13.11.2008 - 22.01.2009

Call for Proposals

of 17 December 2008

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research of the Federal Republic of Germany (BMBF), the Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport of the State of Israel (MOST), MATIMOP on behalf of and the Chief Scientist (OCS) in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour (MOITAL), reiterating the importance of strengthening and deepening scientific, technological and industrial cooperation between Germany and Israel, invite proposals for bilateral R&D projects.

On April 8th 2008 the German Minister of Education and Research and the Israeli Minister of Science, Culture and Sport signed a Joint Declaration to start collaboration in the area of civil security research.

Both countries agree that German and Israeli research institutions and innovative companies should cooperate in the field of civil security research in order to increase the security of the citizens, to accelerate innovation processes and achieve joint competitive advantages in international high-tech markets.

1 Objectives of funding and legal framework

1.1 Objectives

On the basis of the cooperation agreements mentioned above the new funding activity "German-Israeli cooperation in civil security research" is designed to develop innovative solutions particularly for the protection of citizens and critical infrastructures, disaster prevention, crisis management.

Qualified participants in this framework may receive R&D grants respectively from BMBF, MOST and/or MOITAL-OCS, represented by MATIMOP (Israeli Industry Center for R&D), according to the applicable national funding procedures and regulations.

1.2 Legal framework

In Germany the BMBF will provide funding under the programme "Research for Civil Security" (http://www.bmbf.de/en/11773.php) as part of its measures to implement the High-Tech Strategy of the Federal Government. In addition, for the German partners to be funded, project grant will be awarded in accordance with the present funding regulations, the BMBF-standard terms and conditions for grants on an expenditure or cost basis and the administrative regulations under section 44 of the Federal Budget Code (BHO). Applicants have no legal claim to a grant. The fund provider will decide freely after due assessment of the circumstances within the framework of the budgets fund available. The programme has been notified by the European Commission.

In Israel R&D performing companies participating in industrial and applied research and development projects in this framework may receive R&D grants from the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor.

Israeli Universities and Research Institutions may receive research grants from the Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport (MOST) in accordance to its rules and regulations.
Projects can be funded under the terms of this call and of the agreements concluded between BMBF and MOST. In this respect, the general regulations for funding, including the consideration of intellectual property rights formulated by the ministries for all BMBF-MOST-MOITAL research co-operations, will be applied also to this field.

2 Subject of research, areas of cooperation

Funding will be provided for collaborative research projects which develop innovative solutions focused on the following research topic areas:

• Protection of critical infrastructures;
• Detection of hazardous chemical, biological and explosive substances;
• Disaster prevention and crisis management.

Key areas of funding are research into the prevention and early identification of threats with a focus on the early recognition of chemical, biological, nuclear, radiological and explosive hazardous substances (CBRNE) using, for example, new sensor concepts (e.g. in the area of water inspection).

Another important objective is the protection and prevention of failure of critical infrastructures (such as transport, energy supplies, water and food supplies, the health system, the finance system as well as information and communication infrastructures). Further focus is given to crisis management and strategies, the development of efficient emergency supply services and the promotion of innovative security solutions to improve the performance and protection of emergency and security staff.
The project proposals should refer to the following: prevention, early detection, increase of redundancy (ability to function even during crises) as well as quick and effective response in the event of crisis.

Proposals and end-products must target civilian use of unclassified technologies and should not contain any classified information.

The main criteria for funding are the innovativeness, practicability and marketability of the envisaged solution, the combination of technological and societal issues to ensure consideration of social goals and impacts, and the contribution which the project makes to increasing civil security while observing the right to privacy. The relevant social science issues should preferably be addressed as part of the collaborative projects. The research issues can, for example, include the legal framework, technology design in keeping with data protection requirements, the protection of privacy, acceptance studies, the analysis of threats and causes, economic considerations, ethical and legal aspects, and human-technology interaction.

Expected are proposals for collaborative projects between German and Israeli partners - either research institutes (non-university, university), companies and end users should be involved. Although, it is not mandatory to involve all types of partners from both countries in each proposal, projects which involve partners from industry, institutes and end users from Israel and Germany will be preferred.

In Israel:

For MOITAL/ MATIMOP: End users are not a mandatory requirement for the submission of a proposal. In most cases end users cannot be funded in particular if they are a governmental or  public entity.

For MOST, end users integration may be dealt with as associated partners or sub-contractors. Applicants are requested to verify this issue prior to submission.

The proposals for collaborative projects must include the following features:

• Consistent use of the latest findings in science and research;
• Presentation of a robust analysis of threats and/or requirements for the envisaged security solution;
• Clear improvement over state-of-the-art technologies or solutions;
• Clearly formulated project goal, also with a view to the envisaged gain in security, efficiency and acceptance as well as conformity with data protection requirements;
• Visible benefit to both, the Israeli and the German side.

The research should be planned for a period not exceeding three years.

3 Recipients of funding

In both countries, industrial companies, universities and non-university research establishments which are seeking or have already established cooperation with enterprises and institutions in the other country can submit applications for grants from federal funds in their own country. Small and medium-sized enterprises in particular are invited to submit research proposals.

In Germany:

The call addresses companies which develop innovative security solutions and end users such as operators of security-relevant infrastructures in areas such as transport, water, energy and others, as well as universities and research institutions and authorities working in the security sector. End users are the operators of critical infrastructures, public authorities as well as security and rescue staff (including police, fire brigade, disaster relief among others).

Major criteria for funding are the innovativeness, the practicability and marketability of the envisaged solution, the consideration of societal goals and impact as well as the importance of the contribution to increasing civil security.
The BMBF aims to increase the share of universities of applied sciences in research funding.
The universities of applied sciences are therefore particularly invited to participate in the collaborative projects - preferably in R&D subcontracts awarded by commercial companies.

In Israel:

Research institutions can be funded by MOST. Grants for industrial enterprises can be funded by MOITAL.

4 Type, scope and rates of funding

In Germany:

The BMBF will award non-repayable project grants to the German collaborative partners, providing that budget funding is available.

The project-related costs eligible for funding constitute the basis for grants to industrial companies in Germany. As a rule - depending on the project's relevance to application - up to 50% of such costs can be covered by grants (partial funding). Companies are expected to contribute at least 50% of the eligible costs incurred.

The project-related expenses or costs eligible for funding constitute the basis for grants to universities and non-university research institutions or Helmholtz centres and the Fraunhofer Society (FhG) respectively. Up to 100% of additional expenses/costs can be funded.

The European Commission's Community Framework for State Aid for Research and Development must be taken into account when fixing the rates of funding. The Community Framework allows differentiated rules on extra percentage points for SMEs, which may result in a higher rate of funding. The EU's definition of SMEs is applied (http://www.kp.dlr.de/profi/easy/bmbf/pdf/0119.pdf).

In Israel:

For R&D performing companies: up to 50% of eligible R&D costs according to OCS procedures and regulations. Typically, conditional R&D grants are approved on a yearly basis.

For universities and research institutions: Up to 100% of additional expenses/costs can be funded in accordance with MOST regulations.

5 Prerequisites for the awarding of grants

The partners in a joint project have to formulate their collaboration in a cooperation-agreement. Before a funding decision can be taken, the cooperation partners must prove that they have reached basic agreement along the lines of the BMBF and MOST/MOITAL rules and regulations and submit such agreement to the funding institutions in Israel and in Germany.

The BMBF rules and regulations are contained in the so-called Merkblatt (BMBF form 0110), which can be found at http://www.kp.dlr.de/profi/easy/bmbf/pdf/0110.pdf.
German applicants are expected to acquaint themselves - also in their own interest - with the EU Research Framework Programme in the field of their planned project. They should find out whether the planned project has specific European components, which make it eligible for funding as an EU project. They should briefly state the result of such a check in their application for national funding. German applicants should also check whether an application for funding can in addition be submitted to the EU in connection with the proposed bilateral project. Any consideration and plans concerning EU funding should be described in the application for funding.
BMBF; MOST and MOITAL encourage German and Israeli scientists to cooperate in carrying out joint projects for the Seventh Framework Program (FP7) of the EU.

6 Other terms and conditions for the awarding of grants

In Germany:

The Nebenbestimmungen für Zuwendungen auf Kostenbasis des BMBF an Unternehmen der gewerblichen Wirtschaft für Forschungs- und Entwicklungsvorhaben (Auxiliary Terms and Conditions for Funds Provided by the BMBF to Commercial Companies for Research and Development Projects on a Cost Basis) will be part of the notification of award for grants on a cost basis.

The Allgemeine Nebenbestimmungen für Zuwendungen zur Projektförderung (General Auxiliary Conditions for Grants for the Promotion of Projects) and the Besondere Nebenbestimmungen für Zuwendungen des BMBF zur Projektförderung auf Ausgabenbasis (Special Auxiliary Terms and Conditions for Funds Provided by the BMBF for the Promotion of Projects on an Expenditure Basis) will be part of the notification of award for grants on an expenditure basis.

The approval, payment and accounting for the funds as well as the proof and examination of the proper use and, if necessary, the revocation of the award and the reclaiming of the funds awarded are governed by the administrative regulations pertaining to section 44 of the Federal Budget Code (BHO) and sections 48 and 49a of the Administrative Procedure Act (VwVfG) unless deviation is allowed under the present funding regulations.

Israel:

The Israeli industrial partner to a project will have to comply with the procedures, rules and regulations of the OCS under the Law for the Encouragement of Industrial R&D.

7. Procedure

7.1 Proposal structure:

1. Goals;
   • Overall objective of the project, summary of the project proposal;
   • Scientific and/or technical working objectives, envisaged innovations;
   • Project consortium: Project coordinator, assignment of roles, value added chain if appropriate ;
2. State of the art and applicants' own work;
   • State of the art;
   • Patents filed (by applicants and third parties);
   • Previous work of the applicants
3. Work plan
   Detailed description of the work of the partners in the collaboration (including sub-contractors, if appropriate; including all scientific and technical issues relevant for the project as well as the proposed solutions).
4. Utilization plan
   Utilization plan (scientific, technical and economic utilization of results by the partners involved; if appropriate, translation into provisions, guidelines and legal framework conditions)
5. Network plan
   Work packages, handover points, milestones and implementing decisions
6. Funding schedule
    Estimate of overall costs and funding requirements for each individual partner in the collaboration.

Applicants are free to add further points which they consider to be significant for the evaluation of their proposal.
Collaboration partners whose project is co-financed by industrial partners or other agencies must indicate the envisaged amount of external funds.

7.2. Submission of proposals

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research has commissioned the following project management agency to implement the funding activity.

VDI-Technologiezentrum GmbH
Project Management Agency Security Research
VDI-Platz 1
D-40468 Düsseldorf, Germany
Contact person :
Dr. Karin Reichel
Telephone: ++ 49 (0) 2 11 / 62 14 - 567
Fax: ++ 49 (0) 2 11 / 62 14 - 484
E-mail: reichel@vdi.de

The German collaboration partners will, via the coordinator, submit only the electronic version to the project management organization of a proposal of a maximum 20 A4 pages (including annexes, font size 12) in German and English.

Application forms are available on the website of VDI Technologiezentrum GmbH at http://www.vditz.de/sicherheitsforschung/bekanntmachungen.

The Israeli institutes should submit the proposal (5 copies including one signed original, and electronic version as e-mail attachment) in English and Hebrew to:

Mrs Nurit Topaz
Director, Department of International Relations with Germany and South America
Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport
P.O. Box 49100
(Bldg. 3, HaKiriya HaMizrahit)
Jerusalem 91490
E-mail: nurit@most.gov.il
Application forms are available on the MOST website at www.most.gov.il

Israeli companies should also submit electronic version of the proposal to:

Mrs Ilana Gross
Program Manager, Matimop-Israeli Industry Center for R&D
E-mail: ilana@matimop.org.il

Application forms are available at the OCS website at: http://www.moit.gov.il/NR/exeres/C4A8C9EC-7BDF-431D-AEC5-5CBB57D839FC.htm

7.3 Selection of proposals

The proposals received will be evaluated in accordance with the following criteria:

• Relevance to the content of the call for proposals;
• Visible benefit to the Israeli and the German side;
• Adequate involvement of relevant partners from industry, institutes and end-users
• Innovativeness and knowledge gain;
• Holistic character and large-scale effectiveness of the approach, taking societal goals and impact into account
• Practicability and marketability of the envisaged solution and its optimized economic leverage;
• Quality of the project consortium.

Industrial proposals submitted to the OCS will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• Technological innovation
• Economic potential of the proposed product/service.
• The added value of the cooperation between project partners
• The capability of the partners (R&D personnel, Infrastructure, Finance, Marketing and management)

For MOST and MOITAL: The involvement of end users and the consideration of social impacts are no mandatory requests in industrial projects and therefore both issues are not considered as a criterion of selection.

The proposals will be pre-evaluated and rated by a panel of reviewers.

7.4 Special information for universities of applied sciences

Universities of applied sciences which have been successful in the above selection and decision-making procedure for the collaborative projects can receive further funding.
Such further funding can be provided for an additional research project of a "New technologies qualification or profiling group". The topic and content of this second, separate application must bear reference to the theme of the collaborative project. The additional research project must include more far-reaching or new R&D issues and at the same time differ clearly from the topic of the original application in order to avoid redundancy. The work plans/research activities and staffing schedules of the two applications must not overlap. Such additional funding is to be used by a small project team to achieve an improved research profile and research expertise in the subject area of the call (bachelor/master/doctoral degrees, specialized publications, marketing for research). Evaluation and decisions on funding are internal BMBF procedures.

Further information (legal basis, prerequisites for funding as well as information on the drafting of project proposals, etc.) can be obtained from the BMBF, Division 515 "Research at Universities of Applied Sciences", Heinemannstr. 2, 53175 Bonn, tel. +49 (0)228 99 57-3468 or can be found at the BMBF's website http://www.bmbf.de/de/1956.php .

8. Submission procedure and Key dates

Project outlines (proposals) are to be submitted to MOST, OCS and to the Project Management Agency VDI Technologiezentrum GmbH by March 18th, 2009. After pre-evaluation and external reviewing qualifying project outlines will be invited to submit a formal funding application.

9. Information and further support:

In Germany:

Dr. Karin Reichel
VDI-Technologiezentrum GmbH
Project Management Agency Security Research
Peter-Müller-Str. 1
D-40468 Düsseldorf, Germany
Telephone: ++ 49 (0) 2 11 / 62 14 - 567
Fax: ++ 49 (0) 2 11 / 62 14 - 484
E-mail: reichel@vdi.de

In Israel:

For industrial participants: MATIMOP
Mrs. Ilana Gross
Program Manager, Industrial R&D Programs-Europe
Matimop - Israeli Industry Center for R&D
tel. +972-3-5118184
e-mail: ilana@matimop.org.il
 
For Universities and Research Institutions: MOST
For Administrative matters:
Nurit Topaz
Director, Scientific Relations with Germany and
Working Programs
Telephone: +972-2-5411157
Fax: +972-2-5825725
E-mail: nurit@most.gov.il

For scientific matters:
Dr. Hesham Taha
Director for Applied Physics
Telephone: +972-2-5411137
Fax: +972-2-5815595
Email: hesham@most.gov.il

10. Entry into force

These funding regulations will enter into force on the date of publication in the Federal Gazette (Bundesanzeiger) and expire at the end of the first funding period of the Security Research Programme in 2010.

Bonn, December 17, 2008

Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Dr. Christine Thomas
Division 522