Deadline: 5-Mar-23
The Frontex is accepting proposals for its Research Grants Programme – a new collaborative funding programme that intends to increase the impact of technological research in border management.
The agency aims to support small-scale research projects of non-profit research organisations and academic institutions operating in EU Member States and Schengen Associated Countries.
This initiative is part of the Frontex Research and Innovation commitment to continuously seek engagement with cross-sectorial research partners who play an important role in developing novel technological solutions for the advancement of border security. Research provided by both non-profit organisations and academia are essential in developing technologies that serve the interest of society. The Frontex Research Grants Programme is a step towards encouraging and facilitating the dialogue with these institutions and increasing the impact of their applied research activities.
Objectives
- The first call for proposals on novel technologies for border management (open theme) has just been published under the programme. It has three specific objectives:
- Scouting – discover cutting-edge R&I technologies available in the EU’s non-profit academic and research organisations’ ecosystem, which have the potential to address current operational border management challenges and respond to emerging threats.
- Guidance – develop innovative technological solutions by encouraging non-profit EU R&I actors to shape their small-scale technological research products so that they satisfy the operational requirements of the EBCG community.
- Scale-up – support the transition of current small-scale R&I in fields of relevance for border security to higher technology readiness levels, motivating the realisation of experimental proof-of-concepts and prototypes, as well as validations and demonstrations in relevant environments.
- Although the theme of the call is open (i.e. there are no restrictions on the research theme that can be proposed by the applicants), at least one of the following seven thematic categories (which are representative of the typical technologies relevant to EBCG) shall be targeted by the research projects funded under this call:
- Technologies for border checks,
- Technologies for border surveillance and situational awareness,
- Technologies for information and communication management and data analytics,
- Simulation tools,
- Technologies for standing corps and logistic support,
- Advanced technologies for environmentally sustainable systems and operations (cross-cutting thematic category),
- Disruptive, emerging and key enabling technologies (cross-cutting thematic category).
Funding Information
- An overall budget of 250 000 EUR has been allocated for this call.
Eligibility Criteria
- In order to be eligible for the grant the applicant must:
- have legal personality under the applicable national law;
- be a training institution established in a Member State (except Ireland) or a Schengen Associated Country, entitled to deliver and organise law enforcement training;
- have a valid Letter of Commitment signed by relevant national authority
For more information, visit Frontex.