Globalstars Uruguay call for projects

This call is prioritising R&D projects in these field(s):

• Clean hydrogen and derivatives, production and demand technologies and services.
• Derivative technologies.
• Renewable energy technologies and services for producing clean hydrogen and derivatives.

Your project should:

• address at least one of these fields and
• show the potential to research or develop a product, process or service innovation that you can commercialise.

Call for projects opens: 11 November 2024

Deadline: 11 April 2025 (17:00 CET)

21 May 2025: Feedback for project applications / national funding procedures start.

From end June 2025 onwards: Eureka label given/ funding decision is made/projects can start.

Belgium (VLAIO): Funding Budget for this call: 1.000.000 euro.

VLAIO accepts development projects (an innovative idea that can lead to successful business in the short term, but there are still some challenges to overcome in developing this innovation) and research projects (an innovative idea that requires new knowledge and research and, in some cases, new development activities

Only Flanders based companies can apply for funding via subsidies. Flemish or foreign academic partners or research institutes can be funded by VLAIO if their expertise is crucial for the Flemish partner (company) and if they are subcontracted by this company.

Eligible costs and funding rates:

• Staff and other costs related to the development project can be funded with a 25 to 60% subsidy of the project budget, with a minimum funding budget equivalent to support of € 25.000 and a maximum of € 500.000 for this call. More information via this link.
• Staff and other costs related to the research project can be funded with a 25 to 70% subsidy of the project budget, with a minimum funding budget equivalent to support of € 100.000 and a maximum of € 500.000 for this call. More information via this link.

General information via www.vlaio.be/en/subsidies/subsidies-international-cooperation-related-innovation-and-rd/networks/eureka

Chile (CORFO): Funding available for Chilean companies, “Crea y Valida – Eureka” programme, on an open budget basis through a matching grant of maximum €233.000 approx. (CLP$220 million) per project, which varies according to firm size: 40% large; 60% medium; and 80% small. Extra 10% funding for female-led companies. Universities and research centres could take part as collaborators or associates of a company. Specific rules include:

• Beneficiary must be a legal entity constituted in Chile.
• Company must be of a minimum of 24 months old (as registered in the tax office).
• Companies must show proven record of sales within the last 24 months prior to application (no need to be every month).

For more information, please refer to https://www.corfo.cl/sites/cpp/landing-eureka

Portugal (ANI): Portuguese funding body, the Agência Nacional de Inovação (ANI), funds R&D costs for SMEs and small mid-cap companies, R&D centres and academia.

Large companies are not eligible for funding.

To be eligible for funding, your project must:

• Fall within national and/or regional Research and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation priority areas.
• Involve at least one Portuguese SME or small mid-cap company.

When in a consortium with other Portuguese research organisations or universities, Portuguese companies should undertake the biggest share of the investment.

• Portuguese companies need to comply with the following financial autonomy ratios:
• If SME or small mid-cap company: 15%
• Companies that have been active for less than one year at the date of the application must demonstrate the capacity to finance the project with equity, equal to or greater than 20% of eligible costs.

ANI covers up to a maximum of 80% of project costs for SMEs and small mid-cap companies. R&D institutions will be funded at 85% of eligible costs.

For investments located at NUT II Lisboa, the maximum co-funding rate is 40% of eligible costs (both for companies and R&D institutions).

The exact funding percentage depends on the company dimension, consortium collaboration, dissemination of project results and whether your project activities fall into the category of industrial research or experimental development.

For further information, please contact ANI’s Eureka team.

Spain (CDTI): Main features of the funding for Spanish partners are: Soft loan up to 85% of eligible costs (Euribor 1 year interest fee) Minimum budget 175.000 euros (no maximum budget). Downpayment up to 50 % of financial support with limit of 300.000 euros, with no requirement for additional guarantees. Long recovery period (10 or 15 years) where up to 22,5% of the eligible costs have not to be repaid. For more information please access: https://www.cdti.es/en/ayudas/r-d-projects.

CDTI will finance industrial research and/or technological development activities of Spanish companies are eligible for funding. Universities and research centers could take part as subcontractors. It is mandatory that project activities do not start before submitting the funding applications to CDTI. For further information, please contact CDTI.

Uruguay (ANII):  Funding is available to private law companies of all sizes established in Uruguay (including cooperatives that produce goods and services intended for the market), with the exclusion of those that permanently receive funds from national budgets, public funds or direct taxes, as well as those established in free zones, free ports, free airports, free ports, customs warehouses or similar.

Up to 70% of the eligible project cost will be financed, with a non-reimbursable subsidy of maximum USD 125.000, and a maximum project execution period of 36      months. Total grant budget of USD 625.000 (5 projects). The company’s counterpart for the execution of the project must be monetary.

For more information, please refer to https://www.anii.org.uy/apoyos/innovacion/76/implementacion-de-la-innovacion/

Each ministry or funding agency will fund organisations according to local laws, rules, procedures and available budget.

According to Eureka’s practices, applicants may choose to request a label without public financing (e.g. self-funding is also applicable).

If there is no allocated budget for your organisation type in your country and you want to participate in a project consortium, contact your national funding body using the form below to see whether there are other funding opportunities available or talk to them about self-funding.

Eureka has eligibility criteria for organisations participating in a Globalstars consortium:

• Your project idea must represent international cooperation in the form of a specific project.
• You must direct your project towards researching or developing an innovative product, process or service with the goal of commercialising your project results.
• Your project must have a civilian purpose.
• Your consortium must include organisations based in at least two mutually independent companies, one from Uruguay and the other from any Eureka participating country in this call
• No single organisation or country can be responsible for more than 70% of the project budget.

This call for projects has additional criteria for organisations to be eligible to receive funding:

• All partners must express their will to cooperate to the development of a new product, industrial process or service. The product, process or service must be innovative and there must be a technological risk involved.
• The project should have an obvious advantage and added value resulting from the technological cooperation between the participants from the countries (e.g. increased knowledge base, commercial leads, access to R&D infrastructure etc.)
• The project should demonstrate the contribution of all participants and the project must be significant to them.
• The maximum duration of a project may not exceed36 months.
• The participants are required, prior to obtaining the Eureka label endorsement, to have signed a project consortium agreement.

We will review your R&D project application according to our evaluation criteria.

1. Impact

• Is the market properly addressed (i.e. size, access and risks)?
• Is the value creation properly addressed (i.e. employment opportunities and environmental and societal benefits)?
• What are the competitive advantages of your project (i.e. strategic importance, enhanced capabilities and visibility)?
• Are your commercialisation plans clear and realistic (i.e. return on investment, geographic and sectoral impact)?

2. Excellence

• What is the degree of innovation? (i.e. is the proposed product, process or service state-of-the-art? Is there sufficient technological maturity and risk)?
• How would you use new knowledge?
• Is your project scientifically and technically challenging for consortium partners?
• Is the technical achievability and risk properly addressed?

3. Quality and efficiency of implementation

• What is the quality of your consortium (i.e. balance of the partnership and technological, managerial and financial capabilities of each partner)?
• Is there added value through international cooperation?
• Is your project management and planning realistic and clearly defined (i.e. methodology, planning approach, milestones and deliverables)?
• Is your cost structure reasonable (i.e. costs and financial commitment for each consortium partner)?

4. Overall perception

Experts will list three positive and negative points about your application and state whether they recommend your project for public funding.

Your ministry or funding agency may carry out another evaluation according to national or regional rules before allocating funding to organisations.

Funding will only be provided to projects that receive a positive evaluation from all relevant national or regional ministries and funding agencies.

1. Contact your ministry or funding agency through Eureka’s website to discuss your project idea, finances, eligibility and procedures.
2. Create an account on our application portal (one per project) and select the funding opportunity you want to apply to.
3. Use the portal and complete one application form per consortium (in English). Invite other partners to fill out a partner form.
4. Submit a GANTT chart, a signed co-signature form (available to download on the portal) and any other required attachments.
5. We will check your application is complete and eligible before evaluating it. If successful, your project will receive a Eureka label.
6. We evaluate project applications to determine if your ministry or funding agency should grant funding. Your ministry or funding agency may conduct another evaluation performed by experts and based on national regulations.
7. The final step is to complete and sign a consortium agreement. We recommend that you seek legal advice when drafting your consortium agreement.

Additionally, each applicant must submit all required documents to their respective national funding authority and meet its due diligence process requirements:

1. In Belgium (Flanders) in addition to the centrally submitted Eureka Project Application Form, partners from Flanders need to submit an application to VLAIO, including a project plan and budget online via vlaio.be/nl/subsidies-financiering/ontwikkelingsproject or www.vlaio.be/nl/subsidies-financiering/onderzoeksproject  pink button ‘Aanvragen’. We invite Flemish partners to contact us for an eligibility and a pre-check of their project ideas and get support by our team VLAIO advisors.

The deadline for submission of the VLAIO application is on 25 April, 2025 – 12:00 CET.

2. In Chile, the application process for this call for proposals has two phases: Phase 1: International, where projects applications are submitted through the Eureka System; and Phase 2: National Funding, where Chilean companies with projects regarded as eligible in Phase 1 are invited to apply for funding to Corfo.

Chilean companies that move to national funding in Phase 2 must complete the online application form available for the “Crea y Valida–Eureka” programme through Corfo’s application system. This form asks for detailed information regarding the project’s technical, financial, and human resources dimensions. Please refer to the documentation for further information about company requirements, project content, and evaluation criteria.

Each consortium must also submit a draft of an international project consortium agreement.

All requirements are specified in detail in the documents available in the “Crea y Valida–Eureka” programme website.

Corfo will review project applications submitted through the Eureka system (Phase 1) and decide about eligible projects allowed to apply to national funding through the “Crea y Valida – Eureka” programme. Only companies that are selected and allowed to move to Phase 2 can apply to national funding from Corfo.

Timeline:

• Phase 1: International starts in November, 11^th, 2024 with the call opening, and ends on April, 11^th, 2025
• Corfo will review all successfully submitted applications through the Eureka system and check project and company eligibility. Corfo will also verify with Public Authorities supporting this call if the international partner and project fulfil eligibility criteria on their side. Corfo will communicate which selected eligible project proposals are allowed to move forward to Phase 2 by the end of April, 2025.
• Phase 2: National Funding starts on May 21^st, 2025. The application for national funding through the “Crea y Valida – Eureka” programme is on rolling basis.
• Funding decisions will be available from June 2025 onwards, in coordination with Public Authorities supporting this call.

3. In Portugal the application process for this call for proposals has two phases:

Phase 1: International application where projects applications are submitted through the Eureka platform and evaluated by technical experts. If the evaluation assessment is positive in the countries involved in the consortium, your project will be awarded with the Eureka label.

Phase 2: National Funding: after your project is awarded with the Eureka label, Portuguese entities will be invited to submit an application to the national call for funding Eureka projects: MPr_2024_12 – Aviso SIID – Internacionalização de I&D – Operações de I&D Industrial à Escala Europeia where the grant for their part in the project will be calculated and awarded with no need for further technical evaluations.

We invite Portuguese partners to contact ANI’s Eureka team before submitting the international application for more information on the call process, eligibility and funding conditions.

4. In Spain the participants will have also to submit a formal R&D international project aid application through CDTI’s website (https://sede.cdti.gob.es/) by the deadline of this call including the Eureka Application form (in English) and the draft consortium agreement (optional at this stage, but a signed consortium agreement must be signed and provided prior to obtaining the Eureka label endorsement). Additional documents in Spanish language, containing detailed information on the Spanish participants, could be requested depending on the specific type of funding requested by the company. If the application is not submitted in time by the deadline of this call for project, the international project could be rejected.

CDTI will check the eligibility of the Spanish applicants after receiving the international application. If it is eligible, funding applications will be generated by CDTI to each Spanish company. Those funding applications must be completed and submitted by them. A full memory (in Spanish) must be attached to these applications. Deadline to reply is approximately one month after the deadline of the call. If the funding applications are not submitted in time, the international project could be rejected.

5. In Uruguay, once the project’s eligibility is confirmed in May 2025, Uruguayan applicants must submit their part of the project through ANII’s application system (https://www.anii.org.uy/apoyos/innovacion/76/implementacion-de-la-innovacion/). A draft consortium agreement must be presented at this stage (a model is provided in the Eureka website). Additional documents in Spanish language, containing detailed information on the Uruguayan participants, could be requested. The deadline for the submission of the application cannot exceed  one month after notification of the project’s eligibility. Selected beneficiaries must sign a contract with ANII.

Call for projects text