Call for Projects: Common Laboratories (LabCom) Program 2023 in France

Deadline: 20-Sep-23

The National Research Agency is pleased to announce the applications for Common Laboratories (LabCom) 2023 to encourage research actors to create new structured partnerships through the creation of “Joint Laboratories” between a SME or an intermediate-sized enterprise and a research laboratory.

A Joint Laboratory is defined by the signing of a contract defining its operation, including:

• A common governance,
• A roadmap for research and innovation activities,
• Resources to operate the roadmap,
• A strategy to ensure the value creation from the research activities.

SMEs and ETIs are recognized for being places of innovation and for which a consolidation of relations with academic research could lead to an even more marked advance with global competition. In the field of social and societal innovation, the SCICs or SCOPs (cooperative societies) also show dynamism with all the actors concerned, from public authorities to citizens, on the basis of innovations resulting from research work.

The joint creation of knowledge or know-how between research laboratories academic institutions and small or medium-sized businesses can then be an important factor in innovation, competitiveness, and ultimately a source of jobs.

The construction of lasting bilateral links between public research laboratories and SMEs, ETI is therefore an essential issue in the chain of innovation to use the significant potential for development of the public sector.

Objectives

• The LabCom (“Joint Laboratories”) program aims to financially support the commitment of academic research players wishing to establish bilateral and structured partnerships with companies.
• It thus targets the creation of lasting bilateral1 partnerships aimed at supporting innovation on the basis of research activities carried out within an academic research laboratory and a company.
• For the 2023 edition, this LabCom call again includes a priority which aims to strengthen partnership research in Artificial
• Intelligence (AI) within the framework of the National Strategy for Research in Artificial Intelligence.2 This national strategy aims to
• strengthen research partnership in the field of AI and more broadly to support the digital transformation of businesses. For future LabComs with a strong “AI” component, it is a question of contributing directly to this objective by developing strong interactions with the economic world in the sectors identified in the IA Plan: health, transport, energy and environment, security.
• Unlike short-term bilateral research contracts (typically 1 to 3 years) on a very specific subject, a LabCom project is based on a common and concerted strategy making it possible to support a shared vision between industrialists and academics to produce sustainable way, in an identified field of activity, of economic value and innovation, while relying on high-level academic research.

Funding Information

• The aid allocated to a project under this LabCom 2023 call is a lump sum of €363,000 (including environmental costs), for a period of 54 months.
  • For the set-up phase of 6 months, the awarding act provides for a first tranche of aid in the amount of €50,000
  • For the operational phase, the awarding act provides for a second tranche of aid of an amount maximum of 313 000 €.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligibility checks are carried out by ANR solely on the basis of the information and documents available on the proposal submission site on the closing date and time of a session.
• For eligibility analyses, the information entered online takes precedence over that developed within the project description if these two sources of information prove to be inconsistent, including if they are incorrectly filled in or missing.
• No modification or addition of data or document will be possible after the closing date and time of the session. Data entry is the direct responsibility of the coordinators who will have taken the time to anticipate the deposit.
• The proposal is eligible if it meets all of the conditions:
  • Complete nature of the proposal : the proposal must be finalized, online on the dedicated site at the closing date and time communicated, complete and in accordance with the specified format.
    • No document is accepted after this date and time. No modification of data will be possible after this date and time. A proposal, to be complete and compliant, must include:
    • the fully completed online form;
      • the document describing the proposal submitted on the submission site and respecting the 20-page limit (all included, including the letters of intent signed by each of the legal representatives of the two partners, the company and the research organization15). This document must also include a detailed budget per partner and per position;
      • The commitment of each (scientific) manager of each partner requesting assistance with the ANR.
  • Composition of the consortium : the consortium must include two partners, including a French research and knowledge dissemination organization, falling within the scope of the regulations financier, and a business, commercial company over three years old and meeting the SME or ETI category.
  • Beneficiary partner of the aid : The proposal provides for a single beneficiary of the aid: the managerial supervision (legal person to which it is attached) of the laboratory of a French research organization and dissemination of knowledge17 which participates in the LabCom.
  • Uniqueness of the project proposal : A project proposal cannot be similar in whole or in part to another proposal submitted for a call under evaluation at the ANR (all calls for projects combined, all evaluation stages combined ) or having given rise to funding by the ANR or by another body or another funding agency.
  • The similarity between two projects is established when these projects (in their entirety or in part) describe identical main objectives or result from a simple adaptation.18 All proposals declared similar are ineligible
  • Singularity of the proposal : proposals are ineligible if they are considered by the ANR to be based on non-singular content19

For more information, visit LabCom.