Cervera Grants for Technology Centres

Aid for the execution of cooperative strategic research, development and innovation programmes developed by Technology Centres and/or Technology Innovation Support Centres at the national level, focusing on one of the Cervera priority technologies.

Groups of Technology Centres and/or Technology Innovation Support Centres at the national level recorded in the Registry of Technology Centres.

Groups must consist of between three and five centres.

The coordinating entity of the group must be a Technology Centre.

Each centre may submit up to three applications (one as coordinator).

Centres that have been beneficiaries for the same technology in the previous call for applications by this programme are not eligible for support in a Cervera priority technology.

They must be Technology Centres and/or Technology Innovation Support Centres of national scope recorded in the registry of centres created by Royal Decree 2093/2008 of 19 December.

Beneficiaries must comply with what is established in Annex 1, points 1 and 2, of Order CNU/320/2019 of 13 March (Funding Rules) in relation to the definition and conditions for research and knowledge dissemination bodies, as well as point 3 of the Annex on the execution of economic and non-economic activities.

Competitive tendering with submission periods.

From 1 February to 15 March 2021 (at 12:00 Spanish peninsular time).

Opening scheduled for 1 February 2021.

Grant.

€35,000,000.

Grants of up to 100% of the strategic programme presented by the group.

Minimum budget requested: €2,000,000. The minimum eligible budget is €1,700,000.

Maximum budget requested: €4,000,000.

The strategic programme will last for three calendar years (starting from the date to be determined in the awarding resolution).

Only non-economic activities will be supported.

Group members' participation must be balanced, with the coordinator not exceeding 50% of the requested budget and the partners' participation between 15% and 35% of the requested budget.

Cervera grants for Technology Centres will only finance non-economic R&D activities.

In the General State Budget for 2021, the CDTI is granted an allocation under application 28.50.460E.74908 for the "Research and technological-industrial development: the Recovery and Resilience Facility for the granting of Cervera aid to technology centres, SMEs and mid-cap companies to carry out R&D in Priority Technologies" programme, of which €15,000,000 are earmarked for aid to Cervera Technology Centres of Excellence.

This funding is part of the Recovery Instrument established by the European Union to support recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, through EU Regulation 2020/2094 of the European Council on 14 December 2020 and, more specifically, the Recovery and Resilience Facility, approved by EU Regulation 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council on 12 February 2021, which regulates its objectives and financing, the modalities of EU funding and the rules for the granting of such funding.

The activities funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility are included among the actions in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, which outlines the roadmap for the modernisation of the Spanish economy, job creation and the recovery of economic growth for the robust, inclusive and resilient reconstruction of the economy following the COVID crisis and to respond to the challenges of the next decade.

Component 17 of this Plan, entitled "Institutional reform and strengthening of the capacities of the national science, technology and innovation system", aims to reform the Spanish Science, Technology and Innovation System (SECTI) to bring it up to international standards and enable the development of its capacities and resources. It aims to use public resources to make rapid changes that will adapt and improve the efficiency, coordination and collaboration and transfer between SECTI actors and the attraction of the private sector, with a high short-term impact on the country's economic and social recovery. The country's clear commitment to increasing and accelerating R&D investment, sustainably and in the long term to meet the European average by 2027, will require structural, strategic and digitalisation changes to be made to the system to become efficient. This component sets out a strategic and coordinated plan that will allow investment in priority R&D areas and an increase in the volume of public support for business innovation, especially for SMEs.

This call for grant applications reinforces these funds and is included in the aforementioned Component 17 of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.

No.

All costs must be associated with the activities proposed in the strategic program:

Direct costs:

Personnel costs dedicated to the project.

Costs of acquisition, rental, leasing, maintenance, repair and amortization of tangible assets.

Acquisition costs of consumables, supplies and similar products.

Acquisition costs of intangible assets.

Application costs for industrial and intellectual property rights.

Contractual research costs, knowledge and patents acquired or licensed from external sources.

Support costs and advice on innovation.

Costs derived from conducting studies, publishing and disseminating results.

Costs derived from the training of personnel associated with the action.

Registration costs for congresses, seminars, conferences and technical conferences (maximum 10,000 euros per annuity and beneficiary).

Costs of use and access to the ICTS and large scientific facilities, national or international.

Audit costs (limit 2,000 euros per annuity and beneficiary).

Indirect costs:

Application of a percentage of 21% on the total expenses of the action validly justified.