In 2024 the European Partnership Water4All – Water Security for the Planet – launches the 3rd call for transnational research and/or innovation projects.
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The Water4All Partnership – Water Security for the Planet – is a funding programme for scientific research in freshwater. It aims to tackle water challenges to face climate change, help to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and boost the EU’s competitiveness and growth. It is co-funded by the European Union within the frame of the Horizon Europe programme (a key funding programme for research and innovation).
The Joint Transnational Call (JTC) will be launched in the framework of the European partnership Water4All and will support research and innovation projects to improve water security in the long term. In line with the strategic objectives of Water4All, the results should contribute to the implementation of evidence-based, global, EU and national water management policies and strategies, within the frameworks of the Green Deal, Water Framework Directive, Just Transition and the Water Action Agenda for UN Sustainable Development Goals. Proposals should show cognisance of appropriate legislation and policy frameworks at national and international levels while addressing policy actions and steering mechanisms needed to foster the paradigm shift to Circular Economy.
The context for the general call topics is described in Theme I of the Water4All Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), “Water for Circular Economy: smart water value”. Likewise, Themes VI and VII in the SRIA on “International cooperation” and “Governance”, respectively, must be considered as they are cross-cutting issues to all other themes. Applicants are encouraged to check links in the SRIA between themes.
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The general theme of the call is “Water for Circular Economy”. Research & innovation proposals submitted under the Water4All 2024 Joint Transnational Call are required to address at least one of the following themes:
- Topic 1: Enhancement of water circularity in industries
- Topic 2: Urban water circularity
- Topic 3: Resource recovery and valorization
- Topic 4: Economic, environmental and social implications of water reuse and recovered products
IMPORTANT: Applicants should note that not all the descriptors included in the "Water in Circular Economy" theme in the SRIA are considered as eligible topics for the 2024 Joint Transnational Call. The use of water for hydroelectric generation and for cooling in power plants and industry, and the use of water in agriculture under topics 1, 2 and 3 are not within the scope of the call. Although the health approach can be considered in risk assessment, aspects related to epidemiology and the downstream fate of contaminants are not eligible.
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The following are individual or co-promotion beneficiaries:
a) Non-entrepreneurial entities of the R&I system, namely:
i. Higher education institutions, their institutes and R&D units;
ii. State, Associated or International Laboratories based in Portugal;
iii. Private non-profit institutions whose main purpose is R&D activities, including Collaborative Laboratories (CoLab) and Technology and Innovation Centres (TIC);
iv. Other non-profit public and private institutions developing or participating in scientific research activities.
b) Companies of any nature and in 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, Regulation no. 5/2024, of 3 January, which amends and republishes Regulation no. 999/2016, of 31 October (see FCT Regulation, available in the Call Documents area).
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The Call has two phases, the submission of pre-proposals (1st phase) and full proposals (2nd phase). Only the pre-proposals submitted by the transnational consortia in the 1st phase may be invited to submit full proposals in the 2nd phase.
Each Proposing Institution (PI) that is part of a transnational consortium can only apply for funding from the participating funding agencies (PFA) of its country or region. See national annexes (under Call documents), for information on the eligibility rules of each PFA and on the transnational eligibility rules. For a proposal to be eligible, it must comply with the national and transnational eligibility rules.
To submit their application, each Portuguese PI wishing to apply for funding from FCT must:
- consult the Call Text in Call Documents;
- consult FCT eligibility rules in Annex A: Specific Funding Agencies’ Budgets and Rules of Eligibility
- submit, through the coordinator of the transnational consortium, the proposal form on the application submission platform (see Important links) until 14:00 GMT in mainland Portugal on 13/11/2024;
- send to FCT, within 10 working days after the deadline for submitting the application, a Statement of Commitment (SoC) completed and signed by the Researcher in Charge (RC) identified by the PI and by a qualified representative of the PI. The SoC should be sent to the emails indicated in Contacts.
Please note:
- Failure to send the Statement of Commitment to the FCT on the date referred to in paragraph 4, or the unjustified delivery after that deadline, or the delivery of an incomplete Statement of Commitment, without one of the two parts – Researcher in Charge and PI – that make it up or without the signatures of the Portuguese Researcher in Charge and/or a qualified representative of the Portuguese PI, will result in the application being declared ineligible.
- If two or more Portuguese PI from the same transnational consortium apply for funding from FCT, each must send a completed and signed Statement of Commitment to FCT.
- One Statement of Commitment must be sent to FCT for each application submitted by the same Research in Charge and PI.
- The Portuguese partners that do not apply for funding from FCT do not need to submit the Statement of Commitment to FCT.
- The IP stamp or white seal is only required on manually signed Statement of Commitment.
The information on this page is only a summary of the information of the call, does not exempt the candidates from carefully reading all the call documents available on this page and on the call website (see ’Important links’) and refers only to FCT's participation in this call, unless expressly indicated.
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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 and other applicable documents (see “Regulation”, “Normas de Execução Financeira” and national annexes 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.
Please mind: For a proposal to be declared eligible it must fulfil both the national and transnational criteria.
Evaluation
The call includes two evaluation phases:
- Pre-proposal evaluation stage
- Full proposal evaluation stage
Proposals will be evaluated according to the evaluation criteria described in the "Call Text" in the Call Documents area.
The participating national/regional funding agencies will decide, according to the stage the call is at, which 1) pre-proposals to invite to submit a full proposal and which 2) proposals to recommend for funding.
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- FCT financial commitment for the call: 500.000€
- Maximum requested funding for a consortium with Portuguese coordination: 200.000€
- Maximum requested funding for a consortium with Portuguese participation: 100.000€
Please mind:
- Portuguese institutions funding must follow FCT’s Regulation on projects funded solely by national funds, Regulation of projects financed exclusively by national funds, Regulation no. 5/2024, of 3 January, which amends and republishes Regulation no. 999/2016, of 31 October (see "FCT Regulation" and "Normas de Execução Financeira", both available in the Call Documents area, and the applicable national and European legislation).
- If more than one Portuguese applicant from the same transnational consortium applies for funding from FCT, the combined budget requested from FCT by the Portuguese applicants may not exceed the maximum funding limit for a consortium with Portuguese coordination (200.000€) or with Portuguese participation (100.000€). The Portuguese applicants of the same transnational consortium will 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.
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Matchmaking platform (to be announced soon)
Application submission platform (to be announced soon)
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Germana Santos
germana.santos@fct.pt
Tel. (+351) 213 911 569Pedro Ferreira
pedromiguel.ferreira@fct.pt
Tel. (+351) 213 924 445