Egypt and the EU announce grants for Research and Innovation
Prof. Hani Helal, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, declared the launch of the grants provided by the EU–Egypt Innovation Fund (EEIF) which is the main component of the Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Programme. Managed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and funded by the European Commission, the RDI Programme aims at enhancing Egypt’s economic growth and international competitiveness through improving its research, development and innovation performance.
The EU–Egypt Innovation Fund will support projects, on competitive basis, for applied research with an emphasis on innovation. The Fund will strengthen the links between the research community and the industry to embark on fruitful cooperation aiming at technological innovation. In addition, the Fund will support promoting the level of awareness concerning the importance of research, development, and innovation, and their role in solving the problems facing industrial organizations, especially SMEs.
Priority areas of the Fund are represented in energy, water, biotechnology (including applications in agricultural and pharmaceuticals), information and communications technology, food and agriculture, manufacturing industries, environment, health related applications, materials (including nono-technology applications and new materials) and space applications including communications and remote sensing.
The Fund provides grants to innovative projects through two schemes; the first provides grants ranging between €100,000 and €500,000 to consortia that consist of at least one partner from the industrial sector and one partner from the R&D sector. The second scheme provides grants ranging between €10,000 and €25,000 Euros. Entrepreneurs, researchers in universities, research institutes, and industrial organizations can submit proposals either individually or through a consortium with the industry in order to obtain these grants.
The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, in cooperation with the European Commission, is organizing the following information days for clarifying the full details of the grants: June 2 at 10:00 AM at the National Research Center, Cairo and June 11 at 11:00 AM at Assiut University. Other information days will be held in collaboration with the Federation of Egyptian Industries.
For more details about the RDI Programme and on other upcoming events kindly visit the RDI website: www.rdi.eg.net
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