News

Published: 05 May 2026

New database improves access to NAMs funding opportunities

On 29 April, the Dutch government launched the NAMs Funding Compass – a publicly accessible database listing funding opportunities for animal-free research at both the Dutch and European levels. Doctors Against Animal Experiments (DAAE) strongly welcomes this initiative as a clear and much-needed commitment to advancing modern, human-relevant science.

The new NAMs Funding Compass is part of the Dutch government’s Transition Programme for Animal-free Innovations (TPI), which is actively driving the transition to animal-free research through a coordinated set of measures. The aim is to make animal-free methods (also known as New Approach Methodologies, or NAMs) more visible, accessible and financially viable, so that animal testing can be phased out in the long term.

The Compass offers a structured and transparent overview of funding opportunities for NAMs, organised by relevant stakeholders and funding routes. Opportunities are further categorised by technology readiness level, enabling researchers to identify suitable funding at every stage of development of their non-animal technologies. Designed for researchers, companies, and public-private partnerships, the tool makes it significantly easier to identify relevant programmes and navigate what has long been a fragmented and opaque funding landscape.

“With the NAMs Funding Compass, the Netherlands is demonstrating what funding policy can look like if there is a genuine desire to advance animal-free research. This is not just a practical tool – it is a clear political statement that the future of biomedical research lies in human-relevant, animal-free methods,” says Dr Dilyana Filipova, scientific officer at DAAE.

DAAE considers developments in the Netherlands a stark and telling contrast to the current situation in Germany. While the Netherlands is implementing concrete and coordinated measures through TPI to phase out animal experiments, Germany still lacks a coherent and forward-looking strategy to promote animal-free research.

The situation in Germany is particularly concerning: more than 99% of public funding for biomedical research continues to be channelled into projects based on animal experiments. Animal-free research, by contrast, is only supported by a handful of funding programmes, which are often poorly visible. “This imbalance is not only scientifically backward, but also politically short-sighted and out of step with international progress,” says Dr Filipova.

DAAE therefore calls for a fundamental and urgent restructuring of research funding in Germany. Public investment must be systematically redirected towards innovative, animal-free, human-based technologies. Without decisive action, Germany risks falling further behind countries such as the Netherlands that are already taking meaningful steps towards the future of biomedical research.

Reference

NAMs Funding Compass launched. TPI, press release, 29.04.2026