Any individual or registered company can apply for the FUSION Commercialisation Voucher Programme. If an application by an individual is selected for funding, than prior to the commencement of the project that person would need to register a company. However, it is not necessary to apply with a partner or consortium at the stage.
In the case of the Technology Development Programme, one must first successfully complete stages 1 to 3 of the Commercialisation Voucher Programme and achieve an overall pass mark that is larger than ≥350 points out of 500, or submit the equivalent Stage reports on own accord and, following evaluation by the Council, achieve the same score. To apply, you will also require a partner since every project should, at minimum, have one private entity and one public entity in its consortium.
In both cases, it is important that the applicant is not in default on another project with the Council, or in financial difficulty.
No, only locally registered organisations are eligible.
The Council aims to issue two Calls per year for the Commercialisation Voucher Programme, and two separate for the Technology Development Programme. The application form and all other Call documents are uploaded on the Council’s website under the News Section and in the relevant programme folders.
For the Technology Development Programme, you will need to submit the Application Form together with other documentation such as the VAT Form, the De Minimis State Aid Declaration Form, an IP Agreement, the Curriculum Vitaes of key researchers, the Memorandum & Articles of Association of all partners, etc…
In both cases, we highly recommend that you refer to the relevant section within the application form for the full list of requirements.
The application form and all other Call documents are uploaded on the Council’s website under the News Section and in the R&I Programmes Open Calls section.
Both Programmes provide financial support for research, development and innovation preferably within the SMART Specialisation Areas identified in Malta’s National Research and Innovation Strategy 2020. These are: Aviation And Aerospace, Health, High Value Added Manufacturing, ICT, Resource Efficient Buildings, Tourism Product Development, Aquaculture and Maritime.
FUSION’s ultimate aim is to foster innovative research, knowledge transfer and collaborations between (1) Public Entities and (2) Industry.
Once an application is selected for funding, the beneficiary will be given an Acceptance letter, two copies of the Voucher Agreement and an Inventor Disclosure Form covering all or, where applicable, part of the first three stages. The last two documents must be returned to the Council, signed and initialised or stamped on each page within 5 working days. Subsequently the first acceptance meeting will be set-upby the Council. After this, the project will progress through the three Stages consisting of an: IP Check, a Market Research and Product Development costing exercise and an Economic Impact and Risk Profile Assessment.
Once an application is selected for funding, the beneficiary will be given an Acceptance letter and two copies of the Grant Agreement. This is where you will conduct your applied research and develop your prototype, where applicable. For the purposes of funding and reporting, a project is divided into a number of Stages. Each Stage shall be of a maximum of 12 months duration. At the end of each Stage, you must submit a Technical Report. Within one month from the end of each Stage, you will need to submit a Financial Report.
For the Commercialisation Voucher Programme, the rates for each stage are pre- determined by the Council. The reimbursement rates are 100% for public institutions and 75% (excl. VAT) for private entities.
For the Technology Development Programme, each project can request eligible direct cost (those costs incurred directly by the Partners during the duration of the project and used primarily for the purpose of achieving the objectives of the project). However, the overall portion of funding for any individual Partner, or any group of partner from the public or private sector, shall be limited to 75% of the value of the project. In addition, the reimbursement rates are 100% for public institutions and 75% (excl. VAT) for private entities.
More detailed breakdowns of how the funding can be used shall be found within the Rules for Participation of both programmes.
The following expenditure shall be considered as ineligible costs:
– Expenses related to loans, interest, etc;
– Recoverable value added tax;
– Expenses which are recoverable through other funding mechanisms;
– Re-purchase of equipment originally procured through other funding mechanisms;
– Purchase of equipment from partners or their subsidiaries within the consortium;
– Opportunity costs related to foregone production and production downtime arising from the allocation of resources to the Project;
– Any activity related to the reproduction of a commercial product or process by a physical examination of an existing system or from plans, blueprints; detailed specifications or publicly available information;
– Standard office equipment/stationery;
– Organising a conference; and
– Personnel hours for travelling.
Whilst you may opt to carry out all activities on the Commercialisation Voucher Programme on your own accord, the Council can assign pre-selected service providers to carry out the work. In the case of the latter, the service is reimbursable as per conditions noted in question 7. You will of course have to liaise closely with the Service Provider and provide all the requested information about your idea.For the Technology Development Programme, you and your partner will share the work. However, either entity may engage people specifically to work on the project or you may opt to subcontract some of the work. More details on the eligible subcontracting and personnel costs can be found in the Rules for Participation uploaded with each Call.
Service Providers are selected by the Council. You may however, object, in writing, to the Council’s selection. If your objection is deemed to be justified, we will appoint another Service Provider. This can only occur up to a maximum of two times per stage.
Yes. This is in fact essential for the Technology Development Programme.
Yes. One Stage follows the other. Therefore, in order to proceed to the next Stage, the current stage must be completed and positively evaluated. However, instead of working with a Service Provider, you may opt to submit your own reports for a particular Stage and then have these evaluated.
The Council, in line with its related Policy, reserves the right to take those actions which it deems necessary, and which may include the forceful termination of theproject and the retrieval of all funds previously allocated.
The minimum duration is one year. The maximum duration is three years. An applicant may determine the duration of the project within these boundaries.
The three Vouchers are: Business Plan; Initial Patent Application and Investors Meetings. These have a maximum duration of 10 weeks each and can be used at any time during the duration of your project or within two years from the end date of your project. To access them please send an official request by email to the Council and we will guide you thereon.
For both programmes you would normally be informed within one month of the deadline.
For the Commercialisation Voucher Programme, the top scoring proposals within each Smart Specialisation Area shall be selected. Priority will be given to an even coverage of applications across the different areas. In cases where the total Call Financial Allocation has not been reached, the Council may, at its discretion, consider applications which are not aligned to the Smart Specialisation Areas.
For the Technology Development Programme, the top scoring proposals across all Smart Specialisation Areas shall be selected.
Additional information can be obtained from the Research and Innovation Programmes Unit within the Malta Council for Science and Technology or by calling 2360 2115.
This article was last updated on: May 12, 2017