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Introduction
The needs of Research and Education users are continuously evolving, and for NRENs and the GÉANT community it is important to identify innovative ideas to support technological evolution, new use cases, and help to accelerate and to expand these ideas into new services or tools.
GÉANT Association has reserved EUR300k to support an Innovation Fund for specific projects to be carried out by members of the GÉANT Community i.e. universities, research institutions/institutes or other such legal entities to which a GÉANT Association member NREN provides services. Projects benefiting from this funding are selected by means of a competitive call for projects and funding by the Innovation Fund Programme.
This document contains the basic information needed to prepare a proposal to the Innovation Fund Programme. It also describes how the proposal should be submitted, and the criteria on which it will be evaluated.
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Scope and Contents of Proposals
The scope of the Innovation Fund is to support innovative ideas coming from talents from the GÉANT Community, help these innovators by means of a proof of concept enabled or facilitated (depending the scope) by this Fund. This enables innovators to work on their ideas and to try them out in a real environment, with flexible and light constraints. Examples of previous innovation within the GEANT Community include: eduroam, eduVPN and eduMEET.
It is expected that participants in this programme will propose concrete and specific plans that enable them to achieve specific results during the given timeframe. Selected projects may be invited to refine and implement the plan during the proposal evaluation process. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) will be managed according to the corresponding agreement which the beneficiaries shall adhere to.
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Funding of Participation
An indicative maximum budget of up to a maximum of EUR30K will be assigned to selected projects for the purpose of carrying out the work. We expect projects to be 3-6 months in duration. Work will need to completed and invoices submitted by December 2021.
Match funding is not required, however, those projects that have already secured match funding may be given priority.
Proposals may be submitted by a single organisation or by a small consortium. Large consortiums are not expected to submit proposals. However, only the lead partner organisation will receive funding and they will be responsible for assigning a budget to any other partners within their project. GÉANT will not ask for a detailed declaration of expenditure, however, participants should be able to prove expenditure in the event of an audit, so will need to maintain the project’s supporting documentation.
How to Prepare and Submit a Proposal
Proposals can be submitted via GÉANT’s Indico system as described in this document. Documents will be submitted by Indico at https://events.geant.org/event/350/
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Applicants must:
- Download and complete the application form.
- When completed, the applicants must ensure that proposals are saved as a Microsoft Word document or PDF, and then upload via the Indico system to https://events.geant.org/event/350/
Proposal Language
The proposal must be prepared in English. Proposals submitted in any other language will not be evaluated.
Submission of Proposals
Proposals created according to the above instructions must be submitted electronically via Indico (https://events.geant.org/event/350/). Proposals sent to the Innovation Fund by any other means are regarded as “not submitted”, and will not be evaluated.
Only accepted proposals will be made public.
Proposal Evaluation and Selection
The evaluation of proposals will take place on a monthly basis. Eligible proposals will be evaluated, using the form shown in Appendix B3.
A minimum of three subject matter experts will be assigned to make an initial evaluation of each proposal received.
A final evaluation will then be completed by committee which may include:
- Members of the GÉANT Community Committee (GCC).
- Steering committees of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and Task Forces (TFs).
- Well recognised subject matter experts from the GÉANT Community.
- Ex officio members from the GÉANT Association.
All members will sign a conflict of interest form before taking part in the evaluation process and must be independent of any member of the consortium and of any applicant. In case one or more of the ex officio members are not independent, they shall abstain into the evaluation process in order to perform strictly administrative functions.
During the evaluation process, the lead partner in a proposal may be invited for a negotiation meeting with members of the evaluation committee - for example, in cases where further clarifications are required regarding the content, costs or outcomes of the project.
Once a proposal has been selected the lead partner (representing the consortium if several legal entities are involved) taking part in the project will enter into an agreement with the GÉANT Association which makes clear the work that will be carried out and the outcomes and expected results of such work. Activities may only start upon signature of the agreement.
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Indicative timetable for the first Innovation Fund programme
Final Report
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Checklist
This section provides a list of points against which applicants are advised to check their proposals prior to submission.
- Is your organisation eligible?
If in doubt please check either with your local NREN or the Innovation Fund co-ordinator (innovationfund@geant.org)
- Is the proposal eligible?
Applicants must submit a complete proposal, using the Indico submission system. Any proposal not meeting the eligibility requirements will be considered ineligible and will not be evaluated.
- Is the proposal complete?
Proposals must comprise a Part A, containing the administrative information on standard forms, and a Part B, containing the description of the applicant’s proposal as described in this Guide. A proposal that does not contain both parts will be considered ineligible and will not be evaluated.
- Do you need further advice and support?
For further information and help please email innovationfund@geant.org. Answers to your question may be included in an FAQ section available on the Innovation Fund web page on the GÉANT website.
Support to Applicants
For further information and help, please consult the Innovation Fund Programme web pages in the first instance www.geant.org/XXXX.
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