South Korea - United Kingdom call for projects

Deadline: Jun 12, 2019  
CALL EXPIRED

Call description

Innovate UK and the Korea Institute for the Advancement of Technology (KIAT) are announcing a £2 million joint funding call for research and development (R&D) projects under the EUREKA programme. This will support collaborative, business led research and development (R&D) projects, which should result in a new product, industrial process or service. Projects must be innovative and involve a technological risk.

Proposals must focus on one or both of the following technology areas:

• Advanced materials for transport (air, land and maritime), with a focus on materials development. 
• Internet of Things *(IoT), with a clearly-identified industrial or sector application

* For Internet of Things, we would particularly welcome projects using emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence or blockchain.

Projects must be coordinated by a lead partner from the UK and a lead partner from South Korea.

Key dates

1. Opening of the Call: 11th March 2019
2. Deadline for submission : 12th June 2019
3. Evaluation of proposals : June to July 2019
4. Communication of the results : July to August 2019 
5. Applicants informed : 5th August 2019

Eligibility criteria

Project applicants will be invited to present proposals according to the following criteria:

• No individual organisation, or individual country, can claim more than 70% of the total eligible costs for the entire joint project.
• Partners in a consortium will ideally be separate legal and non-linked entities to ensure that projects stimulate genuine international collaboration, not internal company research.
• Participation of research institutes/universities is welcome, but projects should be coordinated by a lead commercial partner to ensure that they focus on industrial exploitation.
• For the UK, any research organisations including Universities in the consortium can share up to 30% of the total eligible UK project costs. However for the UK, Universities and RTO’s are unable to receive grant funding through this call.
• The project proposal should demonstrate a clear benefit and added value resulting from the cooperation between the participants from the two countries.  It is important to explain the reasons behind why this research is being conducted internationally.
• Each project must include at least one UK SME and one South Korean organisation.
• The project can include subcontractors but they must not account for more than 20% of the total eligible costs for the entire joint project.
• Projects should be coordinated by a lead commercial partner to ensure a focus on industrial exploitation.
• The amount of funding available per project partner is subject to national rules and regulations. The total grant available to applicants from each country is up to £350,000 per project. 

Submission and approval procedures

There are 3 stages to the submission and assessment process.

Stage 1

One of the lead applicants must download and complete the EUREKA project application form on behalf of the entire consortium. Template available at http://www.eurekanetwork.org/download-project-application-form. Each lead applicant must submit it to their respective funding agency.

UK applicants must submit the form by midday 12pm UK time on the deadline to Innovate UK through our secure FTP site, along with the supporting documentation listed in the guidance for applicants. South Korea lead applicants must submit by 6pm local time to KIAT(https://www.k-pass.kr)

Competition managers from Innovate UK and KIAT check applications are eligible and in scope.

Stage 2

Applications are assessed by up to 5 external assessors who are experts in the innovation area identified in your application. They will also be assessed by independent assessors in South Korea.

Stage 3

A joint UK and South Korea consensus panel made up of Innovate UK and KIAT evaluators agree which projects to fund based on the assessors’ scores. The EUREKA Network decides which of the successful projects are put forward for a EUREKA label.

KIAT and Innovate UK jointly make the final decision on which projects to fund.

The lead applicant is notified of the funding decision. All assessed applications receive assessor feedback.

Funding details

Each country will fund its eligible participants according to their national procedure and funding rules. Funding conditions and eligibility criteria may vary from one country to another. The main aspects of funding criteria are explained below:

The UK

Innovate UK have allocated up to £1million to fund UK companies innovation projects in this competition. UK companies could get funding for your eligible project costs of :

• up to 70% if you are a micro or small business
• up to 60% if you are a medium-sized business
• up to 50% if you are a large business

Total UK grant available is up to £350k per project. This competition provides state aid funding under the General Block Exemption Regulation.

South Korea

Project funding is comprised of government contributions and civilian dues (cash and in-kind). The amount of government contributions will vary depending on the type of executing organizations and project in accordance with Article 24 (Funding criteria) and Article 25 (Civilian dues) of the Common Operational Regulations for the Industrial Technology Innovation Programs. (see: www.k-pass.kr).

A party that participates in a project shall carry out its project using the government contributions allocated to it, and for-profit organizations shall individual bear the cash portion of civilian dues.