Introduction

Type of funded projects

Southeast Asia-Europe Joint Call Projects must comprise of at least 3 partners from 3 different countries (either 2 partners from 2 different Southeast Asian countries and 1 European partner or 2 partners from 2 different European countries and 1 Southeast Asian partner) applying for funding from funding agencies participating in the call.

The proposals have to cover the thematic areas of Digital Health (including Infectious Diseases) or Bioeconomy (including Application of ICT-based Technologies), to enhance bi-regional cooperation and develop new partnerships as well as strengthen existing ones.

The 2020 Innovation Call aims to support projects with a strong application focus and the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) that the project begins at should at least be 3[1]

Thematic areas

1) Digital Health (including Infectious Diseases)

Cooperation on infectious diseases of health related research between European and Southeast Asia countries is proven strong in both regions. Nonetheless, major obstacles exist to overcome the existing and increasing global health challenges including the need for a deeper understanding of diseases pathology and the socio-economic causes of the diseases and linked effectiveness of health intervention. Moreover, a crucial collaboration is emerged in the area of COVID-19 as the whole world is affected by the outbreak situation and require actions to which it can contribute. Those can be covered under the thematic area of Digital Health.

Digital health is the convergence and use of modern digital technologies and services to enhance the efficiency of healthcare delivery and make medicines more personalized and precise. It would offer more innovative ways for monitoring health and well-being. These technologies include but are not limited to, telemedicine, mobile phones and applications, wearable devices, remote monitoring sensors. It also involves the development of interconnected health systems to improve the use of computational technologies, smart devices, computational analysis techniques and communication media to support healthcare professionals and patients manage illnesses and health risks, as well as promote health and well-being.

2) Bioeconomy (including Application of ICT-based Technologies)

The Bioeconomy comprises those parts of the economy that use renewable biological resources from land and sea - such as crops, forests, fish, animals, and micro-organisms - to produce food, materials, and energy. Bioeconomy is a top-priority on the research agendas of the EU and ASEAN countries.

In addition to Bioeconomy issues, ICT is a crucial instrument for finding scalable and sustainable solutions. In the EU-STI Roadmap, pilots will be launched for innovative service creation based on existing technologies, with a focus on the participation of relevant innovation stakeholders from developing countries, including end-user community representatives (ICT-39-2016-2017: International partnership building in low and middle income countries in WP 2016-2017). There is interest to work on innovative service creation based on existing technologies, with focus on involving all stakeholders especially end-user community representatives, e.g. through innovation hubs and "Living Labs".

This has been translated in the ICT Work- Programme 2016-2017 with a call for "partnerships with low and middle income countries" with ASEAN being one of the regions targeted and a total budget of €13 million. It calls for the co-design, adaptation, demonstration and validation (e.g. pilots) of ICT related research and innovation in relevant thematic areas addressed by Horizon 2020 including Content Technologies and Societal Challenges.

PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES AND FUNDING AGENCIES / MINISTRIES

1= Digital Health (incl. Infectious Diseases); 2= Bioeconomy (incl. Application of ICT-based Technologies)

• Brunei Darussalam - University of Brunei Darussalam (UBD)2
• Bulgaria - Bulgarian National Science Fund (BNSF)1+2
• Czech Republic - Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS)1+2
• Indonesia - The Indonesian Endowment Fund (LPDP)1+2
• Lao PDR - Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST)1+2
• Myanmar - Ministry of Education (MOE)2
• The Philippines - Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Philippine Council for Industry, Energy & Emerging Technology (PCIEERD)2
• Spain - Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI)1+2
• Thailand - Thailand Center for Excellence for Life Science (TCELS)1
• Turkey - Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK)1+2
• Vietnam - Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST)1+2

Eligible Spanish applicants are companies, operating and registered in Spain and holding a valid Spanish company tax code (CIF). No minimum Spanish capital percentage ownership is required. Spanish subsidiaries of companies headquartered outside of Spain may also be eligible for support.

As per CDTI-E.P.E.'s internal regulations, the Spanish consortia should be led by a Spanish Company. Collaboration with other entities such as research centres, technological centres, universities, hospitals and other R&D-performing organisations is permitted under CDTI-E.P.E.'s regulations, as subcontractors of the Spanish companies present in the consortia

Consortium: Type of funded projects: Southeast Asia-Europe Joint Call Projects must comprise of at least 3 partners from 3 different countries (either 2 partners from 2 different Southeast Asian countries and 1 European partner or 2 partners from 2 different European countries and 1 Southeast Asian partner) applying for funding from funding agencies participating in the call.

Duration: Funding will be provided for the duration of a maximum of three years (36 months). They should start earliest in July 2021.

Budget: See specific rules for Spanish companies. Hospitals and research centres might participate as subcontractors. No budget is specified.

In case of interest please contact lnorton@fsjd.org