Deadline: 13-Jun-23
Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) is pleased to launch the Industry RD&I Fellowship Programme 2023 which seeks to support academia-industry interactions in order to address industry‐informed challenges.
Awards under this programme can be made to academic researchers (at faculty and postdoctoral level) wishing to spend time in industry worldwide through the temporary placement of academic researchers with an industry partner.
Objectives
- Connect scientific research and researchers with beneficiaries and potential users through supporting the exchange of knowledge and expertise between academia and industry.
- Maximise the economic and societal impact of Irish State-funded research and resources, by enhancing and co-funding collaborations between researchers in academia and industry.
- Foster impactful innovation by supporting industry-informed research.
- Enhance the breadth of training of researchers, and their employability.
- Facilitate increased participation in research, development and innovation by Small, Medium and Large enterprises in the regions across Ireland.
- Support companies to build/enhance competitive advantage and future resilience by engaging in research, development and innovation through partnership with academia
Fellowship Details
- The maximum SFI contribution to the cost of the Fellowship is €100,000 direct costs.
- Awards can have an award duration of between 1 and 24 months.
- Full-time awards. For full-time awards, the Fellow spends between 1 and 12 months on placement over a maximum award duration of 12 months (e.g., a full-time Fellow spends 100% of their time working on their project).
- Part-time awards. For part-time awards, the Fellow spends only part of their working time on placement i.e., the Fellow spends between 2 and 12 months on placement over a maximum award duration of 24 months. The time commitment is expected to be 50% of the award duration but may vary depending on the needs of the project and training plan.
- Location: Fellows are expected to be embedded in the industry partner’s premises and located there for the duration of the placement.
- Start date. Successful applicants will be expected to start the Fellowship within 6 months following notification of funding from SFI.
Categories of Research
Under the Industry RD&I Fellowship Programme, proposals must align with SFI’s legal remit and fall under one of the following categories:
- Industrial Research:
- planned research or critical investigation aimed at the acquisition of new knowledge and skills for developing new products, processes or services or for bringing about a significant improvement in existing products, processes or services, including digital products, processes or services, in any area, technology, industry or sector.
- comprises the creation of component parts of complex systems and may include the construction of prototypes in a laboratory environment or in an environment with simulated interfaces to existing systems as well as of pilot lines, when necessary for the industrial research and notably for generic technology validation.
- Experimental Development:
- means acquiring, combining, shaping and using existing scientific, technological, business and other relevant knowledge and skills with the aim of developing new or improved products, processes or services, including digital products, processes or services, in any area, technology, industry or sector.
- this may also encompass, for example, activities aimed at the conceptual definition, planning and documentation of new products, processes or services.
- may comprise prototyping, demonstrating, piloting, testing and validation of new or improved products, processes or services in environments representative of real-life operating conditions, where the primary objective is to make further technical improvements on products, processes or services that are not substantially set.
- this may include the development of a commercially usable prototype or pilot which is necessarily the final commercial product, and which is too expensive to produce for it to be used only for demonstration and validation purposes.
- experimental development does not include routine or periodic changes made to existing products, production lines, manufacturing processes, services and other operations in progress, even if those changes may represent improvements.
Eligibility Criteria
- Only one industry partner company per application is permitted.
- Eligible industry partner companies:
- Must be a research-active company, with a minimum of one employee engaged in research.
- Must be a private for-profit company located in Ireland or abroad.
- Must have the financial capacity to provide a minimum contribution of 20% of total eligible project costs. Please refer to Section 3 above for further details on the company contribution.
- Must possess the appropriate independent infrastructure, revenue and staffing, to provide appropriate working conditions and training to prospective Fellows.
- Commercial semi-state companies such as the group of companies under CIE, EirGrid, ESB etc. and their similar counterparts worldwide are eligible industry partners.
- Academic spin-outs are eligible industry partners provided they meet all other eligibility criteria, including the disclosure of any potential conflicts of interest.
- Note also that industry employees seconded to Research Bodies, such as Researchers-in-Residence, are not eligible industry mentors.
- Non-eligible industry partner companies include:
- Government-funded entities such as hospitals, technology transfer offices of public entities, Government departments or other agencies of the State.
- Charities and not-for-profit organisations.
- There are two categories of applicant:
- Faculty Researcher
- Postdoctoral Researcher
- All applicants must be:
- A permanent member of the academic staff (“Faculty researcher”) of an eligible Irish Research Body
- A former or current contract postdoctoral researcher in an eligible Irish Research Body
- The holder of a PhD degree awarded by an eligible Irish Research Body
- All applicants must hold a PhD or equivalent.
For more information, visit Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).
