DUT Call 2023

Created under Horizon Europe, EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation, the DUT partnership aims to tackle the challenges of urban transition by involving regional, municipal and local communities. DUT aims to create a strong community around urban transitions and to establish a well-known research and innovation platform that will help cities become more sustainable, inclusive and liveable.

Together with the European Commission, DUT aims to support transnational research and/or innovation projects around three themes called Transition Pathways: the 15-Minute City (15mC), Positive Energy Districts (PED) and Circular Urban Economies (CUE). For each TP, three topics are defined:

TP 15-minute City Pathway (15mC):

• 15mC Topic 1: Integrated Policies and Evidence to Reduce Car-dependency
• 15mC Topic 2: Mobility and Planning Policies for Proximity-oriented Developments
• 15mC Topic 3: Empower People for Urban Mobility Transitions

TP Positive Energy Districts Pathway (PED) [not funded by FCT]:

• PED Topic 1: Energy Resilience and Energy Poverty
• PED Topic 2: Urban Regeneration and Refurbishment
• PED Topic 3: Enabling Systems for Local Energy Transitions: Collaboration and Sustainable Investment

TP Circular Urban Economies Pathway (CUE) [not funded by FCT]:

• CUE Topic 1: The Built Environment as a Resource Base
• CUE Topic 2: Knowledge and optimisation of resources flows between urban and rural areas
• CUE Topic 3: Planning and Designing urban areas with Nature: Towards a Regenerative Urbanism

All projects should choose the TP and topic that is closest to their subject as a guide*. An additional TP may be selected if deemed fitting or necessary.

Applicants are asked to identify and indicate which of the following approaches is the best fit for their project, depending on the main purpose of their proposal: ROA – Research-oriented approach or IOA – Innovation-Oriented Approach*.

* PLEASE MIND:

• FCT will ONLY fund proposals that select the TP 15-minute City Pathway (15mc) topic, specifically 15mC Topic 1, 15mC Topic 2 and 15mc Topic 3 described above. Proposals selecting the TP Positive Energy Districts Pathway (PED) and TP Circular Urban Economies Pathway (CUE) topics will be considered ineligible.
• FCT will ONLY fund ROA – Research-Oriented Approach projects that select one of the following 'Project type of partner contribution' typologies: A – Applied Research; F – Fundamental Research.
• FCT will NOT fund IOA – Innovation-Oriented Approach projects, and the proposal will be deemed ineligible.
• FCT will NOT fund the typologies of 'Project type of partner contribution' related to Innovation, namely, I – Innovation / implementation, I-A – Innovation / implementation and applied research and I-A-F – Innovation / implementation, applied and fundamental, and the proposal will be deemed ineligible even if the applicant has selected a ROA project.

The following are individual or co-promotion beneficiaries:

a) Non-entrepreneurial entities of the R&I system, namely:

1. Higher education institutions, their institutes and R&D units;
2. State or international laboratories with head office in Portugal;
3. Non-profit private institutions whose main object is R&D activity;
4. Other non-profit public and private institutions developing or participating in scientific research activities.

b) Companies of any type and under any legal form.

The information contained in this section does not exempt you from consulting Article 3 of the "Regulation of projects financed exclusively by national funds". See call documents.

The DUT Call 2023 is a two-stage call for proposals: the pre-proposal submission stage (stage 1) and the full proposal submission stage (stage 2). Only the pre-proposals submitted in stage 1 and selected by the Call Steering Committee (consisting of the national/regional funding agencies of the call) based on the ranking lists prepared by the Expert Panel will be invited to proceed to the stage 2 and submit full proposal.

The DUT Call 2023 will fund projects submitted by transnational consortia. Applicants may only apply for funding to their respective national/regional funding agencies of the call (consult the document “Call Text”, in the “Call Documents” area, to know the funding agencies of the DUT Call 2023) and each funding agency will only fund projects submitted by team(s) from their countries/regions that are part of transnational consortia.

Please access the “Call Text” to consult the general eligibility criteria, the rules applicable to the size and composition of consortia and the rules of eligibility to consult the specific eligibility conditions of each funding agency.

1. Consult the “Call Documents” area.
2. Consult the national and/or regional rules of the countries participating in the consortium (including the Portuguese) in the document "Call Text”.
3. The consortium coordinator must submit the pre-proposal template in the submission system (see “Important links”).
4. Complete and submit, within 10 working days after the deadline for submitting the pre-proposal, a Statement of Commitment duly signed by the Researcher in Charge (partner and/or coordinators) and by the legal representant of the Portuguese Proposing Institution. The Statement of Commitment must be sent to the call National Contact Point.

PLEASE MIND:

• Only Portuguese Proposing Institution that are part of a transnational consortium and applying for FCT funding should complete and submit a Statement of Commitment (in pre-proposal stage only).
• The stamp or seal of the Portuguese Proposing Institution and, if applicable, of the R&D unit, will not be required in a digitally signed Statement of Commitment, provided that it is signed, in the Autenticação.gov application, with professional attributes that identify the functions performed by the signatory.

The information contained on this page constitutes only a summary of the joint call information and does not exempt the candidates from carefully reading all the joint call documents available on this page and on the call website (see “Important links”). Likewise, the information contained in this page refers only to the participation of FCT in this call, unless if/when expressly indicated. In the event of participation of other Portuguese funding agencies in the call, the applicants should consult the agencies information channels.

Eligibility

The eligibility check of proposals is carried out at both stages of the call (pre-proposal submission stage and full proposal submission stage):

• National/Regional Funding Agencies check national eligibility of pre-proposals and full proposals, ensuring compliance with the formal requirements in the applicable national/regional regulations (see “FCT’s regulation”, “Financial Execution Rules” and "FCT’s funding and rules of eligibility” in the “Call Documents” area).
• Transnational eligibility check of pre-proposals and full proposals will be performed by the Call Secretariat, according to the transnational eligibility criteria presented in the “Call Text” in the “Call Documents” area.
• For a proposal to be declared eligible it must fulfil both the national and transnational criteria.

PLEASE MIND:

FCT and CCDR Centro, as Portuguese funding agencies on this call, reserve the right to evaluate the possibility of transferring application(s) to the other Portuguese funding agency if an application is considered non-eligible by the funding agency selected by the candidate institution, but is eligible by the other Portuguese funding agency, which will from then on be responsible for managing the application(s).

Evaluation

The call includes two evaluation phases: a pre-proposal evaluation stage and a full proposal evaluation stage.

Proposals will be evaluated according to the evaluation criteria described in the "Call Text" in the "Call Documents" area.

The Call Steering Committee (CSC) will decide which 1) pre-proposals to invite to submit a full proposal and 2) proposals to recommend for funding, depending on the stage of the call. For this purpose, the CSC will strictly follow the order of the six ranking lists (one per TP and per ROA or IOA projects) established by the Expert Panel according to the available budget.

The final formal funding decision will be taken by each Funding Agency afterward, following its national/regional procedure.

• FCT financial commitment for the call: 500.000,00 €
• Maximum requested funding for a consortium with Portuguese coordination: 200.000,00 €
• Maximum requested funding for a consortium with Portuguese participation: 100.000,00 €

PLEASE MIND:

• Portuguese institutions funding must follow FCT's “Regulation on projects funded solely by national funds” (see “FCT’s regulations” in the "Call Documents" area), as well as “Financial Execution Rules” (also available in the "Call Documents" area). 
• If more than one Portuguese applicant participating in the same consortium applies for funding by FCT, the combined funding demanded by all the Portuguese applicants may not exceed the maximum financial threshold for projects with a Portuguese Main Applicant (200 000,00 €) or Project Applicant (100 000,00 €). Portuguese Main Applicants and/or Project Applicants in the same consortium will therefore have to share the funding that will be granted by FCT.
• The dedication (FTE) in transnational projects is not considered for the 100% (FTE) dedication to national projects.
• Under the terms of number 2 of Article 7 of the Regulation on projects funded solely by national funds, payments made directly or indirectly to companies through the Proposing Institution cannot exceed 50% of the total cost of the company’s participation.

DUT Call 2023 website

Matchmaking platform

Application submission platform (available soon)

Pre-proposals template (available soon)

DUT website

Alexandre Maurício

alexandre.mauricio@fct.pt

Tel: (+351) 213 917 648

Joana Pinheiro

joana.pinheiro@fct.pt

Tel: (+351) 213 911 567