KIEM HighTech aims to conduct practical research activities and explore new questions through collaboration between knowledge institutions and practice partners such as companies. This program aims to promote networking and explore practical questions that can lead to technological innovation or a follow-up project.

Regieorgaan SIA, in collaboration with Holland High Tech, funds this initiative to encourage technical innovation through cooperation between researchers, SMEs, and other practice partners. Deadline for second round is 21 May 2024.

To stimulate the development of a new generation of hightech equipment, 10.6 million euros is available for research. The future-proof hightech equipment is targeting sustainability, digitisation, healthcare and technology sovereignty of The Netherlands. This PPS-call is part of the NXTGEN Hightech programme, which is financed in the context of the National Growth Fund.

Aging, type 2 diabetes, shortage of healthcare personnel; our society is facing major challenges that require more knowledge and groundbreaking innovations. This offers opportunities for scientists, companies and public parties. NWO is responding to this by investing more than €100 million annually through various subsidy instruments in research in which public and private parties work together.

The role of SME’s

In order to achieve social and economic impact, the participation of SMEs is necessary and is therefore an important partner in research in all instruments. By sharing knowledge and collaborating on innovations, research results can be translated into solutions for society. For research that is financed within the Knowledge and Innovation Covenant (KIC), NWO applies incentives to involve SME’s more. NWO has opened 2 new instruments. om het MKB beter te betrekken.

About the instruments from NWO

  1. In ‘Question for Partners’, a public and/or private partner develops a research program in partnership with NWO around a specific knowledge and/or development question. The partner is a co-funder (min. €1.5 million in cash) in the program and NWO will double this amount. This instrument is therefore particularly suitable for (a combination of) public and/or private parties that want to initiate a thematic research program of a considerable size.
  2. In ‘Question for Consortia’ a consortium of knowledge institutes, public and private parties contribute to a research proprosal to find answer to a self-chosen knowledge or development question.

The financial NWO contribution to these instruments is available for fundamental and practice-oriented research, carried out by scientists in collaboration with companies. The degree of co-financing by private parties for these instruments is set at 50%, and at least 30% of the total size of the partnership.

More information about these and other research programmes can be found here www.nwo.nl/kic.

Source: HollandBio news

The Netherlands has a strong position in photonics. Taiwan also spends a lot research capacity on photonics. Taiwan is one of the markets where the Dutch photonics sector positions itself in a public-private context, both in terms of technological cooperation and business development. Taiwan has an excellent position in semiconductor production and, partly due to global climate developments, faces many societal challenges that photonic innovations can help solve. The Netherlands and Taiwan can benefit from each other’s strengths.

This call is open to academia from the photonics community in The Netherlands and Taiwan. It aims to give an impulse to photonics research in both economies to stimulate (new) collaborations between the two science communities, and to learn from each other’s approaches solving blocking issues for the future.

Eligible consortia are composed of researchers based in The Netherlands and in Taiwan, with active involvement in the project of a main applicant on both the Dutch and the Taiwanese side. The consortium must also include at least one industry partner on both sides.

The main applicants and consortia can apply for funds for a project with a maximum duration of five years. Each project consists of a Dutch work package and a Taiwanese work package. Per project, a maximum of k€ 750 can be requested from NWO for the Dutch work package, and a maximum of NT$ 3M per year can be requested from MOST for the Taiwanese work package.

The deadline to submit your full proposal is 9 November 2021, 14:00:00 CEST.

Read more and download the full call information on the NWO site.

To emphasise the importance of high tech innovation to societal themes and missions more clearly and to stimulate research and collaboration, the Topsector HTSM will organise the annual HitMat Call. This is a funding opportunity to inspire consortia to come up with excellent high tech solutions in Public Private partnership programs. 

From Cybersecurity to circular building

Topics covered in the research proposals include cybersecurity by design, ultrasonic brain modulation, optimization of traffic flow in the city, extraction of nitrogen compounds from animal manure and eco-efficient and circular construction.

HiTMaT Call 2021

The third HiTMaT Call has opened. The HiTMaT is a competition between the best R&D proposals for high-tech PPP that offer solutions for the social themes and missions of the Netherlands. In 2020, 60 research proposals were submitted, 15 of which were nominated and 10 projects ultimately won € 25,000 in germ funding. Who has the best ideas this year?

Project proposals can be submitted from April 7 through the HitMat Call 2021 website *. The deadline for submitting applications is May 18, 2021, 14:00 CEST.

* Proposals submitted by email will not be accepted.

Download the brochure HitMat Call 2021 here (PDF)

Webinar: Do’s & Dont’s

In this webinar Frans van der Wel, PPP employee Holland High Tech, explains the rules of the game surrounding this call. He discusses who can submit proposals, what proposals must comply with, what the themes entail and more. In this webinar you will receive tips on how to write a project proposal in such a way that you maximize the chance of winning.

Thursday April 20, 2021
10:00 – 12:00 AM
Via Microsoft Teams

During the Webinar there will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions and respond to the other participants. You can submit questions in advance via HiTMaT@hollandhightech.nl.

Register now for the webinar

HiTMat 2019 and 2020

After a cautious start in 2019, we received no fewer than 60 project proposals by 2020 from scientists from industry and research organizations. Five expert committees selected 15 proposals as finalists for the 2020 edition. On Wednesday 7 October 2020, the 15 finalists presented their research proposal. The 10 prize winners were announced during the Autumn Event on October 30, 2020. These winners will receive an amount of € 25,000 in seed money for a public-private partnership project in which their high-tech research innovation is linked to one of the 5 social themes (Health and care, Climate and Circular Economy, Security, Mobility, Agriculture, Water and Food).

Read more about the HiTMat call 2021 (Dutch)

The “Horizon Europe” programme, which was launched this Tuesday, 2 February, has a budget of around €95 billion for research and innovation all over Europe from 2021-2027.

“Horizon Europe” is the ninth European framework programme for research and innovation, following on from the “Horizon 2020” programme (2014-2020), and will be the biggest programme ever undertaken in Europe. Its launch by the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU is being promoted along with a mobilisation process for all of Europe, in conjunction with structural funds and, particularly, with the national recovery and resilience plans of each member state in preparation for the “Next Generation EU, 2021-26” programme.

The aim is for the European Union to lead the twin green and digital transition in association with a resilient recovery through a renewed European Research Area (ERA) and through an effective increase in public and private investment in R&D, particularly in the context of the recent reaffirmation by the European Commission of the goal of 3% of public and private investment in R&D in terms of gross domestic product by 2030.

“Horizon Europe” is thus based on three terms of reference:

  • 1. Scientific excellence: development of quality skills and expertise in order to reinforce the scientific leadership of the European Union, with the involvement of all the regions and all European citizens; creation of new markets, working conditions and skills, particularly in the sectors most severely affected by the negative impacts of the pandemic.
  • 2. Global challenges and European industrial competitiveness: natural resources, mobility, food, digital media and energy are just some of the areas that can count on additional support for research into the challenges they face, as well as for the associated industrial technology; it is in this area that partnerships are expected to be created with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
  • 3. Innovative and inclusive Europe: there will be stimuli for the creation of professional careers linked to research, both in the public and private sectors, making them more inclusive, particularly for women and minorities; it is also intended to foster research and recruitment ecosystems in order to train and retain talents in Europe. Other goals include cooperation between national funding agencies and the European Commission, while also contributing to promoting the creation of “European university” networks.

The “Horizon Europe” programme includes four implementation pillars:

Pillar 1: “Science of Excellence”, supporting scientific excellence in terms of human resources and infrastructure, particularly through the European Research Council (ERC), the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), as well as research infrastructures (ESFRI).

Pillar 2: “Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness”, which will support research and development activities in six areas (or clusters): Health; Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society; Civil Security for Society; Digital, Industry and Space; Climate, Energy and Mobility; Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment. Under the scope of these six areas, Pillar 2 also includes:

  • Research Missions, in five áreas:
  • Cancer;
  • Adaptation to climate change including societal transformation;
  • Climate-neutral and smart cities;
  • Soil health and food;
  • Healthy oceans, seas, coastal and inland waters.
  • Institutional Partnerships: aimed at mobilising public and private sectors in areas such as energy, transport, biodiversity, health, food and the circular economy.

Pillar 3: “Innovative Europe”, supporting the creation of new markets and SMEs, including new supports to be granted under the scope of the new European Innovation Council (EIC), the support for European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE) and for the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). The EIT legislation was recently revised, on 29 January, already during the Portuguese Presidency, in order to encompass more inclusive action open to all of Europe and two new areas of intervention, through Knowledge and Innovative Communities (KIC) (namely, oceans and creative industries, in addition to the initial areas of health, digital, energy, materials and climate).

Pillar 4: “Extending participation in and reinforcement of the European Research Area”, including support for the extension of participation in and the reinforcement of the European Research Area, through a set of different funding instruments aimed at establishing networks for human resources and at institutional level.

Implementation of “Horizon Europe”

The implementation of the “Horizon Europe” programme will be coordinated by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research (DG RTD), following on from the previous European research and innovation framework programmes. Further details at Horizon Europe | European Commission.

In the case of Portugal, the coordination and dissemination of the strategy for reinforcing national participation in the “Horizon Europe, 2021-27” programme is carried out through PERIN – “Portugal in Europe Research and Innovation Network”, which includes the main funding agencies and promoters, namely FCT, ANI, AICIB, PT Space, the ERASMUS Agency and DGES, working closely with the promotion offices for European programmes in academic and research institutes, as well as in companies, business associations and company incubation centres and interface institutions.

Portugal’s aim is to double national participation in the “Horizon Europe, 2021-27” programme compared to participation in the Horizon 2020 (2014-2020) programme and attract around two billion euros for research and innovation activities on a competitive basis by the public and private sectors, including SMEs (in comparison to the approximately 1.1 billion attracted between 2014 and 2020 through supports granted by the H2020 programme, also in competitive terms).

Source: Europa.nu

An innovation project can be a great idea, without preliminary testing it can still fail. This is why you can apply for a grant to map the technical and economic risks. The feasibility project is one of the instruments of the SME innovation stimulation Region and Top Sectors (MIT). In addition to MIT feasibility subsidy, you can also apply for subsidy for MIT cooperation projects.

Which projects are eligible for subsidy?

Grants are provided to SMEs to carry out an MIT feasibility project. An MIT feasibility project consists of a feasibility study or possibly a combination of a feasibility study, industrial research and/or experimental development. Note that at least 60% of the costs of the MIT feasibility project consists of a feasibility study.

MIT Feasability study

A feasibility study mainly consists of desk research. Building a prototype is therefore not covered by the eligible costs of an MIT Feasibility Study. When you combine a feasibility study with experimental research, the development of a prototype is eligible. In an MIT Feasibility Study you can think of:

  • Literature review
  • Patent search
  • Inventory of available technologies and potential partners
  • Market survey
  • Competition analysis

Experimental development

Do you want to develop new services, products or processes or improve existing ones? In contrast to a feasibility study, the development of a (commercially useful) prototype in experimental development is eligible.

Industrial research

This is about acquiring new knowledge and skills through research, which can be used to improve or develop products, processes or services.

How much is the subsidy?

The subsidy amounts to 40% of the eligible costs up to a maximum amount of € 20,000 per feasibility project.

New round 2021

SMEs that research or develop new innovations are expected to be able to apply for a subsidy via the MIT scheme from 13 April.

Source: DP&P news

Consortia including research institutes and public and private organisations can submit project proposals for fundamental or application-oriented research on innovative and groundbreaking technologies within 8 clusters of key technologies:

  • Nanotechnologies
  • Chemical Technologies
  • Digital Technologies
  • Engineering and Fabrication Technologies
  • Photonics and Light Technologies
  • Advanced Materials
  • Quantum Technologies
  • Life science technologies

Purpose

The call Key Technologies calls for the development of initiatives over the full width of the KIA Key Technologies. Thus she strenghtens the technology base in the Netherlands and enables topsectors to solve societal challenges adequately. The outcome of the research is broadly applicable en has a large impact on science and/or society.

Who can apply?

Pre-proposals and full proposals are submitted by the main applicant and one or more co-applicants. Besides the main and co-applicant (s), a consortium always consists of two or more co-funders. In addition, other private and / or public organisations can participate in the consortium as collaborating partners. All participants must play an active role in the formulation of the research questions and the design and realisation of the project.
More information about specific conditions regarding who can apply can be found in section 3.1 of the call for proposals.

What to apply for?

A budget of 11 million euros is available for this call for proposals. Funding can be requested for research proposals with a total budget of at least 750,000 euros and at most 2,500,000 euros. NWO will fund a maximum of 70% of the total project budget; the rest of the funding must be contributed by co-funding. Co-funding may be provided in-cash or in-kind, but at least half of the amount must be in-cash. At least 50% of the total co-funding must be from private sources. More information about the conditions for co-funding can be found in section 3.5.2 of the call for proposals.

For this call the following modules can be applied for:

  • Personnel costs
  • Material costs
  • Investments
  • Knowledge utilisation
  • Internationalisation
  • Money follows Cooperation
  • Project management

The maximum duration of a project is six years.

When to apply

  • The deadline for the submission of appropriateness statement is November 10, 2020, 14:00:00 CET. The result of the review process of the appropriateness statement will be communicated by NWO no later than December 23th.
  • The deadline for the submission of preproposals is January 19, 2021, 14:00:00 CET.
  • The deadline for the submission of proposals is May 18, 2021, 14:00:00 CEST.

Read more at NWO KIC