Agreements
FAPESP & BE-BASIC Call for Proposals 2016 Versão em português
Note: the new deadline for submission of proposals is April 28, 2017.
Egilibility consultation can be done unti April 7.
The São Paulo Research Foundation, FAPESP (Brazil), and the BE-Basic Consortium (The Netherlands) make this Call for Research Proposals public and invite interested researchers that are associated to BE-Basic and to non-profit higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo to submit joint research proposals according to the FAPESP/BE-Basic Memorandum of Understanding and to the conditions described below.
FAPESP has been supporting research projects relevant for the advancement of knowledge and technology in Bioenergy. For over 50 years the Foundation has funded, through its several research funding instruments, a large number of research projects in themes related to Energy and the Environment. Besides advancing fundamental and applied knowledge of Bioenergy, the FAPESP Research Program on Bioenergy (BIOEN) aims at contributing decisively towards the formation of scientific and technical personnel in the field of Bioenergy R&D.
The BE-Basic Foundation is a Public-Private Consortium composed of mainly Dutch universities, knowledge institutes and companies, which have received a research grant from Dutch Ministries to execute the BE-Basic Program. The purpose of the Program is to develop the required knowledge and technology to stimulate industrial bio-based solutions for a sustainable society.
FAPESP and BE-Basic are collaborating in this Joint Call for Proposals (JCFP), with the aim to promote and support research projects involving the collaboration between scientists working in public or private non-profit research and higher education institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil and scientists associated to BE-Basic in The Netherlands. The research projects should help to build up scientific and technological competencies, foster strategic alliances for scientific and technological development, promote the dissemination of knowledge and generate results which potentially could lead to applications with commercial value in the areas of interest to FAPESP and BE-Basic.
1. Relevant themes for this Call for Proposals
In this Call for Proposals, BE-Basic and FAPESP aim to fund collaborative research projects including, but not restricted to the following areas:
1.1 Synthetic Biology for Biofuels and Bio-based Chemicals
Development of tools or generation of fundamental knowledge related to the manipulation of plants and microorganisms for the production of biofuels and bio-based chemicals.
Scope:
a) Industrial microbiology, metabolic engineering, systems biology.
b) Bioprospection and directed evolution of microorganisms.
c) Automation, robotics for screening and selection of organisms (plants or microorganisms), DNA synthesis, expression systems.
d) Synthetic chemistry, design of proteins and enzymes.
e) Consolidated bioprocessing.
1.2 Sustainability
Monitoring biofuel expansion, new technologies and their impacts on sustainability (economic, social and environmental); providing/generating data and tools for establishing measurable indicators of sustainability of bioenergy; developing methodologies, models and activities (including education and communication) to integrate areas related to sustainability from a global perspective.
Scope:
a) Soil and crop management, nutrient cycles.
b) Social, environmental and economic impacts.
c) Policy and public perception.
1.3 Biofuel Industrial Technologies
Pretreatment; biorefinery concepts; consolidated process development; analysis and evaluation, bioprocess integration; energy consumption reduction; development and testing of advanced biofuels for aviation, road and marine applications, process intensification; heat and mass integration; residual streams and vinasse as feedstock for biobased chemicals, energy and gas.
Scope:
a) Biorefinery concepts.
b) Consolidated bioprocessing.
c) Integration and intensification of bioprocesses.
d) Use of residual streams; uses for vinasse.
2. Rules for Project Submission
Please read carefully and follow rigorously the application requirements of this Call.
2.1 Eligibility consultation
Before starting the elaboration of the joint project, interested researchers from the State of São Paulo must consult FAPESP regarding their eligibility. After receiving the consultation, FAPESP will respond within 20 days.
Proposers considered eligible will receive a Letter of Eligibility that should be attached to the project to be submitted in the SAGe (Instructions in Annex I, Item 2a).
Only eligible researchers may submit proposals in this Call.
A. Considering the deadline of the call (March 31, 2017), eligibility consultations sent after March, 5 will not be answered.
B. The eligibility consultation must be sent exclusively to the e-mail: call-fapesp-be-basic@fapesp.br, containing the following information:
B.1. Curricular Summaries of the Principal Investigator of the State of São Paulo - in English (as described in fapesp.br/sumula)
B.2. Names of the Researchers Partners and their respective Institutions
B.3. Title and duration of the proposal to be submitted to FAPESP
B.4. Financing Instrument (Item 2.2e) and estimated budget to be requested from FAPESP
B.5. Estimative of dedication to the project by the Principal Investigator of the State of SP (hours/week)
2.2 Applications that fail to comply with these requirements will not be considered:
a) The partner researchers based at Institutions in the State of São Paulo must submit proposals to FAPESP.
b) The Proposal must be unique, i.e., written jointly by the BE-Basic and São Paulo researchers in collaboration. Proposals will only be eligible when researchers from both BE-Basic and São Paulo State are involved.
c) Research projects must be written in English.
d) Each Proposal must have a Principal Investigator (PI) in the Netherlands and a Principal Investigator in São Paulo State. The proposal must describe the work planned for each party involved in the project.
e) Applicants from São Paulo must meet FAPESP’s eligibility requirements. Proposals submitted to FAPESP must be in accordance to one of the following Research Award schemes:
i. Regular Research Awards (www.fapesp.br/137)
ii. Young Investigator Awards (www.fapesp.br/en/6251)
iii. Thematic Project Awards (www.fapesp.br/176)
f) The proposals must adhere strictly to the norm announced by FAPESP for each scheme offered above, except if explicitly exceptioned in this call.
g) Applicants from The Netherlands must ensure that the activities are embed in (i) an approved BE-Basic project or (ii) are part of a new project submitted for approval under the scope of this call. In case the joint project is based on a new project submitted for approval (ii), approval of the joint project is dependent on the final approval of the submitted project. BE-Basic applicants should complete the form “Cover Note for Collaboration FAPESP BIOEN & BE-Basic”. These forms should also be submitted to FAPESP with the other FAPESP forms requested by SAGe system (For complete instructions please see Item 8).
2.1 Eligibility consultation
Before starting the elaboration of the joint project, interested researchers from the State of São Paulo must consult FAPESP regarding their eligibility. After receiving the consultation, FAPESP will respond within 20 days.
Proposers considered eligible will receive a Letter of Eligibility that should be attached to the project to be submitted in the SAGe (Instructions in Annex I, Item 2a).
Only eligible researchers may submit proposals in this Call.
A. Considering the deadline of the call (March 31, 2017), eligibility consultations sent after March, 5 will not be answered.
B. The eligibility consultation must be sent exclusively to the e-mail: call-fapesp-be-basic@fapesp.br, containing the following information:
B.1. Curricular Summaries of the Principal Investigator of the State of São Paulo - in English (as described in fapesp.br/sumula)
B.2. Names of the Researchers Partners and their respective Institutions
B.3. Title and duration of the proposal to be submitted to FAPESP
B.4. Financing Instrument (Item 2.2e) and estimated budget to be requested from FAPESP
B.5. Estimative of dedication to the project by the Principal Investigator of the State of SP (hours/week)
The grant applications should target:
3.1 New and creative solutions
Applications should not aim at incremental engineering, with guaranteed results. This Call seeks research proposals that create and explore new technologies and knowledge and that contributes to the development of human resources in the field of Bioenergy. FAPESP and BE-Basic encourage bold, novel and unconventional original approaches to address the scientific and technological challenges listed in item 1.
3.2 Communication of results
Research results should be widely communicated through relevant scientific communities using established academic channels, such as international conferences and refereed journals following the procedure described under items 4.e) and 6.2. Other channels for community development include regional workshops, graduate seminars, and curriculum components such as courses or course materials.
3.3 From science to innovation
This call seeks proposals which could potentially lead to applications with commercial value in the biobased economy. A proposal should define this potential for applications, identify which companies could be early adopters, and explain how the project partners intend to interact and share results with representatives of these companies during the project. Please include this information under item 12 of the research proposal (see Guidelines described in Annex I).
4. FAPESP/BE-Basic Cooperation Terms of Acceptance
Researchers and Institutions may join the FAPESP/BE-Basic Program under the following terms:
a) Project leaders will ensure that FAPESP BIOEN and BE-Basic rules for publication and Intellectual Property (IP) are followed as described in items 4.e), 6.1) and 6.2).
b) IP originated from the FAPESP/BE-Basic Cooperation is shared among the institutions that host the selected proposals, subject to an Agreement that complies with the IP rules of FAPESP and the BE-Basic Foundations Consortium Agreement.
c) On the BE-Basic side one institution will be designated “Lead Owner”. A BE-Basic partner who is Lead Owner in a FAPESP/BE-Basic project is committed to the rules in the BE-Basic Consortium Agreement.
d) Attendance to FAPESP/BE-Basic workshops and work meetings will be mandatory. Principle Investigators must stimulate the participation of all students and postdoctoral researchers attached to the project.
e) Notification of the Steering Committee of the FAPESP/BE-Basic Cooperation must precede any publication of results. The Steering Committee will evaluate if the results obtained require the securement of intellectual property rights (please see item 6.2).
5. Funds available for this Call for Research Proposals
a) The total amount of funds available for the selected Proposals is US$ 3 million. It is envisaged that applications will be for a balanced partnership between FAPESP and BE-Basic, not specifically in monetary terms but with equivalent research commitment and efforts from both partners.
b) The appropriateness of the requested funding in relation to the proposal’s objectives and the qualification of the research team is a primary review consideration.
c) FAPESP and BE-Basic reserve the right to adjust the budget requested for each Proposal.
6. Intellectual Property and Publications
6.1 Intellectual Property
a) Due to its multi-institutional nature, the FAPESP/BE-Basic Cooperation will require an Agreement between the host institutions regarding the management and the division of the income resulting from Intellectual Property. That complies with the IP rules of FAPESP and the BE-Basic Foundation Consortium Agreement (please see Item 12.2).
b) Intellectual property resulting from FAPESP funded research projects or work packages are subject to the applicable FAPESP rules on intellectual property rights. FAPESP´s IP policy is available at: www.fapesp.br/pi.
c) Intellectual property resulting from BE-Basic research projects or work packages are subject to the applicable provisions in the BE-Basic Consortium Agreement. More information available at: www.be-basic.org.
d) When Intellectual Property rights are generated by input from both FAPESP and BE-Basic parties there will be joint ownership. In such cases, the generating parties will in good faith endeavour to establish a Joint Ownership Agreement regarding the allocation and terms of exercising the joint ownership that complies with the IP rules of FAPESP and the BE-Basic Foundation Consortium Agreement.
6.2 Publications
a) FAPESP and BE-Basic parties recognize and promote the necessity to publish results for academic research and educational purposes. However, Parties also recognize that the need to file foreground IP may temporarily limit dissemination of results until filing is completed. Dissemination of results via publication or presentation of results by Parties demand prior written approval by the Steering Committee.
b) Approval to publish or present the results will be deemed granted in case the Steering Committee neither indicates that the manuscript of the publication includes confidential information pursuant to article 6.2.e nor indicates foreground IP possibilities to the Party requesting publication or presentation within one month after submission of said results to the Steering Committee.
c) In case the Steering Committee does identify potential for foreground IP claims it will instruct the inventing/generating Party to lay down the invention in an invention disclosure and seek patent protection by filing foreground IP claims on its own account and on its own costs prior to publication or presentation. The publication or presentation of results will be delayed for the duration of the patent filing process, but at no time longer than six months after the results are disclosed to the Steering Committee.
d) Acknowledgement of FAPESP and the BE-Basic Program funding must be explicitly mentioned in each publication and presentation regarding results originating from the program.
e) A Party may not publish results, foreground IP, confidential information or background knowledge of another Party, even if such results, foreground IP, confidential information or background knowledge amalgamates with the Party’s foreground, without the other Party’s prior written approval.
7. Allowable Costs
The following items can be included in the budget:
7.1 From FAPESP
a) All types of costs traditionally funded by FAPESP in the Research Award scheme chosen by the applicant (see Item 2.e)
7.2 From BE-Basic
a) In case BE-Basic researchers collaborate in the framework of an already approved or submitted for approval BE-Basic project they need to indicate which parts of their linked BE-Basic project relate to the proposed collaboration activities (format provided in the “Cover Note”).
b) In the case above (7.2.a), BE-Basic researchers can request additional funds for e.g. the organization and attendance to workshops, traveling (meetings and staff exchange), materials (consumables) and services. These costs need to be justified in terms of relevance to the collaboration in the Cover Note and specified (including matching funds) in a separate budget form.
8. Proposal Format
8.1. Project Duration
a) Proposals for Regular Research Awards will have a duration of 24 months.
b) Proposals for Young Investigator Awards will have a duration of 48 months.
c) Proposals for Thematic Project Awards will have a duration of 60 months.
8.2. Proposal language and formatting
a) Proposals must be written in English
b) Proposals must follow the guidelines for the particular FAPESP funding line (Thematic Project – www.fapesp.br/176, Regular Project – www.fapesp.br/137, and Young Investigator Award – www.fapesp.br/jp) chosen by the proposer, including directives described in the present guidelines.
8.3. Proposals submission
a) Proposals must be submitted to FAPESP through a customized path of the SAGe system (please, for additional guidelines regarding the online submission please consult Annex II only in Portuguese) by the applicant from the State of São Paulo before the deadline announced in Section 11.
b) Proposals submitted by any other means will not be accepted.
c) No proposal will be accepted after the closing date for submission, nor will any addendum or explanation be accepted, unless those explicitly and formally requested by FAPESP or Be-Basic
d) All the documents required by SAGe platform must be attached to the online submission. Proposals lacking mandatory documents will be returned without merit review.
9. Project organization
The research project must be submitted via SAGe system, following the below instructions:
a) Research Project : must be written in English and must cover items 1 to 13 of the Guidelines described in Annex I of this Call for Research Proposals. The items 1 to 12 must occupy no more than 30 pages, typed in Times New Roman, font size 11 and 1.5 paragraph spacing. Please use the headings listed in the items 1 to 13 of Annex I as the section headings.
10. Review process
All received proposals considered eligible to this call for proposals will be reviewed in two steps:
10.1 Adequacy to the FAPESP/BE-Basic Cooperation
a) The proposal adequacy will be evaluated by the Steering Committee that will write a summary report to be used during the evaluation process.
b) The Steering Committee will analyse the adequacy of the proposal following the criteria described below:
b.1) Accordance of the grant proposal to the relevant themes listed in item 1 and conditions specified in this Call for Proposals;
b.2) Potential to collaborate with current grants funded by the BIOEN Program and the BE-Basic Programs;
b.3) Perspective to integrate the grant application with current grants funded by the BIOEN and BE-Basic Programs;
b.4) Contribution of the proposal to the aims and objectives of the BIOEN and BE-Basic programs.
10.2 Analysis and selection of the Proposals considered adequate by the FAPESP/BE-Basic Program
The merit of each application will be analysed by external peer reviewers (at least one provided by BE-Basic) and FAPESP’s panels following the selection criteria used by FAPESP for each award scheme.
All the Proposals will be analysed using the following additional criteria:
a) Adequacy to the conditions specified in this Call for Proposals;
b) Originality and audacity of the proposed project regarding the chosen field of research that would, if successful, have the potential to be a breakthrough in the research area;
c) Research project quality regarding clarity of objectives, challenges, and methods and materials to be used in comparison to the state-of-the-art in the field;
d) Adequacy to the infrastructure of the host institutions;
e) Principle Investigators and team qualifications assessed by prior research results in the relevant areas, success in previous grants, awards, teaching activity recognition, and publications using the Curriculum Vitae of the main researchers;
f) Project viability, including budget adequacy, institutional support, reasonable timetables, size and quality of the team, amount of financial resources and efficient use of resources;
g) Potential for ample use and dissemination of the generated Intellectual Property, including plans for research publication, conference presentations, and plans for content distribution in multiple formats and media;
h) Training of new researchers and personnel during the project execution;
i) Added value of the BIOEN/BE-Basic collaboration to the project.
11. Schedule
|
Event |
Date |
|
Call announcement |
December, 2016 |
|
Eligibility consultation |
April 7, 2017 |
|
Closing date for submissions |
April 28, 2017 |
|
Notification of successful proposals |
October, 2017 |
12. Grant Contracts, progress analysis and evaluation
12.1 For approved proposals, FAPESP, the Principle Investigator from São Paulo State and a representative of the host research institution will sign a grant contract. BE-Basic shall issue a grant letter with budget allocation to the PI representing the BE-Basic partners.
12.2 In case of approval, a Letter of Agreement between the Partner Host Institution and the Host Institution to which the PI from São Paulo is affiliated, establishing how Intellectual Property rights, confidentiality, and publications will be treated jointly, in observance of the policies of each funding Party. The Letter of Agreement is not mandatory for the submission of proposals, but no approved project will be contracted before the presentation of a copy of the signed Agreement.
12.3 The results are evaluated by progress reports and financial reports that must be submitted by the dates established in the Grant Contract. The Principle Investigator from The Netherlands must follow the normal procedure in BE-Basic and the instructions of the BE-Basic support office.
13. Grant Cancelation
FAPESP or BE-Basic may cancel the grant if a significant event justifies its cancellation in the opinion of the Steering Committee, without reducing the possibility of other sanctions.
14. Communications regarding this Call for Research proposals
Queries for this call for research grant proposals must be directed to Mrs. Bruna Musa (chamada-be-basic@fapesp.br). To insure a prompt reply, please use "FAPESP/BE-Basic Call" as the email subject.
Queries specifically related to BE-Basic should be addressed to Mrs. Sandra Ransdorp at the BE-Basic Support Office: supportoffice@be-basic.org.
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Annex II: Guidelines for SAGe submission (in Portuguese)