Deadline: 10 August 2015
Ministry of Finance, the Directorate for Finance and Contracting of the EU Assistance Funds is currently accepting applications (concept notes + full proposals) from eligible organizations for its HRD programme- “Transfer of knowledge between sectors of higher education, research and industry”.
The specific objectives of this Call for Proposals are:
- improvement of knowledge transfer between academic and industry sector, in both directions,
- development of innovation skills, improved or innovative processes, products, and/or services in the enterprises.
The overall indicative amount made available under this Call for Proposals is EUR 749,442.00
Priority Sectors and themes
The actions shall be in line with at least one of the priority sector for research activities and innovation outlined in the Strategy for Scientific and Research activities (2012-2016):
Set 1
- Energy,
- Information and Communication Technology (ICT),
- Medicine and Health of people,
- Sustainable development and tourism,
- Agriculture and Food
Set 2
- Competitiveness of the National Economy,
- Identity,
- New materials, products and services,
- Science and Education
Location
Actions must take place in Montenegro except for short time study trips or exchange visits, participation at exhibitions as specified hereafter.
Size of grants
Any grant requested under this Call for Proposals must fall between €3.000, 00 and € 25.000,00.
Duration
The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 12 months nor exceed 15 months.
Eligibility Criteria
- In order to be eligible for a grant, the applicant must:
- be a private or public legal person and
- be established in a Member State of the European Union or other eligible state stipulated in the basic act (Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 of 17 July 2006 establishing an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA)) and
- be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary and
- belong to one of the following categories and fulfil the related conditions:
- Scientific research institution:
- be licensed by the Ministry of Science of Montenegro (in accordance with Art 28 of the Law on Scientific-research activities – Official Gazette of Montenegro 80/10) and
- In the case of an institution established in an eligible country other than Montenegro, it must be registered in Montenegro as branch/office and must be licensed by the Ministry of Science of Montenegro;
- Micro and Small-Medium Sized Enterprise (MSME) defined as follows
- Medium sized enterprise – fewer than 250 employees (annual turnover up to 50.000.000,00 EUR and/or an annual balance sheet total up to 43.000.000,00 EUR);
- Small sized enterprise – fewer than 50 employees (annual turnover and/or an annual balance sheet total up to 10.000.000,00 EUR);
- Micro sized enterprise – fewer than 10 employees (annual turnover and/or an annual balance sheet total up to 2.000.000,00 EUR).
- have been operating for two years before the deadline of submission;
- in the case of an institution established in an eligible country other than Montenegro, it must be registered in Montenegro as branch/office.
- Higher education institutions
- Civil society organisations, such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
- Social partners, such as employers’ associations, employees’ associations and trade unions
- Science and Technology Parks, Centres of Excellence
- Scientific research institution:
- The applicant must act with co-applicant(s) who must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the applicant himself.
- At least one eligible entity from the category 1 and one eligible entity from the category 2 must be involved as applicant or co-applicant in this Call for Proposals.
- The applicant and its co-applicant(s) may act with affiliated entity(ies) having a structural link with the applicants. Eligible entities may thus include-
- Entities directly or indirectly controlled by the beneficiary (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by the beneficiary (granddaughter companies or second-tier subsidiaries) and the same applies to further tiers of control;
- Entities directly or indirectly controlling the beneficiary (parent companies).
- Entities under the same direct or indirect control as the beneficiary (sister companies).
- Entities legally defined as a e.g. network, federation, association in which the proposed affiliated entities also participate or the beneficiary participates in the same entity (e.g. network, federation, association) as the proposed affiliated entities.
How to Apply?
- Applicants must submit all documents together (Concept Note and Full Application Form). In the first instance, only the Concept Notes will be evaluated. Thereafter, for the applicants who have been pre-selected, the full proposal will be evaluated.
- Applications must be submitted in one original and three copies in A4 size, each bound. The complete application form (Part A: concept note and Part B: full application form), budget and logical framework must also be supplied in electronic format (CD-ROM) in a separate and single file. The electronic file must contain exactly the same application as the paper version enclosed.
- The Checklist and the Declaration by the applicant must be stapled separately and enclosed in the envelope which must bear the reference number and the title of the Call for Proposals, together with the full name and address of the applicant, and the words ‘Not to be opened before the opening session’
- Applications must be send via email or hand delivery.
- Prior registration in PADOR is obligatory for all applicants, co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies).
Note: Applications sent by any other means (e.g. by fax or by e-mail) or delivered to other addresses will be rejected.
For more information, please visit EU-Montenegro and download the guidelines.
