The European Lead Factory concept proposed by the EUC2LID Consortium relates to the discovery of novel small molecule candidates to serve as starting points for subsequent optimization to either drug candidates or high-quality pharmacological tools for the experimental validation of targets. The concept intends to bridge academic and applied research interests. The European Lead Factory will provide an industry-like small molecule discovery platform to public investigators. It builds on a unique, comprehensive, high-quality compound collection contributed by EFPIA Pparticipants, i.e. the Pharma Consortium Compound Collection totaling over about 300.000 compounds. Screening of these previously safeguarded corporate compound libraries against competitor’s targets and targets from public sources may result in otherwise inaccessible valuable lead structures that could ultimately result in the development of novel treatment options for patients. Academic Participantsa or other eligible bodies (and Contributing Third Parties) will be invited to submit proposals for screening of innovative targets and to suggest the design of new and diverse chemical libraries utilizing novel concepts and strategies. The latter will fuel the generation of a Public Compound Collection that will combine with the Pharma ConsortiumEFPIA Compound Collection to generate the Joint European Compound CollectionLibrary. These public sector contributions will not only provide a constant flow of innovation, but also generate opportunities for future partnerships amongst public Public Participants and private contributors EFPIA Participants on scientific and commercial grounds. EUC2LID’s overarching goal is value creation by screening the Joint European Compound Collection Library against in pPublic and private EFPIA Ttarget Programmes. Based on the successful delivery on its objectives during the IMI funding period, the generation of the high quality Public Compound Collection provides a tangible asset allowing the transition of the European Lead Factory into a novel sustainable business model, facilitating future public-private alliances based on pre-competitive, community-based efforts in early drug research.