Indian Department of Science and Technology and European Members States and Associated States Joint Call in Energy Research within the New INDIGO Partnership Programme (NPP) Submission Period: 08 May 2013 23 August 2013 (12:00 CET / 15:30 IST) For further information, please visit us at: http://www.newindigo.eu/npp/open_calls.html or contact: NPP Call Secretariat Ms. Dörte Merk International Bureau Project Management Agency c/o German Aerospace Center (DLR) Heinrich-Konen-Str. 1 53227 Bonn/Germany Phone: +49 228 3821 1442 Fax: +49 228 3821 1444 E-mail: doerte.merk@dlr.de 1
1. Aim of the NPP Call The aim of the NPP Call is to support high quality research networks working on collaborative projects, and at the same time to provide a mechanism for future extended projects of Euro-Indian cooperation. This includes strengthening existing contacts in order to initiate and prepare joint projects or foster cooperation. Multilateral research collaborative projects will be funded providing for mobility, workshops and research costs as well as personnel costs depending on the respective national regulations. In order to realise multilateral research cooperation, project consortia have to be composed of at least two European and one Indian partner, but should not involve too many partners. The NPP s primary aim is to reinforce EU-India cooperation in thematic areas of mutual interest. Recognising the fact that energy research is a field of rising importance both in India and Europe, the themes for this NPP Call were chosen to be: Smart Energy Grids: The development of reliable and efficient smart energy grids constitutes one of the biggest and most challenging tasks for the integration of conventional sources of energy and renewable sources of energy at a large scale. Since some of the technologies are not yet available or still in their infancy, research along the whole value chain is required to speed up the reliability of smart energy grids. This thematic area is open to research for the development of new processes, concepts, technologies and materials which offer solutions for applications such as smart grids, transmission grids, offshore connections and their interfaces. This covers energy transmission and distribution technologies, grid planning, grid management as well as cross-cutting issues. The projects submitted may for example cover ICT for smart grids, smart grids modelling (including new network, new neural networks, percolation and Markov Processes); power system stabilisers; innovation in super conductivity (including smart uses); smart power generator for based-load and picking power; Security and market issues with high penetration of renewables in actual operations and long range resources expansion planning; protection issues; Wide area monitoring and control. System protection with highly uncertain and highly variable, large scale renewable generation; Power quality issues with increased power electronic controllers) New Energy Materials: This thematic area aims to team up the skills of material sciences and energy research for the development of solutions to specific challenges of a transition to renewable energy sources. The call is open for research and development on new materials, improved materials or new possibilities for the application of materials along the whole spectrum ranging from energy efficiency in buildings to diverse renewable energies to power plant technology (e.g. improved catalysts for energy generation; new materials for fuel cell, structural materials for wind wheels, graphene-based new energy materials; materials for renewable energy; advanced engineering materials including building integration; new materials for improved energy storage including batteries; materials for Hybrid vehicles). 2
PLEASE NOTE: The examples chosen to explain the subareas are only examples and do by no means narrow down the research fields. 2. Participating countries The following partners have agreed to open a call for funding multilateral research projects in the field of energy research. Belgium - Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) Finland - Academy of Finland (AKA) France - OSÉO Germany - Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) India - Department of Science and Technology (DST) Norway - Research Council Norway (RCN) Portugal - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) Turkey - Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK) French Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) will be funded by OSÉO but only in consortia already composed of two of the above mentioned European countries and India. For more information on the eligibility of French research partners please contact the French Contact Point. 3. Funding instruments Funding can be applied for multilateral research collaborative projects with durations of a maximum of three years. Projects will start in early 2014. The amount of funding available per partner per project depends on national regulations of the respective participating funding organisations. Contact details can be found in the annex of this call text. For each project partner, eligible costs from the respective funding country can be applied for. If more than one of the participating project partners come from the same funding country, the funding amount is divided amongst them. According to the respective national regulations the following funding can be applied for: - Mobility: exchange research visits by European and Indian scientists between Europe and India. Travel costs and living expenses and visa costs of scientists are eligible for funding - Workshops: organisation costs, including rents for the event location, catering, communication materials and the invitation of external experts - Research costs: small equipment and consumables, project related miscellaneous expenses and project related larger equipment; the extent to which equipment costs are eligible for funding depends on national regulations - Personnel costs: extent of eligibility is according to respective national regulations. It is not possible to apply for individual exchanges or single workshops. For further information please see / consult: - the Guidelines for Applicants describing the overall application rules of the call 3
- the National Contact Points for all aspects concerning the call. The contact details of the respective NCP can be found in Annex 1 of this document. - National Regulations describing all the rules and regulations that apply to each funding organisation participating in this call. A detailed register of each funding agency listing eligible costs and nationally applicable amounts per costs can be found on the New INDIGO website (www.newindigo.eu/npp). - the overall NPP Secretariat for all information concerning the NPP and overall information of the call (contact details can be found on the first page of this document). 3.1 Financial Implementation of the NPP The NPP follows the juste retour principle, which means national funding will be assigned to participants of that respective country. Researchers participating in a multinational project therefore receive funding from their national funding agencies, in accordance with the national regulations. 4. Application 4.1 Funding Recipients Eligibility criteria depend mainly on national regulations and therefore differ strongly for each participating funding country. According to national rules and regulations of the respective funding agency, applications may be submitted by public and private research institutes, research and technology development entities and small and medium enterprises. National specifications regarding eligibility and covered costs are listed on the New INDIGO website (www.newindigo.eu/npp). For detailed information it is strongly recommended to contact your National Contact Point (contact details in Annex 1) due to nationally varying eligibility criteria, funding instruments and funding amounts. Only trans-national projects will be funded (2+1). Each proposal must involve eligible researchers/research institutes from a minimum of two different European New INDIGO funding members, as well as one or more eligible partners from India. French Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) will be funded by OSÉO but only in consortia already composed of at least two of the above mentioned European countries and India. Beyond the core consortia of at least three partner research groups (2+1), scientists from nonfunding countries may participate in projects if they secure their own funding. Their participation and their secured funding need to be confirmed through signing a Letter of Commitment uploaded as PDF with the full proposal application. Applicants are strongly advised to discuss their intentions and confirm eligibility with their respective National Contact Point before submitting an application. 4.2 Application Process The application procedure has one stage. Applications are submitted electronically using PT- Outline which is also accessible through the New INDIGO website (www.newindigo.eu/npp). 4
For technical reasons and to prevent multiple versions, only one of the two project coordinators is given access to the web tool for submission. This project coordinator is called principal coordinator for this purpose. All applications are in English language and budgets calculated in Euros. The principal coordinator is responsible for the correct submission of the proposal within the deadline of the NPP call. Proposals not submitted within the deadline will not be considered in the evaluation. It is highly recommended not to submit the proposals at the last minute. After the successful submission of a proposal through the PT-Outline system the principal coordinator will receive an automatic confirmation e-mail by the PT-Outline System. This e-mail will be the only proof for the correct and on-time submission. Therefore, the principal coordinator is asked to save this e-mail. In case this e-mail is not received immediately after the submission, please contact the overall NPP-Secretariat. This applies especially for proposals submitted a short time before the deadline. After the submission phase all proposals will undergo an eligibility check by the NPP secretariat on overall eligibility criteria of the NPP and a second check by the respective funding agencies considering the respective national eligibility rules. 4.3 Timetable Publication of the Call for Proposals 8 May 2013 Deadline of submission phase 23 August 2013 12:00 Central European Time 15:30 Standard Indian Time Funding decision November 2013 Start of projects Spring 2014 5. Selection Criteria All eligible applications will be reviewed by independent experts in the respective thematic areas. The selection criteria are as follows: 1. Scientific excellence 2. Management, Trans-nationality and Cooperation 3. Potential impact and expected outcomes of the project 5
More information on the review procedure, the evaluation criteria and the decision-making process can be found in the Guidelines for Applicants. Annex 1 National Contact Points BELGIUM: Mr. Olivier Boehme Email: Olivier.Boehme@FWO.be Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) Egmontstraat 5, 1000 Brussels Tel.: +32 25 50 15 45 FRANCE Ms. Marie Alix Riou Email: marie-alix.riou@cnrs-dir.fr CNRS - Centre national de la recherche scientifique Délégation Paris Michel-Ange 3 rue Michel-Ange 75794 Paris Cedex 16 Tel.: +33 1 44 96 42 39 INDIA: Mr. Arvind Kumar Email: arvind.kumar71@nic.in Scientist 'D', Inetrnational Multilateral & Regional Cooperation Division, Department of Science and TechnologyTechnology Bhawan, New Mehrauli Road, 110016 New Delhi Tel.: ++91-9811307210 PORTUGAL: Ms. Maria João Maia Email: maria.maia@fct.pt FCT- Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia Ministério da Educação e Ciência Av. D. Carlos I, 126-7º 1249-074 Lisboa Tel.: +351 21391 1543 FINLAND Ms. Hannele Lahtinen Email: hannele.lahtinen@aka.fi PhD, Science Adviser Academy of Finland Programme Unit P.O. Box 131 (Hakaniemenranta 6) FI-00531 Helsinki, Finland Tel.: +358 (295) 33 5055 GERMANY/ Call Secretariat : Ms. Dörte Merk Email: doerte.merk@dlr.de DLR - International Bureau Project Management Agency at the German Aerospace Centre Heinrich-Konen-Str. 1 53227 Bonn Tel.: +49 228 3821-1442 NORWAY: Mr. Jon Heikki Aas Email: jhaa@forskningsradet.no RCN - The Research Council of Norway P.O. Box 2700 St. Hanshaugen, N-0131 Oslo Tel.: +47 (22) 03 75 32 TURKEY Ms.Elif Dogan Arslan E-mail: newindigo@tubitak.gov.tr Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK) Atatürk Bulvari 221 06100 Ankara Tel.: +90 312 468 53 00-2761 6