Young scientist competition The INDIGO young scientist competition gives young researchers from India and the EU the opportunity to promote their research projects and ideas for cooperation by introducing them to the EU-India STI cooperation network at the EU-India cooperation days in Goa, India on the 21 st and 22 nd of September. The competition is open for all India and EU based PhD students and early career researchers, who work on the field of bio-economy, biotechnology and bio-based energy. The applicants are invited to submit their ideas for scientific and/or innovative projects or their existing projects, which aim to address a global or societal challenge pertinent to research cooperation between EU and India in the field of bio-economy, biotechnology or bio-based energy. These projects or project ideas need to be innovative, showing an open-mindedness and refined approach to solving societal challenges. Based on a selection by a scientific evaluation panel, 6 young scientists will be invited to participate in the EU-India STI cooperation days. From these shortlisted applicants, the INDIGO Facebook fans will select four finalists who will vie for the title of the young scientist of the year by presenting their ideas in front of the EU-India STI days audience. The winner will be awarded a fully covered trip to a scientific conference of their choice in Europe or in India. Their travel, accommodation and registration costs will be covered. 30th of May Submission of expression of interests opens 1stof July Submission of the expression of interest closes 15th of July Announce ment of 6 selected by the scientific panel 15th of August Facebook competitio n starts 5th September Announce ment of Finalists 21st of September Finalists present in the EU- India STI Days in Goa Selection of a winner
Terms and Conditions: 1. Eligible applicants The competition is open for applicants from all scientific disciplines whose research is related to bio-economy, biotechnology, or bio-based energy. The applicant should satisfy the following criteria: o The applicant should be affiliated to an organisation (company, research centre, university, non-profit organisation or NGO) located in one of the EU member states 1 or in an associated country to FP7 2, or in India o The applicant should be enrolled in a PhD programme or be an early-career researcher (maximum 3 years after gaining a PhD). o One person is counted as one applicant. Groups are not eligible to participate. o Entrants of the young scientist competition 2014 and 2015 are not eligible to participate. Applicant must be willing to submit a video introducing a research/cooperation project idea. Applicant must be willing to participate in the EU-India STI cooperation days in Goa, India. No entry fee; no purchase necessary to enter the competition. 2. How to participate? The competition consists of three stages: A) Submission of an expression of interest online via https://www.indogenius.org/apply/pem/login/ysc 1. To enter the competition, a participant should submit an expression of interest. The expression of interest should include: The full name of the applicant Institutional Affiliation The PhD-programme the applicant is enrolled in or the year of finalisation of a PhD (if applicant is an early-career researcher), and the name of the institution, from which the PhD was gained Research field The challenge that the idea or research projects aims to address o Framing the challenge: Lay out the need /opportunity of your idea. What is the challenge you are addressing? How is the challenge relevant to EU and 1 Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom 2 Iceland, Norway, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, Israel, Moldova, Switzerland, Faroe Islands
India? What is the extent of the problem? What community will you assist? Why is it important for the need to be filled? o Explain prior attempts to solve the problem. What prior art currently in use? What are the benefits and drawbacks of prior attempts to solve the problem you are addressing? Why are prior solutions inadequate or not as helpful as possible? Your research idea o Explain your entry research, idea, technology or process. Is your project something altogether or a new combination of different parts in the system? o Explain why exactly why you believe the idea is innovative. Why does your innovation/research solve the challenge? Anticipated outcomes and pertinence to EU-India cooperation: o How do the outcomes of your research address the Indian and EU context? o Explain how it could be relevant for Indo-European research and innovation collaboration. 2. The expressions of interest should be submitted by the 1 st of July at 24.00 IST in order to be eligible for the competition. 3. The applications are submitted to the application mask provided in the link above B) Scientific Evaluation 4. All submitted expression of interests will go through an eligibility check by the competition organisers. The eligibility check will ensure that the applicants comply with the eligibility criteria and the guidelines for the expression of interests. 5. The applications passing the eligibility check will be assessed by an expert panel towards the following criteria (together 44 points): Innovativeness and originality (12 points) Relevance for solving societal challenges (12 points) Scientific excellence (10 points) Pertinence to EU-India cooperation (10 points) 6. The expert panel will be comprised of 2 scientific experts (in the field bioeconomy, biotechnology or bio-based energy), 2 INDIGO Project Partners and 1 expert from private sector (market uptake and potential of the idea). Each expert will rate all the expressions of interests according to the criteria listed above. In case of a tie, a second vote will be taken. 7. The scientific evaluation of the expression of interests will take place from 4 th of July - 15 th of July. Six applicants, who have the highest average number of points based on rating of all experts, will be shortlisted. The shortlisted applicants will be announced on the 15 th of July and contacted personally via e-mail. C) Video preparation 8. The shortlisted applicants are required to prepare a promotional video illustrating the project idea, how it works and addresses the challenge pertinent to EU and India. 9. The video: Must not exceed 5 minutes in length.
The style of the video is up to the applicant. It can be with or without sound and also videos with only animation are eligible. The production quality (image quality, quality of the support material or equipment etc.) is not an assessment criterion but the video should allow the viewers to see the idea clearly. 10. The applicants are entitled to support during the video preparation period. The STI Days organising team will organise a one-to-one online meeting with all shortlisted applicants to guide them through the video preparation project. 11. The videos will be uploaded to a submission mask provided online. The name of the submitted video file should contain the name of the applicant (Firstname_Lastname). No responsibility can be accepted for entries not received for whatever reason. 12. The videos should be submitted by the 11 th of August. B) Facebook competition to select four finalists among the shortlisted candidates 13. All videos will be uploaded on INDIGO Projects Facebook page on the 15 th of August by the STI Days organising team and this will signal the official launch of the Facebook competition. The INDIGO Project s Facebook friends will select 4 finalists from the shortlisted applicants, who will present their idea in front of the STI Days audience and compete for the prize. 14. The applicant is permitted to promote his/her own video on any communication channel and invite his/her friends to like the video on the INDIGO Projects Facebook. 15. The selection of the 4 finalists will be based on online voting. Each like a video will gain on Facebook will be counted as one vote. The 4 applicants with videos with the most likes by 9am (CET) on the 5 th of September are considered are moving to the finals. All applicants will be contacted personally via e-mail on the 5 th of September. 16. In case of a tie (two or more videos with the same number of likes), the voting time will be extended until 10pm (CET) on the 5 th of September. 17. All shortlisted applicants will be invited to the EU-India STI Cooperation Days in Goa. The travel (round-trip flight/bus/train ticket) and accommodation costs (3 nights) will be covered by the STI Days organising team. One entry per person. The STI Days organising team will do the booking on behalf of the applicant. C) Presenting the idea at the STI Days 18. The four finalists present their project idea or existing project on the 21st of September at the EU-India STI Cooperation Days in Goa, India. During the young scientist competition final, each finalist will be allocated 15 minutes on stage during which: they will play their videos for the audience, they will be interviewed on their idea especially concerning: o the innovativeness of the project idea, o the challenge research aims to address o pertinence to EU-India research and innovation cooperation
they will be asked questions by the scientific expert panel on their research idea/project and the EU-India STI Days audience After the finalists presentations, the STI Days Audience will have a chance to vote for a winner: Each audience member has one vote. 3. Counting the votes and announcing the winner The votes will be counted by the STI Days organising team. The applicant with the highest count of valid votes will be the winner of the competition. The winner of the competition will be awarded at the concluding session of the EU-India STI Days held on the 22 nd of September.The winner will be announced on the INDIGO projects website and also promoted on the INDIGO projects social media channels. 4. Prize The winner of the young scientist competition will be awarded a conference trip to an EU member State (for Indian applicants) or India (for European applicants). The following expenses will be covered up to 2000 euro: 1) Conference registration fee of a conference of the choice of the winner. 2) Travel costs: round trip flight in economy class to attend the selected conference. The costs of the travel (bus, tram, train) between the conference venue /accommodation/airport. 3) Accommodation: Accommodation during the conference. Additional costs for example minibar, telephone charges will not be covered. The conference should take place by the end of September 2017 and take place in an EU member State or India depending on the origin of the winner (In case of an Indian winner the conference should take place in Europe and vice versa). The winner is required to write a short article for the INDIGO Projects specifying how the granted prize has seeded idea development. 5. Disqualification Participants will be disqualified if: Ideas that infringe copyright rules (if the idea is not the participant s own original idea) Abusive videos will be disqualified Refuse to produce a promotional video on their research /idea Contact In case of any questions regarding the competition, please contact: youngscientist@indigoprojects.eu For more information about the STI Days, please visit: www.indigoprojects.eu