General Conditions: Call for Full Proposals

Full proposals are invited for large-scale collaborative projects, to be carried out within the Competence Center Energy and Mobility (CCEM-CH) of the ETH domain.

Criteria for selection of projects

• High relevance for sustainability
• High scientific relevance ('grand challenge, high risk')
• Seminal technologies
• High economic and industrial potential
• Existing competence within the ETH domain and participating Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS)
• Engagement of researchers from at least two ETH domain institutions and, where appropriate, researchers from UAS; large-scale collaborative effort
• Proven expertise and evidence for implementation of scientific results to industry (CH and Europe)
• Potential industrial partners identified
• Sound mixed financing concept (Center provides "glue money")

Proposals

Projects must be submitted using the online form (see link box at the right hand side).

Attached to the proposals a support letter of all institutions is needed, where they declare to support the proposal and the use of the infrastructure of the institution and the financial support of the own contribution of the institution.

Scope

Projects should be defined and self-contained, with concrete milestones, and a typical duration between 2 and 5 years.

When defining the scope of the project in terms of manpower, operational budget, and investments, please consider only those persons and items that will be directly involved in the project tasks. Do not list the entire size of the research group, or the volume of other ongoing projects. The funds to be requested for personnel shall be guided by the amounts of:

• Doctoral student CHF 79'460/year
• Post Doc CHF 102'850/year
• Senior Scientist CHF 145'200/year

The financing concept must include own contributions and third-party funding from public agencies (such CTI, SFOE, NSF; EU, ...), foundations, and industry. Glue money, on the order of 10-20%, can be requested from central CCEM-CH funds. Glueing is intended for critical infrastructure, for the acquisition of specialized instrumentation to be used jointly by the project partners, for the temporary hiring of personnel that is critical for starting the activity, or for the financing of strategic reorientations. Seed money will not be assigned for steady-state operation of projects.

Separate proposals can be made for large (> 500 kCHF) investments in specialized equipment or heavy infrastructure, using the same proposal form. In this case, only the pertinent sections need to be completed. However, it is mandatory to refer to scientific projects in which the equipment will be used in collaborative projects involving several CCEM partners. Both ongoing projects and new proposals submitted to CCEM-CH can be mentioned. The respective project descriptions should be provided as an appendix. ↑ Top