Scope of the call

The Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy of Québec and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) intend to support joint German-Québec research and development projects (R&D projects) in order to develop innovative products, processes or technical services from all technology and application areas. Funding will be available for R&D projects in which new products, technical services or processes will in subsequent steps generate sustainable solutions with high market potential.

In Germany, funding is provided through the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (ZIM). In Québec, funding is provided through the Innovation Program and the Support Program for Research and Innovation Organizations (PSO-International).

The Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy of Québec and AiF Project GmbH, ZIM project management agency on behalf of the BMWK, will assist the project partners with basic information during the submission of project proposals, in the evaluation and in the implementation phase. All results will be announced 4 months after the submission deadline.

Minimum requirements

Project results will have to contribute to the development of commercial products, processes and/ or technology-based services, which are based on the international state of the art. The project proposals have to comply with the following guidelines:

• The partners must include at least one Québec company and one German SME.
• Participation of further research organisations and other companies are welcome as additional partners or subcontractors according to each country’s funding schemes.
• Companies and/or research organisations from other countries may also participate. These partners’ participation is neither funded by the Innovation Program, the PSO-International Program nor the ZIM. They have to be included into the Proposal Application Form.
• The project should focus on the development of new products, services or processes of industrial application, which are based on the international state of the art, leading to commercialisation in the domestic and/or global markets.
• The project should have an obvious advantage and differentiated value proposition resulting from the cooperation between the participants from the two countries (e.g. increased knowledge base, commercial leads, access to R&D infrastructure, new fields of application, etc.).
• Project duration should in principal not exceed 3 years.
• The project should demonstrate a balanced technological contribution by the participants from both countries and must be equally significant to all participants.
• In a project with two cooperating partners, no partner may contribute more than 70% of total person months to the project.
• In a project with more than two cooperating partners, no partner may contribute more than 50% of total person months.
• All research organizations involved in the consortium may altogether not contribute more than 50% of the total person months.

Any partner whose cooperative R&D project is consistent with the aforesaid criteria may apply to the present announcement in accordance with the national laws, rules, regulations and procedures in effect.

Deadline, timeline

Submission deadline is 13 October 2023. Results are expected to be announced four month after submission.

Specific conditions described in attached document.