Preparations are underway for the second call for proposals in the "Research and Innovation" program for applied research, funded under the second edition of the Swiss-Polish Cooperation Programme, or so-called Swiss Funds. Additional conditions will apply in the CALL 2025. The idea is to encourage entrepreneurs to strengthen cooperation with Switzerland and increase technology transfer between the two countries.

The first of the new conditions relates to the composition of the project consortium applying for funding. Each consortium must include at least one company from Poland and one from Switzerland. The second new requirement concerns the share of companies in the total project budget. The eligible costs of each company must be at least 10% of the total eligible costs of the project. This will show the actual engagement of companies in projects proposed for funding. The introduction of the new conditions is also expected to contribute to an increase in the innovation of projects and the technological readiness level (TRL) of the research being conducted. It will also increase the likelihood of commercialization of the results of funded projects.

In addition to the new requirements for the CALL 2025, we plan to maintain the rules that applied in 2024. Research organizations with legal entity in Poland or Switzerland, as well as companies based in either country, can apply for funding from the Swiss-Polish Cooperation Program's "Scientific Research and Innovation" programme. As in 2024, the call for proposals will not be thematically limited. The research planned under the project must be of an applied nature and focus exclusively on civilian applications. The program's budget for the 2025 competition is nearly PLN 66 million. We plan to announce the second competition within the framework of the programme in the first quarter of 2025, and open the call for proposals for funding in the second quarter of 2025. We encourage you to take advantage of this time to find project partners, establish cooperation and develop an action plan.

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