Transnational cooperation

MNT-ERA.NET
From Micro-and Nanoscale Science to New Technologies for Europe

MNT-ERA.NET is a network of European Micro and Nano Technology (MNT) support programmes comprising 21 national/regional funding agencies or ministries from 20 European countries/regions. It was launched in March 2009 for 2 ½ years and is continuing the activity of the same ERA-NET started in 2004 under the 6th European Framework Programme (FP6) with the aim to better coordinate national funding. The MNT-ERA.NET main objectives are to:

Enhance the competitiveness of the European industry by coordinating and streamlining European support measures for MNTs;
Improve the cooperation between funding organisations, industry partners, research institutions and universities;
Offer annual transnational Calls for market-oriented R&D projects that will typically be smaller than projects submitted to FP7 and will benefit from accelerated funding decisions.

Call 2010

Call 2010 is closed for the submission of commercialisable R&D proposals addressing all fields of Micro and Nano Technologies (MNTs), including production technologies, with emphasis on the following topics:

Smart sensor systems for Security, Environment and Entertainment;
Medical and health devices;
Functionalised interfaces and structures;
Energy for a mobile life.

Participant countries/regions: AT, BE-WA, CH, CZ, DE, ES-BC, FI, FR, FR-MP, HU, LU, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK, TR.

Deadline for on-line mandatory pre-proposals submission:12 April 2010, 12:00 noon (Brussels local time).

Deadline for full-proposals submission: 5 July 2010, 12:00 noon (Brussels local time). Portuguese teams need to submit a national funding application to FCT in parallel with full-proposals submission.

Project consortia consisting of, at least, two partners from two different participating countries/regions can apply for funding.

The thematic priorities, eligibility criteria and funding conditions of each regional/national funding agency apply to the respective partners.

Evaluation of proposals will be done by national/regional funding agencies. Only the proposals with a unanimous positive decision of all involved funding agencies will be financed. In this case, the Portuguese researcher will be asked to submit a national formal submission of the project and the Regulations Governing Access to Funding for SR&TD Projects will apply.

Participation of companies (enterprises) in the projects is encouraged but the maximum funding is 50 %.

The Portuguese researcher must dedicate at least 25 % of time to the project and the total time dedicated to FCT-funded projects must not exceed 100 %.

Consult the call announcement at the network site and your National Contact Point at FCT.