New call for proposals STIC-AmSud

In a previous post we presented the regional program STIC-AmSud, which is an initiative to establish collaboration between France and the South American countries to enhance the research networks in the field of information and communication technologies. In this post, we will present the new call for proposals and we will be covering the most important details that you need to know if you want to apply for this call.

Researchers applying for this call should target collaborations that facilitate mobility and participation in workshops and intensive schools for students and professors. The theme needs to be strongly related to information and communication technologies and it should propose innovative directions in this domain. Projects will have a duration of two years, but a report of accomplishments should be submitted at the end of the first year, to continue receiving support during the second year. Projects should involve one French research group and at least two South American research groups. Research groups may belong to research laboratories, public or private, academic institutions or companies.

Concerning the funding, the maximum approved budget is between EUR 10,000 and EUR 15,000 per project per year, although different agencies have their own different regulations. The resources will be delivered annually. Projects submissions should mention their other funding sources and indicate the requested funding for each agency involved in the project. This budget should be used for missions between France and the south american teams involved in the project. It is recommended that missions last less than one week. At least one travel to France and one travel to South America must be done during the duration of the project. Teams are encouraged to organize at least one workshop in South America with all the project participants. It is also important to notice that researchers can participate in several projects but they can benefit from missions from a single project.

The selection criteria includes the innovative nature of the projects, the capacity to involve students and young researchers, the background of the involved teams and their complementarity, the capacity to exchange expertise and innovation, and in particular projects including technology transfers will be appreciated. Teams must pay attention to the regulations, coordinate and protect the intellectual property of the research projects developed under this initiative.

It is important to notice that this program can be used for the development of collaborations in HPC, as was the case of the Latin American Grid for Climate project. This project was a continuation of the GBRAMS-AMSUD project, and resulted in the development of a grid between partners in Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and Uruguay in order to simulate the climate for ten years in different regions of Latin America.

The call for proposals was open on December 15th 2014 and will close on May 15th 2015. The results will be published on November 2015 and the projects should start on January 2016. For more information please visit the STIC AmSud website.