Collaborative Innovation Award, Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program (U01 Clinical Trial Optional) | PAR 18 244

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 18 244

The Collaborative Innovation Award under the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity designed to push forward new, creative, and jointly developed research efforts across the NCATS CTSA consortium. The core aim is to stimulate innovative, collaborative research that strengthens clinical and translational science by encouraging teams and institutions within the CTSA network to work together on high-impact problems. This opportunity uses a U01 cooperative agreement mechanism, which generally means NIH expects to have substantial scientific or programmatic involvement during the project (for example, working with awardees on coordination, milestones, and consortium-wide alignment). Clinical trials are optional under this announcement, so applicants may propose either trial or non-trial projects, depending on what best fits the research question and approach.

Administratively, this is a discretionary grant opportunity in the health area, listed under CFDA 93.350, and it was posted with Funding Opportunity Number PAR 18-244. The original closing date shown for this particular posting was November 9, 2018, and the creation date was November 21, 2017. While the excerpt does not specify an award ceiling or number of expected awards, the intent is clearly focused on catalyzing consortium-based collaboration rather than supporting isolated, single-site efforts. In practice, applicants should expect that proposals will be evaluated for their ability to deliver innovation and measurable translational impact through cross-site coordination, shared methods or resources, and outcomes that can benefit the broader CTSA community.

Eligibility is broad across U.S.-based public and private entities, reflecting an emphasis on drawing in a wide range of organizations that can contribute to translational research. Eligible applicants include state, county, city or township governments, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized tribal governments; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (as long as they are not institutions of higher education in the nonprofit category specified); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; and small businesses. The announcement also explicitly highlights additional eligible applicant categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISISs), eligible federal agencies, faith-based or community-based organizations, Hispanic-serving institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Indian/Native American tribal governments that are not federally recognized, regional organizations, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), and U.S. territories or possessions. This emphasis signals that NIH is open to a wide variety of institutional partners and community-rooted organizations, as long as they can contribute meaningfully to the consortium-focused collaborative innovation goals.

At the same time, the FOA draws a firm boundary around foreign participation. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities are not eligible to apply. Non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible. In addition, foreign components, as NIH defines them in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are not allowed. In other words, the work and organizational structure supported through this mechanism must remain domestic, without foreign institutional applicants or foreign components embedded in an otherwise U.S.-based application.

Overall, this opportunity is best understood as NIH/NCATS looking to fund projects that can move translational science forward through coordinated, multi-party collaboration within the CTSA ecosystem, using the cooperative agreement model to ensure close alignment with program goals and to increase the likelihood that successful approaches can be shared, scaled, and adopted across the consortium.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Collaborative Innovation Award, Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program (U01 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.350.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-11-21.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2018-11-09. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for PAR 18 244

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