EUREKA - Czech - German Call for proposals

Deadline: Apr 5, 2017  
CALL EXPIRED

Call description

The Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MEYS) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) intend to fund joint research and development (R&D) projects of German and Czech partner institutions. Applicants are expected to develop marketable products, services or technologies with high market potential in Germany, the Czech Republic and/or Europe. This call will be administered under the regulations of the EUREKA research initiative: in German and in Czech.

Special focus

Although this call invites projects in all thematic areas, special focus is given to the following suggested domains:

• Renewable energy technologies: Power storage and power conversion technologies; Management of power networks
• Applications of information and communication technologies
• Environmental technologies

Eligibility criteria

Expected project results will have to contribute to the development of commercial products, applications and/or technology-based services. The project proposals have to comply with the following guidelines:

• The project consortia should consist of at least 1 company from the Czech Republic and 1 company from Germany. The submitting institutions from both countries should be independent companies. Participation of research institutes/universities as partners or subcontractors is welcome according to each country’s funding regulations.
• Companies from other countries may also participate, but they will not be funded by the participating parties of this call.
• The project partners must express the will to cooperate, on an equal base, to the development of a new product, industrial process or service. The product, process or service must be innovative and there must be a technological risk involved.
• The project should have an obvious advantage and added value resulting from the technological cooperation between the participants (e.g. increased knowledge base, commercial leads, access to R&D infrastructure etc.).
• The project should demonstrate the contribution of all the partners from the participating countries on an equal base, and the project must be equally significant to them.
• The participants are required, prior to the official endorsement of the Eureka High-Level Group, to have signed a consortium agreement.

Any consortium whose cooperative R&D project is consistent with the aforesaid criteria can apply to the present announcement in accordance with the national laws, rules, regulations and procedures in effect.

Submission and approval  procedures

In the first phase, partners will be asked to present a project outline in English via the EUREKA Project  Application  Form: 

• Prior consultation with the official contact persons in the respective national EUREKA offices is strongly advised (see details below).
• The completed EUREKA Project Application Form should be submitted by each country’s main participant to his/her national EUREKA office until 5 April 2017, 5.00 p.m. local time. Please find contact information on the last page of this document.
• The project forms will be screened and evaluated by EUREKA National Project Coordinators (NPCs) assisted by technical experts in the National Funding Bodies (NFBs).
• MEYS and BMBF will decide about funding R&D projects according to their national evaluation processes and according to joint priorities by mid June 2017.

In the second phase, each country will follow its funding procedure according to its national rules. Funding conditions and eligibility criteria vary between both participating countries. Main aspects of the national funding criteria are briefly explained below:

Czech Republic

The funding in the Czech Republic will be provided by the MEYS under the national programme INTER- EXCELLENCE and its part INTER-EUREKA.

Czech companies – both SMEs and Large companies - are eligible for submitting the project proposal and can be joined by universities and research organizations. MEYS will fund R&D projects by grants: SME´s up to 50% of eligible costs of the Czech project part; large companies up to 30% of eligible costs of the Czech project part and in total limited up to 150,000 € per year (up to 4,000,000 CZK).

The evaluation procedure is organized after submitting completed project applications. A “National Green List” will be generated in accordance with the German funding partner with candidates to be labelled during the EUREKA meetings held on 27-30 June 2017. The project Label is a necessary condition for project funding.

In the Czech Republic, the participants have to submit the national application to the MEYS according to the rules published on www.msmt.cz. The completed project agenda must be submitted in one phase of the national call (it means CZ Application Form, Eureka Project Form and Cooperation Agreement).

For more information contact the national EUREKA Office at the MEYS.

Germany

In Germany, apart from the EUREKA Project Application (phase 1) participants will have to submit a formal project application using the official application system of the federal government when selected for phase 2. Responsible entity for the application procedure and the funding of the projects is DLR-PT (“European and International Cooperation”) on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research will finance research and/or technological development activities of German companies, universities and research centers.

On the German side, the consortium has to consist of at least one German company, based in Germany. Research institutes/universities can participate as partners or subcontractors. The project proposals have to comply with the following guidelines:

• The consortium should include at least one Czech and one German partner.
• The maximum funding amounts to 300,000 Euros per project; maximum duration is 36 months.
• The funding rate will be for companies up to 50% of eligible costs, and for universities and research institutes up to 100% of eligible costs (plus 20% project flat rate).
• Participation on the basis of other funding programmes or by own financial resources (self- financing) is always possible for companies and research institutes.

For phase 1: In addition to the EUREKA Project Application Form the German applicants have to submit the following information:

• A project description (as a separate pdf-file, max. 10 pages) along the following structure:
  • economic and social impact of the project results
  • achievement of a critical mass and better use of limited resources in fields of mutual interest
  • mutual access to cross-border and European value chains
  • in the field of energy technologies:
    • contribution to energy system integration on a cross-border and European level
  • in the fields of ICT and environmental technologies:
    • long-term effect on joint use of research infrastructures

• A description of budget allocations, i.e. estimated percentages for personnel, travel, material, consumables, other (please specify).

Please contact DLR-PT for further information regarding the funding criteria.

Project consortia selected for the formal application (second phase) will be informed about the necessary further steps in due time. Regulations of type “AZK” for companies and of type “AZA” for public institutions will apply