Centres of Excellence will then be made
and institutions requiring further development with the help of
ANDI before they can be designated as a Centre of Excellence
will be identified.
Heads of all applying institutions will be invited to attend the
3rd ANDI Stakeholders' Meeting in Nairobi where the initial
results of this call will be announced.
More information about ANDI:
The ANDI concept was launched in Abuja in 2008 at a meeting
of stakeholders that included researchers, policy makers, members of
the diaspora and several African institutions. The meeting was
supported by the World Health Organization through the African
regional office, the Special Programme for Research and Training in
Tropical Diseases, the African Development Bank, ECOWAS and the
government of Nigeria. Following this meeting, a task force was
established to develop the strategic business plan for ANDI, which
was presented and endorsed at the 2nd ANDI Stakeholders' Meeting in 2009 in Cape
Town. The meeting was further supported by the South African
government and the European Union. Progress towards the
implementation of ANDI and its transition to Africa in 2011 will be
reviewed at the 3rd ANDI Stakeholders Meeting from 11 - 13
October 2010 in Nairobi. It is anticipated that the ANDI
governance structures and a Scientific and Technical Advisory
Committee will be announced at this meeting, together with the
presentation of progress made towards the selection of definitive
host institutions for ANDI in Africa.
For further information and questions, please contact Dr Alexander
Ochem (
ochema@who.int)
**
Please submit applications to: andi@who.int