A competition for grants for the implementation of research and innovation projects has been announced at Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno
Grants will be allocated from the Innovation Development Fund, which was formed at the university last December.
The competition is open and takes place at the university for the first time. In the future, it is planned to be held annually. Participants can be both individual researchers and research teams from among the university’s full-time employees, including separate structural units, students, undergraduates, graduate students and doctoral students, as well as research associations of university students from among student research laboratories and student design bureaus. The materials and information provided for the competition of projects must be original, should not contain information that explicitly or indirectly violates any obligations of confidentiality of authors, intellectual property rights.
According to Yury Romanousky, Vice-Rector for Research, financial support from the funds of the Innovation Development Fund of the Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno can be provided on a competitive basis to employees and students of the university who are working on the implementation of innovative projects planned for inclusion in the State Program for Innovative Development of the Republic of Belarus, implementation of export-oriented innovative projects, as well as projects aimed at creating and organizing the activities of small innovational enterprises engaged in the commercialization of the results of the university research activities. Applicants, students, undergraduates, graduate students and doctoral students of the university can apply for grants if their scientific and innovative activities are aimed at carrying out research, development and experimental-technological work, ensuring the creation and production of new products, advanced technologies and new to our Republic and the global economy of services, as well as acceleration and implementation of innovative projects and developments that ensure the implementation of research results work in the production process of enterprises and organizations of the country.
The competition for grants will be held in 3 stages. The first stage starts from March 23 and will last till April 24. During this period participants must submit an application for the competition, a business project and its feasibility study, as well as the estimated financial costs of the project. Only one application is accepted from each participant. Participants in the competition may submit additional documents to the project, including reference materials related to the implementation of research, development and experimental and technological work, as well as work on the development and production of new types of goods and services. The subjects of the projects submitted to the competition must comply with the List of priority areas of scientific and technical activity.
From April 30 to May 18, an examination of the provided materials will be carried out. During the examination, the work will be evaluated according to criteria such as innovation, technological structure of the technologies being introduced and their origin, the planned volume of production of high-tech products, commercial and export development potential, the payback period of the project, the reality of the timing of the stages and work as a whole, and the reasonableness of the estimated costs. When selecting projects for financing from the funds of the University Innovation Development Fund, priority will be given to projects based on technologies of V and VI technological structures, as well as those that end with the release and sale of innovative products. The selection of projects and the summing up of the competition will be held from May 19 till May 29, 2020.
The competition for grants for research and innovation projects is aimed at creating conditions to support the commercialization of scientific results, stimulating research and innovation activities of the university employees and students, selecting promising research and innovation projects to further assist in their implementation and promotion, the formation of project activity skills among the participants of the competition, the creation of conditions for unlocking potential and whether the growth of participants in the competition and ensuring the implementation of the development priorities of the university.
Grants will be allocated from the funds of the Innovation Development Fund of Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno, which was formed at the end of the last year with the aim of financially supporting the innovative development of the university.
