Deadline: 28-Feb-22
The ACP Innovation Fund has announced a Call for Proposals (CFP) entitled “Capacity building on innovation and valorisation” is to fund one excellent multi-partner project aimed at strengthening innovation capacities of the SIDS stakeholders involved in the Pacific R&I ecosystems at the national and regional level.
The Research Innovation and Impacts of Climate Change in the Pacific (RERIPA) Project (Strengthening Research and Innovation Ecosystems to Address the Impact of Climate Change in the Pacific) in the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) is an initiative funded by the ACP Innovation Fund, a component of the R&I programme of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) with financial contribution from the European Union.
Objectives
The project will have to perform activities to address the following Specific Objectives:
- Train stakeholders (e.g., RERIPA’s partners, Living Labs, students, users) on project engineering, open innovation, impact pathway, intellectual property, innovation brokering, digital tools, participatory approaches, etc, to help structure Living Labs and reinforce R&I ecosystems.
- Train innovation “users/beneficiaries” to foster the adoption/diffusion of innovations within the society.
Activities
The activities proposed should include, among others:
- Preparation of teaching material/tools and syllabus (along with the experts) for training sessions, workshops and publication on the website of RERIPA, on project engineering, open innovation, R&I brokering, impact pathway, Intellectual property, contracting, writing up project proposals, labelling/certification, business development, etc.
- Training of trainers (ex. for the services of public R&I bodies), based on an in-person class format, with approximately 25 students per class ; training will cover the challenges and skills required for the exploitation of research results (contracting process, IP, Project engineering), and the Living Lab/open innovation approach
- Training/mentoring of Living Labs partners/stakeholders by previously trained trainers and other experts, on project engineering, open innovation, R&I brokering, impact pathway, Intellectual property, contracting, writing up project proposals, labelling/certification, business development, etc. Training will be in the form of face-to-face training sessions and distance training through access to training materials.
- Ongoing support to Living labs in their structuring & development, notably prior to and during the preparation of Living Lab specifications, during the project period and innovations/solutions development phases. Activities will allow a follow up of the structuration of the LL and of the transfer to the local authorities and other stakeholders, of LL innovative productions to address climate change issues in the region (with a positive social and economic impact)
- Training of Living Labs’ solutions/innovations’ users to foster their broad appropriation and use.
Funding Information
- The Lead Applicant should propose an offer not exceeding a requested funding of 350,000 Euro.
- Expected start: March 2022 – Expected end: 31 December 2024 (final report included).
Eligible Countries
Applicants (legal entities) from the following OACPS Pacific Countries are eligible to apply as Lead Applicant or Partners: Cook Islands, East Timor, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for funding the following eligibility criteria must be met by the Applicants.
- Project consortium (Lead Applicant and its Partners):
- The Call for Proposals must be answered by consortia of several legal entities (public and private moral persons), and each consortium will have to be coordinated by a legal entity referred to as Lead Applicant, and the Lead Applicant will involve Partner Organisations in its consortium.
- A successful Applicant in this Call will be allowed to apply in other RERIPA Calls for Proposal, as Lead Applicant or Co-applicant, but the cumulative amount of the different grants it may receive will not exceed in any case 400,000 Euros.
- All participating organisations in a bidding consortium must check their eligibility, and the Lead Applicant is responsible for checking and guaranteeing the eligibility of the partners; if one of the partners appears to be ineligible, this may lead to the exclusion of the whole consortium/project during the evaluation process.
- A consortium answering the Call for proposals must include at least 3 Applicants (including the Lead Applicant) established in the OACPS Pacific eligible countries and from at least 2 different countries: at least 1 academic and research institution/organisation and at least 2 other applicants from 2 different types.
- The following entities are eligible for financial support as Lead Applicant or Partners: academic and research institutions/organisations; spin-off companies; VET providers; organisations representing indigenous and local communities; agencies and associations working for gender equality in research and innovation; national science, technology and innovation agencies; nongovernmental organisations; innovation support organisations (technology clusters, innovation labs and technology transfer offices); incubators and start-ups; and other similar organisations with specific experience in the priority areas covered by this Call.
- The Lead Applicant submitting the proposal as well as the Partners which belong to its consortium, should be moral persons.
- Only the Lead Applicants and Co-applicants with their headquarters and activities in an ACP Country from the Pacific region, since 2017 at least, are eligible and can receive a grant under this Call. Organisations or individuals (scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs, policy actors, among others) from outside the ACP Pacific Region can participate as “Collaborators” if their participation is duly justified in the proposal, i.e., if they bring specific skills or added value to the project. However, they will have to provide their own financial contribution to participate in the project, as they cannot benefit from the grant. Collaborators are not counted as part of the minimum of three eligible applicants.
- Lead Applicants applying to this Call must have the financial and technical capacity to manage the grant, and will have to demonstrate this capacity: they must carry out / contribute to research and innovation activities and must have managed at least two R&I granted projects of at least €75,000 each between 2018 and 2021. They will be required to demonstrate adequate organisational capacity to implement and monitor the project in terms of human resources, as well as the ability to share and disseminate the results regionally through their networks.
- The Lead Applicant will submit the application on behalf of the consortium (One application per consortium) and will be directly responsible for the preparation, management and implementation of the project funded by the Call.
- Lead Applicants, Partners and Collaborators should not be affected by any of the exclusion criteria of the Procurement And Grants for European Union external actions – A practical Guide (PRAG). RERIPA will keep records of evidence and supporting documentation that Lead Applicants and their Co-applicants do not meet any of the exclusion criteria.
- Project Partners should have the adequate organisational capacity to implement and monitor the project in terms of human resources, as well as the ability to share and disseminate the results regionally through their networks.
- Project Coordinator:
- The Project Coordinator (an individual) must be a staff member from the Lead Applicant (he/she can be of any nationality)
- The Project Coordinator must have a master diploma or equivalent + 5 years experience, or a PhD and 2 years experience, or any other diploma and 10 years experience in a domain related to the project. He/She should have preferentially a prior project coordination/management experience.
For more information, visit http://www.pidf.int/call-for-proposals-research-innovation-and-impacts-of-climate-change-in-the-pacific-reripa/