01 Apr 2016
Written by Longitude Prize Team
Since 2014, the European Commission Horizon 2020 programme has introduced new funding tools such as challenge prizes to run alongside the more traditional research and innovation funding mechanisms. Nesta was part of a consortium put together to tap into European networks and conduct an in-depth research exercise, bringing together resources and knowledge across different fields, technologies and disciplines with a focus on need and potential for breakthrough innovation.
Nesta worked with the European Commission to shape the design of five flagship challenge prizes. One of those prizes aims to reduce the misuse of antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infections. The €1 million prize was launched in March 2015 and runs until summer 2016.
Challenge: Better use of antibiotics
The challenge is to develop a rapid test that will allow healthcare providers to distinguish at the point of care between patients with upper respiratory tract infections that require antibiotics and those that can be treated safely without antibiotics.
Image property of Iqbal Osman
Unlike the Longitude Prize, the Commission’s prize is aimed at a specific type of infection and is focused on finding a solution from within Europe (or from countries associated with Horizon 2020). There are differences in other aspects of the criteria too, as well in the size of prize fund.
