The Agency for Business Competitiveness (ACCIÓ) offers grants of up to 100% for the hiring of experienced R & D personnel. Through the Tecniospring Industry 2021 program, ACCIÓ offers companies with operational headquarters in Catalonia and TECNIO accredited entities the opportunity to develop applied research projects aimed at technology transfer for two years.
On April 1, the call for proposals to the Program was opened Tecniospring INDUSTRY 2021, co-financed at 50% by ACCIÓ and H2020-MSCA, which aims to provide financial aid to cover the cost of hiring research staff for 2 years. The program includes two different types of projects:
Mobility Projects A
Composed of an exit phase and a return phase. During the exit phase, which will begin at the same time the project starts, the research person will remain for a year in a host institution, whether it is a university, research center, technology center or the R & D department of a company, located outside the national territory, carrying out an applied research project. It will be during the return phase when the investigator will work, also during one year, in the entity receiving the aid to finish the project initiated abroad.
Mobility projects B
The investigator, of any nationality, will join the entity receiving the aid, both companies with operational headquarters in Catalonia like TECNIO centers or technology centers, for the development of a applied research project aimed at technology transfer And it will remain in it for two years, until the end of the project duration. The projects presented in both mobility modality A and mobility modality B have the option of including short stays, lasting between 1 and 3 months, of the investigator in another company or entity. In the case of those projects presented in mobility modality B, in which the beneficiary entity is a TECNIO entity or a technological center, and which therefore does not have the status of a company, the researcher must stay in a company on a mandatory basis. For any of the projects presented in both modalities, the period of termination of the contract linked to the aid may be extended at most until 31/05/2024.
Beneficiaries
Recipient organizations
—Companies with operational headquarters in Catalonia. —TECNIO centers, accredited by the Government of Catalonia through ACCIÓ. —Technology centers established in CataloniaEach entity may submit more than one application as long as the supervisor and the assigned researcher are different for each of the projects submitted.
Research person
—Of any nationality. When the host entity of mobility A projects is not from one of the EU Member States or a partner country of the Horizon 2020 program, it will be essential that the researcher be a national or long-term resident of one of the above. —That they prove that they are in possession of the Doctor's degree and 2 years of experience in postdoctoral research full-time (or its part-time equivalent); or 6 years of research experience (pre and postdoctoral) full-time (or its part-time equivalent). —They cannot have resided or carried out their main activity (meaning such work or studies) in the country of the receiving organization (modality A) or in Spain (modality B) for a period longer than 12 months in the 3 years immediately preceding the closing date of the application deadline.
Eligible expenses
Eligible concepts will be eligible for a period of 2 years from the signing of the employment contract between the receiving entity and the investigator, and include:
-Salary expenses -Research expenses -Open access publication expenses -Mobility expenses
Among them, the possibility of subsidizing expenses derived from: food and diet, salary supplements or indirect costs of the project itself is not contemplated.
Amount of aid
The intensity of the aid will be 100% of the accepted eligible cost, as long as they do not exceed the following maximum amounts:
-Personnel costs: 117,000€ (58,000€ for each of the two eligible years). In cases of mobility mode A, the maximum amount will be multiplied by a correction coefficient depending on the country of destination, during the first year. In any case, the receiving entity can supplement the salary to be received by the investigator. -Research expenses: 15,240€ for the two-year duration of the project. -Mobility expenses: 1,920€-Dissemination costs: 3,000€
Receiving aid
Beneficiary entities will receive 70% of the grant as an advance payment, once the hiring of the investigator has been carried out. The rest of the amount of the aid will be paid at the end of the project, once the completion of the project has been verified.
Evaluation of projects
Each project will be scored based on 4 main criteria: the excellence of the researcher, the implementation capacity of the host entities, the quality of the project and the transfer and technological impact.
Main requirements
The projects submitted must be for applied research and/or technology transfer and be framed in, at least, one of the cross-cutting enabling technologies and one of the sectoral areas identified in the research and innovation strategy for intelligent specialization in Catalonia (RIS3CAT). Technologies:
-ICT-Nanotechnology-Advanced Materials-Photonics-Biotechnology -Advanced Manufacturing
Sectorial areas:
-Food-Industrial Systems-Sustainable Mobility-Cultural and Experience-based Industries-Chemistry, Energy and Resources-Design-Health and Life Sciences
As far as companies are concerned, they must be legally constituted as SRL, SA, SL or SCCP and not have an indefinite contract with the candidate.
Application Deadline
Between 01/04/2021 and 15/06/2021. More: ACCIÓ Grants
