Info session SBO 2016

Overview

1. Mission FWO and key facts

2. Characteristics of the SBO-programme.

3. General outline of a project proposal.

4. Evaluation process and framework.

5. Practical recommendations.

6. Additional information.

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1. Mission FWO and key facts

1. Mission and key facts

• Mission of the FWO

• Funds fundamental scientific research (‘frontier research’)

• Since 2016: Strategic Research (SBO, TBM & SB)

5

1. Mission and key facts Our partners

Universities (Leuven, Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, Hasselt)

Main (Strategic) Research Centers:

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1. Mission and key facts

• Label awarded in december 2010

• Implementation of Charter & Code

• Focus on transparent recruitment procedures and family/gender friendly measures

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1. Mission and key facts

• Funding schemes of the FWO • Funding for individual researchers

• Pre- and postdoctoral fellowships, bench fees and grants

• Funding for research teams • Research projects, Big Science, Bilateral agreements, SBO …

• Supporting mobility, international contacts and collaborations • travel grants, visiting postdoctoral fellowships, sabbatical leaves, scientific

research communities, organisation of conferences in belgium, international coordination actions, collaboration agreements, …

• Attracting excellent researchers, active abroad, to Flanders • Odysseus , Pegasus

• Awarding scientific prizes • Research Infrastructure

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1. Mission and key facts

• Budget 2015: 220 million EUR, ca. 79% from Flemish

Government

• Budget 2016: 320 million EUR

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€0

€50.000

€100.000

€150.000

€200.000

€250.000

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Evolutie inkomsten 2005-2015 (in EUR)

Federale Overheid

Vlaamse Overheid

Totaal

Evolution number researchers in function (1st Oct.)

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1. Mission and key facts

854

1122

781

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Aspiranten

Onderzoeksprojecten

Postdoctorale onderzoekers

1. Mission and key facts

• Evolution success rate

12

22

24

13

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Aspiranten

Postdoctorale onderzoekers

Onderzoeksprojecten

1. Mission and key facts

• Events

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2. Characteristics of the SBO-programme

Disclaimer

• This presentation contains only the key points of the SBO-programme.

• For the actual preparation of a proposal, consult the appropriate SBO-Handbook and Application Form.

• Information and documents available on:

http://www.fwo.be/nl/mandaten-financiering/onderzoeksprojecten/sbo-projecten/ (nl) http://www.fwo.be/en/fellowships-funding/research-projects/sbo-projects/ (English)

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Characteristics of the SBO-programme

• Modalities based on Decree of the Flemish Government concerning the establishment of a financing channel for strategic basic research in Flanders (3 Oktober 2003 & modification dd. 12/12/2008 & 18/12/2015)

• Continuation of IWT’s SBO programme within the framework of FWO, with modifications: • Preliminary registration of project submission by 11 April. • Companies can not participate as a partner in the SBO

consortium (still important players as member of the advisory committee)

• Only 1 assessment round, no instruction meeting

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Characteristics of the SBO-programme

• Policy goal • Financing innovative Strategic Basic Research. • Tighten cooperation between universities and

industrial/social users.

• Key aspects • High-quality basic research with a focus on challenging, high-risk,

inventive and original research. • Open to all scientific disciplines and fields of application • Strategic interest: valorisation/utilisation prospects on the long

run in Flanders • Two finality parts: economic or social applications

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Characteristics of the SBO-programme

• Strategic basic research within SBO programme:

• Research is not a goal in itself but an essential mean to allow for an important new valorisation or knowledge utilisation

• Translate the results into concrete applications: generation of new products, processes or services, resolution of social issues, creation of new opportunities for social value creation

• Alignment between the supply-driven focus (from research organisations) and problem-driven focus (from the demand site: companies, social actors)

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Characteristics of the SBO-programme

• The SBO-programme is a cooperation oriented instrument

• Involvement of the economic/social users community in the SBO project cycle to facilitate a smooth transition between the end of the SBO-project and the further development and implementation pathway within the user organisations.

• Requires an investment in meaningful interactions and network building during the preparation phase of the SBO project with users in the field i.e. companies (SBO-E) or social/societal actors* (SBO-M), external to the research organisations.

19 * social profit organisations, professional groups, government departments/entities,…

Characteristics of the SBO-programme

• Primary finality: defined by the main type of actors who will

take up and use the scientific project results

• Economic finality = primarily through economic actors

(companies/newCo) with an economic value creation objective

(i.e. employment + investments).

• Social finality = primarily through social/societal actors (e.g.

government departments and agencies, civil society organisations,

social profit sector) with a social value creation objective.

• SBO research: still far away from the market: successful SBO project will initially result in follow-up R&D activities

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Characteristics of the SBO-programme

• Key economic valorisation strategies • Transfer results to existing companies → follow-up R&D

activities Requirement for an Industrial advisory committee (“begeleidingscommissie”)

• Transfer to a to be founded spin-off company

• Key social/societal utilisation strategies. • Transfer results to existing organisations → follow-up R&D &

implementation activities Requirements for a Social/societal advisory group

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Important notice: The SBO project executors remain the owners of the project results, Transfer to be carried out at prevailing market conditions and open to all companies in the European Union, including those that are not a member of the advisory committee . Optional: first right of negotiation or first right of refusal.

Characteristics of the SBO-programme

Two challenges for SBO applicants :

1) Demonstrate scientific potential and design appropriate research approach.

2) Demonstrate valorisation potential and valorisation approach.

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Characteristics of the SBO-programme

Two challenges for SBO applicants :

1) Demonstrate scientific potential and design appropriate research approach.

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Characteristics of the SBO-programme

Two challenges for SBO applicants :

1) Demonstrate scientific potential and design appropriate research approach.

2) Demonstrate valorisation potential and valorisation approach.

• Clear vision on the potential for valorisation/utilisation

• Meaningful synergy, interaction dynamics and mobilisation across institutional boundaries

(research organisations ↔ economic/social actors)

• Active effort and commitment to enable the effective tranfer to and utilisation of the research results by economic or social actors.

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Advisory committee (role before, during & after project)

Characteristics of the SBO-programme Eligible partner organisations: Flemish Research institutions: • A research centre is defined as an entity (such as universities or research

institutions, technology transfer agencies, innovation intermediaries, research-oriented physical or virtual collaborative entities), irrespective of its legal status (organised under public or private law), or way of financing, whose primary goal is to independently conduct fundamental research, industrial research or experimental development, or to widely disseminate the results of such activities by way of teaching, publication or knowledge transfer. Where such entity also pursues economic activities, the financing, the costs and the revenues of those economic activities must be accounted for separately. Undertakings that can exert a decisive influence upon such an entity, for example in the quality of shareholders or members, may not enjoy preferential access to the research capacity of that entity or to the results generated by it.

• Flemish: any research centre with an establishment in the Flemish Region.

25 Definition of a ‘research and knowledge-dissemination organisation’ as stated in Article 2, section 83 of the Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 of the commission of June 17, 2014— Framework for State aid for research and development and innovation (2014/C 198/01) Article II.2 & II.3 of the Higher Education Code of 11 October 2013 (http://data-onderwijs.vlaanderen.be/edulex/document.aspx?docid=14650)

Characteristics of the SBO-programme Eligible partner organisations: all Flemish Research institutions: • Universities • University colleges (‘Hogescholen’) • University Hospitals • IMEC, VITO, VIB, iMINDS, Flanders’ Make, Flanders Marine Institute, and scientific

institutions with a government grant and an establishment in the Flemisch Region • obliged to submit the proposal together with at least one other Flemish

research institution

• Optional involvement of non-Flemish Research institutions : maximum 20% of the project budget

• useful knowledge transfer towards Flanders (“missing links” in essential expertise) & clear added value for the SBO-project (including valorisation objectives).

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Characteristics of the SBO-programme

• Program Budget: circa € 39M

• Pre-established allocation key • 2/3 for projects with a economic finality • 1/3 for projects with a social finality.

• Project period: 2 to 4 years (project period cannot be extended)

• At the final financial verification, costs made after the official project period

can be accepted as follows: • Staff cost: Project period + 1 year • All other costs: Project periode + 2 years

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Characteristics of the SBO-programme

• Support: 100% of acceptable costs

• Acceptable costs: • Max. € 500,000/year/participating legal entity with more than

15% of the total budget • Research and ‘valorisation preparing’ staffing * • Operation cost, equipment, subcontracting

• Guideline on the magnitude of the project budget: about €2M

• Exceptions possible if substantiated

28 * Directly integrated into the relevant research teams of the SBO project consortium, not individuals employed in interface services or research coordination services and for whom another form of funding is already available

3. General outline of a project proposal

General outline of a project proposal • Before submission: Preliminary registration of

application by 11 April

• e-mail via sbo@fwo.be with following information:

• title of the project

• summary of the project (approx. half A4)

• project partners

• project coordinator.

• Optional: experts to be avoided (max. 5)*

* No changes/additions possible at submission

General outline of a project proposal Deadline submission: 23 May 2016, noon

Electronic submission via Email to sbo@fwo.be (max 15 MB)

3 separate files

Project & valorisation part in English

According to the template on the website

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General outline of a project proposal • Part 1 Project sheet and project summary

• Part 2 Description of the intended valorisation and transfer of knowledge

• Part 3 Scientific project description

• Part 4 Expertise and track record of the consortium

• Appendix A Administrative data of applicants

• Appendix B Substantiated letters of intent of users Term sheet between research partners

Ethical questionnaire

• Budget Excel file with the project budget

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3 s

epar

ate

file

– m

ax 1

5 m

b

See submission template on fwo website for more details

General outline of a project proposal Important aspects of the application template.

• Importance of early interactions with interface and transfer services (http://www.ttoflanders.be)

• Use the application template and respect maximal proposal length (i.e. eligibility criterion) into account .

• Please refrain from non-requested annexes.

• Project proposals are only submitted by email (SBO@fwo.be).

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General outline of a project proposal Project budget: see Cost model and Excel Template on the website

Staffing costs (gross salaries):

o Only research staff and valorization preparing staff working on the project

o Double financing is not allowed

Other costs: real costs up to a maximum of € 40,000/year:

o Direct costs (materials, IT-costs, traveling expenses, depreciation costs for research equipment, subcontractor costs < € 8.500)

o Indirect costs or overhead costs: max. € 20.000/year

Large subcontractor costs (for subcontractor costs > € 8.500):

o At market price (full cost + margin)

o Quote necessary

Large cost (exceptional!! Needs detailed motivation):

o E.g. very expensive tests like imaging or sequencing

o Only accepted when this cost cannot be added in the previous categories

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General outline of a project proposal. Important aspects of the application template: USERS/advisory committee • No longer possible for companies/social actors to participate as a partner in the SBO

consortium (still possible as subcontractor: tasks without creative input = no IPR)

• Advisory committee open to all interested companies, including outside the Flemish region

• Advisory committee: cover whole valorisation chain: Elaborate on the role of each individual user

• Elaborate on active involvement and commitment of user organisations (pre, intra, post-project).

• Dynamics of the advisory committee - members' expectations : elaborated vision on intellectual property rights/transfer of project results, especially for members that are active in overlapping areas of applications and/or field were exclusivity is common.

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General outline of a project proposal. Important aspects of the application template: USERS/advisory committee • Substantiate early and meaningful interactions and cooperations between

researchers and the users from the early definition and design phase of the project proposal onwards → i.e. enabler for meaningful interaction dynamics over the lifecycle of the project

• Mention parallel R&D collaborations, follow-up R&D activities and implementation efforts → beneficial for feasibility/likelyhood of the valorisation approach after the SBO-project

• SBO-M: Application oriented activities from the third project year onwards to bridge the gap between SBO-results and societal implementation (advantage in selection process!). Activities to be performed by the social actors – no fwo funding

Substantiated letters of interest

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Important Guidance document Manual for users Economic/social

Important aspects of the application template: USERS/advisory committee

Only for Economic programme part, NOT for social programme part:

• Mandatory input by all companies of the advisory committee • monetary contribution (SME: €250/year; large enterprise and other organization

€1,000/year) • ‘In kind’ contribution can be accepted provided it is well substantiated. • Higher contribution is not obligatory but maybe positively assessed in the

evaluation of the proposal.

• No obligation for spin-off earmarked projects

• Contribution confirmed in letters of intent of companies

• Letters of interest: Ideally fulfilled by submission, the latest by 24 June 2016. 37

General outline of a project proposal

General outline of a project proposal.

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• Lesson from 2011-2012 call.

• Impact of the (then optional) financial input from companies in the economic programme part

Number of

proposals

submitted

Number of

projects

supported

Average

success

rate

With input from

companies

15 8 53%

Without input from

companies

16 2 13%

Total 31 10 32%

General outline of a project proposal Important aspects of the application template. Appendix B includes

- Substantiated letter of intent of a company/organisation

- to participate in the advisory committee

- signed by a legal representative of this company or organisation.

- only for SBO-E: (monetary) contribution

- a term sheet (“afsprakennota”) between the partners of the consortium on

the management and the allocation of the IPR). - Prepared in close interaction with the TTO services - signed by a legal representative of the participating institutions. - Due by first half of September 2016

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4.Evaluation process and framework.

Evaluation process and framework. • Evaluation proces

• One single selection round.

• Evaluation of the scientific quality & utilisation/valorisation quality by 3-4 international experts

• Applicants may reply to expert comments and valorisation-related questions from FWO staff*

• Expert recommendations and written feedback from the applicants → FWO staff* prepares the reporting to the SBO steering committees (Economic/Social)

• SBO steering committees rank the proposals

• Decision on support by the FWO Board of Directors (Nov/Dec 2016)

41 * with support of staff from the AGENCY FOR INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP (www.vlaio.be)

Evaluation process and framework • Assessment framework

• Scientific quality • Scientific added value, strategic & challenging character • Intrinsic scientific feasibility • Quality of research approach & project planning • Input-output balance: value for money • R&D competence & infrastructure

• Valorisation quality

• Potential application & relevance of the research approach • Quality and feasibility of valorisation approach (including pre-project phase) • Valorisation competence/track record • Sustainable development (if applicable)

• Scoring grid and selection methodology available on FWO-website

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Evaluation process and framework • Minimal requirements and ranking mechanism.

Possible scores that can be awarded per (sub)criterion are:

∆-score

• Insufficient information to assess the criterion exclusion

• Unacceptable exclusion

• Poor -2

• Reasonable -1

• Positive 0

• Excellent +1

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Evaluation process and framework • Minimal requirements and ranking mechanism.

- Double weight to criteria S1.1 (delta with respect to state-of-the-art) and S1.2 (challenging, high-risk and inventive character of the research)

- Minimal eligibility requirement: “reasonable” (delta score > -2) for both assessment dimensions (scientific quality or utilisation)

- Selection advantage (SBO-E) for projects contributing to sustainable development. - Projects which meet the minimal requirements are ranked: equal weight for the

scientific quality and valorisation quality scores. - In case of projects with equivalent scores: diversity of application areas can be

aimed for. - Quota for SBO-E projects directed at the creation of a new spin-off company: max

20% of budget of economic SBO-programme. - The highest ranked project proposals are supported within the limits of the available

budget.

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5. Practical recommendations.

Practical recommendations when preparing a proposal.

•Proces of creation of an SBO-proposal is different from a “classic” academic research proposal

•Be prepared to invest adequate time and effort in the proposal preparation process.

•Key importance of meaningful two-way dialogue and interaction between researchers and economic or social/societal usersfrom the early project conception onwards and over the entire project life cycle. Discuss project scope + cooperation principles + valorisation intentions.

• Interact early with university interface or transfer services.

•Adopt a project management approach.

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Practical recommendations when preparing a proposal.

•Carefully read the documents on the website and contact FWO in case you should have questions (sbo@fwo.be)

•Ensure good coherence between the scientific part and the valorisation aims of your proposal.

•Think beyond the end date of the SBO-project.

• Let users elaborate on follow-up R&D and implementation interests and opportunities.

•Valorisation/utilisation is not just “dissemination”.

•User involvement is not just “claiming being interested”.

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6. Additional information.

Additional information. • Preliminary registration deadline: 11 April 2016

• Submission deadline: 23 May 2016, noon

• Potential applicants can make a request before February 18 for an exploratory meeting (“verkennend gesprek”) at FWO on 25, 26 or 29 February. E-mail a short abstract, most important questions (max. 1 A4 p.) & preferred date to sbo@fwo.be

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Additional information

SBO in international cooperations.

• In 2016: no call under the Lead Agency agreements with STW (Netherlands)

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Additional information. • SBO contact

SBO@fwo.be

• Website

http://www.fwo.be/nl/mandaten-financiering/onderzoeksprojecten/sbo-projecten/

http://www.fwo.be/en/fellowships-funding/research-projects/sbo-projects/

ONGOING SBO PROJECTS (awarded < 1/1/2016) WILL CONTINUE TO BE FOLLOWED UP BY THE AGENCY FOR INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP (www.vlaio.be)

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