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COOPERATION RESEARCH AGREEMENT BETWEEN FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO AND FEDERAL MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND RESEARCH, GERMANY ON JOINT CALLS FOR JOINT RESEARCH PROJECTS

The São Paulo Research Foundation, 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.;

and

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research, having its registered office at Hannoversche Straße 28-30, 10115 Berlin, Germany , hereinafter referred to as BMBF, represented for the purpose of entering into this Cooperation Research Agreement by its Head of Division Bioeconomy 617, Dr. Henk van Liempt,

Individually or jointly referred to hereafter as Parties or Party, decide to celebrate the present Cooperation Research Agreement, 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.

BMBF is the Ministry of Education and Research of the Federal Republic of Germany.

FAPESP and BMBF intend to collaborate in Joint Calls for Proposals (CFP), 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 in Germany. 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 BMBF.

This Cooperation Agreement sets out the principles and procedures to be adopted by the Parties in:

a. Opening a call for proposals;

b. Receiving joint proposals;

c. Setting up peer review and selection procedures;

d. Providing funding for the proposals selected.

1. Intentions - Organization of the Collaboration

a. FAPESP and BMBF have agreed to establish a scheme for joint funding of collaborative research projects in the area(s) of interest to both FAPESP and BMBF, and decided by the Joint Steering Committee such as but not limited to food production, sustainable agriculture and conversion of biomass.

b. The Parties will install a Joint Steering Committee composed of four members, two indicated by BMBF and two by FAPESP.

c. The Joint Steering Committee will prepare the Calls for Proposals and will have the following responsibilities:

c.1) Specify themes, after consultation to the Parties, for the Joint Calls for Proposals (JCFP);

c.2) Organize Evaluation Meetings in connection with every Call for Proposals;

c.3) Pre-select the received proposals according to their adherence to the terms and themes of the corresponding Joint Call for Proposals;

c.4) Supervise the research proposals, fostering the collaboration among the scientists and exchange of students participating in each one of the selected projects;

c.5) Find solutions to all technical, administrative and financial questions that may arise during the term of the present Cooperation Agreement or any follow-on Collaboration Agreement, as well as supervising the execution of the activities arising from the present Cooperation Agreement, referring to their respective superior officers as required.

d. Both FAPESP and BMBF 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 in due time.

2. Submission of Proposals

a. FAPESP and BMBF will prepare and issue calls for research proposals and will encourage submission of joint proposals.

a.1) FAPESP and BMBF will precise the frame, submission conditions, eligibility rules and evaluation process of such projects.

b. The BMBF applicants must comply with BMBF’s eligibility rules for research support applications.

c. The applicants from State of São Paulo must comply with FAPESP’s eligibility rules for research grant application.

d. The parties that have received the BMBF approval will be subject to BMBF rules and the scientists in State of São Paulo will be subject to FAPESP rules.

e. The proposals must be unique, i.e., written jointly by the German and State of São Paulo researchers that will collaborate.

f. The proposals shall be submitted simultaneously, by the researchers from State of São Paulo to FAPESP and by the researchers from Germany to BMBF.

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 BMBF and FAPESP will exchange a listing of the proposals received by each institution.

i. Each proposal must have a Principal Investigator in Germany and a Principal Investigator in State of São Paulo, which are designated in the application forms submitted to BMBF and FAPESP.

2.1 Proposal formatting

Each part will use its own submission forms.

3. Evaluation of Project Proposals

a. The BMBF 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 are:

b.1) Scientific quality and originality of the joint research plan;

b.2) Added value to be expected from the BMBF-FAPESP research collaboration.

c. The evaluation will be performed based on mutually agreed criteria.

d. The Parties will agree about joint projects to be funded based on the national scientific evaluation and consensus obtained in the joint discussions.

4. Funding

a. For the selected proposals BMBF will fund the part to be developed by German scientists and FAPESP will fund the part to be developed by the Brazilian scientists.

b. The funding might cover the costs according to the national funding regulations of each Party.

c. The funding decisions will be made mutually according to the Parties’ respective rules, regulations and practices.

d. Each project will be funded for a period of 2-3 years.

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 BMBF will synchronize the communication on the selected projects.

6. Confidentiality

FAPESP and BMBF agree to keep confidential the content of the proposals submitted for evaluation in the scope of this Cooperation Agreement including any other information received from the applicants marked as Confidential Information.

7. Intellectual Property

The funded organizations – from Germany as well as from Brazil - have to sign agreements to ensure the effective protection and correct distribution of intellectual property rights resulting from projects arising out of this Cooperation Agreement and funded by either FAPESP or BMBF, in accordance with the local legislation and intellectual property policies of each Party.

8. Reporting

a. The reporting of the funded project by the Principal Investigator of each country will follow the rules of BMBF and FAPESP, respectively.

b. At the end of each project a formal final report in English should be submitted to each Party according to its reporting rules.

9. Miscellaneous

a. Each Party covers its own administration costs regarding its contribution to the call, unless otherwise jointly decided.

b. This Cooperation Agreement 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 Cooperation Agreement may only be amended by a document signed by both Parties and identified as an Addendum to this Cooperation Agreement.

d. The Parties shall maintain the highest ethical and legal standards in funding research under this Cooperation Agreement.

10. Term

a. For each Party, the Cooperation Agreement will come into force on the date of signature by the Party’s authorized representative 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 Cooperation Agreement 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 Cooperation Agreement may be amended or modified by written agreement of all Parties or their substitutes.

d. This Cooperation Agreement is a mutual statement of intent among Parties, who agree to make every reasonable effort to fulfill the intentions expressed herein.

11. Signatures

In full and mutual agreement, this Cooperation Agreement is signed in English and Portuguese, 2 copies each of equal content.

Date of Signature:
 

Celso Lafer		Dr. Henk van Liempt
President		Head of Division Bioeconomy 617
SÃO PAULO RESEARCH FOUNDATION - FAPESP		Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany - BMBF

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