Call for Proposals: Research Grants Programme

In line with this “it is essential to develop a Research and Innovation cooperation community, coordinated also with the work of other relevant fora, supporting the implementation of the European Border and Coast Guard research agenda, as well as monitor and explore Research and Innovation solutions in support of the European Border and Coast Guard’s organisational and operational needs. Also, it is crucial for the capability development processes to allow for managing intellectual property effectively, and to enable smooth uptake of relevant innovation, drawing on EU and nationally funded research, exploring public private partnerships.”

Guided by this goal, Frontex Research and Innovation continuously seeks to engage with a variety of cross-sectorial research partners who play an important role in developing novel technological solutions for the advancement of border security. Pooling the research capabilities of non-profit research organisations and academia is essential in developing technologies that serve the interest of society. The Frontex Research Grants Programme is a step towards incentivizing and facilitating the dialogue with these institutions and maximizing the impact of their applied research activities.

Given the above, the main objective of the Frontex Research Grants Programme is to accelerate and maximize the impact of non-profit small-scale research and innovation on the capabilities of the European Border and Coast Guard.

Objectives

• The general objectives of this call are to:
  • Support European non-profit research and academic communities in bringing forward innovation by inviting them to propose small-scale research projects aimed at developing future-oriented technological proof-ofconcepts or prototypes in support of specific and concrete border security needs, and providing a streamlined and simplified funding mechanism to these projects.
  • Advance scientific knowledge of the European Border and Coast Guard (EBCG) by exploring the potential use of the outcomes of such research projects in the operational environments.
• Specific objectives
  • The following three specific objectives:
    • Scouting – Discover R&I on cutting-edge technologies available in the EU’s non-profit academic and research organisations’ ecosystem with a potential to address current border management operational challenges and respond to emerging threats.
    • Guidance – Develop innovative technological solutions by encouraging non-profit EU R&I actors to shape their small-scale technological research solutions in a way capable to satisfy the operational requirements of the EBCG community.
    • Scale-up – Support the transition of current small-scale R&I in fields of relevance for border security to higher technology readiness levels, incentivising the realisation of experimental proof-of-concepts and prototypes, as well as validations and demonstrations in relevant environments.

Priorities

• A project proposal in response to this Call must target research activities having the following essential characteristics (hereinafter called “priorities”):
  • Priority 1 – Focus on applied research: Shall focus on the realisation of a new or improved technological solution which has already passed the fundamental research stage and the formulation of technological concept at the date of submission of the application. The ambition shall be to bring the proposed technological solution to a maturity level not exceeding the stage of a system prototype demonstration by the end of the implementation period. It is hoped that the funded research activities will ultimately lead to future development and market uptake (which is beyond the scope of this funding).
  • Priority 2 – Present innovation potential: Shall focus on a technological solution that has an ambitious innovation target and goes beyond the state-of-the art by demonstrating at least one of the following characteristics:
    • be based on novel or improved concepts and approaches which have not been previously applied in the mainstream market;
    • addresses unique, disruptive or transformational technologies;
    • involves a high degree of technical risk (for example has never been attempted or is still facing technical hurdles);
    • demonstrates potential for significant market impact (e.g. having the potential to disrupt the targeted market segments if successfully developed).
  • Priority 3 – Realise a viable technological solution: shall conduct to a technological solution which is feasible, cost-effective and suitable to be operationalised.
  • Priority 4 – Contribute to the Thematic Categories: shall contribute to at least one of the seven Thematic Categories, representative of the typical mission-relevant technologies distinctive for the European Border and Coast Guard:
    • Technologies for Border Checks
    • Technologies for Border Surveillance and Situational Awareness
    • Technologies for Information and Communication Management and Data Analytics
    • Simulation Tools
    • Technologies for Standing Corps9 and Logistic Support
    • Advanced Technologies for Environmentally Sustainable Systems and Operations (cross-cutting Thematic Category)
    • Disruptive, Emerging and Key Enabling Technologies (cross-cutting Thematic Category)

Funding Information

• The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects under this Call for Proposals is estimated at 360,000 EUR. Frontex reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available.
• Grant ceiling: The contribution requested to Frontex in a proposal (grant amount) cannot exceed 60,000 EUR.
• Minimum indicative grant amount: Frontex estimates that a contribution of not less than 20,000 EUR (and not exceeding the grant ceiling indicated above) would be reasonable to allow the expected outcomes of this call to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude the submission and selection of a proposal requesting amounts below this value.

Expected Outputs

• Project proposals submitted in response to this Call, shall result in the development of novel technological proof-of concepts or prototypes to be formulated, realised, validated or demonstrated in the course of the project implementation.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants submitting project proposals under this call must satisfy all of the following eligibility requirements:
  • must be non-profit legal entities;
  • must be legal entities established in one or more EU Member States of the European Union or Schengen Associated Countries. Established should be understood as having a registered office, central administration or principal place of business in one of these countries;
  • must belong to at least one of the following categories of entities:
    • Research Organisation
      • Non-profit legal entity (being either a private, public-private or a public body) which carries out scientific research and/or technological development (RTD) as one of its main objectives. The mere financing of RTD activities to be carried out by other entities, the dissemination of knowledge and the promotion or coordination of research activities are not considered as RTD activities within the sense of this definition.
      • Typical examples of Research Organisations are private, public-private or fully state-owned nonprofit research institutes; Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs), RTD-performing foundations, research incubators, innovation hubs/districts and law enforcement or EBCG national authorities conducting research in the area of border management technologies.
    • Academic Institution
      • Non-profit legal entity (being either a private, public-private or a public body) consisting in a higher education establishment dedicated to education and scientific/technological research which is recognised as such by its national education system.
      • Examples of Academic Institutions are private, public-private or fully state-owned universities, polytechnic institutes, institutes of technology, colleges, campuses, graduate schools and police or military academies.

Ineligibility Criteria

• Please note that the following categories of entities are not eligible for funding under this call:
  • legal entities not established in EU Member States of the European Union or Schengen Associated Countries;
  • natural persons
  • entities which do not have legal personality
  • profit-making entities
  • EU bodies
  • International European research organisations
  • legal entities directly or indirectly controlled from any third countries
  • Any third parties, including but not limited to affiliated entities to the applicants, subcontractors, third parties receiving financial support from the applicants, as well as third parties giving in-kind contributions to the applicants; also, these cannot be delegated by the applicants to conduct the tasks indicated in the proposal.

For more information, visit Frontex.