03.04.2013 - 06.06.2013

ANNOUNCEMENT on GERMAN - GREEK

Brief Version

The German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT) of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Culture and Sports of the Hellenic Republic aim to pursue their innovation dialogue and agreed on a joint R&D Programme.

1. Funding purpose-form of Cooperation

The goals of the collaboration are: a) to improve the competitiveness and extroversion of their respective research entities and the quality of life, b) to strengthen the links between research and industry and encourage the private sector to invest in R&D activities, c) to strengthen research capacities and specialisation, d) to prepare the prospective partners of this call within their research fields for the EU Framework Programme Horizon 2020.

The R&D Programme has the following specific objectives:

• To focus efforts and available resources on thematic research fields of major interest to both countries and important to society and the economy.
• To promote the development of specialised scientific personnel, of R&D excellence and the development of products/services to be competitive worldwide.
• To develop new knowledge -including new technologies- or joint research resources in order to improve competitiveness and address significant social and environmental needs.
• To financially suport joint projects seeking to achieve specific results which in turn are used to develop or improve products, processes, services or policies, with the active involvement of the Greek and German production sector or civil society organisations.
• To further boost the strengthening of the European Research Area.

Therefore, joint activities should focus on the following form of cooperation:

Implementation of joint R&D large-scale projects for the research organizations, higher education institutions and enterprises of both countries, in science, technology development and transfer, aiming at improving the competitiveness and innovation potential of research entities and leading to innovative products/procedures/policies of high added value.

The deadline for the submission of proposals is the 3rd June 2013.

2. Potential applicants - Composition of consortia

The Programme is addressed both to private and public sectors of both countries. Bilateral cooperation shall comprise consortia consisting of, maximum, up to two research groups from each site, i.e. in total not more than four research groups. They may be from higher education institutions and/or, research institutes/centres and/or private enterprises (including SME). A simple clustering of only national projects is not eligible. Only applicants from Germany and Greece are eligible for funding. Partners (private enterprises and/or research institutes/ higher education institutions) from other countries may also participate, if they can secure their own funding.
The funding institutions anticipate that the transnational research collaborations covered by the scope of this cooperative research funding will deliver significant synergy effects within the framework of the research projects to be funded.

3. Priority Research Fields

The research fields of the present call should focus on the following specific topics which are of interest for both countries (indicative):

Health:

Cancer Research: primary, secondary and tertiary cancer prevention and prognostic markers.

Bio-economy:

Projects in the thematic field of bio-economy are intended to accompany the Federal Ministry of Research and Educations national activities to promote the bio-economy. Thus, proposed projects should provide a significant contribution to at least one of the fields of action of the "National Research Strategy BioEconomy 2030" (http://www.bmbf.de/de/1024.php):

• Securing global / mediterranean nutrition.
• Shaping agricultural production sustainably.
• Producing safe and healthy food products (incl. development of innovative techniques for food control, food analysis and preservation/ new products design using novel technologies)
• Using renewable resources on an industrial scale.
• Developing energy sources based on biomass.

Energy (safe, clean and efficient energy)

• Highly efficient energy production, conversion and storage and final energy consumption (e.g. low-loss transport of energy, technologies to improve the efficiency of energy conversion, tapping of potential for energy savings)
• Next generation of renewable energy sources (e.g. efficiency of energy conversion, reduction of costs and production effort).

Social Sciences (focus on Economic Crisis):

1. Societal Impact,
2. Political Impact,
3. Societal Challenges, etc.

with the following themes to be addressed:

• Effects of the crisis on society and economy. 
• How can civil society help to overcome the crisis?
• Reformability of the political system.
• Societal conditions for modernizing the economy,

Research for digitalization of personal services and for ICT application services:

• Networking of existing services
• New innovative business models
• IT-based development methodology
• Knowledge intensive services in tourism and culture
• ICT application services on environment and cultural heritage issues.

Nanotechnology: Focal topic "Graphene".

Please note: There is an open Call of BMBF in Nanotechnology which is open for Greek participation (http://www.bmbf.de/foerderungen/20591.php)

Photonics / Optical Technologies:

• Future application-oriented research cooperation in the field of photovoltaics which will significantly expand and accelerate the utilization of this technology in Germany and/or in Greece.

4. Object of funding - Common requirements

The main focus of the funding cooperation is on research and development (R&D) projects that:

• demonstrate an interdisciplinary and/or transdisciplinary approach;
• make a contribution to the improvement of research collaboration between the partner countries;
• correspond to the funding purpose described

The projects submitted for funding under this call should have an obvious advantage and added value resulting from the mutual cooperation of the partners. Proposals must be clear in scope, demonstrate the contribution of the participants from both countries and stress out the benefit provided by the joint collaboration. Further more they must be balanced between participants and targeted to increase knowledge base, excellence, technology transfer and promote access to R&D infrastructures.

Precondition for eligibility is a balance in number of partners and financial contribution from both countries, Greece and Germany.

Only joint proposals accordingly submitted will be taken into consideration

5. Evaluation Procedure - Selection criteria

Both countries will carry out expert's evaluation of the jointly submitted R&D proposals according to the following common selection criteria:

• Compliance with the thematic priorities specified in Section 3 and the specified formal requirements
• The quality of science and contribution in the competitiveness and innovation potential of the research project. Novelty, originality and coherence to the key themes, additionally a clear focus on better understanding and solutions to problems.
• Expected sustainability effects (qualitative and, where possible, quantitative) with regard to the partnership.
• Technical, economic, political and scientific implementation potential of the anticipated research results. Opportunity/risk assessment covering long term implementation and usefulness. Actuality and priority of the task, contribution to a problem-solving and demand-orientated strategy, aimed target group
• Expertise of project partners.
• If applicable, collaboration between scientific partners and enterprises or civil society organisations. Justification of collaboration reasons among the partners and description of the expected benefits, as well as reference to the added value which will be created through this collaboration. Projects that do not prove the scope of this cooperation cannot be considered.
• If applicable, significance of the utilisation/business plan with respect to the application of the expected outcomes.
• Possible ways for the exploitation, protection (of IPR) and dissemination of the project results.

Successful proposals will be finally approved by the joint committee comprising of selected members from the funding organizations.

6. Financing - Type of funding and legal basis

Funding support will be given to each partner by its own Implementing Organization (BMBF in Germany and GSRT in Greece) in accordance with the national laws, rules, regulations and procedures in effect. Proposals submitted by the Greek partners are funded depending on the category of research, the size of the enterprise and the type of collaborating organizations, in compliance with the EC regulations. Both countries have agreed to allocate a total budget of 5,000,000 euro each for the call. The total funding per project by each side will not exceed 250,000 euro. Both sides will make their decision after due assessment of the circumstances within the scope of the budget funds available. There is no legal entitlement to funding. The duration of the projects should not exceed two years (November 2013 up to October 2015).

The partners of the project consortium have to sign a cooperation agreement. Before the funding decision on the project application is taken, a basic agreement with regard to certain criteria has to be established.

7. Application procedure

Joint proposals should be submitted within the said deadline in electronic form. Potential applicants are advised to contact the national contact points before writing their proposals to carefully check the specific national application and funding conditions. The respective contact points are:

in Germany:

International Bureau of the BMBF
Heinrich-Konen Str. 1
53227 Bonn
Christian Schache
Tel.: +49 (0)228 3821 - 1465
Email: Christian.schache@DLR.de

in Greece:

General Secretariat for Research and Technology in Athens (GSRT)

Dr. Ioanna Malagardi,
Tel: +302107458157,
e-mail: i.malagardi@gsrt.gr

Dr. Ifigenia Stamelou,
Tel: +302107458097,
e-mail: esta@gsrt.gr

There is a two-level procedure for the proposal submission.
The proposals shall comprise a common project description / project outline in English and further national formal and financial information.

For formal and financial national regulations please see the national calls and guidelines:

• for German applicants:
• for Greek applicants:

The common project description / project outline should be prepared in Arial 11, single-spaced, maximum 10 pages and shall consist following topics:

1. Name of the institution submitting the application, nomination of the coordinator and all names of participating organisations.
2. Objectives and task definition, based on the state of the art in terms of technology and knowledge. Detailed description of the problem which shall be solved, description of the beneficiary and user of the project results.
3. Specific description of the proposed solution.
4. Formulation of the objectives to be achieved in each participating country.
5. Description of the German and Greek partners from higher education institutions, research establishments and commercial companies who are involved in the project (key competencies, capabilities, infrastructure, etc).
6. Justify the scope of the collaboration between the partners of both countries and the mutual benefit provided through this collaboration. Overview of previous contacts in and collaborations with the partner country.
7. Prospects for the success of the proposed measures and implementation concepts describing how the project outcomes can be utilised after the funding period (utilisation plan).
8. Detailed work plan and timeline, as well as details of work distribution and cooperation with third parties.
9. Estimation and overview of time and cost scope (funding required and own resources).