The General Directorate "Structural Funds and International Educational Programmess" of the Ministry of Education and Science invites the potential applicants to submit project proposals under Priority Axis 1 "Research and Technological Development," Investment Priority 1а. "Enhancing research and innovation infrastructure and capacities to develop research and innovation excellence, and promoting centres of competence, in particular those of European interest", through procedure of selecting project proposals: "CREATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF CENTRES OF COMPETENCE"

The purpose of the procedure is to support the enhancement of the level and the market orientation of the research activities of research organisations in Bulgaria and to improve the capacity for generation of research and innovations which in turn will open up opportunities for new partnerships with businesses and for creation of enterprises.

The latter will be achieved through provision of support for creation, upgrading and activities of research centers at the highest level, where research, technological development and innovation are fully integrated in accordance with the best international standards and practices.

These centers will focus on integration of the planned researches with the development of new and technologies and will enable the implementation of the research results and development of innovative activities (intellectual property protection, creation of the new start-up companies, etc.).

The procedure is implemented with the financial support of the European Regional Development Fund.

The activities must be implemented within the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria (within the programme area). Some of the activities may be implemented outside the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria but within the EU, provided that the benefits from the relevant activities are for the programme area. The Managing Authority will verify compliance with the provisions of Article 70 (2) (b) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council by ensuring that the total amount allocated under the procedure to activities located outside the programme area does not exceed 15% of the support from the ERDF at the level of Priority Axis 1. In view of the above, when preparing the budget, applicants are requested to group the amounts allocated to activities located outside the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria in a separate sub-section.

Only expenditure incurred within the EU will be considered eligible under the procedure.

The project proposals submitted for the procedure may include the following activities:

I. Activities related to the construction and equipment of Centres of Competence (CoC);

II. Activities within the CoC, related to conducting of independent R&D activities for more knowledge and better understanding, incl. collaborative R&D activities, where the research organization or infrastructure participate in effective cooperation under the terms of the Framework.

III. Activities related to the wide dissemination of the research results on a non-exclusive and non-discriminatory conditions, incl. through teaching, open-access databases, open publications or software with open code.

IV. Activities related to transfer of knowledge, where they are conducted either by the research organisation or infrastructure (incl. their departments or subsidiaries) or jointly with the research infrastructure, or on behalf of other such entities in explicit compliance with the Framework terms, incl.:

1. Development and commercialization of own portfolio with intellectual property rights and ensuring of sustainable public funding;

2. Creation of new start-up, spin-off and spinout companies.

V. Activities in providing specialized business research services that require special scientific expertise of the operators (e.g., development of the original design of new type of products or services) up to 20% of the relevant total annual capacity of the infrastructure;

VI. In addition to the above, the project proposal must also include:

1. Activities for the organisation and management of the project;

2. Information and publicity activities, consistent with the Uniform Beneficiary’s Guide to the Implementation of Information and Communication Rules 2014-2020 (Annex XХ to the Guidelines);

3. Independent external audit

The full Guidelines (including application conditions and performance conditions) are published on the following internet addresses:

http://sf.mon.bg

www.eufunds.bg

EUMIS2020 system: https://eumis2020.government.bg

Deadline for submission of proposals is: no later than 19.00 p.m. on 23.01.2017, through the Information System for Management and Monitoring of the EU Structural Instruments in Bulgaria (EUMIS 2020) https://eumis2020.government.bg/

Pursuant to Article 26 (8) of ESIFMA the applicants may ask for clarifications on the published documents not later than three weeks before the relevant deadline for submission of project proposals. The clarifications may be requested in writing by e-mail at: [email protected]  with clear indication of the title of the grant award procedure.

The clarifications shall be provided with regard to the Guidelines for Applicants, shall not contain an opinion on the quality of the project proposal and shall be mandatory for all applicants.

The clarifications will be communicated within 10 days of the receipt of the request but not later than two weeks before the deadline for submission of applications as follows: The questions of the applicants and the clarifications by the Managing Authority will be published on the Managing Authority website: http://sf.mon.bg  and on the EUMIS2020: https://eumis2020.government.bg  (next to the documents for the procedure), and the clarifications shall be approved in advance by the Head of the Managing Authority or by a person authorised thereby.

The presented under the procedure specified above clarifications will be mandatory for the Managing Authority, the Evaluation Committee and for the applicants.

Pursuant to Article 26(8) of the ESIFMA no clarifications will be provided which contain an opinion with regard to the quality a specific project proposal. No answers will be given to questions asked by phone. No answers to questions asked by the applicants will be sent individually under this procedure.