Objective
The project addresses Challenge 2 of the European Innovation Council Advanced Innovation Challenges Pilot by advancing a disruptive New Approach Methodology (NAM) platform designed to accelerate cancer drug development while reducing reliance on exploratory animal experimentation.
OKOMERA’s Ocentra platform is a compact, automated benchtop system integrating rapid 48-hour three-dimensional organoid generation from minute patient-derived tumor samples with automated microfluidic standardization and AI-driven analytics in a single industrial workflow. Unlike existing organoid platforms relying on manual multiwell expansion and fragmented processes, Ocentra enables standardized, miniaturized, and traceable generation of uniform tumor microtissues. This directly addresses a major barrier to NAM adoption: the lack of reproducible and transferable systems compatible with pharmaceutical R&D environments.
The prototype has been validated in-house using multiple patient-derived tumor models, demonstrating reliable automated 3D culture formation and reproducible compound exposure suitable for target validation and quantitative dose-response profiling.
The EIC AIC Stage 1 project will conduct the first independent validation of the prototype in an external pharmaceutical research laboratory to assess robustness, reproducibility and operational feasibility outside the developer’s facilities. In parallel, the project will implement a robust data governance framework ensuring traceability and regulatory-aligned handling of patient-derived biological materials, and define a Stage 2 transition strategy including a regulatory and commercial adoption roadmap and formalized commitments from industrial and clinical partners to support continued validation and pilot activities.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy drug discovery
- social sciences sociology governance
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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HORIZON.3.1.3 - Additional EIC activities
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-EIC - HORIZON EIC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-EIC-2026-AIC
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
75014 Paris
France
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.