Call summary (the full text of the call for proposals and guide for applicants with all the necessary information are in Hungarian on the website of the NRDI Office)

Objectives

National Research, Development and Innovation Office supports the Hungarian participants of joint Indian-Hungarian projects in the framework of the science and technology cooperation programme between the NRDI Office and the Ministry of Science and Technology of India.

The main objective of the call is to foster competitive RDI projects based on mutual professional advantages and implemented in Hungarian–Indian cooperation which generate new or further developed, market-oriented technologies, products and services. Projects shall represent clear competitive advantage and added value.

Applications shall be submitted with identical professional content by both the Hungarian and the Indian partner. Unilaterally submitted applications will not be accepted.

Focus areas of the call

• Biotechnology, including agriculture and food industry
  
• Information and communication technologies
  
• Renewable energy
  
• Water management and water cleaning
  

Funded activities

• industrial (applied) research and experimental development
  
• intellectual property protection
  
• communication (dissemination) of project results (shall not exceed 1% of the total eligible costs of the project)
  
• project coordination (shall not exceed 2% of the total eligible costs of the project)
  
• activities related to commercialisation: participation in fairs, exhibitions, conferences and marketing activities (shall not exceed 5% of the total eligible costs of the project)
  

Eligible applicants

• Business enterprises with legal entity registered in Hungary which have at least one closed full business year;
  
• Business enterprises with registered seat in the European Economic Area with branch office in Hungary, which have at least one closed full business year;
  
• Non-profit organisations with legal entity registered in Hungary, which can be categorized as research and knowledge-dissemination organisations;
  
• Public bodies or their institutes with legal entity
  

Hungarian applicants can submit the national proposal individually or in consortium. Number of consortium members cannot exceed 5 entities.
International consortium: Consortium members shall make a cooperation agreement which regulates the intellectual property rights and exploitation issues as well. Hungarian applicants shall submit together with the project proposal a declaration that the preliminary cooperation agreement has been signed with the Indian partner.

Available funding: HUF 300 million from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund.
Maximum funding for the Hungarian part of the project: HUF 20-70 million
Advance payment for public bodies can be maximum 90%, for other entities 75 % of the grant.

Grant rate

The grant rate depends on the project activities and applicants. 
In case of research and knowledge-dissemination organisations which do not perform economic activity in the project the maximum grant rate is 100%. For other organisations, the grant rate can be calculated according to the following¹:
The aid intensity for each beneficiary shall not exceed:

• 50% of the eligible costs for industrial research;
  
• 25% of the eligible costs for experimental development;
  

The aid intensities for industrial research and experimental development may be increased up to a maximum aid intensity of 80% of the eligible costs as follows:

1. by 10 percentage points for medium-sized enterprises and by 20 percentage points for small enterprises;
   
2. by 15 percentage points if one of the following conditions is fulfilled:
   ba) the project involves effective collaboration:
   • between undertakings among which at least one is an SME, or is carried out in at least two Member States, or in a Member State and in a Contracting Party of the EEA Agreement, and no single undertaking bears more than 70% of the eligible costs, or
     
   • between an undertaking and one or more research and knowledge-dissemination organisations, where the latter bear at least 10 % of the eligible costs and have the right to publish their own research results;
     
   bb) the results of the project are widely disseminated through conferences, publication, open access repositories, or free or open source software.
   

In case of activities falling under de minimis aid² category (dissemination, project coordination, commercialisation, intellectual property protection), the grant rate is 100% of total eligible costs.

Eligible costs

The eligible costs shall be the following:

(a) personnel costs:

• personnel costs (including daily allowance) of Hungarian researchers, technicians and other supporting staff to the extent employed on the project;
  
• daily subsistence allowance of Indian researchers/PhD students during their stay in Hungary
  
• for maximum 14 days/person/travel cannot exceed HUF 30,000 /person/day (including accommodation costs)
  
• for more than 14 days up to maximum 3 months/person/travel cannot exceed HUF 300,000/person/months (including accommodation costs)
  

(b) costs of services

• services, subcontracting, consultancy, translation (up to total HUF 250,000)
  
• travel costs (travel costs of Hungarian participants cannot exceed HUF 800,000/person/travel),
  
• accommodation,
  
• registration fees for conferences and exhibitions,
  
• local travel in Hungary and in abroad,
  
• travel costs of Indian researchers within Hungary (maximum HUF 50/km).
  

The costs of services shall not exceed 30% of the total eligible costs of the project.

(c) costs of materials, supplies and similar products, incurred directly as a result of the project

Overhead costs are eligible up to 10% of the total eligible costs of the applicant and shall be calculated from costs of services and materials.

(d) costs of new instruments and equipment to the extent and for the period used for the project. Where such instruments and equipment are not used for their full life for the project, only the depreciation costs corresponding to the life of the project, as calculated on the basis of generally accepted accounting principles are considered as eligible.
The costs of equipment shall not exceed 20% of the total eligible costs of the project.
The applicant shall attach price offer to the project proposal.

(e) intangible assets
Where such intangible assets are not used for their full life for the project, only the depreciation costs corresponding to the life of the project, as calculated on the basis of generally accepted accounting principles are considered as eligible.
The costs of intangible assets shall not exceed 20% of the total eligible costs of the project.
The applicant shall attach price offer to the project proposal.

Indicative number of funded proposals: 5 to 12

Project duration: 36 months

Project periods: 12 months (only the final period can be shorter)

Projects shall not start before the submission of the project proposal. Costs arising before the start date written in the grant agreement are not eligible. Grants (reduced by the previously paid advance payment) for the given period shall be paid only after the acceptance of periodic professional and financial report which include the description of project results, dissemination activities, indicators, project costs, minor deviation from the work plan, change of personnel, duration, budget and their explanation. In case of major changes the project manager shall submit a contract modification request to the NRDI Office (it is possible only once in each project period).
The project is completed when all the activities are performed, all the costs are paid by the Beneficiary, the NRDI Office accepted the final professional and financial report and fully paid the accepted grant in HUF to the Beneficiary and the final protocol has been signed.

Indicators
Mandatory indicators:

• new product, technology, service, prototype
  
• international publication
  
• participation in international conference, exhibition
  

It is mandatory to perform the first indicator and the second or third indicator as well.
Beneficiaries shall provide information in the final report about the project related

• number of patent submissions
  
• number of new projects (national and international)
  
• number of new projects in consortium with enterprises, universities and research institutes
  
• number of companies exploiting the project results
  

Evaluation criteria
Project proposals which are under the evaluation threshold (receiving less than 20 scores) will not be supported.

After the eligibility check and technical evaluation, members of Hungarian-Indian Joint Committee agree on the list of supported bilateral proposals and the grant amount. On the basis of the ranking list agreed by the Joint Committee the national funding decision in Hungary will be made by the president of NRDI Office.
Information about the call:

1: COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 651/2014 of 17 June 2014 declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty
2: COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid