Agreements
Call for Proposals - The Role of Small-Business in Aedes Control Technologies Versão em português
Summary
| PROPOSALS submitted to FAPESP | PROPOSALS submitted to IDRC |
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Closing date for full proposals: September 24, 2018
FAPESP Scheme: PIPE Program
Maximum duration of the project: up to 24 months
Submission: Proposals must be submitted only through SAGe system
Eligibility: Small Business in the State of São Paulo
FAPESP announcement of winning grants: February 22, 2019
Contact at FAPESP: Patricia Tedeschi (chamada_idrc_pipe@fapesp.br)
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Closing date for full proposals: September 24, 2018
Guidelines for submission: https://www.idrc.ca/en/funding/role-small-business-aedes-control-technologies
Maximum duration of the project: up to 24 months
Submission: Proposals must be submitted only to the email address aedes_lac_call@idrc.ca
Eligibility: other States of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico
IDRC announcement of winning grants: November 13, 2018
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1. Introduction
Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) are pleased to announce the competitive Call for Proposals on The Role of Small-Business in Aedes mosquitoes Control Technologies.
The partnership between IDRC and FAPESP aims to foster research & development (R&D) by small-businesses and other actors in the State of São Paulo, Brazil and in other regions of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus transmitted diseases constitute a relevant and increasing public health threat in Brazil and most countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. In order to prevent Aedes transmitted diseases, the Call targets applied research for the development of mosquito control technologies effective to decrease the abundance and/or exposure to Aedes. Novel technological tools aim to contribute and complement integrated vector control management strategies.
The purpose of the Call is to promote new vector control technologies that in a subsequent stage can help the public health system in Brazil and other countries of Latin America prevent viral diseases carried by the Aedes mosquitoes. For the purpose of this Call, new vector control technologies are understood to be those that reduce the abundance of the mosquito Aedes or reduce the exposure of persons to Aedes mosquito bites.
The scope of this Call includes the development and/or testing of novel technologies. Proposals with an exclusive focus on the uptake, replication or scaling of technologies with an existing solid evidence-based assessment of its efficacy will not be eligible.
Viruses carried by Aedes mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti and Ae. Albopictus) have become a major health issue in Latin America. This has determined a major burden of disease of several countries in the region, including Brazil. The experience of Brazil and other countries in the region with Aedes transmitted diseases demonstrate that evidence-based locally adapted technologies can contribute to public health by improving vector control strategies and interventions. Aedes transmitted diseases include Zika that causes severe congenital and neurological disorders, Chikungunya that can cause severe and disabling symptoms lasting many months and dengue fever that continues to represent an expanding threat to health systems.
Despite the recent introduction of dengue vaccines, its effectiveness varies according to regions and population ages, and no vaccine is available for Zika nor Chikungunya. It is therefore imperative to develop other preventive strategic approaches with a focus on Aedes mosquitoes control. Different vector control approaches are being tested in the region, but still there is no robust evidence of a single effective tool that can provide an effective, sustainable and large-scale solution. New technologies can contribute with integrated vector management approaches as part of the strengthening of the public health response. High-tech small-businesses can speed up the time-to-market of the technologies to be discovered/developed and, in addition to improving public health can contribute to economic development in the region.
2. Funding Partners
The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), is a public foundation with the mission to support research projects in higher education and research institutions, in all fields of knowledge, including basic and applied research in universities, research institutes, and small businesses. FAPESP fosters R&D activities including new scientific applications to technology. FAPESP’s program for supporting small-business innovative research (PIPE) was established in 1997. It is a successful initiative that has supported more than 1,600 R&D projects with small-businesses in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, creating high qualification jobs and economic development through high-tech R&D.
IDRC, a Canadian Crown Corporation with a mandate “to initiate, encourage, support, and conduct research into the problems of the developing regions of the world and into the means for applying and adapting scientific, technical, and other knowledge to the economic and social advancement of those regions”. For over 45 years, IDRC has supported the search for solutions in health, climate change, agriculture and science and innovation to improve the lives and livelihoods in the global South. IDRC, in collaboration with the Tropical Disease Research (TDR) program of WHO, has supported successful Aedes vector control projects in Latin America, based on an eco-bio-social approach and the use of techniques to decrease the abundance and exposure to Aedes.
FAPESP and IDRC are members of GloPID-R, a network of agencies and donors promoting novel approaches to control emergent infectious diseases, including Zika. The proposed IDRC-FAPESP partnership will stimulate south-south collaboration for the development of innovative vector control technologies with a focus on the prevention of Zika and other Aedes transmitted diseases.
3. General Objective
To promote and assess the role of small-business in the development of novel Aedes control technologies that will assist public health systems in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico to prevent and manage threats and outbreaks of Aedes transmitted diseases.
4. Specific Objectives:
1. Develop and/or test evidence-based novel mosquito control technologies by small business in the State of Sao Paulo (Brazil) that are effective to decrease the abundance and/or exposure to Aedes.
2. Develop and/or test evidence-based novel mosquito control technologies by small business or institutions working with small business in other States of Brazil (other than Sao Paulo State), in Colombia and/or Mexico that are effective to decrease the abundance and/or exposure to Aedes.
3. Promote the development of technology use plans aiming to contribute in a future stage with the uptake of successful technologies and the strengthening of public health efforts in the prevention of Aedes transmitted diseases in the three countries.
4. Explore the potential and opportunities for exchanges and/or future collaboration across selected studies and countries.
5. Funding scope and duration
FAPESP will support 2 grants to small businesses from the State of Sao Paulo, while IDRC will support other 2 grants to small businesses or institutions working with small businesses from other States of Brazil, Colombia or Mexico. While FAPESP will exclusively accept proposals from small businesses, IDRC will accept proposals from small businesses or institutions working with small businesses.
The four winning grants (2 funded by FAPESP from the State of Sao Paulo and another 2 funded by IDRC from other States of Brazil or from Colombia or Mexico) are not supposed to be joint or linked proposals. Proposals should be submitted as separate entities. Winning proposals will be invited to an initial and final workshop where working relationships or exchanges will be promoted but are not required.
Proposals submitted to IDRC do not need to involve more than one State of Brazil or more than one country in the submission. IDRC proposals may involve more than one small business or institution from the three eligible countries (from the same or different country) but proposals must be submitted by only one institution or small business acting as lead applicant. IDRC will only negotiate funding agreements with the lead applicant organization of the proposal.
Each grant will have a 2 year duration.
FAPESP and IDRC will carry out independent evaluations of each joint R&D proposal in accordance with their National/Institutional Laws and Regulations.
To this call, IDRC and FAPESP will contribute with the equivalent of $ 400,000 Canadian dollars (CAD) (R$1,240.000) each. A total budget of CAD 800,000 (R$2,480,000) has been allocated for this joint call.
Up to the equivalent of CAD 200,000 will be available for each project over 24 months (R$620,000 for each project supported by FAPESP).
6. Funding conditions
Both agencies expect (but do not require) winning proposals to adopt an open attitude towards including some degree of interaction and/or exchange among selected projects.
At the start of the granting period, IDRC will support an initial workshop to be attended by all winning grantees, with the aim of sharing approaches to vector control technologies, analyzing factors that affect the capacity to speed up the time-to-market of novel Aedes control technologies, and discussing the strategies for the use of results and involvement of strategic stakeholders.
Upon completion of the grants, a final workshop will bring together grantees as well as public health authorities from each grantee’s region to assess and promote the applicability of results.
This final workshop could also be jointly coordinated with other events focused on Aedes vector control, or any of the vector borne diseases related to this call for proposals, to increase the outreach of the FAPESP-IDRC partnership and results with other agencies and actors in this field.
By submitting a proposal, grantees accept to be represented by the principal and/or key researchers at the initial and final Workshop as well as to convene public health authorities interested in the proposed technologies.
The dates of these Workshops will be announced with at least a 3-month notice and travel expenses will be covered by the organizers.
7. Guidelines and Eligibility criteria
The scope of this Call includes the development and/or testing of novel technologies. Proposals with an exclusive focus on the uptake, replication or scaling of technologies with an existing solid evidence-based assessment of its efficacy will not be eligible.
8. Geographical eligibility
Applicants must be from the State of Sao Paulo (submission to FAPESP) or from other States of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico (submission to IDRC).
9. Grants submitted to FAPESP
Small business applicants from the State of Sao Paulo must submit their proposal to FAPESP. See www.fapesp.br/pipe for FAPESP’s definition of small business.
Applicants must fully comply with FAPESP’s eligibility criteria and follow the submission guidelines as outlined in www.fapesp.br/pipe for PIPE Phase 2 – Direct (PIPE Fase 2 Direta).
For this call, the budget is limited to R$620,000 per project
10. Grants submitted to IDRC
Applicants from other States of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico must submit their proposal to IDRC. The main applicant can be a small business or another institution working with a small business in the development of Aedes vector control technologies. For IDRC applicants, small business are defined as private entities (non-profit or for-profit) with less than 250 employees.
IDRC will only negotiate funding agreements with the lead applicant organization of the proposal.
The lead applicant organization must fully comply with IDRC eligibility criteria. The proposal must follow the submission guidelines (including allowable budget costs) outlined in the guidelines for developing a full proposal to IDRC: www.idrc.ca/en/funding/role-small-business-aedes-control-technologies.
For this Call, IDRC’s budget is limited to CAD $ 200,000 per project.
11. Review Process
In a first stage , IDRC and FAPESP will independently, according its own criteria, screen proposals to ensure their eligibility (see the corresponding Guidelines and Eligibility Criteria) and perform a relevance review based on their alignment with the objectives of the Call. Applications that do not comply with the eligibility and/or relevance criteria will be withdrawn from the competition.
In a second stage , FAPESP and IDRC will carry out independent evaluations of each joint R&D proposal in accordance with their National/Institutional Laws and Regulations.
12. Evaluation criteria
• Grant Proposals submitted to FAPESP:
To support the objectives of the Call, FAPESP will follow the evaluation criteria of the PIPE Program (www.fapesp.br/pipe)
• Grant Proposals submitted to IDRC:
To support the objectives of the Call, the following evaluation criteria will be used by IDRC, and should guide the development of the proposal:
1) Relevance of the Proposal (20%)
2) Quality and feasibility of Proposal (20%)
3) Project Plans (20%)
4) Quality of Team and Institutions (20%)
5) Potential Impact (20%)
Note: see the detailed evaluation criteria in the Guidelines for full proposals at https://www.idrc.ca/en/funding/role-small-business-aedes-control-technologies
13. How to Apply
The Call will be simultaneously launched by IDRC and FAPESP and announced on both websites.
Submission deadline: September 24, 2018.
Proposals received after the submission deadline WILL NOT be considered.
Applicants from the State of Sao Paulo must submit the proposal to FAPESP in Portuguese.
Applicants from the other States of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico must submit their proposal to IDRC in English.
Applicants from the State of Sao Paulo must follow FAPESP guidelines (see www.fapesp.br/pipe) and submit their proposals through the following application system: www.fapesp.br/sage
Applicants from other States of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico must follow the guidelines for developing a full proposal to IDRC (https://www.idrc.ca/en/funding/role-small-business-aedes-control-technologies) and submit their proposals to the email address: aedes_lac_call@idrc.ca
Key dates:
Call launch: July 23, 2018
Submission deadline: September 24, 2018
IDRC announcement of winning grants: November 13, 2018
FAPESP announcement of winning grants: February 22, 2019