Applications are open for ‘Innovation Starting Grants’ to develop scientific collaborations between Switzerland and countries of the MENA region.
The Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) commissioned the HES-SO as the Leading House (LH) for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
The following countries of the MENA region are eligible for this call: Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Occupied Palestinian territory, Qatar, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.
Goals and objectives
This call wants to promote innovation projects. Innovation is here understood in a broad sense referring to:
both its technological and socio-cultural dimensions: innovation is not only performed by companies from the business sector, but also by organisations of other types and by individuals, who can play a role in innovation activities by altering products or processes, or by creating or distributing new knowledge. Social innovations “differ from technological innovations mainly in that they explicitly pursue changes to societal practices and attach less importance to establishing a new product in the market.”
both an activity and its outcome: “an innovation is a new or improved product or process (or combination thereof) that differs significantly from the unit’s previous products or processes and that has been made available to potential users (product) or brought into use by the unit (process).”
both a Research and Development (R&D) aspect and its implementation: “innovations derive from knowledge-based activities that involve the practical application of existing or newly developed information and knowledge.”
Innovation starting grants want to foster collaboration between Swiss researchers from universities, universities of applied sciences or public research institutes and non-academic innovation agents of the MENA region. Consequently, the projects must involve at least a Swiss higher education institution, a higher education institution of the MENA region, and a non-academic innovation agent of the MENA region.
Funding Information
The maximum amount for an innovation starting grant is CHF 50,000. The grant will be disbursed in two installments: 80% after signing the grant contract and 20% after approval of the final report.
Eligible Projects
Projects eligible for this call may be positioned at various levels along the innovation chain and range from use-oriented research to implementation. Specifically, innovation starting grants can support activities such as:
pilot technology or product development activities (e.g. creation of a prototype integrating Swiss knowledge)
developing innovative solutions for social sectors (e.g. health and/or social work sectors)
planning a joint R&D project proposal for submission to a national or international innovation related funding agency (e.g. Innosuisse)
establishing long-term consulting or training partnerships between two institutions (e.g. management training for a MENA innovation agent conducted by a Swiss university of applied sciences)
reverse engineering projects (e.g. extraction of knowledge from the MENA region for educational purposes)
Eligibility Criteria
The call is open to all scientific disciplines and fields of research. However, proposals planning developments for military application will be rejected.
All scientists of Swiss federal and cantonal universities, universities of applied sciences and universities of teachers’ education, as well as public research institutions (as defined in art. 5 of the Federal Act on the Promotion of Research and Innovation), are eligible to apply.
The Swiss scientist is the main applicant.
The principal investigator/researcher in the MENA region must be affiliated to an accredited university or a public research institute and must hold a faculty or senior scientist position in addition to several years of research experience.
For the non-academic partner, the applicant must be senior staff affiliated with an innovation agent in one of the partner countries. Non-academic innovation agents can be start-ups, innovation parks, NGOs, civil associations, companies, hospitals, schools, incubators, social and/or economic cooperatives, etc.