ACP Innovation Fund - Call for Proposals

23.10.2019

The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) and the European Union (EU) have launched the ACP Innovation Fund call for proposals.

 

The ACP Innovation Fund aims to strengthen Research and Innovation capacity in ACP countries, as well as improve policy development and knowledge transfer. The ultimate goal of the programme is to develop an innovation structure in ACP countries.

 

Through this programme, the ACP and the EU will make available a budget of 50.4 million euros to advance solutions to the following challenges:

  • Digital literacy, knowledge and use of emerging technologies;
  • Effective links between research and innovation skills development and labour market demand;
  • Synergies in the R&I ecosystem in particular with the private sector; facilitating conditions for technology transfer; promoting R&I uptake;
  • Promoting local and indigenous knowledge and its use in combination with formal knowledge systems and practices.

The overall available budget will be distributed in equal amounts by ACP regions, divided into six Lots of 8.4 million euros each.  Each Lot corresponds to a geographical area, namely: Western Africa, Eastern Africa, Central Africa, Southern Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific. While objectives and priorities are the same for all Lots, proposed actions must take place primarily in one or more ACP Member States belonging to the Lot for which the proposal is submitted.

 

The Caribbean lot will target 2 projects of between 4 and 4.2 million euro each.

 

The ACP Innovation Fund is based on a mechanism of redistribution of resources. Proposed actions have to be centred on supporting ACP research and innovation actors both financially – at least 65% of the total grant amount must be redistributed to so-called "third parties" – and technically, through transfer of skills, know-how and experience.

 

Third parties are organisations established in an ACP Member State of the targeted region and with experience in managing research and innovation projects. Third parties can be, for instance: academic and research institutions, spin-offs, representatives of indigenous communities, agencies working for gender equality in research, innovation support organisations, and start-ups.

 

Details on the eligibility criteria for applicants and third parties are provided in the Guidelines to the call. All eligible organizations interested in applying are invited to submit a proposal by January 29, 2020. This is an open call for proposals, where all documents are submitted at the same time (concept note and full application).

 

Please see the publication website to access the Guidelines for grant applicants (available in English and French) and all related documents, with the reference EuropeAid/166663/IH/ACT/Multi.

 

An information session is scheduled on 23 October at the External Cooperation Infopoint in Brussels, Belgium. Afterwards, the video of the conference will be available on the website: https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/infopoint_en.

 

In case a specific information session in the Caribbean is organised, we will be informing you.

 

For any additional support we can provide, please get in touch with Patricia.Roach@eeas.europa.eu at the EU Delegation in Barbados.