MCST News

The Malta Council for Science and Technology, as the Malta national contact point for COST, Co-Operation in Science and Technology, www.cost.eu has issued a call of interest from experts who are interested in being nominated as Malta’s representative on the Scientific Committee which assists COST in fulfilling its mission and policies. COST document 126/14 establishes that ‘the Scientific Committee will be composed of 36 high-level experts (one from each COST Member Country and one from Cooperating State) with international renowned expertise, recognized merit in their professional career (science, technology, research management, innovation, industry or other). The Scientific Committee members shall be independent from the Review Panels.

The Scientific Committee members will be expected to serve for up to 10 working days/year. They shall oversee various scientific aspects of COST including the evaluations undertaken by the COST Review Panels. The profile and competences of the Scientific Committee (SC) are:

• Active scientists with minimum 10 years of research experience and list of publications of the last five years;
• Experience on evaluation procedures and/or evaluation of research programs (national, European or international);
• Excellent knowledge of Science & Technology landscape;
• Broad comprehension of foresight and decision making processes;
• Knowledge in impact analysis.

The SC will have the following main responsibilities:

• Ensuring overall supervision and quality control of procedures for:
• evaluation and selection of COST proposals
• monitoring and final assessment of COST Actions
• Global analysis of the outcomes and impact of ended COST Actions
• Acting as the scientific and technological advisor for COST

Malta has been invited to nominate up to three candidates from Malta to the COST Association, from different science and technology fields with different profile, sectors (innovation hubs, technical/applied universities or research institutions, industry). However, only ONE person will be appointed by COST Association, following an overview of the profiles and competencies of nominees from each country in order ensure a balanced coverage of all science and technology fields, including humanities within the Committee. The position of the member of Scientific Committee is honorary. Travel, accommodation expenses and daily allowance will be reimbursed by COST.

All applications should be submitted in by filling in the details requested in the attached template CV. Applications are to be submitted by Monday 2^nd October c.o.b. to melchior.cini@gov.mt. All applications will be considered in full confidentiality.

Downloads:

SC candidates CV template

The Commerce Department within the Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Businesses has just launched the Malta Innovation Awards 2017. Total prize money is €40,000.

Through these Awards, Government aims to encourage the development of innovative ideas and products which have potential, that are both unique and sustainable. The deadline for submission of applications is Friday 13th October 2017 at noon.

Guidance Notes and Application Forms are available at www.commerce.gov.mt

The Call for the Internationalisation Partnership Awards Scheme 2017 is now open!
The Malta Council for Science and Technology is accepting applications for the submission of project proposals under the Internationalisation Partnership Awards Scheme 2017. The deadline for submission is noon on the 30th August 2017.
The Internationalisation Partnership Awards Scheme aims to foster mutually beneficial international relationships between local R&I-performing academic or private entities and foreign counterparts based in the EU. The scheme will achieve this by funding a number of activities which can promote internationalisation through either one or a combination of the following:
? the development of joint teaching curricula for Masters or PhD students
? placements for local researchers in foreign institutions for the purposes of furthering research & innovation collaboration
? the arrangement of strategic and targeted visits by local academics/researchers and representatives of private entities to foreign institutions in order to participate in research & innovation activities of an exploratory and developmental nature
? the organisation of seminars or workshops on a particular research and innovation area in Malta that would benefit from the participation of foreign experts
? the development of transnational research & innovation proposals for submission to third party-funders, e.g. H2020, etc.

All projects are evaluated by a selection panel set up by MCST on the basis of evaluation criteria outlined in the Call text.
Interested applicants are to submit their application form electronically to mark.c.farrugia@gov.mt with “Internationalisation Partnership Awards Scheme Application 2017” as a subject. The Application must be dated, signed and stamped on each page by the applicant. All received applications shall be acknowledged by email.
Additional information can be found in the documents attached to this call. Alternatively, interested parties may contact Mr. Mark Farrugia on 2360 2178 or 2360 2115.

Downloads:

State Aid 2017

Call for Applications 2017

Application Form 2017

The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) opens its scientific laboratories and facilities to people working in academia and research organisations, industry, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and more in general to the public and private sector.

The JRC offers access to its facilities to researchers and scientists from EU Member States, candidate countries and countries associated to the EU Research Programme Horizon 2020.

Offering access to visiting researchers is part of JRC’s strategy to:
•enhance dissemination of scientific knowledge;
•boost competiveness;
•bridge the gap between research and industry.

Scientists will have the opportunity to work in the following fields:
•nuclear safety and security (Euratom Laboratories);
•chemistry;
•biosciences/life sciences;
•physical sciences;
•ICT;
•Foresight.

The results will also feed into JRC’s mission to support EU policymaking.

In a pilot project, three facilities in Ispra (Italy) with the necessary infrastructure to host visitors will offer access through dedicated calls in the fields of safety and security of buildings and of nanobiotechnologies.

Other JRC facilities in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands are planning to gradually provide access after completion of the pilot phase in 2017-2018.

Relevance-driven access

The relevance-driven access is exclusively dependent on scientific and socio-economic relevance at European level. It is based on a peer-review selection process following a call for proposals. Projects accessing JRC facilities under the relevance-driven mode are only charged the additional costs associated to such access.

You will find all relevant information here: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/research-facility/open-access.

The Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) is seeking to suggest suitable candidates to participate in the scientific evaluation of transnational research proposals under the MarTERA ERA-NET Co-Fund call.

Candidates must have expertise in at least one of the following areas (in the context of marine and maritime technologies):
• Emissions reduction
• Energy efficiency
• Innovative propulsion systems
• Noise and vibration reduction
• Biofouling and corrosion prevention
• Novel materials
• Structures
• Deep Sea Mining
• Improved models for marine vehicles and structures behaviour
• Monitoring
• Sensor developments
• Human computer interaction and Augmented Reality
• Top quality, globally competitive and environmentally friendly products
• Optimisation of production: improved and novel production technologies for flexible manufacturing, with focus on organization and networking along the value chain
• Intelligent/innovative interacting components
• Early warning and accident management systems
• Decision support systems
• ICT tools for monitoring and optimization of maritime operations (e.g. routing following best weather conditions)
• Improve operations such as dynamic positioning systems, docking and mooring systems, automation of processes, optimized routing, handling of goods, subsea intervention
• Individual safety concepts harmonized with navigational requirements

Please note that you should not apply as an evaluator if you are part of a consortium that has submitted a research project preproposal under the 2017 MarTERA ERA-NET Co-Fund Call.

Candidates will be suggested on the basis of their academic merit and experience in the field.

The details of the selected candidates will be forwarded to the MarTERA call office which will then decide on the participation of the candidates in the evaluation of transnational research proposals according to their needs. The selection of evaluators from the list of candidates is thus at MarTERA’s sole discretion. For more details on MarTERA, an ERA-NET Cofund under Horizon 2020 visit: https://www.martera.eu/start

Should you be interested in participating as an evaluator, please be sure to read and then forward all the necessary documentation as listed in page 6 of the attached document by noon on the 13th of June 2017 to corinne.muscat-terribile@gov.mt.

Interested parties may also contact Corinne Muscat Terribile at MCST on 23602152 for additional information.

Downloads:

Call Document – MarTERA Evaluators

The Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) is seeking to suggest suitable candidates to participate in the scientific evaluation of transnational research proposals under the MarTERA ERA-NET Co-Fund call.

Candidates must have expertise in at least one of the following areas (in the context of marine and maritime technologies):

• Emissions reduction
• Energy efficiency
• Innovative propulsion systems
• Noise and vibration reduction
• Biofouling and corrosion prevention
• Novel materials
• Structures
• Deep Sea Mining
• Improved models for marine vehicles and structures behaviour
• Monitoring
• Sensor developments
• Human computer interaction and Augmented Reality
• Top quality, globally competitive and environmentally friendly products
• Optimisation of production: improved and novel production technologies for flexible manufacturing, with focus on organization and
networking along the value chain
• Intelligent/innovative interacting components
• Early warning and accident management systems
• Decision support systems
• ICT tools for monitoring and optimization of maritime operations (e.g. routing following best weather conditions)
• Improve operations such as dynamic positioning systems, docking and mooring systems, automation of processes, optimized
routing, handling of goods, subsea intervention
• Individual safety concepts harmonized with navigational requirements

Please note that you should not apply as an evaluator if you are part of a consortium that has submitted a research project proposal under the 2017 MarTERA ERA-NET Co-Fund Call.

Candidates will be suggested on the basis of their academic merit and experience in the field.

The details of the selected candidates will be forwarded to the MarTERA call office which will then decide on the participation of the candidates in the evaluation of transnational research proposals according to their needs. The selection of evaluators from the list of candidates is thus at MarTERA’s sole discretion. For more details on MarTERA, an ERA-NET Cofund under Horizon 2020 visit:

https://www.martera.eu/start

Should you be interested in participating as an evaluator, please be sure to read and then forward all the necessary documentation as listed in page 6 of the attached document by noon on the 2nd of June 2017 to corinne.muscat-terribile@gov.mt.

Interested parties may also contact Corinne Muscat Terribile at MCST on 23602152 for additional information.

Downloads:

Call Document – MarTERA Evaluators

The Malta Council for Science and Technology will be organising an information session on the FUSION National Funding Programme for Research and Innovation focusing on the Commercialisation Voucher Programme. The information session will be held on Wednesday 31st May 2017 at 13:30hrs at MCST Villa Bighi, Kalkara.
The information session will include a short presentation and a Q&A session with members from the R&I Unit who will be available to discuss the particulars of participant ideas, eligibility of the ideas for national funding, etc. The agenda for the event can be found below.
Agenda:

13:30-14:00 Registration and welcome coffee
14:00-14:30 Introduction to FUSION National Funding
14:30-15:00 Q&A Plenary Session
15:00-15:30 One-to-one Sessions

Interested parties are to confirm attendance by sending an email to mark.c.farrugia@gov.mt by Monday 29th May c.o.b.

Further information about the current Commercialisation Voucher Programme Call can be found in the hereunder link:

http://mcst.gov.mt/mcst-news/2017-commercialisation-voucher-programme-call-two/

The Call for FUSION: The Research & Innovation Commercialisation Voucher Programme is now open!

The Malta Council for Science and Technology is inviting new applications for funding under the FUSION Commercialisation Voucher Programme. The deadline is noon on the 19th June 2017.

The Commercialisation Voucher Programme is another instrument aimed at bridging the existing gap in the R&I framework as well as improving the overall development and commercialization potential of innovative ideas. This Programme is to act as a demand side measure and entice user driven innovation, with the ultimate aim of increasing research, technological development and innovation activities, which can eventually be implemented in industry. The Vouchers are primarily intended to assist prospective applicants of the FUSION Technology Development Programme in order to prepare themselves better in terms of project proposal and validation. In some cases it may also assist beneficiaries of previous or current R&I Programmes as well as projects funded through the European Programmes.

Submission, evaluation and selection of application will be in the form of a one-stage process in which a legal representative of the applicant will be asked to submit all the necessary information, to enable a decision on acceptance or rejection. The Commercialisation Vouchers are subject to a Scientific Evaluation and priority will be given to the Smart Specialisation Areas. State Aid rules apply.
Interested parties should submit their application form electronically to voucher.mcst@gov.mt with “Commercialisation Vouchers Application Submission as a subject. The Application must be dated, signed and initialised (stamped or signed) on each page by the legal representative. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure the timely and correct delivery of the application to the Council. It should be noted that emails larger than 6MB shall be automatically rejected by the system. All received applications shall be acknowledged by email or in writing.

Note to applicant as from this Call:

The application form follows a pre-determined editable pdf template with fixed font and margin size.
Altering the parameters of the template will automatically lead to disqualification. Text should not exceed the printable area of the text boxes.
Annex I (optional) can be used to include a clear diagrammatic representation of how the project will go beyond the state-of-the-art. Annex I should be stamped or signed by the Legal Representative and scanned together with the application form.

Additional information pertaining to guidelines, rules, procedures and the application form can be found in the documents attached with this call.

Downloads: 

0 FUSION Commercialisation Voucher Programme Procedures

1 Fusion Application Form

2 Rules for Participation

3 Activity Guidelines

4 VAT Form

Annex 1