Eurostars call on photonics in health

Deadline: Sep 12, 2019  
CALL EXPIRED

Call description

Eurostars has been carefully developed to meet the specific needs of SMEs. It is an ideal first step in international cooperation, enabling small businesses to combine and share expertise and benefit from working beyond national borders.

Laser-Go, Bpifrance and ISERD are now announcing a call for proposals for joint R&D projects under the Eurostars program.

This call is to support the LASER-GO project, which aims at developing a European cluster cooperation in the field of cross-sectoral health-photonics technology. The consortium brings together six clusters from five advanced and fast growing European Union countries: France, Germany, Lithuania, Spain, and Austria, representing around 1600 companies and 100 science and research institutions in the fields of medicine, biotechnology and photonics.

Supporters of the call

LASER-GO clusters

Opticsvalley  – the largest cluster in France specializing in optics, photonics, electronics and software,

HTS, the main cluster in Austria specializing in life sciences and healthcare technologies,

MEDICEN, the French business cluster specializing in biomedical engineering,

BIOCAT – the Spanish Catalonia region cluster operating in the ecosystem health and life sciences sector,

OPTENCE, Kompetenznetz Optische Technologien Hessen / Rheinland-Pfalz (Optence e.V.) is one of Germany’s most important optical technology clusters in the Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate region.

LITEK (Laser and engineering technology) – is a high-technology cluster operating in the field of optoelectronics and laser technology in Lithuania.

Advantage for international players – A one-stop shop for international stakeholders:

• A pan-European network in photonics for health
• Faster and qualified access to innovative technologies and products through clusters
• 30 innovation champions 
• Soft landing services if you come and meet our companies in Europe

Bpifrance

Bpifrance, the French Public Bank for Investments, subsidiary of the Caisse des Dépôts, assists companies from their start-up phase all the way to listing on a stock exchange, through offerings of credit, guarantees and equity. Bpifrance provides companies with a range of financing options suitable for different steps in their development.

Bpifrance supports state-and region- led public policy objectives by:

• Helping companies grow
• Preparing them for tomorrow’s competitive landscape
• Contributing to the development of an ecosystem that supports entrepreneurship

Working with Bpifrance, companies will find they have a strong, efficient and close partner that can respond to their financial, innovation and investment needs.

Israel Innovation Authority / ISERD

The Israel Innovation Authority, formerly known as the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Economy, is a public entity that operates for the benefit of the Israeli innovation ecosystem and the Israeli economy as a whole. The Innovation Authority is the main public body which funds innovation in Israel. In addition, the Authority assists the Israeli governments in all matters related to innovation policy in Israel.

Special focus

This call is for projects in the cross-sectoral health-photonics technology.

Health

Health includes biotechnologies from pharmaceuticals, medical devices and digital health sectors. This industry benefit both in Europe and Israel from excellence in academic research, deep government support, highly educated professionals, innovative spirit and great technologies. It is one of the main thematic where Israel and Europe have already built in the past very strong ties and lead to strong joint industrial projects and commercial outcomes.

Photonics

Photonics encompasses the technologies dealing with generating, guiding, manipulating, amplifying and detecting light and extends to the many hardware and digital components involved. Recognized as a ‘Key Enabling Technology’ by the European Union for its central role in a very wide range of innovative technologies, products and applications, Photonics is a field where Israel and Europe have built solid knowledge and capabilities that have a potential to translate into joint industrial projects for addressing global market challenges.

Eligibility criteria

Partners must comply with Eurostars eligibility criteria:

• The project consortium must consist of at least two companies coming from EUROSTARS country members.
• Participation of research institutes/universities is welcome as partners or subcontractors, according to each country’s funding regulations.
• The project partners must express the will to cooperate, on an equal base, in the development of a new product, industrial process or service. The product, process or service must be innovative, and there must be a technological risk involved.
• The project should have an obvious added value associated with the technological cooperation between the participants (e.g. increased knowledge base, creation of commercial leads, access to R&D infrastructure etc.).
• The project should clearly demonstrate a significant contribution by all the partners in the consortium.

Any joint R&D project which is consistent with the aforesaid criteria can be submitted to the Call in accordance with the national laws, rules, regulations and procedures in effect, on a non-exchange of funds basis, and subject to budget availability in each country.

Partner search

To help you finding a partner in order to apply to this call, please fill out a “Partner Search” request

Eurostars application

The online application must be submitted September 12th, 2019, at 20:00 CET.

• Eurostars Guidelines for completing an application
• Eurostars Guidelines for using the online application system

Consultation with the national funding organizations prior to application is strongly advised.

• For France, Bpifrance
• For Israel, ISERD

Consultation with the Innovation Task Force of the Embassy of France in Israel prior to official application is also strongly advised² (See contact information at the end of the document).

The Innovation Task Force of the Embassy of France is focused on the promotion of R&D partnerships between France and Israel. The Innovation Task Force offers to help French and Israelis find a relevant R&D partner and apply to the appropriate funding programs. more information : 

Eurostars evaluation process

For Eurostars, the evaluation phase covers the period from the submission deadline to the dispatch of letters confirming which projects will receive public support. Only the very best applications will successfully navigate the various stages and receive public support.

After the application submission deadline, a centralised evaluation process starts, managed by the EUREKA Secretariat (ESE).

Completeness check 

One of the first activities is to check whether applications are complete (have all sections been completed, is the application form written in English, are all of the required annexes in place, has each organisation signed and returned the commitment and signature form, and when necessary, the SME declaration within the specified timeframe?). The failure of one applicant organisation to supply all of its required documents will result in the rejection of the entire application.

Eligibility check

Eurostars applications must meet all eligibility criteria before the two-step evaluation process starts, otherwise they will not be put forward for evaluation and will be excluded. The failure of any single criterion will result in the rejection of the entire application.

Expert evaluation & Financial viability check

 Once checked for completeness and compliance with eligibility criteria, applications are evaluated. Each application is evaluated by three independent experts, commissioned by the EUREKA Secretariat. At the same time, at national level, participating Eurostars countries (National funding bodies) are responsible for the assessment of the financial viability of a project participant to finance the activities declared in the Eurostars Application Form according to applicable national regulations.

Panel evaluation + ranking

The results of the check: The applications which pass the first expert evaluation step are put forward for ranking by the Independent expert panel (IEP). Each application is collectively reviewed in an IEP meeting in Brussels, where the panelists meet to discuss the relative strengths and weaknesses of each application against the set criteria and each of the other applications. It is their job to identify the very best applications, and then rank them in descending order of quality, thereby producing a ranking list.