General Objectives
The “Research in Enterprises” Programme aims at:

1. Enhancing the competitiveness of Cypriot enterprises thus resulting in making a contribution in the country’s economy growth, through the development of new products / services / production methods of high added value, or significantly optimised products / services / production methods which will be commercially used, and
2. intensifying the participation of Cypriot enterprises in research activities resulting in raising the contribution of the private sector in the country’s RTDI investments.

Description
Enterprise involvement in research and innovation activities is considered to this day to be a determining factor to the development of their ability to successfully respond to the demands of the single European and the globalised markets.

This Programme focuses on the development of new or the significant optimization of products / services/ production methods of high added value, and is expected to contribute to the enhancement of the competitiveness of Cypriot enterprises and the country’s economy growth.

In addition, it is expected to create new jobs thus contributing positively in dealing with unemployment at national level.

The Programme covers a wide range of industrial research and experimental development activities. The experimental development activities may include the production of a prototype, demonstration, pilot operation, testing and validation of new or significantly optimised products / services / production methods in a representative, real conditions operating environment. The Programme does not cover projects that are concerned with customary modifications or modifications that incur over time on products, production lines, services, production methods, even if these modifications are considered as improvements.

As the Programme is part of Pillar I, “Smart Growth”, the projects must be applicable in one of the designated Priority Sectors:

• Energy
• Tourism
• Transport-Shipping
• Agriculture-Food Industry
• Built Environment-Construction Industry
• Health

and/or one of the Horizontal Priority Sectors:

• ICT
• Sustainable Growth-Environment

Beneficiaries
Research Organisations, Enterprises, Other Organisations

Specific Participation Restrictions and Conditions
The Host Organisation must be a Small or Medium Sized Enterprise (B.1, B.2).

Research Organisations, Enterprises or Other Organisations may participate as Partner Organisations.

Participation of foreign Research Organisations is not permitted.

Participation of STARTUP Companies is not permitted to except from enterprises that fall under the category of a STARTUP with marketable products / services and present sales and turnover and audited financial statements.

Project Activities
The projects must necessarily include Experimental Development activities. They may also include Industrial Research activities.

It is noted that upon completion of the Project Implementation, the Host Organisation must prepare an “Exploitation Plan” which will be submitted to the RIF as a Deliverable along with the Final Report. The “Exploitation Plan” must include the assessment and analysis of the project results’ potential, in order to support future decisions of the Consortium, and the planning of exploitation of results.

Duration of Project Implementation
12-24 months

Budget
€9.300.000

Maximum Funding per Project
€200.000

The maximum aid intensity for Enterprises and Other Private Sector Organisations cannot exceed 70%.

Eligible Costs
Personnel costs, Instruments and Equipment Costs, Costs for External Services, Costs for Travelling Abroad, Consumables, Other Specific Costs, Overheads.

Evaluation
Remote Evaluation.

Evaluation Criteria/Weighting
(1) Excellence 20%, (2) Added Value and Benefit 40%, (3) Implementation 40%.

Selection of Projects
By order of ranking.

Indicative Call Planning

NOTE: For the ENTERPRISES / 0521 Call the following will apply, which differ from the basic description of the said Programme.

• Budget: € 3,600,000
• Projects must be included in the TRL Technology Readiness Levels (TRL Technology Readiness Levels) 4-7 in accordance with the relevant definitions adopted by the EU¹.
• The participation of foreign Research Institutions is allowed.
• New start-ups are not allowed to participate unless they have products / services, sales and turnover and audited financial statements for at least 2 years.
• Each Organisation can receive funding as Host Organisation for up to two (2) projects.
• The preparation of the Budget of Proposals will be based on the simplified method "Personnel costs+ 40% on Personnel costs to cover the remaining costs".
• An evaluation process, by three (3) Independent Evaluators with a Common Evaluation Card (Consensus Report), will be followed.
• In the case of a tie, if there is no budget available to fund all proposals with equal evaluation result, those proposals be classified according to the procedure described in Chapter 4.3 of the Work Programme document. The only difference is that after the order of scores they secured for the criterion "Value Added and Benefit" (Pillar I) and the descending order of budget size corresponding to the enterprises participating in these proposals, they will be ranked in descending order of partnerships between enterprises that include. If there is still a tie, then priority will be given to proposals that, based on the judgment of the evaluators, present a gender balance in relation to the research content of the project and the composition of the research team of the project in terms of female/ male participation numbers.

¹ The Technology Readiness Levels adopted by the EU are:
TRL 1- basic principles observed
TRL 2- technology concept formulated
TRL 3- experimental proof of concept
TRL 4- technology validated in lab
TRL 5- technology validated in relevant environment
TRL 6- technology demonstrated in relevant environment
TRL 7- system prototype demonstration in operational environment
TRL 8- system complete and qualified
TRL 9- actual system proven in operational environment (competitive manufacturing in the case of key enabling technologies)

 

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

RESTART-2016-2020-WORK-PROGRAMME – VERSION 9

GUIDE FOR EVALUATORS