24 November 2014
1 Funding purpose and legal basis
1.1 Funding purpose
The aim is to intensify cooperation between German and Turkish participants in science and industry by means of so-called 2+2 projects. “2+2 projects” are R&D projects which have the participation of at least one German and one Turkish research institution or university as well as one German and one Turkish commercial company. The funding is intended to enable foundations to be laid for a lasting R&D innovation partnership.
As part of the German-Turkish Year of Research, Education and Innovation 2014 (www.deutsch-tuerkisches-wissenschaftsjahr.de) it is intended that innovative potential in areas of shared expertise and competence will be further developed so that a contribution can be made to tackling societal challenges by working to solve common issues relevant to the future in the areas of key technologies, global change and the humanities and social sciences.
The funding will be provided jointly by the BMBF and TÜBITAK.
1.2 Legal basis
For German applicants:
Project grants will be awarded in accordance with these funding regulations, the BMBF's standard terms and conditions for grants on an expenditure or cost basis and the administrative regulations under Sections 23 and 44 of the Federal Budget Code (BHO). There is no legal entitlement to funding. The grant provider will decide freely after due assessment of the circumstances and within the limits of the available budget funds.
For Turkish applicants:
The projects can be funded by TÜBITAK in accordance with the Law Concerning the Establishment of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK), and its own funding regulations and within the limits of the budget available.
2 Object of funding
Against the backdrop of the situation described above, this call for proposals has the aim of supporting joint research projects in the area of application-oriented research and development in the following fields which are based on focal areas of the German-Turkish Year of Research, Education and Innovation 2014:
- Key enabling technologies: ICT and production technologies, transport,
- Global change: environmental technologies, health research including biotechnology, renewable energy, nutrition and agriculture
The aim of the joint research projects is to make a contribution towards achieving the BMBF’s and TÜBITAK’s objectives and/or those of the EU’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme.
Under this call for proposals, funding can be provided for joint projects that are expected to produce insights and exploitable research results leading to new technologies, products and/or services. The benefits for Germany and Turkey should be clearly identifiable.
3 Funding recipients
On the German side:
Recipients of funding may be commercial companies, particularly those that are active in Germany, and particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) - as well as other institutions which provide contributions to research and fulfil the funding purpose and funding prerequisites, as well as higher education institutions or non-university research institutions. Research institutions which receive joint basic funding from the Federal Government and the Länder can only be granted project funding to cover additional expenditure on top of their basic funding under certain conditions.
On the Turkish side:
For funding recipients, the restrictions described in the Rules of TÜBITAK 1001 Programme apply. For commercial companies, restrictions described in the Rules of TÜBITAK 1509 Programme apply.
4 Prerequisites for funding
It is a prerequisite that projects include the participation of at least one German and one Turkish research institution/university as well as one German and one Turkish commercial company (“2+2 projects”).
The German and the Turkish partners must submit the jointly formulated proposal simultaneously to both the International Bureau of the BMBF and TÜBITAK. Projects that are only submitted in one country will not be considered.
In their own interest, applicants should familiarize themselves with the EU's Research Framework Programme in the context of the planned national project. They should check whether the intended project includes specific European components which make it eligible for exclusive EU funding. Furthermore, they should check whether an additional application for funding can be submitted to the EU in the context of the proposed national project. The result of such checks should be described briefly in the national application for funding.
Before any funding is provided for the joint research project, all project partners must formalize their cooperation by concluding a cooperation agreement.
For collaborative projects only:
The terms of cooperation between the partners in a collaborative project must be laid down in a cooperation agreement. Before a funding decision can be taken, the cooperation partners must prove that they have reached a basic agreement on certain criteria stipulated by the BMBF. For further details, please refer to BMBF form 0110, which can be found at:
(https://foerderportal.bund.de/easy/easy_index.php?auswahl=easy_formulare&formularschrank=bmbf#t6)
5. Type, scope and rates of funding
Funding will be awarded in the form of non-repayable project grants.
For German partners, grants for commercial companies will be calculated on the basis of the eligible project-related costs, up to 50% of which can as a rule be covered by government grants, depending on the project's relevance to application. The BMBF’s policy requires an appropriate own contribution of at least 50% towards the eligible costs incurred.
The basis for calculating the grants for universities, research and science institutions and similar establishments is the eligible project-related expenditure (in the case of the Helmholtz centres and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (FhG) the eligible project-related costs), which can be funded up to 100% in individual cases.
As a rule, German partner consortia that are eligible for funding can receive up to €450,000 of funding (including a 20% flat-rate grant for universities).
The duration of the projects will generally be up to four years. However, the project will be evaluated for its content and progress after the second year. The continuation of funding will be decided on the basis of this evaluation with reference to innovative insights, exploitable research results and the creation of foundations for a well-founded and sustainable R&D innovation partnership between Germany and Turkey.
The European Commission's Community Framework for State Aid for Research and Development must be taken into account when determining the rates of funding. The Community Framework allows differentiated bonus arrangements for collaborative projects and for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which may result in a higher rate of funding.
The following are envisaged as eligible expenditures/costs for grant funding for German partners:
- Staff costs/expenditure
Grants towards the costs of student assistants and administrative and/or research staff required in connection with the proposed project can be provided. - Non-cash resources
Project-related grants for non-cash resources (such as expendables, appliances, phone and office supplies, transport, literature, rent, orders) can be provided to a limited extent in duly substantiated cases. - Exchanges of experts and young researchers
The following applies to the funding of travel by German project researchers:
Travel to and from the project partner's location (if by air: economy class) will be covered by the country sending the researchers; per diem allowances will be provided by the host country.
As a rule the foreign project partner is responsible for providing per diem allowances for German experts in the project partner's country. - The following applies to the funding of travel by foreign project researchers:
Per diem allowances and project-related travel costs in Germany: Visits to Germany will normally be funded for a maximum period of 3 months per year by the German funding provider with a fixed rate of €104 per day or €2,300 per month (where stays last between 23 and 31 days). A per diem rate of €77 will be provided for individual additional days in a subsequent month. The day of arrival and day of departure are counted as half day.
Contributions to health insurance and, if applicable, other types of insurance are included in this allowance and must be paid by the grant recipients themselves.
Travel to and from the project partner's location will be covered by the country sending the researchers. - Workshops
Workshops with existing partners or aimed at opening up new potential for cooperation may be eligible for support.
With regard to the organization of workshops in Germany, grants can be provided towards expenses such as the accommodation of the foreign guests, transfers within Germany, preparation of workshop topics, hospitality and rental of the venue. The exact amount of the grant depends on the size of the event and the number of foreign guests. In such cases, no per diem allowances (see b) above) will be provided. - Investments
The share of investments in the project must be clearly justified and is normally limited to 20% of the expenses/costs applied for (not including the flat-rate grants per project in the case of universities and university hospitals). - Flat-rate project grants
Universities (both public and private) and university hospitals (irrespective of legal form) can additionally apply for a flat-rate project grant equivalent to 20% of the main grant.
As a rule, no funding will be provided to cover normal basic equipment such as:
- Expenses for office supplies, communication, etc.
- Laboratory and IT equipment
6 Other terms and conditions
The Nebenbestimmungen für Zuwendungen auf Kostenbasis des BMBF an Unternehmen der gewerblichen Wirtschaft für Forschungs- und Entwicklungsvorhaben (Auxiliary Terms and Conditions for Funds Provided by the BMBF to Commercial Companies for Research and Development Projects on a Cost Basis – NKBF 98) will be part of the notification of award for grants on a cost basis.
The Allgemeine Nebenbestimmungen für Zuwendungen zur Projektförderung (ANBest-P) (General Auxiliary Conditions for Grants Provided for Projects on an Expenditure Basis) and the Besondere Nebenbestimmungen für Zuwendungen des BMBF zur Projektförderung auf Ausgabenbasis (BNBest-BMBF 98) (Special Auxiliary Terms and Conditions for Funds Provided by the BMBF for the Promotion of Projects on Expenditure Basis) will form part of the notification of award of grants on an expenditure basis.
7 Procedure
7.1 Involvement of a project management organization and request for documents
The following project management organization is currently entrusted with the implementation of the funding activity on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF):
Projektträger
im Deutschen Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)
Internationales Büro
Heinrich-Konen-Strasse 1
53227 Bonn
Germany
Internet: http://www.internationales-buero.de
Contact persons:
For subject-related information, please contact:
Dr. Oliver Dilly
Phone: +49 228/38 21-1470
Fax: +49 228/38 21-1490
E-mail: oliver.dilly@dlr.de
For administrative information, please contact:
Silva Luthin-Geier
Phone: +49 228/38 21-1863
Fax: +49 228/38 21-1490
E-mail: silva.luthin-geier@dlr.de
It is recommended that applicants contact the project management organization for advice on applications. The organization will provide further information and details.
7.2 Submission of formal applications for funding and decision-making procedure
On the German side, the application procedure consists of two phases.
7.2.1 Submission and selection of project outlines
In the first phase, project outlines are to be submitted in German and English by 23 March 2015 using the online project outline tool "PT-Outline" (https://www.pt-it.de/ptoutline/application/2014TUR2plus2).
The submission deadline is not a cut-off deadline. However, it may not be possible to consider project outlines received after this date.
A legal claim cannot be derived from the submission of a project outline.
The project outlines must be structured as follows:
- Part A. This information is part of any call for proposals and is entered via a specific web template.
- A.I Information required for administrative purposes
- A.II Financial statement
- Part B. An individual project description that is tailored to the call and structured as follows:
- B.I Objectives, excellence and originality of the project
- B.II State of knowledge and scientific and technological development; previous work
- B.III Detailed description of the methodology and work plan
- B.IV Benefits and prospects for commercialization of the results
- B.V Cooperation with third parties
- B.VI Necessity of the funding including a self-explanatory overview of the components of the project for which funding is requested
- B.VII Annexes, as necessary
The project description (Part B) can be uploaded on PT-Outline as a Word or pdf file.
The project outline provides the basis for the thematic evaluation of the project. The project description should therefore include assessable information about all relevant points (see structure of the project description). The description should not exceed 10 pages.
In view of the international evaluation of the application and the internationally oriented structure of the funding priority, the project outline must be submitted in English.
A signed copy of the project outline (generated as a pdf file in PT-Outline) must be sent to the International Bureau at the following address without delay.
Projektträger
im Deutschen Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)
Internationales Büro
Heinrich-Konen-Strasse 1
53227 Bonn
Germany
The project outlines received will be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria:
- Compliance with the thematic priorities specified in sections 1 and 2 and the specified formal requirements
- Qualifications and expertise of the applicant and the partners involved
- Quality and originality of the project
- Initiation of new partnerships
- Quality and long-term sustainability of the cooperation and added value for the partner institutions
- Support of young scientists
- Scientific benefits and prospects for the commercialization of the expected results
- Appropriateness and need for the requested amount of funding
- Security of the overall financing of the project for its full duration.
Suitable project ideas will then be selected for funding on the basis of the above-mentioned evaluation criteria. Applicants will be informed in writing of the results of the selection procedure.
Applicants have no legal entitlement to the return of their project outlines.
7.2.2 Submission of formal applications for funding and decision-making procedure
In the second phase of the procedure, applicant institutions whose project outlines have been reviewed positively will be invited – where necessary in coordination with the proposed project coordinator – to present a formal application for funding, which will be decided on after a final evaluation. Formal applications must be drafted using the "easy-Online" electronic application system. (The link will be supplied in the event of a positive evaluation of the project outline.)
Guidelines, leaflets, further information and auxiliary terms and conditions are available at https://foerderportal.bund.de/easy/easy_index.php?auswahl=easy_formulare&formularschrank=bmbf.
In all cases, it is essential that the formal application includes a German summary of the project description in accordance with the terms and conditions concerning grants on the basis of expenditure or cost.
Questions concerning the approval and payment of and accounting for funds as well as proof and examination of proper use and, if necessary, revocation of the award and reclaiming of the funds awarded are governed by the administrative regulations pertaining to section 44 of the Federal Budget Code (BHO) and sections 48 to 49a of the Administrative Procedure Act (VwVfG), unless deviation is permitted under the present funding regulations.
Entry into force
These funding regulations will enter into force on the day of their publication in the Federal Gazette (Bundesanzeiger).
Bonn, 24 November 2014.
Federal Ministry of
Education and Research
Peter Webers
