Czech Republic: TA CR

Name of Funding agency

Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TA CR)

Geographical coverage (national/regional)

Czech Republic

Name of the programme/initiative

National research programme EPSILON – The programme for the support of applied research and experimental development

Programme website

ERA-NET Cofund Scheme on TA CR website (in Czech)

ERA-NET Cofund Scheme on TA CR website (in English)

National research programme EPSILON (in Czech)

National research programme EPSILON (in English)

Programme owner

Technology Agency of the Czech Republic

Program manager (executing funding organisation)

Technology Agency of the Czech Republic

Contact person(s) (e-mail, tel.)

Katerina Volfova

katerina.volfova@tacr.cz

Phone: +420 234 611 629

Funding Commitment

€ 2 000 000

Anticipated number of fundable research partners

6-10

Maximum funding per grant awarded to a partner

€ 350 000

Type of research eligible for funding: eligible TRL range

3-9

Funding rates (approx.)

The aid intensity for each Czech applicant in the project is determined based on the type of entity according to the Regulation (see table below) and at the same time must not exceed the maximum permissible aid intensity for the Czech part of the project, which is 85 % of the total eligible costs.

*A SME is defined in Annex 1 of the Regulation

**Research organisations must satisfy the definition in the Act and the Framework

***While respecting the maximum permissible aid intensity of 85 % per project

Major eligibility criteria
(e.g. types of organisations, thematic restriction, cost types and caps)

Eligible projects for TA CR

●      the project meets the definition of applied research

●      the research results correspond to the national rules and are applicable / exploitable. (The project proposal has to include a clear description of the exploitation plan and results.)

●      the aim of the project has to be relevant to the overall aim of the funding programme EPSILON

●      the declared share of industrial research and experimental development corresponds to the activities of the Czech partner described in the project proposal

●      the requested funding meets the national regulations for aid intensity

Eligible applicants for TA CR

●      Enterprises (according to Annex 1 of the Regulation)

●      Research organizations (according to Article 2 paragraph 83 of the Regulation)

●      Enterprises who act as natural persons according to Annex 1 of the Regulation engaged in an economic activity pursuant to Act no. 455/1991 coll. on Trades (Trade Act).

TA CR excludes the disbursement of individual aid to an enterprise: 

●      against which a recovery order has been issued which is unpaid

●      meeting the definition of an “undertaking in difficulty”

●      which has not met the obligation to publish the financial statements for the years 2017, 2018, 2019 in the respective register - the so-called "Veřejný rejstřík”

Supported results

Projects that achieve at least one of the following types of results can be supported in this Call. The type of the result has to be clearly described in the project proposal:

●      P - patent

●      G - technically realized results - prototype, functional sample

●      Z - pilot plant, proven technology

●      R - software

●      F - results with legal protection - utility model, industrial design

●      N - Certified methodologies and practices, treatment, conservation methods, procedures and specialized maps with professional expert content

●      O - Miscellaneous

Results supported only in combination with at least one other result listed above:

●      H - results reflected in non-legislative directives and regulations binding within the competence of the respective provider and results reflected in the approved strategic and conceptual documents of the state or public administration

Budget & eligible costs

Eligible costs are:

●      personnel costs (including scholarships)

●      subcontracting costs (max. 20% of total eligible costs throughout the whole project period)

●      other direct costs (write-offs, protection of intellectual property, operating expenses, travel costs, consumables)

●      indirect costs (overheads) - full cost/flat rate 25% (indirect costs in the respective year are calculated as 25% of the sum of the personnel costs and other direct costs in the same year)

Investment costs are not eligible.

These specific categories of eligible costs are defined under Article 17 of the General Terms & Conditions

Thematic restriction

TA CR can´t fund costs connected to Regenerative medicine in Topic 5 (New strategies for advanced material-based technologies in health applications).

Intellectual Property Rights 

The applicants are required to enter into a contract with their foreign partners (sign the so-called Consortium Agreement) which will define the conditions of cooperation on the project where, among other things, they specify the method of allocating rights to the research results, as well as adjustment and management of the rights imported or created during the project's implementation, which are necessary to address the project.

Submission of the proposal at national/regional level (schedule, cut-off dates, deadlines, etc.)

Mandatory forms to be submitted

The Czech applicants are requested to submit:

●      A Sworn statement of the applicant;

●      Completed “TACR Application Form” Excel file (in Czech);

●      if the applicant plans to achieve the “NmetS” type of result, the "Confirmation of the Certification authority for NmetS results" needs to be attached

●      if the applicant plans to achieve the “Patent” type of result, patent search must be substantiated All documents (to be found on TA CR website)

All mandatory documents to be found on TA CR website. Deadline for submitting these documents is the same as the deadline for submitting pre-proposals.

All documents proving the eligibility of the Czech partner stated above are available on TA CR website and shall be submitted via the TACR data box (TACR data box ID: afth9xp) within the same deadline as project pre-proposals.

Please fill in the subject line as: „Horizon2020 - M-ERA.Net Call 2021 - prokázání způsobilosti - project acronym“

Submission of financial and scientific reports at the national/regional level

Czech beneficiaries must follow the rules of TA CR for reporting on the project (i.e. submission of interim, final and extraordinary reports and reports on the implementation of the results).

Further guidance

Project start

Please note that following national legislation, Czech applicants shall start within 120 days from the funding decision being communicated by the Call Management (60-day period to enter into a contract + 60-day period to start the project).

“Guide for Czech applicants”, “Funding rules for Czech applicants” and all mandatory forms will be available on the TA CR website (in Czech).