srtd-ii newsletter - january 2015
TRANSCRIPT
“Support to Research, Technological
Development and Innovation in Jor-
dan” (SRTD II) is the second Phase of
the EU funded project implemented by
The Higher Council for Science and
Technology (HCST). Building on
(SRTD I) achievements, the overall
objective of SRTD II is to increase the
contribution of Jordan’s Research &
Technological Development and Inno-
vation sectors to Jordan’s economic
growth and employment. The specific
objectives of the project are to fur-
ther develop Jordan’s applied re-
search and technological capacity
with a focus on the commercialisation
of RTD results for use by the private
sector, especially SMEs; and to con-
tinue the integration of Jordan into
the European Research Area. The
project will take a thematic ap-
proach for delivering its results. Four
Key Areas of Water, Energy, Food
and Health are defined as the themes
of top priority in Jordan. They fit into
Jordan’s national research priorities.
SRTD II will have four major compo-
nents; Research Support, Commer-
cialization Support, administrative
Support and the Key Areas.
Expected results of SRTD II project
are: First, increased levels of applied
research, targeted towards the
agreed priorities and needs of Jor-
dan, and often developed in partner-
ship with the private sector, leading
to commercially viable and valuable
output. Second, increased numbers of
registered patents, spin-out compa-
nies, joint ventures and technology
licenses created as a direct result of
research activities. Third, Strength-
ened links between European Union
and Jordanian research and commer-
cialization activities.
Volume 1, Issue 1
SRTD - II In Lines Foreword by the Project Director, Eng. Omar Amawi
January 2015
SRTD
- II:
20
14 IN
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Inside this issue:
Launching of SRTD - II and The EU Frame-work Program for Research and Inno-vat ion (Hor izon
2020)
2
Call for Proposals; First and Second Calls
2
Activities of SRTD - II Team
3
SRTD - I Results & Assessment
4
Horizon 2020 5
What is Next 6
About HCST 7
A Q U A R T E R L Y N E W S L E T T E R P U B L I S H E D B Y S R T D - I I P R O J E C T F U N D E D B Y E U R O P E A N U N I O N
Water: Production of safe water for drinking, Agriculture and In-dustry
Food: Production of safe food for Humans & animals
Health: Improvement of Hu-man Health
Energy: Production of renewa-ble and New energy
Under the patronage of the Secretary General of the
Higher Council for Science and Technology Dr. Khalid
Elshuraydeh and the head of the European delegation
in Amman Dr. Joanna Wronecka, the “SRTD II" project
was officially launched at the Millennium Hotel - Am-
man on Monday the 9th of June, in the presence of a
number of Jordanian researchers from various sectors,
and representatives of the private and industrial sector.
Horizon 2020, The EU Framework Program for Re-
search & Innovation and the biggest EU funding pro-
gram ever with nearly €80 billion (2014 to 2020), was
also introduced and launched in Jordan during this
event. H2020 started in January 1,2014 and will end
in 2020.
The “Support to Research, Technological Development
and Innovation in Jordan” Project “SRTD II", has
launched two calls for proposals for grants in the offi-
cial newspapers, websites and social media, in the
areas of Applied Research and Commercialization.
The first call was launched on June 9, 2014; The
deadline for submission of proposals was September
21, 2014. The over all number of applications re-
ceived in the first call was 70, accepted applications
were 24 in both commercialisation and in Applied Re-
search. The second call was launched on October 26,
2014 and the deadline was December 28, 2014.
Call for Proposals; First and Second Calls..
Launching of SRTD - II and
The EU Framework Program for Research and
Innovation (Horizon 2020)
Page 2 SRTD - I I : 2014 IN REVIEW
Dr. Elshuraydeh the Secretary General of HCST & Dr. Wronecka
Grant Scheme for the two calls
Side of the attendees in the Kick - off meeting
SRTD - II implementation office has held 9 info –sessions
for the first call and 16 info-sessions for the second call,
each in a different location, in their effort to cover as
much areas as possible; including universities, incubators,
research centers and Chambers. The total number of
attendees reached over 700.
In December, SRTD II project participated in many work-
shops, such as:
Workshop about licensing, commercialisation and pa-
tents at the LES Arab at Tala Abu Ghazaleh Organiza-
tion, December 4, 2014.
The First Exploratory Regional seminar on eHealth ben-
efits & cooperation in the Southern Mediterranean coun-
tries and the EU, December 4, 2014 (Rabat, Morocco).
The Technological Capacity Building in the Field of
Modern Technologies in Arab Countries Forum, Decem-
ber 15-16, 2014 in Amman Chamber of Industry.
Activities of SRTD - II Team
Info-session held at Mutah University
Page 3 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1
The over all number of applications received in the second call was 147, Evaluation process and fi-
nal results will be officially announced before Feb.22.2015. The project’s team conducted extensive
information sessions that were delivered within the network of 50 focal points which was established
in SRTD first stage, this network consists of all public and private universities in Jordan and various
national institutions, NGOs, SMEs, research centers and others.
The overall number of grants expected under both calls to be awarded is 60; minimum of 40 for
Applied Research and 20 for Commercialization, the maximum funding for each grant may not ex-
ceed €25,000; representing 50-80 % of the Total eligible cost of the action.
SRTD II team attended the training
seminar on H2020 June 11-13 in Mar-
rakesh, Morocco, organised jointly by
MEDSPRING and INCONTACT pro-
jects. This event was the second event
planned in the frame of the Capacity
Building programme set by MED-
SPRING on the new EU research
framework programme Horizon2020.
In 2008, Support to Research and Technological Development and Innovation and Strate-
gies in Jordan (SRTD I) Project provided 60 Grants of up to 15,000 Jordanian Dinars (JD)
to 30 researchers and 30 start-up businesses. For each grant, a maximum of 10,000 Eu-
ros was provided by the project, and approximately 5,000 JD provided by the Higher
Council for Science and Technology for research grants, or by Jordan Enterprise Develop-
ment Corporation for the start-up grants.
This assessment covered 55 out of 60 funded projects at two levels, the beneficiary level
and the process level. Data was collected through field visits by a specialized Expert ac-
companied by staff members of SRTD-II team who interviewed grant beneficiaries in
person when possible, or through Skype or telephone communications according to bene-
ficiary availability.
Major Findings:
Patents: Two researchers
Published papers: Nineteen researchers published 34 papers in international journals
and 2 papers in national journals.
Conferences Participation: Thirteen researchers presented their achieved results in 23
international conferences around the world while four researchers participated in four
national conferences.
Linking with Academic Community: Seven researchers were linked with national and
international academic institutes.
Ability to obtain further funds: Eight researchers were able to obtain further fund for
their research work.
Page 4 SRTD - I I : 2014 IN REVIEW
SRTD– I Results & Assessment
“(SRTD I) Project
provided 60
Grants of up to
15,000 JD to 30
researchers and
30 start-up
businesses”
Researches 28 Start - up 27 Number of Research Projects Obtained further Funding
Page 5 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1
Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation framework
program, supporting research and innovation with a budget of €80
billion, and will run from 2014 until 2020. It promises more break-throughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from
the lab to the market.
The main objective of the program is coupling research and innova-tion with a goal to ensure Europe produces world-class science, re-moves barriers to innovation and makes it easier for the public and private sectors to work together in delivering innovation. SRTD-II aims at creating links between Jordanian & European re-searchers, increasing the Jordanian participation in and visibility on an international scale, through organizing or enhancing their partici-pation in networking & brokerage events or conferences. Currently Jordan has 8 National Contact Points in different research areas, who can assist the participation of researchers in the framework
program, H2020.
Thematic Area Institution Contact Name E-mail
Coordinator NCP in Jordan for H2020
Higher Council for Science and Technology Eng. Omar Amawi [email protected]
Health King Hussein Cancer Center Dr. Abdelghani Tbakhi [email protected]
Food National Center for Agricultural Research and Extension
Dr. Muien Qaryouti [email protected]
ICT The Ministry of Information and Communica-tions Technology
Eng. Ahmad Rami [email protected]
Environment Royal Scientific Society/ Environment Monitor-ing & Research Central Unit EMARCU
Ms. Fida'a Jibril [email protected]
Energy National Energy Research Center Eng. Muhieddin Tawal-beh
NMP National Center for Research & Develop-ment/Nanotechnology program
Dr. Khaled Elshuraydeh [email protected]
People Higher Council for Science and Technology Ms. Muna Zaqsaw [email protected]
Horizon 2020 has three key pillars
Page 6 SRTD - I I : 2014 IN REVIEW
Upcoming Events and Conferences
Several trainings and capacity building initiatives are planned to be
offered in 2015, such as workshops and webinars.
- workshops are being designed in different areas and will be of-
fered to wider range of participants.
- webinars will be open to interested actors based on a registration
established system, each topic will be delivered in a one day session,
with a total of 21 sessions covering many topics.
The 2nd Euro-Mediterranean Brokerage will be held from the 25th to 26th February 2015, organized
by MEDSPRING project in Berlin, Germany; hosted by DLR, in collaboration with MHESR, MCST, ANI-
MA and CIHEAM-IAMB. This is the 2nd Brokerage Event to be organized by MEDSPRING, and will
be a regional Euro-Mediterranean event where companies, organizations, entrepreneurs and re-
searchers from different EU and Mediterranean countries participate with the aim of facilitating
bridging between research and innovation through the creation of private-public and research-
enterprise partnerships. It also aims at activating relevant actors in the Mediterranean region, help-
ing them to enhance clustering for innovation involving young entrepreneurs from the Mediterranean
Partner Countries (MPCs).
SRTD - II Project Implementation Office ( PIO) representatives and there Jordanian Idea carriers in
Food & Water sectors will participate in this event, supported by the project.
The SRTD-II project will support the 15th International Congress of the International Society for Ethno-pharmacology from 05-08 May, 2015, Petra - Jordan. This congress is organized by Al-Balqa Ap-
plied University in collaboration with the International Society for Ethno pharmacology.
http://www.ethnopharmacology.org/
The topics of the congress include different fields of research related to ethno-pharmacology which aim to bring together researchers from all over the world with their recent achievements in medicinal
plant science, innovations and industry.
The 15th International Congress of the International Society for Ethno-pharmacology
2nd Euro-Mediterranean Brokerage and Venturing Event on Research and Innovation
The Higher Council for Science and Technology was established in 1987
under Law Number (30) as a public independent institution and acts as
a national umbrella for all science & technology (S&T) activities in Jor-
dan.
The objective of The Higher Council is to build a national science and
technology base to contribute to the achievement of development ob-
jectives, through increasing awareness of the significance of scientific
research and development, granting the necessary funding and direct-
ing scientific and research activities, within national priorities, in line
with development orientations. The Higher Council was also entrusted
with the establishment of specialized centers for R+D activity, the Sup-
port of innovation and entrepreneurship to contribute to the commer-
cialize scientific and technological ideas into products and businesses,
the conclusion of agreements relating to cooperation with Arab regional
and international parties, the representation of the kingdom in scientific
and technological activities, at the Arab, regional and international lev-
els. The Higher Council is chaired by HRH Prince El Hassan Bin Talal,
who has been instrumental to the progress of science and technology in
Jordan from the beginning.
For more information about SRTD - II Project Please visit
www.srtd.hcst.gov.jo
About HCST
Address: P.O. Box: 36 Amman 11941 – Jordan Phone: +962-6-5335288 Fax : +962-6-5340589 www.hcst.gov.jo
The Higher Counci l for Science & Technology
This publication has been produced with the assistance of the EU. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of SRTD-II and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.