Pre-Announcement: German-Polish Call for Proposals in September 2015

Poland is a key partner for Germany, both as a neighbour and in the European Union. Alongside close political and economic relations, cooperation in science and research also plays an important role. This cooperation is based on the 1989 bilateral agreement on “Scientific and Technological Cooperation”.

One research topic which is of great interest to both sides is research for sustainable development. This deals with global challenges such as climate change, water scarcity and the shortage of raw materials. Universities and research institutions in Germany and Poland have long been cooperating in various ways; for example, within the framework of projects funded by the Federal Research Ministry or under the European Union’s Research Framework Programmes. The first joint German-Polish call for proposals was announced by the Federal Research Ministry (BMBF) and the Polish Ministry of Science in 2011. Bilateral cooperation in sustainability research is now entering a new round. The BMBF and the National Centre for Research and Development of the Republic of Poland (NCBIR) are again funding bilateral research projects in sustainability research under a call for proposals which is expected to be announced on 1 September 2015. This time the call will focus on funding small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The aim is to strengthen the position of SMEs in the faster transfer of technology from the precompetitive phase to practical application.

Research proposals should cover at least one of the following areas:

Energy efficiency and climate protection, eg:

• Innovative products and services in the field of climate protection or to protect against climatic effects
• Technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industrial processes, particularly key innovations with a broad application potential
• Cultivation methods to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in rural areas
• Systems-related technologies, processes and services to enhance energy efficiency in important industrial sectors.

Resource efficiency, eg:

• Increasing resource efficiency, particularly in resource-intensive production systems (eg processing of metal and mineral raw materials, production of primary chemical products)
• Improving the productivity of raw materials by optimizing value-added chains
• Innovative recycling and processing procedures

Sustainable water management, eg:

• Innovative drinking water production methods
• Strategies and technologies for saving water (including recycling technologies); efficient irrigation technologies
• Energy-efficient waste water treatment methods and energy recovery from waste water
• New approaches and technologies for linking material flows (eg water/energy/waste) and possible recovery of (nutrient) substances

Socio-ecological research, eg:

• Evaluation of the sustainability of products and services
• More sustainable products through innovations on the consumer side and on the production side

Proposals may be submitted by public and/or private entities that are eligible to participate in the call according to the respective funding regulations of the funding institutions. Proposals are especially welcome from  small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (definition  used by the European Union: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/facts-figures-analysis/sme-definition/index_en.htm). Bilateral consortia should comprise at least one SME in each country.

The call for proposals is available at www.fona.de/de/20182 (in German)
An abridged version in English is available here (www.fona.de/en/20182)