Preliminary announcement: an international call for proposals on Bio-based replacement products, technologies and processes will be launched soon

Within the ERA-NET CoBioTech, the French National Research Agency (ANR) pre-announces the upcoming third call for transnational research projects in the field of biotechnologies applied to bioeconomy. The Joint Call brings together 9 funding organisations from 9 countries (France (ANR), Belgium (SPW-DGO6), Estonia (ETAg), Germany (SMWK), Norway (RCN), Russia (FASIE), Slovenia (MIZS), Spain (AEI) and Turkey (TUBITAK)). The single-stage call is expected to open in the second half of-March with a closing date in mid-June 2020

ERA CoBioTech aims to connect research partners with different but complementary scientific and technological expertises to improve and accelerate technology transfer and also strengthen European efforts to achieve sustainable industrial development in the field of biotechnologies applied to bioeconomy.

The third ERA CoBioTech call “Bio-based replacement products, technologies and processes” has a strong focus on sustainability throughout the entire value chain.

The submitted proposals must be multidisciplinary and include at least two of the following scientific approaches:

• Synthetic biology
• Systems biology
• Use of bioinformatics tools for the identification and utilisation of metabolic pathways
• Biotechnological approaches (possibly in combination with chemical ones)

Feedstocks

The research consortia are required to sustainably improve biomass utilisation or make use of innovative feedstocks derived from sources commonly recognised as sustainable. The focus should be on the conversion of feedstocks rather than the production of new biomass.

Industrial processes, industrial conversion and social integration

Projects need to be focused on research but the potential route to future application / conversion should also be considered during proposal preparation. This includes the need to address necessary future or already planned scale-up activities. Therefore, depending on the technology readiness level (TRL) of the project, participation of an industrial partner or technology transfer office (or equivalent) is strongly recommended.

• Projects should start at a minimum of TRL2 and increase their TRL by 2 points (not exceeding a final TRL6) during the lifetime of the project.
• As with previous funding calls, all projects will be expected to include aspects relating to ‘Responsible Research & Innovation’, communication and public engagement, and data management.
• Previously unsuccessful ERA CoBioTech grant proposals must not be directly resubmitted in their original version. In this call ERA CoBioTech expects proposals for collaborative research, development and innovation from transnational consortia composed of universities, higher education institutions, public research institutes, industries, large companies and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). The inclusion of one or more industrial partner(s) is strongly recommended.
• Joint projects must have a minimum of 3 partners applying for funding from a minimum of 2 different ERA CoBioTech partner countries involved in this call. In any case, no more than 2 partners requesting funding may come from the same country. A maximum of 6 participants is acceptable, 8 if the additional 2 partners come from Estonia, Russia, Slovenia or Turkey. In any case, the number of partners requesting funding from the same country can not be higher than 2.

The projects submission is a 1-step process. Submission deadline for the full proposals: mid-June 2020.

More information:

http://www.cobiotech.eu/

https://www.submission-cobiotech.eu/

ANR Contact:

Mélanie Lorion

+ 33-1 73 54 82 37

melanie.lorion(at)anr.fr

Liz Pons

+33-1-78-09-80-49

liz.pons(at)anr.fr