ACADEMIC EXPERTISE FOR BUSINESS (A4B)
Knowledge Transfer and Collaborative Industrial Research
COLLABORATIVE INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH PROJECTS (CIRP)
REGISTRATION OF INTEREST (ROI)
Guidance for Applicants
INTRODUCTION
A4B is a six year programme of support funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and European Structural Funds aimed at providing a simplified, integrated package of support for knowledge transfer from academia to business. A4B brings together a suite of already successful programmes into one, overarching programme, improving on previous capabilities.
A4B consists of the best elements of the Knowledge Exploitation Fund (KEF), Centres of Excellence for Technology and Industrial Collaboration (CETIC), Know How Wales (KHW) and Accelerate Clusters (AC). These previously separate programmes have successfully worked with both Higher Education Institutions and, where appropriate, Further Education Institutions over the last seven years, delivering knowledge transfer to Welsh Industry and Businesses.
This new strategic approach to supporting Knowledge Transfer will also enhance the existing collaboration with HEFCW in the delivery of Third Mission aims and objectives. A4B will provide a single strategic fund to support Third Mission knowledge transfer projects that will build on the infrastructure funding provided by HEFCW.
The aim of the overall programme is to promote a high value-added economy and to maximise the economic impact of academia and business through technology transfer and the creation of a stronger science, engineering and technology base with clear commercial potential. This will be achieved by the adoption of new processes, systems and services, or by improving substantially those already produced or installed. In turn, this will lead to the creation of high value jobs and ultimately, a value-added economy.
The Collaborative Industrial Research Project (CIRP) programme aims to encourage and enable groups of companies and academic institutions to carry out collaborative industrial R&D projects in order to:
- Increase the level of business investment in R&D in Wales
- Develop the research base in Wales by working on important industrial/business problems
- More fully exploit the research base in Wales by creating new or improved products, processes and services. Ultimately this will translate into an increase in high value employment.
- Stimulate the formation of long-term collaborative relationships between academia and industry to enable the process to become sustainable.
This following definition has been adopted for the purposes of CIRP. The CIRP programme will not fund fundamental research but will support industrial research and experimental development.
The Commission Framework for State aid for Research and Development and Innovation provides the following definitions:
'Fundamental Research' means experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts without any direct practical application or use in view;
'Industrial Research' means planned research or critical investigation aimed at the acquisition of new knowledge and skills for developing new products, processes or services or for bringing about a significant improvement in existing products, processes or services. It comprises the creation of components of complex systems, which is necessary for the industrial research, notably for the generic technology validation, to the exclusion of prototypes as covered by Experimental Development; and
'Experimental Development' means the acquiring, combining, shaping and using of existing scientific, technological, business and other relevant knowledge and skills for the purpose of producing plans and arrangements or designs for new, altered or improved products, processes or services. These may also include, for example, other activities aiming at the conceptual definition, planning and documentation of new products, processes and services. The activities may comprise producing drafts, drawings, plans and other documentation, provided they are not for commercial use.
The development of commercially usable prototypes and pilot projects is included where the prototype is necessarily the final commercial product and where it is too expensive to produce it to be used only for demonstration and validation purposes. In case of a subsequent commercial use of demonstration or pilot projects, any revenue generated from such use must be deducted from the eligible costs.
The experimental production and testing of products, processes and services are also eligible, provided that these cannot be used or transformed to be used in industrial applications or commercially.
Experimental Development does not include the routine or periodic changes made to products, production lines, manufacturing processes, existing services and other operations in progress, even if such changes may represent improvements.
WHAT IS THE REGISTRATION OF INTEREST?
The purpose of the initial ‘Registration of Interest’ (ROI) Assessment is to establish if the idea you have for industrial research is worth spending the considerable time and money required in developing the full project proposal.
HEIs are asked to prepare and submit an ROI on behalf of a project consortium.
When completing the application form, applicants should provide brief answers to questions. At this stage A4B are not expecting detailed answers. If invited to full application, applicants will have opportunity to expand on the answers to the ROI questions and supply additional information in support of the application where necessary.
During the period of time from the outline report being accepted to the final bid being submitted, applicants have the time to research and fine-tune their respective bids and confirm consortia members, roles, responsibilities and commitments. The final bid document itself will become the project plan and will be the document upon which the funding agreement between A4B and the consortium is based.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
All applications must meet the following conditions, in order to be eligible for consideration for funding in this round:
- The Applicant must be a Welsh Higher Education Institution who will host the project. The Applicant will assume overall responsibility for financial reporting and legal matters pertaining to the project.
- Applications will not be accepted from HEIs only, but must be collaborative projects between academia and Welsh industry with a minimum of 2 enterprises.
- Applicants must demonstrate strategic importance to Wales and potential economic impact in terms of new or improved products, processes or services registered or launched.
- Applicants must demonstrate a clear project plan, risk analysis and sustainability plan. A work package to complete a final evaluation report of the project must be included within the project plan. This report should be submitted to the A4B team upon completion of the project and will be sent to an independent assessor for comment.
- Applications will need to demonstrate that the Welsh Assembly Government’s and Structural Fund’s cross cutting themes have been considered by the integration of appropriate actions. Please see below for further information.
Proposals that include additional academic partners (HEIs/FEIs) are encouraged.
Proposals which include more than 2 Welsh enterprises will be looked at more favourably, provided that the role of each enterprise is clearly shown to be important to the success of the project. Institutions based within the Convergence area should include, where appropriate, Welsh enterprises also within the Convergence area.
Projects need to demonstrate support for areas of strategic economic value to Wales as identified in the Welsh Assembly Government’s Science Policy, One Wales and the Wales Spatial Plan.
CROSS CUTTING THEMES
Along with the European Community the Welsh Assembly Government has a long-standing commitment towards equal opportunities, and equal treatment between men and women, aiming to eliminate all forms of discrimination. In addition environmental sustainability underpins both the Welsh Assembly Government’s and all of the Structural Funds Programmes, therefore, it is expected that all projects will fully reflect this aspect when improving the Welsh economy.
The 2007-2013 Structural Funds Programmes have the potential to make a real difference to all of the people and the environment in Wales by building on the success of the 2000-2006 Programmes. Therefore, where appropriate applicants will be required to build in work packages, milestones to address how the project will:
- promote equal access for all to the education, training and employment opportunities and Employment Programme regardless of gender, disability, ethnic origin, religion or belief, age, sexual orientation and with regard to the bilingual nature of many of the communities within the region, and
- promote environmental sustainability and
- fully integrate environmental sustainability into the project plan.
Please see Annex 4 for further details.
PROJECT OUTPUTS
Projects will be expected to set and achieve challenging targets in the following areas:
- Meetings
- Enterprises assisted
- Collaborative R&D
- Gross jobs created
- Products, processes or services registered
- New or improved products, processes or services launched
- Investment introduced to Wales
- Projects transferring environmentally friendly technology
- Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases to help limit the extent of climate change and help adapt to its effects (see 2.1 Annex 4)
- Promoting sustainable transport (see 2.2 Annex 4)
- Promoting the efficient use of natural resources (see 2.3 Annex 4)
- Promoting biodiversity and the sustainable management of the land, sea and inland waters (see 2.4 Annex 4)
- Minimising the risk of pollution and other environmental hazards thereby safeguarding the health of communities and the environment (see 2.6 Annex 4)
Further information on the performance indicators, outputs, results and evidence requirements can be found in Annex 5.
ELIGIBLE EXPENDITURE
A4B will fundup to a maximum of £300,000 of direct, attributable, eligible total project costs incurred by the academic partner(s)for a CIRP.
The industrial partners’ costs cannot be funded by A4B.
Projects will be assessed on their individual merit based on the assessment criteria outlined below.
It is expected that projects will typically last up to 36 months.
The following are examples of eligible costs, but the list is by no means exhaustive. If you are unsure of whether a cost is eligible, please contact the Appraisal Team.
Eligible revenue costs include:
- Costs of staff employed on a CIRP
- Equipment with asset life < 1 year
- Consumables
- Stationery / Office supplies
- Postage / Telephone / Fax
- Contract Services
- Depreciation of equipment
- Equipment lease costs
- Irrecoverable VAT
Applicants will need to ensure all purchases are in line with the Structural Funds Procurement Legislation detailed in Annex 6.
Ineligible revenue costs include:
- Costs relating to commercial / retail activities
- Costs already claimed in other projects
- Staff costs not relating to project operation
- Recoverable VAT
- Insurance
- Notional “lost opportunity” costs
The CIRP programme is operated on a ‘no State aid’ basis on the understanding that funding is only provided for the costs incurred by the academic institution(s) with no indirect aid transferring to the industrial partner(s). See Annex 2 for full details.
HOW YOUR APPLICATION WILL BE CONSIDERED
An electronic copy of the application should to be sent to
Your application will be subject to A4B selection procedures. The application will be checked by the A4B Appraisal Team for completeness and eligibility. Compliance with all eligibility conditions does not guarantee that funding will be awarded.
The application will be reviewed internally within the A4B Appraisal Team and sent to wider DE&T representatives as appropriate. Any concerns that are raised by the reviewer will be communicated to the applicant for comment. If necessary the response from the applicant may require further review by the team.
The decision will be made by an internal meeting which will be convened as required. Applicants will be notified via email following the decision.
Upon approval, the applicant will be invited to submit a full application.
The completed application should be submitted to: Academic Expertise for Business (A4B), Welsh Assembly Government, Llys-y-Ddraig, PenllergaerBusinessPark, SWANSEA, SA4 9HL
FURTHER INFORMATION
If further information about the completion of forms, application procedure or the funding decision is required then please contact the A4B Appraisal Team on 01792 222469.
APPLICATION FORM GUIDANCE
Please complete the form as fully as possible responding to all questions. Provide concise and specific answers to the questions, summarising background information.
Please be aware that application forms which are incomplete or lacking in sufficient detail may not be considered.
This application is a summary document intended to establish if the idea you have for industrial research is worth spending the considerable time and money required in developing the full project proposal.
Technical due diligence to provide an independent assessment of the proposed researchwill only be carried out on full proposals.
Front Page
When completing the first page of the application, applicants should be aware of the following:
Please fill in the TOTAL amount of funding requested.
Provide contact details for the Project Director. The contact name and other details provided will be entered on our database and used for all future correspondence unless you subsequently notify us otherwise, so please ensure the appropriate member of staff is nominated. In most cases, the contact person should be the budget holder and/or the main point of contact for queries relating to the project.
Endorsement
The application must be endorsed by the Vice Chancellor/Principal (or such other person nominated by the VC/Principal to the Welsh Assembly Government) to confirm that this project:
-is fully supported by the Institution
-does not duplicate any other application to the Welsh Assembly Government
-is in line with the third mission or commercialisation strategy of the Institution
The following notes refer directly to the numbered sections in the CIRP (ROI) application.
Question 1
Provide an Executive Summary of the Industrial Research project, its objectives and its intended impact.(Please include key research objectives, outputs and commercial deliverables).
In answering this question, the applicant should:
-Provide brief description of the project by:
- outlining the background to the proposal
- Identifying the primary purpose for which funding is requested (e.g. to solve a problem? to exploit an opportunity?)
- Identifying key project objectives (SMART)
- Identifying clear outputs and potential commercial benefits (i.e. what are the likely outcomes going to be?)
Question 2
Does the project fit the CIRP scheme criteria?
In answering this question the applicant should indicate where appropriatehow the CIRP will;
-Increase business investment in R & D in Wales
-Develop the research base in Wales
-More fully exploit the research base in Wales
-Stimulate the formation of long-term collaborative relationships between academia and industry
Question 3
Have you considered how the project fits the wider Welsh Assembly Government strategies and appropriate regional strategies including howcross cutting themes will be integral to the operation of the project?
In answering this question the applicant should indicate that the project fits into:
-Science Policy for Wales 2006
-Wales Spatial Plan
-One Wales
-Welsh Assembly Government’s cross cutting themes (further details in Annex 4)
Question 4
Have you contacted a Welsh Assembly Government Official to discuss the project?
In answering this question the applicant should indicate:
-The Welsh Assembly Government official/s contacted
-A brief overview of the nature of the contact
Question 5
Explain why intervention from the Welsh Assembly Government is necessary by providing details of previous/current funding and explain why public funding is essential to the achievement of the project objectives.
Typically these could be EU framework funding, Research Council grants, Government grants, HEFCW grants, collaborative support with industry and direct grants from industry.
This question is trying to justify the need for Welsh Assembly Government intervention and support in order to deliver the project to a reasonably acceptable standard.
In answering this question, the applicant should consider:
-Provide detail of all previous funding that has contributed to the development of the research related to this proposal.
-Indicate if this project has been the subject of any previous application for funding that has been turned down.
-In addition to this application, is this project proposal the subject of any other current, intended or anticipated grant or funding application from public or private sector? If so, please detail.
-explain and quantify how the project will provide additional results over and above what is currently achieved
-confirm that support is essential to ensure delivery of the project to a reasonably acceptable standard
Question 6
Briefly outline any alternative options that have been considered and indicatewhy your preferred option is considered to be the best alternative?
In answering this question, the applicant should:
-Consider a range of potential alternative options to achieving the solution sought from the project. These should include as a minimum the do nothing and/or do minimum options
-Be open-minded throughout the development process and take on board the fact that the initial project idea can often be improved by considering alternative approaches.
Question 7
Will the project consortium include at least 2 Welsh enterprises?
Proposals must include at least two Convergence-based enterprises, and those with greater numbers of industrial/private sector partners will be looked at more favourably, provided that the role of each partner is clearly shown to be important to the success of the project and to the exploitation of the project results
Question 8
Have you approached the project partners to confirm their commitment?
In answering this question the applicant should:
-Provide brief details of the commitment from project partners
Question 9
Have you considered how the project would be managed and resourced, and do you have the necessary resources to deliver the project