The Myriad Grants Team Wins EIC Funding for 3 Ground-breaking Projects

Over the past few months, the Myriad Associates grant writing team have won funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC) for three ground-breaking medical-based projects.

What were the projects that received funding? How much financial support did they get from the EIC? And how did Myriad Associates manage to secure funding from the notoriously scrupulous EIC not once, but three times?

What projects won EIC funding & how much did they receive?

The EIC provides financial support for companies, of any size and within any industry, looking to develop new, innovative products, processes or services. There are three different EIC funding schemes that companies can apply for, depending on what stage their innovative idea or project is at.

Myriad Associates has helped three companies apply for and win funding from the EIC for the following three projects:

Project #1: Treatment for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)

The bad news is, if you have a prostate and you live for long enough, you will suffer from BPH. BPH is where the prostate is bigger than normal. It’s thought that BPH is related to the hormonal changes you go through as you get older, but it causes sufferers to wee more frequently, often at inopportune times. While in extreme cases, patients can opt to have an operation to make the prostate smaller, currently, there is nothing to treat the disease for people with mild to moderate symptoms of BPH.

This is where ProVerum Medical Limited come in. ProVerum has developed a treatment that will remedy BPH, without the need for an intrusive operation. The good news is, if you suffer from BPH, or are likely to get it in the future, ProVerum has already developed the treatment and it’s been through clinical trials, so it’s now just a question of getting it approved and then out to market. ProVerum, with the help of Myriad Associates, applied for (and won) equity only funding from the EIC. This means that the EIC has agreed to fund 50% of the costs to get the treatment out to market and help ProVerum secure the other 50% from outside investors.

So, the treatment for BPH might be on our shelves sooner than we think!

Project #2: Headgear for high impact sports

Out of all sports, men's rugby has the highest rate of concussion. There are on average, three concussions per game. In response to this shocking statistic, World Rugby has asked sports development companies to develop and trial a new form of headgear, designed to protect rugby players from brain-related injury and illness. Out of the many candidates that went forwards to participate in this trial, Contego Sports were the only ones that World Rugby selected for the Global Law Trial for headgear. The N-Pro head guard uses cutting edge defentex™ technology and a multi-layered design to significantly reduce the G-Force energy transferred to a player’s head during impact. The €2.3M from the EIC will support the further research and development of the N-Pro head guard and get it out to market as fast as possible so that the amount and severity of sports-related brain injuries are reduced as quickly as possible.

Project #3: Treatment for vaginal atrophy and dryness

15% of the female population experience vaginal atrophy before menopause and up to 57% have it after. Vaginal atrophy is when the walls in the vagina become thin, dry or inflamed due to reduced levels of oestrogen, which usually happens when a woman goes through menopause or experiences breast cancer.

“Vaginal atrophy not only makes intercourse painful but also leads to distressing urinary symptoms.” – Mayo Clinic

AVeta Medical has secured €2.5 million from the EIC that will enable them to develop a device that will alleviate the symptoms of vaginal atrophy. The device has been designed by women for women and is effectively a disposable probe that, when inserted, will cause a reaction that creates new blood vessels. These blood vessels replace the role of oestrogen and brings elasticity back into the body.

Why did these three projects win EIC funding?

It’s clear to see that these three projects are all incredibly timely. They’re all aiming to solve or alleviate three common issues that will affect a large proportion of people’s lives. So, there’s no doubt about it, winning this funding and support from the EIC was partly down to a case of ‘right time, right place’. However, the real reason these applications won funding, out of thousands of other applications, was because of the enthusiasm, drive and passion that each of these companies had for their projects. This meant that they were able to convince the board of EIC evaluators that the decision to fund their project over another one was a no-brainer.

How did Myriad Associates help them secure EIC funding?

Alongside their own enthusiasm and passion for their projects, each of these companies had an excellent team of grant writers on their side. With a 75% success rate, Myriad Associates have quite a reputation in the grant funding world. And it's their unique approach that sees them win funding for their client’s projects time and time again. They believe in fully collaborating on all the applications they write. They don’t just sit, holed up in a dark room for days, writing the application out by themselves. The clients they work with are fully immersed in the entire process. This not only makes for a better application, but it also prepares the client for the interview stage where they will be closely cross-examined on the smallest of details.

“Working collaboratively is the best way for a client to be able to defend their project in front of the board of examiners. The application becomes their business plan which they’re able to use to win the board over.” – Lauren Olson, Myriad Associates grant writer

To find out more about the Myriad Associates grant writing team head over to the website, call the team on +353 1 566 2001, or drop them a message here.