2023 AEI Public Private Collaboration (CPP2023)

DOCUMENTATION AVAILABLE FOR THE AEI WEBINAR

I. Objective

• Support for experimental development projects in cooperation between companies and research organizations (public and private).
• An advance in the incorporation of scientific and technical knowledge and results allowing the validation and precompetitive development of new technologies, products, and services.
• Stimulation of the generation of critical mass in R+D+i of an interdisciplinary nature for its application, transfer, search for solutions, and generation of results, both in technological and innovation trajectories of companies and in the market.
• Mobilization of private investment, job creation, and improvement of the country's technological balance.
• Strengthening the international leadership capacity of the "Spanish Science, Technology, and Innovation System" and its agents.

II. Call budget

320 M€ (80 M€ grant + 180 M€ loan + 60 M€ AR-FEDER)

III. Beneficiary entities (art.5)

• R+D+i entities: public research organizations; public universities and their university institutes; other public R+D+i centers with their own legal personality that include R+D+i as their main activity in their statutes; state technological centers and innovation support centers; private universities with R+D+i capacity and activity; private R+D+i centers and nonprofit entities with their own legal personality that include R+D+i as their main activity in their statutes.
• Companies (commercial companies) carrying out their economic activity aimed at the market; business associations.

IV. Project characteristics

• The topics must align with the priorities established in the 2021-2023 State Plan:

1. Health
2. Culture, Creativity, and Inclusive Society
3. Civil Security for Society
4. Digital World, Industry, Space, and Defense
5. Climate, Energy, and Mobility
6. Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, and the environment

• They must be projects of experimental development and innovative in the modality of cooperation projects, with results close to the market.
• Requirements:

• minimum project budget: €400,000
• duration: 36 months (a single execution period), starting in 2024 (as indicated in the application, after the proposal submission). The start date is the date of commencement of activities, not the date expenses can be incurred.
• participation:
• minimum two entities, and one entity must be a research organization, public or private, compulsorily.
• the representative of the group must be a company, acting as the applicant and sole interlocutor with the AEI. However, another participating entity can be designated as a technical coordinator.
• to be a participating and beneficiary entity, a budget must be submitted and financing requested.
• minimum participation of each entity: 10% of the total project budget.
• business participation: equal to or greater than 51% of the total project budget. This implies that the participation of research organizations must be a maximum of 49%.
• no entity must bear more than 70%.
• Incentive effect: if the aid application is submitted before the project starts, and when the aid means that without it the activities would be carried out in a limited or different manner.

• V. Eligible concepts (art.9)
  
  Those directly related to the execution of activities. For Public Universities (marginal costs):

• Personnel: hired (researchers, technicians, and auxiliary staff; only for contribution groups 1, 2, and 3). NO own personnel (but must be included in the budget for the % participation calculation). For any member participating in the project, the cost/hour cannot be more than €50/hour.

• Equipment: acquisition of new ones if used exclusively and their useful life coincides with the project duration; amortization of new and used equipment when acquired with own funds (not public funds).
• Rental, maintenance, repair, and amortization of tangible assets (instrumental, scientific-technical, and computer equipment), including technical computer programs.

• Consumables, supplies, and consumables.

• Auditing costs: maximum €2,500.</

• Subcontracting: those activities that cannot be carried out by the beneficiary entity itself. It must be a maximum of 50% of its budget. If it exceeds 20% and is more than €60,000, a contract must be formalized and previously authorized by the AEI.

• Other direct costs:

• Expenses for patent applications. NOT for large companies.
• Contracts and technical assistance, considered as service provisions but not constituting part of the subsidized activity.
• Travel: necessary for project realization (such as coordination, monitoring, and execution meetings), and related to the personnel identified and justified in the application. 
• NEW. Insurance and visa expenses where the TSE is not valid are included.
• NEW. Travel for research stays in R+D centers, for activities related to the project and beneficial for achieving its objectives.
• Consultancy costs, for project management, monitoring, and justification: ONLY for COORDINATORS. Maximum €20,000/project. NOTICE: please, if any coordinator or consultant contacts you to negotiate the distribution and allocation of their fees, contact us.
• NEW. For public research organizations, costs of central internal services, provided they have approved and public rates.

Within the concept of Direct Costs, it can be allocated to any type of expense considered eligible; therefore, modifications between items within the Direct Costs concept will not be necessary.

• Indirect costs: for the UPC, 25% of justified direct costs.
• Non-subsidizable concepts: office supplies and computer consumables; PCs, laptops, printers; generic computer devices and licenses; dissemination of results; attendance at conferences or events; derived from publications; subscriptions to scientific publications or journals; market or feasibility studies; acquisition, maintenance, or study of patents.
  

VI. Submission of applications

• When: from 30/01 - 20/02/2024 (14h). Internal deadline: 13/02/2024
• How: through electronic means. Centrally. Do not submit the IP.

• Documentation: a (recommended) English-language report, maximum 40 pages, with the sections of Annex V. Institutional information that we will provide is required. Also, a list of all proposals in which the UPC participates (title and consortium members) is required, so it is essential that you provide us with this information as soon as possible.
• It is important that the coordinator assigns the UPC as a partner as soon as the proposal is registered.
• We will provide you with a budget template that you will need to return to us to review and complete the application.
  
• Signing a consortium agreement before the publication of the provisional resolution is advisable.

Refer to the link to the call to download the guidelines and supporting documentation. We also ask you to contact your technical staff of the unit for national project for possible participation in the call.