Call for projects with Austria and Israel

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:

Health and Bioconvergence:

• Immunology
• Infectious Disease
• Design and development of vaccines
• Preventive measures
• Fast and reliable diagnostics
• Personal protective equipment
• Novel or repurposed therapeutics or prophylactics
• Other

Timeframe

• 11 September 2023: Call opens
• 19 February 2024 (12:00): Deadline for Eureka application and national applications in Israel and Austria  
• March 2024: Eligibility feedback to applicants
• March – May 2024: National evaluation
• May – Aug 2024: Eureka label procedure and funding decision
• Aug – Oct 2024: Project starts
• Up to 36 months: Project duration

Events

A b2Match Platform for Austria-Israel Eureka call is at your disposal, whereby a continuous virtual matchmaking of companies and organisations is possible between September 2023 and February 2024.  

Please contact your national funding body for further information and support. You will find the contacts below in the section “Funding conditions and rules per national funding body”.

Funding details

• 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.
• Israel (Innovation Israel): The support is in the form of a conditional grant amounting generally up to 50% (+ regional incentives for companies located in a "development zone") of the eligible R&D budget.

Funding will only be provided to projects that receive a positive evaluation from all relevant national funding bodies. Funding is subject to budgetary availability and national funding conditions outlined by each national funding body. 

A Consortium Agreement must be written and signed by project partners, covering project execution, ownership and use of IPR arising from activities and commercialisation of your project’s results. Your Consortium Agreement must abide by the relevant laws of the countries participating in the project.

Unless otherwise specified by all national funding bodies in support of a given project, you must have signed a Consortium Agreement before the start of the project. See section “Funding conditions and rules per national funding body” for exceptions. The Consortium Agreement should include (minimum) the ownership, use of know-how and IPR settlements.

The national funding bodies will fund selected projects. Support will be given to each project partner by their respective national funding body in accordance with national laws, rules, regulations and procedures, on a non-exchange of funds or soft loan basis, and subject to budgetary availability.

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 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 Network projects 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, process or service with the goal of commercialisation.
• The project must have a civilian purpose.
• Your consortium must include at least two independent legal entities from a minimum of two Eureka countries (here Austria and Israel)
• No single organisation or country can be responsible for more than 70% of the project budget.

Each participating national funding body may have additional eligibility criteria based on their national regulations. You are strongly advised, before submitting your application, to contact your national funding body to discuss your project idea and verify your and your project’s eligibility.

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

• Austria: All companies registered in Austria are eligible for funding, universities and research organisations can be funded as subcontractors only.
• Israel (Innovation Israel): Eligible partners: Industrial enterprises registered in Israel, with an R&D capabilities. (Universities and RTOs only as Sub-contractors to Israeli companies)

For detailed information on other national rules please see section “Funding conditions and rules per national funding body”.

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.

Country evaluation

Your project application will be reviewed according to the following additional national evaluation processes:

• Austria: The evaluation of the Austrian project part is carried out by internal experts at FFG.
• Israel: Evaluation will be done by the evaluators of the Innovation Authority.

Applying

1. Contact your national funding body to discuss your project idea, financial viability, eligibility and national procedures.
2. Create an account on our application portal (one per consortium) https://eureka.smartsimple.ie/s_Login.jsp 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. Your project application must be completed online by 19 February 2024 12:00 CEST.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. If required by your national funding body, you must submit a related national funding application – taking into account all relevant national procedures and submission rules. Submission deadlines might differ between the participating national funding bodies.
8. 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.

The final step is to complete and sign a consortium agreement (CA). We recommend that you seek legal advice when drafting your CA.

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