Globalstars call for projects with Kenya

Scope

This call invites consortia to apply high quality R&D projects within all technology fields. However, the participating countries in particular welcome project proposals in the fields of:

• Sustainability
  • circular and bio-based economy
  • clean energy
  • clean water and sanitation
  • agro economy
• Health
  • improving lifestyle and living environment
  • shift curative to preventive

Your project should:

• preferably address one of the fields mentioned in the call description and
• demonstrate the potential to research or develop a product, service or process for commercialisation.

Timeframe

• 31 January 2023: Call for projects opens
• 30 April 2023: Deadline 12:00 CEST  
• 12 May 2023: Consensus meeting on eligibility

Please note that additional national applications might be required.

From 15 September 2023: Applicants informed about evaluation results

From September 2023: Eureka label procedure and approval

From September 2023: National funding decisions

From September 2023 to early 2024: Projects start

Funding details

The participating funding organisations may have additional criteria for their national organisations to be eligible to receive funding:

Kenya

• Kenyan public and private research centers and institutes, training institutions, departments of R&D, industrial establishments and relevant implementing bodies are eligible to apply;
• Applicants must have wide knowledge and experience in the National Research Priority areas;
• The applicants must have demonstrated competence and experience in their grant application areas;
• Applicants must be in possession of at least a master’s degree or equivalent experience in a relevant area or be innovators recognised by the Kenya National Innovation Agency;
• The Principal Investigator must be a Kenya citizen;
• Non Kenyans may apply under a Kenyan Principal Investigator;
• All applicants must be affiliated to a recognised Kenyan research institution and in case of a university or research institution, they must not be on an extended unpaid leave;
• Partnering and collaborative institutional or corporate entities must formally indicate willingness to release staff involved in the project, have the facilities to implement the project or indicate how the facilities will be availed.

Funding R&D at industry level will be to researchers in institutions who will have identified specific products within a formal firm for further development. Such a grant proposal will be accompanied by the industry approval specifying clearly the roles between the researcher and the industry in an effort to enhance Research to Commercialisation in Kenya. Grants will be channeled through the researcher’s institution and accounted for by the particular institution.

Research-related costs

Researchers may request for funds for the following categories of expenditure:

• Daily Subsistence Allowance for field activities for professional and non-professional personnel;
• Research equipment;
• Consumables;
• Essential infrastructure/upgrading;
• Costs of prototype production;
• Project management costs must not exceed 7.5%;
• Project mobility costs must not exceed 20% of the total budget.

Budget

The total amount available for this call is 595,000 euro. Each project will be funded up to a maximum of 85,000 euro. Funding will be made available for a maximum of 3 years.

For more information, please refer www.researchfund.go.ke

Austria (FFG - Austrian Research Promotion Agency)

Grant of up to 60% of eligible project costs for small companies, up to 50% of the eligible costs for medium-sized companies or up to 40% of the eligible costs for large companies.

Specific national rules

Eureka projects can be submitted for funding to the General Programme (Basis program) of FFG which provides the Eureka funding scheme illustrated below.

• Rules, procedures, and other national criteria
• Guidelines on eligible costs

The deadline for the national application is at least three months before the national cut-off date preceding the Eureka label decision. Project applications must be submitted online via FFG eCall. Joining a project on self-funded basis is possible, but you are must contact the Eureka national project coordinator at FFG.

Eligible costs and funding rates

In addition to the Eureka application, the Austrian participant has to submit a separate national full project proposal to FFG General Programme (Basisprogramm) via eCall. All companies registered in Austria are eligible for funding, universities and research centers can be funded as subcontractors only. The evaluation of the Austrian project part is carried out by internal experts at FFG. The project must fulfil the national criteria. There is no dedicated budget for this call. Funding in Austria is provided on an annual basis only, therefore follow-on applications must be submitted for the max. duration of 3 years.

General Programme provides grants for Austrian SMEs participating in Eureka projects:

• Up to 60% of the eligible costs for small companies
• Up to 50% of the eligible costs for medium-sized companies
• Up to 40% of the eligible costs for large companies

Belgium (Flanders-VLAIO)

Specific national rules

In Belgium-Flanders for this call we will only accept development projects (an innovative idea that can lead to successful business in the short term, but there are still some challenges to overcome in developing this innovation)

Only companies can apply for funding via subsidies. Flemish or foreign academic partners or research institutes can be funded by VLAIO if their expertise is crucial for the Flemish partner (company) and if they are subcontracted by this company.

General information

Eligible costs and funding rates

Staff and other costs related to the development project can be funded with a 25 to 50% subsidy of the project budget, with a minimum budget equivalent to support of € 25.000. Information can be found here. For this call for projects, the maximum funding (subsidy) per project is 500,000 euro.

Additional documents required

In addition to the Eureka application, partners from Flanders need to submit an application to VLAIO, including a project plan and budget. We invite Flemish partners to contact us to pre-check their project ideas and get support from our team VLAIO advisors. The deadline for submitting the VLAIO application is 26 May 2023 at 12:00 CET.

Estonia

In Estonia, the funding body for Estonian participants is Estonian Business and Innovation Agency. Estonia funds only the R&D costs of SMEs.  

Estonian Business and Innovation Agency covers up to 60% of project costs in grants for small companies and up to 50% of project costs in grants for medium-sized companies. 

Maximum amount of grant is 300,000 euro per project.

The eligible costs are:

• personnel costs, to the extent employed on the project;
• travelling costs (calculated on the basis of unit costs);
• costs of instruments and equipment to the extent and for the period used for the project (where such instruments and equipment are not used for their full life for the project, only the depreciation costs corresponding to the life of the project, as calculated on the basis of generally accepted accounting principles are considered as eligible);
• costs of contractual research, knowledge and patents bought or licensed from outside sources at arm's length conditions, as well as costs of consultancy and equivalent services used exclusively for the project;
• cost of materials, instruments to the extent used in the project.

More information:

Applicants in Estonia are strongly recommended to contact Estonian Business and Innovation Agency for consulting about the terms and conditions of the financing before submitting a Eureka application.

Finland

The general Business Finland eligibility criteria and rules for funding apply for this call.

Different rules apply for small and medium-sized enterprises, midcap companies (large companies with turnover of less than 300 million euro), large companies, and research organisations. The impact of the international cooperation should be clear, and the participating companies should have a credible internationalisation plan and business goals including export targets. If public research organisations are involved in a co-innovation project, a minimum of three companies must also participate, at least two of which apply for Business Finland funding.

The applicants will be advised about the applicable rules by Business Finland contact persons in detail before submitting the Eureka application.

More information:

Funding from Business Finland is intended for challenging and innovative research, development and innovation projects. 

Read more information on eligible costs and funding rates here and here.

Enterprises can apply for grant funding for research projects or loan funding for development and piloting projects. A grant can cover up to 50% of the eligible costs for SMEs and 40% for large and midcap companies. A loan can cover up to 50% (70% in certain cases) of the eligible costs. Public Research Organisations can receive up to 70% funding, specific national co-innovation project funding rules apply. There is no specific euro limit for the project size

In certain cases, applicants may also apply for additional funding for co-creation with local partners in Kenya, as well as support services, such as matchmaking.

France

Bpifrance is the Innovation Agency of France and is responsible of programmes encouraging R&D cooperation between French and foreign companies.

Eligible costs and funding rules

Main information for the French partners: SMEs and midcap up to 2000 FTE can apply for a repayable advance or a loan up to 3 million euro per company per project, in the limit of own equity. French universities can only join as a subcontractor or on a self-funded basis, as additional partner.

Please note: If the company and project are considered “deeptech”, the funding can be a mix of grant and repayable advance.

Additional documents

In addition to the Eureka application, French participants must submit a national demand on Bpifrance en Ligne within the week following Eureka’s application deadline (an email will give you access to the platform once you have applied to this call for projects). The evaluation will be conducted by both the International Collaborative Innovation team and the company’s Chargée d’Affaires. It is mandatory for the company to contact and discuss the project with these two teams before submitting the project. If the funding application’s documents are not submitted in time, the project can be rejected.

South Africa

South Africa, through the Department of Science and Innovation will allocate a budget of 600,000 euro for the call. The total budget for each project will be at maximum funding of between 150,000 and 200,000 euro per project.

Specific national/ regional rules

Funding is available to registered companies and SMEs as per South African definition. Science Councils and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are also eligible to apply and should collaborate with SMEs as partners. Projects are to be led by SMEs. The Department of Science and Innovation will prioritise funding to SMEs and project teams with blacks, women and young innovators/scientists as part of the South African transformative targets.

Potential applicants must inform the national project coordinator of their interest to submit a proposal and share the project outline before submitting the project.

Eligible costs and funding rates

Each project will go through a financial negotiation process with the national funding body, (Department of Science and Innovation) to finalise the exact percentage of funding. The funding will be transferred in tranches in accordance with the project duration. Co-funding between the South African participants and the Department of Science and Innovation to be as follows:

• SMEs - up to 75%
• Science councils and universities – up to 80%
• Large companies - up to 50%

Additional documents required

To be considered for national funding, the applicants will be required to submit a national funding application form to the Department of Science and Innovation by the Eureka call for projects deadline. The application can be obtained here (South African-Eureka national co-investment application).

Spain

The Centre for the Development of Technology and Innovation, EPE (CDTI) is the Spanish National Authority, responsible for fostering the technological development and innovation of Spanish companies.

Main features of the funding for Spanish partners are: Soft loan up to 85% of eligible costs (Euribor 1 year interest fee) Minimum budget of 175,000 euros (no maximum budget). Long recovery period (10 or 15 years) where 24.75% of the eligible costs do not have to be repaid.

CDTI will finance industrial research and/or technological development activities for Spanish companies. Universities and research centers can take part as subcontractors.

Funding conditions for Spanish partners may vary depending on the nature of the project and the beneficiaries. More information.

Project activities must not start before submitting the funding applications to CDTI. For further information, please contact CDTI.

If there is no allocated budget for your organisation type in your country and you want to participate in a project consortium, contact your national funding body using the form below to see whether there are other funding opportunities available or talk to them about self-funding.

Eligibility

Eureka has limited eligibility criteria for organisations participating in a GlobalStars consortium:

• Your project idea must represent international cooperation in the form of a specific project;
• The project must be directed at researching or developing an innovative product, service or process with the goal of commercialisation;
• The project must have a civilian purpose;
• Your consortium must include at least two independent legal entities from one Eureka country and a specified Globalstars country;
• No single organisation or country can be responsible for more than 70% of the project budget.

This call for projects has additional criteria for organisations to be eligible to receive funding:

• The consortium should include at least two organisations that are independent from each other, one enterprise from one of the Eureka member countries participating in the call and a research organisation/university combined with a company from Kenya;
• The product, service or process must be innovative, and there must be a technological risk involved for all involved partners;
• The project must benefit all involved partners;
• The project should have an obvious benefit and added value resulting from the technological cooperation between the participants from the different countries (e.g., increased knowledge base, commercial leads, access to R&D infrastructure, etc.);
• The product, service or process must be innovative and with the potential to create impact;
• The maximum duration of a project may not exceed 36 months.

A signed consortium agreement is required upon approval, before the actual start of the project. It ought to include, amongst others, the ownership and use of know-how and intellectual property rights settlements.

Evaluation

Your project application will be reviewed according to our Network projects evaluation methodology.

1. Impact

• Is the market properly addressed (i.e. size, access and risks)?
• Is the value creation properly addressed (i.e. employment opportunities and environmental and societal benefits)?
• What are the competitive advantages of your project (i.e. strategic importance, enhanced capabilities and visibility)?
• Are your commercialisation plans clear and realistic (i.e. return on investment, geographical and sectoral impact)?

2. Excellence

• What is the degree of innovation? (i.e. is the proposed product, process or service state-of-the-art? Is there sufficient technological maturity and risk)?
• How is the new knowledge going to be used?
• Is your project scientifically and technically challenging for consortium partners?
• Is the technical achievability and risk properly addressed?

3. Quality and efficiency of implementation

• What is the quality of your consortium (i.e. balance of the partnership and technological, managerial and financial capabilities of each partner)?
• Is there added value through international cooperation?
• Is your project management and planning realistic and clearly defined (i.e. methodology, planning approach, milestones and deliverables)?
• Is your cost structure reasonable (i.e. costs and financial commitment for each consortium partner)?

4. Overall perception

Experts will list three positive and negative points to your application and finally state whether they recommend your project for public investment.

Your national funding body may carry out a further evaluation (performed by the national project coordinator and technical experts) according to national rules before allocating funds to successful applicants.

Applying

1. Contact your national funding body using the contact form on Eureka’s website to discuss your project idea, financial viability, eligibility and national procedures.
2. Create an account on our application portal (one per consortium) and select the funding opportunity you want to apply to.
3. Using the portal, complete one application form per consortium (in English) and invite other consortium partners to fill in a partner form.
4. Upload a GANTT chart (one per consortium), a signed and completed co-signature form (which you can download from the platform) and any additional required annexes.
5. Your application will be checked for completeness and eligibility before being reviewed using a standard evaluation procedure. If successful, your project will receive a Eureka label.
6. Your national funding body may carry out a further evaluation (performed by the national project coordinator and technical experts) according to national rules before allocating funds to successful applicants;
7. The final step is to complete and sign a consortium agreement. We recommend that you seek legal advice when drafting your consortium agreement.

In parallel to the submission of the Eureka project application form, project partners must, if required, submit a related national funding application to their respective funding agencies, taking into account all relevant procedures and submission rules. The deadlines might vary between the participating funding agencies.

• Applicants in Kenya are requested to contact the National Contact Persons before submitting a proposal in order to clarify eligibility of the thematic scope and the funding rates to be applicable, should the proposal be recommended for funding.
• Applicants in Austria have to submit a separate national full project proposal to FFG General Programme (Basisprogramm) via eCall. All companies registered in Austria are eligible for funding. Universities and research centers can be funded as subcontractors only. The deadline for the national application is at least three months before the national deadline preceding the Eureka label decision.
• Applicants in Belgium (Flanders) must submit their regional application online before 26 May 26 2023 at 12:00 CET.
• Applicants in Estonia are strongly recommended to contact Estonian Business and Innovation Agency for consulting about the terms and conditions of the financing before applying to this call for projects.
• Applicants in Finland apply for funding from Business Finland’s national application. Business Finland will give detailed advice, including guidance on timetables for the national applications, when contacted by the applicants. The national application is submitted through Business Finland online service.
• Applicants in France must submit their national demand on Bpifrance en Ligne within a week after their Eureka submission. The link to Bpifrance en Ligne will be sent by email after the Eureka submission.
• Applicants in South Africa are requested to contact the national project coordinator before submitting a proposal in order to clarify eligibility of the thematic scope and the funding rates to be applicable, should the proposal be recommended for funding. Applicants should note that the Department of Science and Innovation funding will cover direct costs (travel and daily subsistence allowance including accommodation costs in line with the guidelines of South African government regulations), consumables and supplies (any consumables necessary for the implementation of the project may be considered as direct eligible costs, where consumables are only eligible costs under the project if bought after the start date of the project), personnel costs (incurred during project implementation) and subcontracting (not encouraged, but if so, not more than 20% of the project can be sub-contracted and the subcontracted work should not be core/substantial parts of the project work).
• Applicants in Spain: CDTI will check the eligibility of the Spanish applicants after receiving the international application. If it is eligible, funding applications will be generated by CDTI to each Spanish company, and it must be completed and submitted by them. A full memory (in Spanish) must be attached to these applications. Deadline to submit is mid-May 2023. If the funding applications are not submitted in time, the international project could be rejected. A funding decision is expected to be made within five months of submitting an eligible funding application.

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