1. Scope

Germany and Singapore are announcing a call for proposals for joint research and development (“R&D”) projects, focused on the development of innovative products and solutions in all technological and application areas. Applicants are expected to develop ready-to-market solutions for products, technology-based services, or processes with strong market potential.

Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) will provide financial support for joint projects (that fulfil the necessary criteria) through EnterpriseSG’s Enterprise Development Grant Co-Innovation Programme (“EDG CIP”) and BMWK's Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (“ZIM”).

EnterpriseSG and BMWK’s coordinator AiF Projekt GmbH intend to provide support to project partners during the project proposal, evaluation, and monitoring phases. EnterpriseSG and AiF Projekt GmbH will evaluate submitted proposals and work towards communicating the results within 4 to 5 months after the final proposal submission.

2. Call structure

This call invites German and Singapore enterprises to present joint proposals for technological R&D projects, according to the following procedures.

2.1 Financing

Eligible project participants from Germany and Singapore will finance their costs from national funding schemes and complementarily from their own resources. Provision of funding from one national scheme will neither indicate that funding from the other national scheme will be provided, nor bind the other national scheme in its provision of funds to the eligible project participants.

2.2 Minimum Requirements

The project partners must meet the following qualifications:

• The consortium must involve at least one Singapore1 and one German2 small and medium-sized Enterprise (SME), independent3
  from each other.
• Research institutes and additional companies are welcomed as additional cooperation partners or subcontractors according to each country’s funding regulations. However, academic/research
  institutions cannot work alone.
• Companies and/or research organisations from other countries may also participate. However, EnterpriseSG or BMWK will not fund these partners in this call.

The project proposals must comply with the following guidelines:

• 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 participants from the two countries (e.g. increased knowledge base, commercial needs, access to R&D infrastructure, new fields of application, etc.).
• The maximum duration of the project should ideally not exceed 2 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 in the project.
  • In a project with more than two cooperating partners, no partner may contribute more than 50% of the person months.
  • In the scenario where one or more research organisations are involved in the consortium, they may not contribute more than 50% of total person months combined.

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

3. Submission Guidelines

Participants must submit (1) a completed common proposal, legally signed by all organisations participating in the project, and (2) a draft consortium agreement (not yet signed) that regulates the terms of cooperation between all partners. Both documents must be completed in English language. In addition to the common proposal and draft consortium agreement, each participating Singapore company and each German company and research organization that want to apply for funding within this call must submit (3) a national application according to the respective rules (see 3.1/3.2). All documents must be transmitted by 5 September 2024, 23:59 CEST / SGT.

The minimum requirements for the consortium agreement are:

• Naming of all project partners;
• Description of the project aims and differentiation of the subprojects of the partners including their work plans using person months (for this purpose the common application proposal can be declared as part of the agreement);
• Identifying and naming of any 3rd party contractors required in the project;
• Regulation of intellectual property rights (background and arising); and
• Basic regulation of joint commercialisation and apportioning of benefits. If research organizations from Germany or Singapore are involved in the project, a passage has to be included that allows them to publish their own results without duty to obtain consent from the other partners.

The completed common proposal and draft consortium agreement must be sent electronically to EnterpriseSG (jerrold_chua@enterprisesg.gov.sg) and AiF Projekt GmbH (zim-international@aif-projekt-gmbh.de).

3.1. German Companies

Each German project partner submits an individual ZIM application to the ZIM Project
Management Agency AiF Projekt GmbH. Every SME with an establishment or branch in Germany, in accordance with the relevant EU regulations, as well as medium-sized companies with less than 500 employees (full-time equivalents), which carry out R&D for the development of innovative products, processes or technical services, are eligible to apply. Other medium-sized companies with less than 1,000 employees are eligible to apply for funding if they cooperate with at least one SME (in accordance with EU regulations) whose project is funded. Research and technology organizations
are eligible to apply as cooperation partners of eligible companies.

Detailed criteria for submitting applications and the ZIM application form can be found on the ZIM website (www.zim.de) you may also contact AiF Projekt GmbH directly as described below. The application must be written in German and comply with the regulations of the ZIM guideline.

3.2. Singapore Companies

Under this programme, Enterprise Singapore will support up to 70% of the Singapore company’s total qualifying project costs. To be eligible for support, the applicant must fulfil ALL of the following:

1. Be a business entity that is registered and physically present in Singapore;
2. ≥ 30% local equity held directly or indirectly by Singaporean(s) / Singapore PR(s), determined by the ultimate individual ownership;
3. Group annual sales turnover of no more than S$100 million or employment size of less than 200, and;
4. Be financially able to see a project through to completion.

Interested Singapore companies may contact EnterpriseSG through this Prelim Assessment form:
https://go.gov.sg/germany-sgcip by 15 August 2024, for an eligibility assessment.

Eligible Singapore companies will be invited to submit a national funding application. When preparing for your application, you will need to have the following supporting documents ready:

1. Latest ACRA business profile (retrieved within six months from application date)
2. Latest and previous two years audited financial statements or official management account
3. Completed Supplementary Project Proposal Form
4. Relevant key quotations (e.g. equipment & software, materials & consumables, professional services)

The national funding application form, along with the supporting documents, must be completed and submitted by 05 September 2024, 23:59 CEST / SGT, to be considered for funding.

4. Evaluation of Project Proposals

All applications are assessed against the eligibility criteria of the call before being put forward for the national assessment according to the national evaluation criteria.

EnterpriseSG and AiF Projekt GmbH will carry out independent national assessments and will select the eligible projects to be financially supported in accordance with their national laws and regulations.

5. Announcement of Approved Projects

Both Singapore and German partners whose projects have been selected will be informed of the results and the amount of funding for the successful projects by their respective funding agencies 4 to 5 months after project submission.

Early stage consultations with the national funding organisations (EnterpriseSG in Singapore, AiF Projekt GmbH in Germany) are highly recommended.