The purpose of this call is to accelerate innovation to create positive change in the food system. It seeks to tackle the significant issues of the agrifood supply chain in the Central and Eastern European region, namely: pressure on the supply chain, low investment in intellectual property, lack of intra- and inter- sectoral cooperation, and need for investment in sustainability. By means of this Call for Proposals, EIT Food wants to begin easing pressure on the food supply chain in the mentioned region.

Who can apply: All organizations, both EIT Food partners and new applicants from EU member states and Horizon Europe associated countries in Central and Eastern Europe (see Call description).

Budget: €750,000 

Funding rate: max. 70%

Project duration: up to 24 months

Deadline: June 5, 2023

More information:

Call description

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Presentation

The Open Innovation Factory 2023 program supports entrepreneurial teams from all over Europe in the field of education, research, corporations, and other business organizations in supporting early-stage digital DeepTech startups.

Who can apply: Entrepreneurial teams and organizations in the early stages of digital technology development, including companies, research and technology organizations, and universities collaborating with entrepreneurial teams.

Budget: 400,000 Euros

Project duration: up to 6 months (1st cut-off: July 1 - December 31, 2023, 2nd cut-off: January 1 - June 30, 2024)

Deadline: 1st cut-off: May 15, 2023, 2nd cut-off: November 13, 2023, 5PM

More information:

https://www.eitdigital.eu/open-innovation-factory-2023/

Open Innovation Factory 2023 - call document

Cut-off 1 specific dokument

Brokerage Event - May 5, 2023 – please register!!

UCT Prague is partner of EIT Digital. Please get in touch with miroslava.grunwaldt@vscht.cz to learn more.

Circular bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking supports projects focused on the development of innovative and sustainable bio-based solutions, with emphasis on these strategic priorities: feedstock, processing, products, as well as cross-cutting aspects of communication and environmental sustainability.

Who can apply: any legal entity (public, private, not-profit or for-profit) - large companies, small and medium-sized businesses, research and technological organizations, universities, associations

Deadline: September 20, 2023

More information: Info day May 20, 2023 - online, viz https://www.cbe.europa.eu/events/cbe-ju-info-day-2023

https://www.cbe.europa.eu/open-calls-proposals

https://www.cbe.europa.eu/reference-documents

Type of actions: 

Innovation Actions (IA) - flagship a Innovation Actions (IA) - 4-5 years

Research an Innovation Actions (RIA) – 3-4 years

Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) – 2-3 years

Supported activities and funding level:

• Optimised and integrated wood-based value chain - 17M (IA - flagship)
• Expansion and/or retro-fitting of biorefineries towards higher-value bio-based chemicals and intermediates - 17M (IA - flagship)
• Bio-based packaging materials - 17M (IA - flagship)
• Small-scale biorefining in rural areas - 10M (IA - flagship)
• Small biorefineries in rural areas - 15M (IA)
• Production of safe, sustainable, and efficient bio-based fertilisers to improve soil health and quality - 15M (IA)
• Improve fermentation processes (including downstream purification) to final bio-based products - 15M (AI)
• Recycling of bio-based plastics - 15M (IA)
• Development of scalable, safe bio-based surfactants with an improved sustainability profile - 15M (IA)
• Selective, sustainable production routes towards bio-based alternatives to fossil-based chemical building blocks - 15M (IA)
• High performance, circular-by design, bio-based composites - 15M (IA)
• Phyto-management; soil remediation with industrial crops, utilization of contaminated and saline soils for industrial crop production - 10M (RIA)
• Optimised forest-based value chains for high-value applications and improved forest management - 10M (RIA)
• Robust and optimised industrial biotech and chemical/industrial biotech processes - 10M (RIA)
• Development of novel, high-performance bio-based polymers and co-polymers - 10M (RIA)
• Pre-normative research to develop standards for biodegradability of bio-based products in controlled and open environments - 5M (RIA)
• EU-wide network of pilot plants and testing facilities, improving SMEs and start-ups' access to scale-up - 1.5M (CSA)
• Supporting the capacity of regions in environmental sustainability assessment for the bio-based sectors - 3M (CSA)

Postdoctoral Fellowships under Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA PF) of the European Comission give researchers holding a PhD a chance to gain new skills and experience whilst carrying out their own research project abroad. The call is expected to fund over 1 200 projects.

Funding options and success rate:

Additional budget is available from the Programme Jan Amos Komenský (OP JAK) for proposals with high evaluation score not reaching the grant directly from the MSCA PF call budget, both for fellowships in the Czech Republic and abroad. UCT Prague has secured funding for over 30 projects from this source since 2017, next to 9 incoming fellowships funded directly from the EU budget (overall rate of UCT funded/submitted proposals: 64% in 2022, 42% in 2021).

Topic:

any scientific field

Contact person: Anna Konecká (anna.konecka@vscht.cz), ext. 4403

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports has launched 3 calls for proposals in the Mobility activity (Austria, France, Germany). Project proposals must be prepared in the Czech language, therefore, please go to the Czech version of this website.

Twinning aims to enhance networking activities between the research institutions of the Widening countries acting as coordinators and top-class leading counterparts at European Union level by linking it with at least two research institutions from two different Member States or Associated Countries. Therefore, building on the huge potential of networking for excellence through knowledge transfer and exchange of best practice between research institutions and partners. Twinning actions intend to help raise the research profile of the institution from the Widening country as well as the research profile of its staff including a special focus on strengthening the research management and administrative skills of the coordination institution from the Widening country.

Who can apply?

Researcher of any career stage and any research field. The research institution of the Widening coutry (i.e. Czech Republic) must participate as coordinator, and the consortium must be joined by at least two other advanced research institutions from two different Member States or Associated Countries.

Budget per project: 0,8-1,5 million €

Up to 100 projects are expected to be funded.

Reimbursement rate: 100%

Supported activities: knowledge exchange, mobility (fellowships), organization of seminars, workshops, conferences, development of joint R&I strategies, actions to improve project/support offices at the Widening institution, dissemination and exploitation, max. 30% of budget can be dedicated to research activities.

Duration of the project: Up to 3 years

Deadline: September 28, 2023

More information:

Twinning Bottom-Up

Twinning Green Deal

The Work Programme with details of this call is to be found here, relevant are pages 6-12 and 19-28.

Info day in the Technology Centre Prague (please register)  - May 24, 2023, 10:00-14:00

Preparation of project proposal step by step (UCT Prague) - date to be announced

The Project Centre provides support during proposal preparation. Learn more on intranet.

Contact person Miroslava.Grunwaldt@vscht.cz. 

During June 2023, we expect the opening of the call CHALLENGE FUND - Czech Solutions for SDGs. This call has been opened several times in previous years and University of Chemistry and Technology Prague has already succeeded with two projects - BLESGY, led by Dr. Kapila from the Department of Economics and Management, and Ecological product innovation lab at the Moldovan Agrifood Business Incubator, led by Doc. Doležal from the Department of Food Analysis and Nutrition.

This call supports both the transfer of Czech innovations and know-how to partner countries Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Ethiopia, Zambia, and Cambodia. It is suitable for research groups as well as service departments focusing on, for example, the education of students, teachers, and administrative staff or the connection of universities with industry and the business sphere.

More information about the Challenge Fund from previous years can be found on the UNDP website or on the Project Centre website. If you are interested in the call, it is advisable to start looking for a local partner now.

The Technology Centre Prague informs that National Contact Points for Horizon Europe prepared an annotated template of a project proposal to assist applicants to the Research and Innovation Actions and Innovation Actions in the EU R&I Framework Programme Horizon Europe to better understand the requirements of the template. The handbook has been prepared as part of the project Bridge2HE.

Work Programmes for the years 2023 and 2024 have been officially published on the website of the European Commission. Those, who are interested to participate in calls published by the European Commission within the programme Horizon Europe, can find details of the calls in the respective Work Programme.