International Bureau of the BMBF - Creating international research and education networks 1 Franziska Müller Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg 1 March 2011 ERA.Net RUS Pilot Joint Call on Innovation Projects

International Bureau of the BMBF - Creating international research and education networks 2 Topics  Background Information  Scope of Innovation Projects  Funding  Content of proposals  Evaluation  Relevant documents  Timeschedule  Submission of proposals

Background Information (I) A Pilot Joint Call (PJC) for Innovation Projects was launched on 15 February 2011 and will be closed on 15th April Participating countries are: Germany, Greece, Israel, Russia, Switzerland and Turkey The total indicative financial contribution to the call is € plus an additional amount from INTAS donation Each team in a multilateral project will be funded by the respective funding organisation in its country.

Background information (II) Joint proposals need to be centrally submitted online and in English to a Joint Call Secretariat (located in Germany at the IB of the BMBF) The Joint Call Secretariat implements the operational management of the call (provision of an online submission system and pool of evaluators etc.) The national funding organisations are in charge of all duties according to national law and/or internal regulations of the organisation, the eligibility check of national applicants, the management of financial transactions to national beneficiaries and the final decision on projects to be funded. Each funding organisation has appointed a contact person for national applicants. List of NCPs as well as all other related information is available at the ERA.Net RUS website:

Scope of Innovation Projects (I) Scope of the instrument: By Innovation Projects are meant joint research projects designed to lead to innovative products, services or processes of significant economic and/or societal value. Against this background this joint activity addresses applied research and technology development implemented by small sized innovative enterprises in Russia in partnership with universities or non-university public or private institutions/ companies from EU-MS/AC. Objective: create long-term research collaboration in the field of innovation between EU MS/AC and Russia.

Scope of Innovation Projects (II) Thematic focus: EU-Russia collaborative innovation projects can be funded in the research areas, which are thematically assigned to innovative technologies of high utilization potential and of particular importance for the EU as well as for Russia. Eligible institutions and consortia: Institutions applying for funding must be eligible for funding by their respective national Funding Organisation. They can be higher education and research institutions or companies engaged in innovation. Eligible consortia must comprise a minimum of at least three partners from three different countries, of which at least one small Russian innovative company and at least one company from the EU MS/AC. At least two partners must necessarily come from the countries participating in the call.

Scope of Innovation Projects (III) Once the minimum requirements are met, partners from countries not participating in the call can also join, however on their own funds. Example for consortia: 1) Small Russian innovative company + company from Israel (or Germany, Greece, Switzerland, Turkey) + Research Institution or University from Germany, Greece, Switzerland, Turkey or any other country 2) Small Russian innovative company+ Russian Research institution (subcontracted by the small innovative company) + company from Israel (or Germany, Greece, Switzerland, Turkey) + company from any other country

Scope of Innovation Projects (IV) Each project consortium is lead by a coordinator who has the overall responsibility for the project and is the contact person to the Joint Call Secretariat. The coordinator is responsible for submitting the proposal, will receive the results of the evaluation and is in charge of submitting an annual scientific report to the JCS. Duration: The duration of a project can be up to 24 months. Funding: The funding of a project depends on the nature and duration of the proposed activities and must be justified in terms of the ressources needed to achieve the objectives of the project.

Scope of Innovation Projects (V) The amount of funding depends on each respective funding organisation. Related information can be found in the Terms of References for the call. On the Russian side, funding can only be granted to small innovative companies, which might subcontract other Russian partners, once appropriate. In case an institution/partner cannot receive its funding from its national funding organisation, this project will not be retained for funding unless the project partner agrees to fund its total share on its own budget.

Participating Funding Organisations and committed resources to the call: Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises, FASIE (Russia) € Federal Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF (Germany) € Ministry for Industry, Trade and Labour, MOITAL (Israel)€ General Secretariat for Research and Technology, GSRT (Greece) € University of Geneva (Swiss Leading House for Swiss-Russian S&T Cooperation) acting on behalf of the Swiss State Secretariat for Education and Research, Switzerland € Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, TÜBITAK (Turkey) € €

Allowable Project costs Allowable project costs might differ for individual partners in a project depending on each funding organisation Allowable costs could cover: -labour costs of the research staff and other personnel; -travel and subsistence -event costs -services of third parties in the field of R&D (subcontracts); -project-related consumables and small-scale research equipment; -other relevant costs; -overheads

Content of the proposal a.General Information (proposal details, summary, background and R&D objectives, project description etc.) b.Team information (project coordinator, members etc.) c.Project management (overall coordination, distribution of work etc.) d.Breakdown of costs (for each project partner) e.Exploitation of results for innovation projects (exploitation plan etc.)

Eligibility of Proposals (I) Proposals must: -Be in the scope of the call -Meet the consortium composition requirements -Be submitted by partner institutions which are eligible to receive funding from their national funding organisations -Comply with the allowed duration as specified -Comply with the funding requirements -Comply with the terms of the submission procedure -Be complete according to the rules described in the Terms of Reference -Be submitted in the English language -Meet the submission deadline

Eligibility of proposals (II) Only Proposals meeting all above eligibility criteria will be processed by the Joint Call Secretariat Once a Proposal meets the eligibility criteria, the Joint Call Secretariat will ask the funding organisations to check and confirm the eligibility according to their national regulations. National regulations of the Funding Parties will be laid down in an Annex. Non eligible proposals will be rejected

Evaluation of proposals In a first step proposals will be evaluated by international, independent peer-reviewers/ evaluators. In a second step a Scientific and Innovation Council consisting of high level scientific experts will consolidate evaluation results and propose a ranking list of projects to be funded to all funding organisations participating in the call (Group of Funding Parties). In a third step the Group of Funding Parties will take the final decision on projects to be funded in a joint meeting.

Evaluation criteria Rating criteria to be applied: I.Scientific and Technological Merit of the project (35%) II.Economic and Societal Impact of the Results (35%) III.Quality of the consortium (15%), IV.Quality of the project management (10%) V.Quality of the presentation of the Proposal (5%) Threshold for each criterion: Each criteria may be awarded a maximum of 5 points (from 5-excellent to 0-not relevant). For criteria I-IV the threshold is 3/5

Project contracts For each Innovation Project approved for funding, two contracts will be executed in parallel: an Umbrella Project Contract to be signed on the one hand by the Joint Call Secretariat on behalf of the Group of Funding Parties and on the other hand by the Coordinating institution on behalf of the project consortium. a National Contract/Grant Agreement to be signed between each participating institution in a consortium and its corresponding Funding Party in case these organisations are two separate legal entities.

Timeschedule Publication of the call15 February 2011 Deadline for submission of proposals 15 April 2011 Deadline for eligibility check30 April 2011/ 15 May for Israel Deadline for evaluation of proposals 15 June Decision making meeting of the funding organisations 30 June 2011 Tentative date for starting the projects 1 September 2011 Tentative date for termination of the projects At the latest October 2013

Relevant documents All relevant documents and links are available at the call website: 1. Terms of References  Detailed information on all principles of the call  Annex with national criteria 2. Guidelines for applicants  Additional information in form of a FAQ guide for interested applicants  Explanations on the use of the online application tool  List of NCPs and list of contribution per funding party 3. Link to the online submission tool at: it.de/ptoutline/application/inno it.de/ptoutline/application/inno

5. Submission of Proposals (I) Only submissions through the online submission system “PT-Outline” will be accepted.

International Bureau of the BMBF - Creating international research and education networks 31 Franziska Müller International Bureau of the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (Germany) c/o German Aerospace Center Heinrich-Konen-Str Bonn Phone: +49 (0) Thank you very much for your attention! Спасибо большое за ваше внимание!