Pre-announcement ERA-MBT 2nd Call | Marinebiotech

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Pre-announcement ERA-MBT 2nd Call

Published on 6 November 2015

ERA-MBT is pleased to announce the second transnational joint call for multilateral research projects under the topic “Bioactive molecules from the marine environment – Biodiscovery”.

The main purpose of the call is to stimulate joint European research and development activities within marine biotechnology related to valorization of bioactive molecules from the marine environment.

Funding will be granted for a maximum of three years according to national regulations. Joint projects must have a minimum of three and maximum of eight participants from a minimum of three different ERA-MBT partner countries/regions. The participation of an industrial partner in the consortium is recommended but not mandatory.

Potentially interested candidates can use the partnering platform within the submission system to enter offers and requests for project ideas and build up a project consortium. This tool can be used continuously throughout the ERA-MBT project.

Submission of full proposals will be invited from 1 December 2015 and closes on 16 March 2016 (15:00 CET). Projects are expected to start in the beginning of 2017

Participating partners

To date, several funding organizations have declared their interest in participation. The final list will be available on 1 December 2015. Below you can find an overview of all funding organizations:

  • Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT), Flanders-Belgium 
  • Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO), Flanders-Belgium      
  • the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) represented by Project Management Jülich (PtJ), Germany                                                               
  • Icelandic Centre for Research (RANNIS), Iceland                      
  • Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy                                
  • Marine Institute (MI), Ireland                                                                  
  • Research Council of Norway (RCN), Norway                              
  • Innovation Norway (IN), Norway                                                             
  • Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal                                             
  • Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport (MIZS), Slovenia       
  • Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS), Sweden
  • Västra Götaland Region (VGR), Sweden
  • *Genome British Columbia, Canada                                                               

*still pending on decision

Focus of the call

Applicants are required to restrict their research to the identification of bioactive compounds and other useful properties that offer commercial potential and which are derived from available materials obtained from one or more of the following sources: culture collections, biobanks and repositories that are held within institutions/companies; fishery or aquaculture activity; marine biomass processing by-products and waste fractions; and biological materials collected from the foreshore (coastal areas between the limits of low and high water).

Applications are required to demonstrate a significant biotechnology component in the planned research, using elements of the marine biotechnology “toolbox” or research which contributes to the development of new generic tools and/or methods relevant to marine biodiscovery.

Applications are required to focus on activities that fit within one or more of the Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 1 to 5 and clearly show an applied aspect.

Applications are required to demonstrate the potential of the planned research to contribute to, or meet a specific market application within approximately 5 years, following the end of the project.

As well as describing the technical aspects of the project, proposals should describe their social, economic and environmental impact.