Detailed information about the programme

The Support of Targeted Research Projects

Sectional Programme II (PP2) of the National Research Programme I approved by the Czech Government Decree No. 417, dated April 28, 2003. Partial programme 3 (PP2-DP3): The Support of Targeted Research Projects Code CEP: 1Q

1. To provide tools to take advantage of advanced phases of scholastic research investigation to attain results practically applicable for further development of innovative technologies, new materials and products with a high VAT, or for application in the socio-economic sphere.

2. Through support of concrete projects, strengthen incursion of individual phases of research and development: scholastic research, applied research and development.

3. To create conditions for future higher economic assessment of results of individual scholastic research by supporting more consistent exploitation of intangible rights protection and rights to results of research and development.

The Programme has the following priorities:

The Programme supports concrete projects:

- which are basically results of achieved basic research or in whose accomplishment participating scientific teams of the applicant contributed and whose result clearly converges to the targeted research, i.e. to achievement of a concrete result, whose further utilisation in the application sphere can be evaluated upon completion of the project,
- whose expected results will facilitate the potential user to develop and acquire the production technique characterized as high tech to facilitate basic innovations, eventually bringing solutions which markedly improve the techniques used thus far.

The subject of the solution can be:

• Targeted research as a preparative phase of the applied research intended for further development by one or more users (industrial branches, health service, agriculture, eventually, state administration bodies on different levels, etc.).
• Research whose output in a shorter time period tends to be utilised in industrial, health, agricultural, administration or other practical activities (patent proposals, adoption of innovation technologies, proposals of procedures for specialized organs of state administration bodies, etc.), whereas potential users are involved in the project handling [administration] or show concrete interest in advance in its utilization.

Success in competition of tenders can be achieved especially by the project which aims at

• examination of qualities and characteristics of new material, methodics or a process which, prospectively, is practically usable;
• utilization of unique methods or experimental equipment make possible with our conditions the development of new materials and technologies whose application may establish the production of products with a high VAT;
• to obtain crucial results, testing samples and procedures necessary for the successful realization of industrial rights to previous basic research results;
• to build a joint specialized workplace which will facilitate doing exploratory research of the utility of their targeted research and development results to several subjects more effectively

The programme is established for the period 2005 - 2009. It was launched January 1, 2005 and it is expected to end December 31, 2009.

The support of selected projects comes from financial means set off in the budget chapter of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic for the programme "The Support of Targeted Research Projects".

It is expected that the total share of the purpose-oriented grant-in-aid from public funds on accepted costs will be 92% on average and the share from private sources will be 8%. The share of the purpose-oriented grant-in-aid by a particular project can be up to 100% of accepted costs only if the subject of the project is reasonable basic research. If the project includes also industrial research and/or development, the total share of the purpose-oriented grant-in-aid on accepted costs will be calculated as a weighted sum of accepted amount limits of purpose-oriented grant-in-aid for individual parts of the research and development according to paragraphs 1 and 2, article 2 of Government Act No. 461/2002 Coll.

The form of granting purpose-oriented grant-in-aid by the provider

The purpose-oriented grant-in-aid from public funds entrusted to the accepter for selected projects of research and development comes from the expenditures for research and development of the Academy of the Sciences of the Czech Republic in the form of a subsidy to the legal or physical person or by an increase of the expenditures of state administration bodies. The allocated financial means can cover such project handling as:

• personal costs (including wage or salary means, respectively, their aliquot part, of the people employed exclusively for project handling, quittances to the members of the handling team and other personal costs);
• legal payments, event. payments to the cultural and social needs fund;
• means for acquisition of tangible and intangible assets necessary for the project handling correspondent with the period of project handling;
• means for depreciation, maintenance and repair of present assets used for project handling;
• cost of operation (including costs of material and services);
• travel costs;
• costs of international co-operation;
• costs of publishing results;
• costs of protecting rights of results property which have arisen during the project handling or which are results of previous research of the recipient and are subject to further development and application;
• overhead costs spent in connection with project handling.

Concrete total amount of purpose-oriented grant-in-aid of accepted projects as well as the amount of grant-in-aid for individual years is set by the provider, based on evaluation of the projects' concepts and continuous projects´ evaluation.

There is no claim for purpose-oriented grant-in-aid.

Project handling is regularly monitored and evaluated annually by a special advisory board of the provider (Programme Council) based on partial evaluations submitted by the handling subject always at the end of the calendar year, a deadline set by the provider.

If it was determined that the project was solved on an unsuitable expert level or if insufficiencies were discovered in the purpose-oriented grant-in-aid managing made available, the provider can stop the grant-in-aid.

For the overall project handling and evaluation of the successful solution, the handling subject will submit a final report including evidence of the method used in the solution and achieved results, no later than 30 days after completing the project.

Ongoing and Final Project Evaluation Criteria

The following main criteria are set for the ongoing project evaluation:

• level of project performance compared with its goal (i.e., was the goal of the project achieved on schedule and if there is a realistic resolution for their achievements),
• quantity and quality of the achieved results (if the currently achieved results and outputs are at a high international, high-quality nationa, average or below standard level) and if the attained number of the results is sufficient,
• suitability of financial means drawn (were the financial means drawn according to the task and were they effectively expended).

For the final evaluation of the project, handling results are established by the following main criteria:

• level of fulfilment, the project aims including the extent of their exercise (if the set objectives were fulfilled and if the results prove useful),
• quantity and quality of the achieved results (if the results achieved so far and outputs reach high international, high-quality national average or below standard level) and if the number of the results attained is sufficient,
• sufficiency of financial means drawn (if the financial means are drawn according to the task and if they were effectively expended).

The Programme Council will work out the Final Protocol for each completed project and state it's definitive finding. The final evaluation of the project handling results is approved by the Academy Council of the AS CR based on the recommendation of the Programme Council.