Multilateral call for projects on healthy ageing

Date de clôture : 8 juil. 2020  
APPEL À PROJET CLÔTURÉ

Time Schedule

Opening of the Call: 14 April 2020 

Deadline for applications: 5 August 2020 

Eureka Label and Funding Decision: November 2020 

Signature of the Consortia Agreements &  Project Start: November 2020/March 2021

Eureka is an intergovernmental organisation for market-driven industrial R&D. It is a decentralised network facilitating the coordination of national funding on R&D&I, aiming to boost the productivity & competitiveness of European industries. Following a bottom-up approach with projects being of any technological area with a civilian purpose, Eureka has been the driving force of innovation in Europe for over 30 years.

Participating Funding Agencies and Countries

Within the Eureka initiative, the call is based on mutual consent between the participating funding bodies:

1. FFG (Austria)
2. VLAIO and SPW (Belgium Flanders and Wallonia)
3. National Research Council (Canada)
4. Bpifrance (France)
5. Ministry of the Economy (Luxembourg)
6. Malta Enterprise (Malta)
7. CDTI (Spain)
8. TÜBİTAK (Turkey)
9. Innovate UK (UK)

Scope

Participants are invited to submit applied research and innovation project proposals in the following thematic domains:

Development of digital health tools and smart devices to promote healthy ageing.

These can include (but are not limited to):

• connecting robotics and medical imaging systems to simplify surgical procedures
• software as a medical device (or diagnostic) incorporating artificial intelligence
• software for better diagnostics or therapy 
• digital health and smart drug delivery services
• linking big data capabilities with new knowledge from precision medicine to create precision health offerings that promotes preventive interventions before symptoms of disease manifest.

Eligibility criteria

In order to apply to the present call, the partners must meet the following qualifications:

• The consortium should include at least two (for profit) independent companies from two of the participating countries. The participation of research institutes/universities is welcome according to each country’s funding regulations.
• The project partners must express their willingness to cooperate, on a win-win/fair basis in 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 must have a civilian purpose.
• The project should benefit all involved partners in a well-balanced consortium.
• The project should have an obvious advantage and added value resulting from the technologic cooperation between the participants (e.g. increased knowledge base, commercial leads, access to R&D infrastructure, etc.).
• A signed consortium agreement is mandatory before the actual start of the project. The consortium agreement should at least include the ownership and use of know-how and IPR settlements.
• The duration of the project may not exceed 36 months.

Any partner whose collaborative industrial research and innovation project is consistent with the aforementioned criteria can apply to the present call in accordance with their national laws, rules, regulations and procedures in effect, on a non-exchange of funds basis, and subject to budgetary availability.

Each participating funding body may apply additional eligibility criteria based on their national regulations. Applicants are strongly advised, prior to submitting the application, to contact their funding body (see below) to discuss their project idea and check the eligibility of the project.

Partners from other Eureka countries or countries outside of Eureka can also participate, but funding must be secured within the deadlines for the call.

Submission

There are 4 stages to the submission and assessment process:

Stage 1: Eureka application

All partners must complete the Eureka project application form online which is available in the call webpage. It must be completed online by 5 August 2020 by 17.00 Central European Summer Time (CEST). The form must be completed in English.

The project consortium is strongly advised to read the form carefully, follow the guidelines and complete all necessary elements in the form as requested. You can contact your Eureka National Project Coordinators to get support in preparing the form (see below for detailed information for each funding agency in section 4).

Stage 2: National applications

In parallel to the submission of the Eureka project form, all project partners are required to submit a related national funding application, if required, to their respective funding agencies, taking into account all relevant procedures and submission rules. Deadline for submission might differ between the participating funding agencies, see below for detailed information for each funding agency.

Stage 3: International and national evaluation

All applications are assessed against the eligibility criteria of the call before being put forward for the national assessments according to the national evaluation criteria.

Successful projects are put forward for a Eureka label. After a common list of labelled and non-labelled projects has been agreed, applicants will be informed about the results.

Funding details

Stage 4: National funding decision

Funding will only be provided to labelled projects that are positively evaluated by all participating funding agencies, taking the common ranking list into account. Funding of project partners is subjected to budgetary availability and national funding conditions stipulated by each funding body.

Evaluation

Applications will be evaluated nationally.

The basis for the national evaluation is the general Eureka eligibility criteria, national eligibility criteria and evaluations, the Eureka application form with annexes and if required a national application form.

A multilateral consensus meeting between all involved national funding bodies (NFBs) will agree which projects to approve based on the assessors’ scores, using the Eureka project assessment methodology (see Section 8). After a common list of funded and non-funded projects has been agreed, the national funding agencies and Eureka Association will inform the applicants about the results.

Funding Conditions and National Funding Budgets

Funding will only be provided to labelled projects that are positively evaluated by all participating funding bodies. Funding of project partners is subjected to budgetary availability and national funding conditions stipulated by each funding body.

Any IPR arising from cooperative project activities under this call shall be regulated in a Consortium Agreement (CA) in accordance with the relevant laws of the countries participating in the project.

A signed CA on the execution and commercialisation of the projects results is mandatory for selected projects and must be send to the relevant national funding agencies no later than 6 months after the results of the evaluation have been communicated. The project start can in any case not be prior to the approval of the signed CA.

The funding bodies named below will provide access to public investment for the selected projects. The support will be given to each partner by its respective funding body in accordance with their national laws, rules, regulations and procedures in effect, on a non-exchange of funds or soft loan basis, and subject to budgetary availability for each funding body.

Funding conditions and rules per NFB

See funding regulations of your country.

Common Eureka Assessment Criteria

In addition to the common Eureka assessment criteria there can be national evaluation criteria and requirements.

1. Impact
   1. Is the market properly addressed in terms of size, access and risk?
   2. Is the value creation in terms of growth, employment, environmental and societal benefits properly addressed?
   3. What are the competitive advantages of the project? (Strategic importance of the project, enhanced capabilities and visibility)
   4. Are the commercialization plans clear and realistic (Return on investment, Geographical sectoral impact)
2. Excellence
   1. What is the degree of innovation (Commitment on State-of-the-art and the technological maturity and risk)
   2. How is the new knowledge going to be used?
   3. Is the project challenging scientifically, technically and for the partners?
   4. Are the technical achievability & risk conveniently addressed
3. Quality & Efficiency
   1. How is the quality of the consortium? (Well-balanced partnership, technological managerial and financial capacity of each partner)
   2. Is there an added value through the international co-operation?
   3. Are the project management & planning realistic and clearly defined? (Methodology and planning approach, milestones and deliverables)
   4. Is the cost structure reasonable? (Cost and financial commitment of each participant)
4. Overall Perception
   1. Pros and cons of the application
   2. Is the project recommended for public investment? (Yes or No)