Agreements
Memorandum of Understanding between Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo and BE-BASIC Foundation Versão em português
Memorandum of Understanding between Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo and BE-BASIC Foundation on Joint Calls for Joint Research Projects
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, a juridical person of public law, established under the authorization of State Law number 5.918 of 18 October, 1960, with Statutes approved by State Decree number 40.132 of 23 May, 1962, registered at the National Tax Payer Roll under number 43.828.151/0001-45, with head office at Rua Pio XI, 1500, Alto da Lapa, São Paulo, SP, hereinafter named FAPESP and hereby represented by its President, Professor Celso Lafer, Ph.D.Brazil; and
BE-Basic Foundation, a public-private consortium, having its registered office at Mijnbouwstraat 120, Delft, the Netherlands, hereinafter referred to as BE-BASIC, hereby represented by the Chairman of the Board Luuk van der Wielen,
referred to hereafter as Parties or Party, decide to celebrate the present Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), under the following terms and conditions:
Whereas
FAPESP is an independent public foundation with the mission to foster research, scientific and technological development of the State of São Paulo.
The BE-BASIC Foundation is a Public Private Consortium composed of mainly Dutch universities, knowledge institutes and companies which has received a research & innovation grant from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture & Innovation (EL&I) to manage and execute the BE-BASIC Program. The purpose of the Program is to develop the required knowledge and technology to stimulate bio-based ecologically balanced sustainable industrial chemistry.
FAPESP and BE-BASIC intend to collaborate in Joint Calls for Proposals (JCFP), with the aim of promoting and supporting research projects involving collaboration between scientists working in public or private research or teaching 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 market value in the area(s) of interest to FAPESP and BE-BASIC.
This MoU sets out the principles and procedures to be adopted by the Parties in:
a) opening call for proposals;
b) receiving joint proposals;
c) setting up peer review and selection procedures;
d) providing funding for the proposals selected.
1 Intentions - Organisation of the Collaboration
a) FAPESP and BE-BASIC have agreed to establish a scheme for joint funding of collaborative research projects in the fields of Annex I.
b) The Parties will nominate a Steering Committee composed by four members, two indicated by BE-BASIC and two by FAPESP.
c) The Steering Committee will prepare the Calls for Proposals and decide on other pertinent matters, according to Annex II.
d) Both FAPESP and BE-BASIC may relieve or appoint their representatives to the Joint Steering Committee at any time, without consultation of the other party, but informing the other party with 24 h antecedence.
2 Submission of Proposals
a) FAPESP and BE-BASIC will prepare and issue calls for research proposals and will encourage submission of joint proposals.
a.1) FAPESP and BE-BASIC will precise the frame, submission conditions, eligibility rules and evaluation process of such projects.
b) The BE-BASIC applicants must comply with BE-BASIC’s eligibility rules for research support applications.
c) The São Paulo applicants must comply with FAPESP’s eligibility rules for research grant applications.
d) The parties that have signed the BE-BASIC Consortium Agreement will be subject to BE-BASIC rules and the scientists in São Paulo will be subject to FAPESP’s rules.
e) The proposals must be unique, i.e., written jointly by the BE-BASIC and São Paulo researchers that will collaborate.
f) The proposals shall be submitted simultaneously, by the Brazilian researchers to FAPESP and by the BE-BASIC researchers to BE-BASIC.
f.1) Proposals submitted to only one party will not be eligible.
g) The proposals shall be written in English.
h) After closure date for the Call for Proposals BE-BASIC and FAPESP will exchange a listing of the proposals received by each institution.
i) Each proposal must have a Principal Investigator in The Netherlands and a Principal Investigator in São Paulo, designated in the submission forms in their respective organizations.
2.1 Proposal formatting
Each part will use its own submission forms.
3 Evaluation of Project Proposals
a) BE-BASIC and FAPESP will implement evaluation of the proposals according to their own evaluation rules, and will rank the proposals based on scientific quality and interest.
b) The most important evaluation criteria:
b.1) Scientific quality and originality of the joint research plan;
b.2) Added value to be expected from the BE-BASIC - FAPESP research collaboration.
c) Other important evaluation criteria:
c.1) Feasibility of the joint research plan;
c.2) Competence and expertise of the BE-BASIC and São Paulo scientists teams;
c.3) Balanced cooperation.
d) Based on the national scientific evaluation ranking and consensus reached through discussions, the Parties will agree on the joint projects to be funded.
4 Funding
a) For the selected proposals BE-BASIC will fund the part to be developed by BE-BASIC scientists and FAPESP will fund the part to be developed by the Brazilian scientists.
b) The funding might cover the costs of e.g. research expenses, fellowships for (post-)graduate students and post-doctoral positions, and travel expenses according to each Parties’ funding rules.
c) The funding decisions will be made independently, but based on the mutual agreement, according to the Parties’ respective rules, regulations and practices.
d) Each project will be funded for a period of up to 5 years.
e) The target is to provide 2 to 3 million US$ of joint funding per year.
5 Timetable and Announcement of Decision
a) The Parties agree to ensure that all decisions on proposals to be funded will be taken according to timetables to be agreed upon in each case.
b) FAPESP and BE-BASIC will synchronise the communication on the selected projects.
6 Confidentiality
FAPESP and BE-BASIC agree to keep confidential the content of the proposals submitted for evaluation in the scope of this MoU including any other information received marked as Confidential Information or of which the receiver knew or could have known its confidential nature. To the extent necessary the employees or partners of the Parties to this MoU and/or any third parties having access to any such Confidential Information will sign a separate Confidentiality Agreement or Declaration, as the case may be.
7 Intellectual Property
a) The Parties encourage scientists and their institutions to enter into agreements to ensure the effective protection and correct distribution of intellectual property rights resulting from projects under this Memorandum of Understanding and funded by either FAPESP or BE-BASIC.
b) Rights concerning results resulting from research projects or work packages funded by FAPESP only shall be subject to the applicable FAPESP rules on intellectual property rights.
c) Rights concerning results resulting from research projects or work packages funded by BE-BASIC only shall be subject to the applicable provisions in the BE-BASIC Consortium Agreement.
d) In case where Rights were generated based on input from both FAPESP parties and BE-Basic parties there will be joint ownership. In such case the generating parties will in good faith endeavour to establish a Joint Ownership Agreement regarding the allocation and terms of exercising that joint ownership, taking into account the relevant provisions on intellectual property rights of both FAPESP and BE-BASIC. In case of conflicts between FAPESP rules and BE-BASIC rules or between the generating parties involved an amicable solution will be sought by submitting it to the Joint Steering Committee.
8 Reporting
a) The national Principal Investigators on behalf of their participating teams will submit to both Parties a yearly scientific progress report on the overall project complemented by a report from each team. Financial reporting will follow the rules of each Party.
b) At the end of each project a formal final report should be submitted to each Party according to its reporting rules.
c) Due acknowledgement of support received from the FAPESP and the BE-BASIC should be made in the publication of any research resulting from this program.
9 Miscellaneous
a) Each Party covers its own administration costs regarding its contribution to the call, unless otherwise jointly decided.
b) This Memorandum of Understanding is subject to the availability of funds in the budget of the Parties and the applicable laws and regulations of their respective countries.
c) This Memorandum of Understanding may only be amended by a document signed by both Parties and identified as an Addendum to this Memorandum of Understanding.
d) The Parties shall maintain the highest ethical and legal standards in funding research under this Memorandum of Understanding.
10 Term of this Memorandum of Understanding
a) For each Party, the MoU will come into force on the date of signature by the Party’s authorized representative, with the intention to issue joint calls for proposals up to and including 2017, and shall remain in force until the end of the funded projects unless terminated earlier or replaced by a more detailed Collaboration Agreement, if any.
b) Each Party can terminate this MoU at any time by written notice to the other Party of its intention of termination with a minimal notice period of 1 month. This termination will not affect any joint activities, which may include joint research projects, which are ongoing at the time it occurs. In any such cases the Parties will in good faith agree on the consequences of such earlier termination on any such joint activities, if any.
c) The MoU may be amended or modified by written agreement of all signatories or their substitutes.
d) This MoU is a mutual statement of intent among Parties, who agree to make every reasonable effort to fulfill the intentions expressed herein.
11 Dispute resolution and applicable Law
The Parties to this MoU will first attempt to settle any doubts or disagreements resulting from the execution of this MoU in an amicable way by submitting it to the Joint Steering Committee.
Any remaining disputes which cannot be resolved in an amicable way, may either be submitted to the competent court of the State of São Paulo, Brazil and shall be governed by the laws of Brazil and/or to any competent Dutch court and shall be governed by Dutch law.
12 Signatures
In full and mutual agreement, this Memorandum of Understanding is signed in four copies in two language versions, in English and in Portuguese.
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20/08, 2013 |
20/08, 2013 |
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Celso Lafer President THE SÃO PAULO RESEARCH FOUNDATION FAPESP |
Luuk van der Wielen Chairman of the Board BE-BASIC FOUNDATION |
ANNEX I
BE-BASIC and FAPESP agree to have the joint funding of collaborative research projects in the area(s) of interest to FAPESP and BE-BASIC, and decided by the Joint Steering Committee such as but not limited to:
- Division of Ethanol Industrial Technologies;
- Division of Bio-refineries Technologies and Alcohol Chemistry;
- Division of Research on Impacts: Social and economic, environmental studies, land use, intellectual property.
ANNEX II
a) The Joint Steering Committee will have the following responsibilities:
a.1) Specify themes, after consultation of the Parties, for the Joint Call for Proposals (JCFP);
a.2) Pre-select the received proposals according to their adherence to the terms and themes of the corresponding Joint Call for Proposals;
a.3) Supervise the research proposals and approved projects, fostering the collaboration among the scientists and exchange of students participating in each one of the selected projects;
a.4) Find solutions to all technical, administrative and financial questions that may arise during the term of the present MoU or any subsequent Collaboration Agreement, as well as supervising the execution of the activities arising from the present MoU, referring to their respective superior officers as required.