CMU Portugal Program: Call for Entrepreneurial Research Initiatives We are pleased to announce that the CMU Portugal Call for Entrepreneurial Research Initiatives (ERIs), funded by the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), is now open. Approximately € 6 million, half in Portugal and half at CMU, are expected to be available to support four to seven ERIs, for up to 4 years. The Call will remain open from July 17 to 5pm (GMT), of October 16, 2013.
Important Documents:
Announcement of the Call by the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (only in Portuguese)
Terms of Reference for the Entrepreneurial Research Initiatives 2013 Call for Proposals
Application Guidelines for the Entrepreneurial Research Initiatives Call
The Phase II of the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program emphasizes advanced education and research that can lead to significant entrepreneurial impact. The activities of the program are for the most part configured in Entrepreneurial Research Initiatives (ERIs). ERIs are projects in science, engineering, management and policy that link both fundamental and applied research to technological innovation and economic development. This bridging is pursued by explicitly focusing on important real world problems entailing significant scientific challenges. ERIs consist in integrated activities in research, innovation, advanced education and training of human resources, with industry collaboration and emphasis on the commercialization of technology for real world impact.
ERIs seek to stimulate and promote Portuguese innovation in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as such, and as enabling technologies in nearly all application sectors, in a global context where markets, industries, resources, and talent are internationally distributed. These projects seek to advance technology and engineering, develop talented innovators in Portugal and increase the competitiveness of the Portuguese ICT industry in today’s globalized economy. Ultimately, they seek to foster a culture that integrates discovery, innovation and internationalization by acting as international engines of innovation and growth.
An international innovation engine is in fact a symbiotic relationship between researchers and industry partners, embedded in international knowledge and business networks, to create new ideas and to translate them into products, processes and services.
In essence, this solicitation calls upon efforts aimed at developing and linking capabilities and resources from fundamental research to technology commercialization, strongly supported in talent development. In order to achieve this, ERIs will:
1. Advance science-based discovery and link it to technological innovation.
2. Form cross-disciplinary international teams of researchers and industry professionals, capable of addressing complex real world problems, and operating effectively in a world of global research and innovation.
3. Provide opportunities for cross-national training of human resources, in the form of dual degrees, to develop capabilities to create and exploit knowledge for technological innovation in a global economy in ways that can address important real world problems while having the potential to impact positively the Portuguese economy.
4. Use instruments that facilitate experimentation (prototyping, proof-of-concept or proof-of- market) and collaboration, as required by the entrepreneurial and collaborative nature of ERIs. Testbeds and experiments with companies are examples of such instruments.
5. Interact with companies, markets, and end users during all stages of activity and provide effective ways to measure the impact of the activities on all these constituencies.
6. Involve industry, in a variety of modes, such as solving problems, developing capabilities, generating best practices, creating competitive solutions, creating complementary technologies, providing insights on performance improvement.
7. Develop a culture that combines research, education, and innovation, at an international scale, to create and sustain an international innovation engine to realize the ERI’s vision.
Please feel free to contact us if you think that we can be of any help, using the email eris@cmuportugal.org .
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We are organizing a series of meetings in Portuguese universities, as well as at Carnegie Mellon University, to present and discuss the goals, structure, and financial support for the ERIs. The target audience for these meetings includes faculty members, researchers, doctoral students, senior staff of innovation and entrepreneurship support organizations, business executives, and startup managers. Typically, the directors of the CMU Portugal Program will present the concept and goals for the ERIs, followed by a Q&A moment. For more information please visit: https://cmuportugal.org/tiercontent.aspx?id=4786 .
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The information on this page does not replace or override any requirements set forth in the Regulations or the Announcement of the Call for Proposals .