VINNOVA and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) have agreed to promote and support scientific cooperation between highly qualified Swedish and Japanese scientists affiliated with universities or research institutions in their respective countries and engaged in the fields of natural sciences, engineering and medical sciences promoted by both Agencies. For information on research areas supported by VINNOVA, see www.vinnova.se/en/Activities . VINNOVA strongly urges the Swedish applicant to contact us if you are uncertain if the field is covered under the program.
The Agencies may limit the subject areas based upon mutual agreement.
The purpose is to further strengthen and advance existing cooperation by supporting team to team collaboration, especially in the early stage of such collaboration. The program shall include cooperative activities in joint research projects or other joint activities as may be agreed upon.
Format
Joint research projects are to be carried out by research teams comprised of scientists from the two countries. The team leaders must hold a full time position at a university or research institute in their respective countries. The duration of each project will be two years.
Up to three new projects will be supported each year, and up to six projects may be supported at any one time.
Financial support
For each project, VINNOVA will provide annual funding of up to SEK 150 000 to the Swedish team and JSPS will provide annual funding of up to JPY 2 500 000 to the Japanese team. The funding will cover international travel expenses between Sweden and Japan, daily allowance, accommodations and domestic travel in the receiving country and the participants own country. It will also be possible to fund a portion of the research costs such as consumables and other minor research expenses.
The costs of accident/sickness insurance will not be covered.
Procedure
Simultaneously, the leader of the Swedish team should submit an application to VINNOVA and the leader of the Japanese team should submit one to JSPS: These should be identical in content. Applications submitted by one side will not be accepted.
The Agencies will conduct respective reviews of the applications. Based on their results, the Agencies will make joint selections.
Timetable
- Call for applications – conducted based on respective timetables of VINNOVA and JSPS. The timetables are coordinated for 2010/20111 process.
- Deadline for submitting applications – For 2010, the deadline for application is Wednesday September 15 at 14:00.
- Evaluation of applications September – December 2010
- Joint selection decision – by the end of January 2011
- Start of projects – from April to December 2011
- Receipt of final reports – upon completion of each project
How to apply
Applications are electronic only, via the application service on the VINNOVA portal.
To submit an application, you must first create a user account with VINNOVA. Use this to log into the application service. If you already have a user account with VINNOVA, you may use that.
The last date for application submissions is found in the timetable below. Please note that applications should be in by 14.00 on this date.
In case of questions about the electronic application function, please contact VINNOVA’s IT Support, tel: +46 8 473 32 99, helpdesk@VINNOVA.se. IT Support is open weekdays, 08.00-16.30.
Applications
Applications should include:
- Basic information about applicant, institution, budget (filled in when entering VINNNOVA’s electronic application system “Intressentportal”)
- Abstract (as asked for in VINNOVA:s electronic application form)
- Project description of 7 pages maximum to be written in English and under the following headlines:
- Title of the project
- Description of the applicants on the Swedish and Japanese sides (name, title, position, affiliation and main field(s) of research activity)
- Description of the proposed project; Background, reason for the project, planned activities during the project, and budget (with reference to person weeks/months), including additional resources committed by the applicant to the project.
- A plan for future development of the cooperation, including the role to enhance scientific cooperation between the two nations.
- List of the 10 most relevant publications from the last 8 years from both the Swedish and Japanese project leaders
- In addition a Curriculum Vitae (“personalbilaga”) for the Swedish project leader is submitted as a separate document when asked for by the application “portal”. This document may also include similar information on other key participants from the Swedish side, if applicable.
