Last update: May 24, 2019
The UT Austin Portugal Program announces a Call for Co-Promotion R&TD Projects – International Partnerships, under Portugal2020.
The Call intends to finance international Research and Technological Development consortia, led by Portuguese companies and involving non-corporate organizations of the National Research and Innovation System and research teams at the University of Texas at Austin.
The information provided in this page does not replace the reading of the official announcement and related documentation published here.
Deadline
Deadline: June 19, 2019
Faq’s
– Companies located in mainland Portugal
– Non-corporate organizations of the National Research and Innovation System
Under this Call, UT Austin faculty are not considered applicants (or beneficiaries), but partners of eligible Portuguese entities. Applications should be led by companies in Portugal in conjunction with non-corporate academic and research organizations of the NRIS. The Portuguese consortium is required to identify their research partners at UT Austin (or at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, MDACC, in the case of proposals in the area of Medical Physics).
Up to 3-year innovative projects led by Portuguese companies, aligned with priorities of the National or Regional Research and Innovation Smart Specialization Strategy and contributing to major global challenges, namely those addressed by the Atlantic Interactions initiative, while improving companies’ competitiveness in international markets.
Proposed projects must include industry-oriented research and experimental development activities, leading to new or improved market applications, i.e., products, processes or systems with international exploitation potential and cover, at least, one of the four Scientific Areas of the UT Austin Portugal Program (UTA PT Program).
– Space-Earth Interactions
– Medical Physics for Emerging Therapies
– Advanced Computing, Quantum Computing, Data Analysis and Visualization
– Nano Materials for New Markets
As mentioned before, proposed projects must be carried out by an international consortium, led by a company located in mainland Portugal and involving, at least, two non-corporate organizations from the Research and Innovation System in Portugal and, at least, two Principal Investigators from UT Austin.
Additionally, consortia must clearly demonstrate that the participation of corporate partners operating in phases of the value chain which are critical to accelerate and improve the market take-up of the developed technologies is ensured.
No, there is no limit on the number of projects for which one particular PI, UT Austin (or at MD Anderson Cancer Center, in the area of Medical Physics) may apply.
UT Austin will only fund tenured or tenured-track faculty from UT Austin. In the area of Medical Physics, faculty from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center are also eligible as PI. In this case, although projects may be led by MDACC faculty, the inclusion of at least one PI at UT Austin is encouraged.
Proposals submitted under this call consist of several mandatory documents.
Technical annex: The official template, which can be downloaded from Compete2020 website, is available in Portuguese only, but it must be filled in English.
(Nevertheless, an English version of the annex can be found here; it should be used only as a working document and during proposal writing; for submission purposes, the Portuguese template takes full precedence).
Electronic application form: The electronic form is available in Portuguese only (at Balcão2020) but it must be completed in English. The form is mostly intended for the collection of information about the Portuguese beneficiaries and their participation in the proposed project, not about the US partners. UT Austin should be identified as a partner in this form.
Declaration of funding: Document in English issued by UT Austin and confirming the availability of funds at the University to support a project in case of its approval in Portugal under the present call.
Under this call, only proposals submitted in Portugal, through the electronic platform at Balcão 2020, will be considered for eligibility checks and evaluation. The Portuguese consortium, namely the consortium’s coordinator, is responsible for submitting the application forms and required documents, some of which must be provided by UT Austin in advance.
During the writing of proposals, UT Austin project PI’s are highly encouraged to contact the Program’s Executive Director at UT Austin (Marco Bravo: bravo@utexas.edu) to discuss the proposals they are involved in. Information provided should always include:
• Acronym & Full title of the proposal;
• Identification of the PIs;
• Executive summary of the project,
• Planned work plan and activities, highlighting the responsibilities of the UT Austin PIs participating as partners;
• Detailed budget and its justification requested by the PIs at UT Austin (or MD Anderson Cancer Center, in the area of Medical Physics). Please use OSP template for budget.
Based on the information provided, UT Austin will issue a declaration of funding which must be sent to the Portuguese consortium and annexed to the application process. In the absence of this letter, the application may be ruled ineligible.
After submission of proposals, PIs from UT Austin (and MD Anderson Cancer Center, in the area of Medical Physics) should send to the UT Austin Portugal Program’s office in the US an electronic version of the technical annexes submitted by the Portuguese consortia they teamed up with.
Not at the time of application. This will be necessary only if the project gets to be approved for funding. At the time of application, send the information to Marco Bravo (bravo@utexas.edu).
A minimum of 5 (five) million euros is available to fund the Portuguese partners in projects submitted under this Partnership. Indicatively, each project should not exceed, for the total duration of the project of 3 years, 1,25 million euros for the Portuguese consortium.
PIs from UT Austin will not be funded by the Portuguese Call. They will be directly funded by the UT Austin Portugal Program’s budget available at UT Austin. UT Austin will contribute with up to 1 (one) million dollars for each approved project from a total budget of 5 million dollars devoted to this call through the UT Austin Portugal Program.
The exact amount allocated to each project by UT Austin will depend, however, on the total number of projects approved for funding on the Portuguese side.
Co-funding rates of eligible costs may vary according to the type and size of the beneficiary, the region where investments are made, the nature of undertaken activities (whether they are Research or Development activities), the strategy for dissemination of results or the degree of involvement of industry or academic partners.
Companies may benefit from a maximum of 50% up to 85% co-funding, depending on certain criteria, and non-corporate organizations from the Portuguese Research and Innovation System from 100% funding.
Funding at UT will be executed at a 100% rate for eligible expenses directly related to the research activities (e.g. research assistants, travel, equipment time). PI summer salary up to 1 month maximum (total for all PIs) are allowable. Equipment acquisition is non-eligible. PIs at UT Austin (or MD Anderson for applications in the area of Medical Physics) should include indirect costs on their budgets at a rate of 38%. Total funding amount of each 3-year project should not exceed $1 (one) million U.S. dollars (divided among all PIs at UT), including indirect costs.
Projects will be evaluated on the basis of their merit, determined by the following rationale:
35% A + 20% B + 15% C + 30% D
A – Overall quality of the Project, B – Impact on the competitiveness of the leading company, C – Contribution to the economy and D – Contribution to regional convergence.
Eligible applications will be evaluated on their curriculum and personal motivation. Academic experts will assess the submitted applications and will be analyzed and authorized by the Area Directors. The number of funded applications will depend upon their scope and quality, as well as on the availability of funds. The selection process is expected to take one month at most, and the applicants will be notified of the results by email.
An English translation of the Evaluation Criteria is available here. Nevertheless, the Portuguese version takes full precedence over the English one.
Additional information
Applications must be submitted through the plataform Balcão 2020.
The Call is open from March 13 to June 19, 2019 (19:00 Lisbon time/ 1pm Austin time).
The information provided in this page does not replace the reading of the official announcement and related documentation published here.
If you would like to get support from the Program to find potential partners for consortium building or have any inquiries of scientific nature related with project proposals to be submitted under this call, please contact us at info@utaustinportugal.org
Coordination
Organization
Contact Us
If you would like to get support from the Program to find potential partners for consortium building or have any inquiries of scientific nature related with project proposals to be submitted under this call, please contact us at info@utaustinportugal.org
