CALL FOR BIO-EARN INNOVATION FUND CONCEPT NOTES

The Eastern African Regional Programme and Research Network for Biotechnology, Biosafety and Biotechnology Policy Development (BIO-EARN) Programme, represents a joint effort to strengthen four Eastern African countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, in meeting the challenges of modern biotechnology and realizing the potential of the associated techniques under local conditions. The Vision of BIO-EARN Programme is to develop into a Network of Excellence that will significantly contribute to improved food security, more productive agro-industries, sustainable environment management, a viable bio-resource economy and enhanced livelihoods in Eastern Africa . The Mission of BIO-EARN Programme is to promote the application of biotechnology in agriculture, industry and environmental management in order to contribute to sustainable development in Eastern Africa . The Programme hopes to achieve this by implementing interdisciplinary collaborative research, policy advocacy and biotechnology outreach platforms involving key institutions in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The main objectives of BIO-EARN Programme during 2006-2009 are to:

  • Capitalize on BIO-EARN Phase I and II investments in education and training by extending support for five interdisciplinary biotechnology research programs, which contribute to sustainable development in the region.

  • Expand institutional and technical linkages of the Programme to augment strategic research efforts and to ensure that any prospective products of the research create added value for the region.

  • Address the limiting factors for technology diffusion and dissemination by building capacity and awareness for relevant policy areas (i.e. intellectual property, innovation systems and research policy).

To achieve some of the above objectives, the BIO-EARN Programme through is “Innovation Fund” will beginning January 2008 support high quality biotechnology projects of high regional importance and strong relevance to the ongoing Programme activities on a competitive basis.

Download BIO-EARN Innovation Fund Call for Concept Notes (short version 2pp) (48KB PDF file)

Download BIO-EARN Innovation Fund Call for Concept Notes (detailed version 6pp) (72KB PDF file)

Background on the genesis of the BIO-EARN Innovation Fund
The major goal of the current BIO-EARN phase (2006-2009) is to develop an East African Research for development (R4D) platform and infrastructure that can in the medium and long-term goal greatly contribute to improved livelihoods and environment and reduce poverty. A core attribute of Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme (PRSPs) which are largely MDG-based frameworks, is the public investment among others, in science and technology as a vestibule to economic growth. Within science and technology, capital development especially in the “emergent sciences” such as biotechnology is widely viewed as opportunity the region needs to harness in order to develop “own version of science led economic growth”. Harnessing science and technology and biotechnology in particular, will promote growth of the region’s economy into a strong bio-resource economy

This is the strategy of the BIO-EARN Programme, to contribute to poverty reduction through targeted investment in infrastructure and human resources to conduct timely and high quality biotechnology R4D in agricultural, environmental and industrial sub-sectors. By operating at a regional level BIO-EARN will produce regional public goods required for growth of the above three sectors.

To this effect, the BIO-EARN innovation fund was established to support competitive grants based on integrative research in the area of agricultural, environmental and industrial biotechnology R&D and incubation of the promising technologies and/or products for the end user uptake. It will also help the Programme and the region to focus on R4D, innovation, and product development partnerships targeted to Eastern African needs and conditions. It was envisaged that the adoption and utilization of the outputs from the Programme i.e. innovations, knowledge, capacity and competences, will in the long term contribute to broader outcomes such as improved agricultural productivity, enhanced food security and poverty reduction, through inter-linkages with other actors and sectors of the economy. 

The goal of the IF: To promote the economic competitiveness of the region by strategically investing in selected novel, high quality biotechnological innovations.

Objectives of the BIO-EARN Innovation Fund are to:

  • support innovations which have strong potential to lead to sustainable economic growth through commercially viable start-up companies or the expansion of existing commercial activities.

  • use IF as a tool to develop new Biotechnology Research and Development of high quality with high strategic value to the region.

Eligibility
The IF will support proposals that may spin-off from the previous and current BIO-EARN projects, but new proposal from outside the current BIO-EARN institutions will be considered provided they fit in the Programme’s thematic areas namely; agricultural, environmental and industrial biotechnology.

Criteria and scope for awarding the BIO-EARN competitive grant
The BIO-EARN IF will support technological innovation which is basically turning scientific knowledge into products and processes and putting new technologies on the market. An innovation process encompasses research/invention, product development and technology diffusion/commercialization. The scope for the BIO-EARN IF will be to support projects that have generated research outputs with potential commercial value in which the IF will specifically support product development e.g. proof of concept, small and large scale pilot testing, scaling up the production of the product and setting up demonstration plots/pilot plants. The emphasis here will be to promote Technologies/Processes generated from high quality and strategic research that has outputs of potential commercial value. The IF may facilitate product commercialization where appropriate.

Considering impact, management requirements and that the innovation process needs large amount of capital, the BIO-EARN IF will support a few top quality R4D project proposals in product development.

Key principles/concepts which must be captured in the Concept Proposal
The proposed project concept note in each of the above two areas should build on the following key principles/concepts:

Must be based on a technology /process generated from a sound and strategic scientific research:

  • The project approach must be based on regional/international collaboration and must show that the innovation being proposed has a high potential to stimulate economic growth and promote sustainable development. All partners should sign the submitted concept proposal including an official representative of their institution. The regional partners should come from at least two BIO-EARN countries;

  • The proposed project should include a team that adequately addresses all stages leading to and including product delivery;

  • The project should co-operate and collaborate with variety of actors with relevant experience in product development such as the private sector (local and international), NGOs, social-economic experts, Universities start up companies etc;

  • A project that  integrates at least two BIO-EARN thematic areas with an aim of establishing industrial agriculture or environmental sustainable agro- processing industries  using biotech tools will have an added advantage;

  • The project should show how the IP issues have been or will be addressed ;

  • The proposal should show a pathway to the marketplace and give a realistic implementation plan;

  • The proposal may be a spin-off from phase I, II or existing phase of the BIO-EARN Programme and is ready to develop products/processes;

  • New proposals from outside the current BIO-EARN Programme Institutions will be considered provided they fit within the three thematic areas of BIO-EARN Programme (agricultural, environmental and industrial biotechnology) and meet all other criteria of the innovation fund.

  • Transparency and disclosure of other sources of funding will be an added advantage.

Scoring and evaluation
The concept note content will be scored and evaluated against the following criteria.

  1. Positioning of the project within the BIO-EARN priority areas. How the innovation proposal fits into the BIO-EARN thematic priority areas.

  2. Project title and team composition: State the project title, Principle Investigators (PIs) and project team composition. Profile of key personnel.

  3. Total budget and budget requested from the BIO-EARN Innovation Fund and the Project duration.  Indicate project duration giving clear time frames and the maximum budget in US Dollars.

  4. Project Description: Briefly describe the project by giving the completed research work and results, the innovation emanating from the research, the goal, objective, scope and methodology of work and anticipated outputs.

  5. Project Justification: Describe the rationale and anticipated impact.

  6. Expected users of the innovation: Specify the intended utilization of the innovation and the beneficiaries.

  7. Technology development and commercialization: Give clear description on how the product/process/technology will reach the market.

  8. Partners/Collaborators:  Specify which stakeholders will be involved and at which stage(s) in the innovation process (i.e. during planning, testing, evaluation, marketing, etc). Give full names of the institutions and personnel to be involved giving a brief description of the different roles/tasks each will play in the innovation project.

  9. Positioning the project on the Research for Development Continuum. State where you see your project taking the entire spectrum of innovation process (from research, technology/product development, technology diffusion, marketing process, adoption) into account.

  10. Mechanism for project Monitoring and Evaluation.

  11. Project log frame including deliverables and milestone.

  12. Consideration of IP issue (e.g., Alliance Agreements, Material Transfer Agreements etc).

  13. Biosafety and other relevant policy issues of National Development priorities.

Selection Procedure
The selection of successful project concept notes will be done on a competitive basis according to the fulfillment of the above listed criteria. The most successful concept notes with the highest score will be selected and developed into full project proposals which will also be evaluated to select a few projects to be supported by the BIO-EARN Innovation Fund.

The concept notes will be externally evaluated and the Programme Advisory Committee will on the basis of this evaluation invite the top ten (10) teams to develop their concept notes into full project proposals for submission to the Regional Coordination Office by October 31, 2007 .   The full project proposal will undergo a second evaluation process which will include inviting the Project team leader to make a presentation of the proposal to the BIO-EARN Advisory Committee. The top best project proposals and their corresponding teams will be supported by the BIO-EARN Innovation Fund beginning January 2008.

The BIO-EARN Regional Coordination Office in conjunction with The Inter-University Council for East Africa , is happy to announce the BIO-EARN Innovation Fund and invite eligible teams to submit project concept notes for support by the IF. Complete concept notes (not more than 10 pages) must be submitted /received (electronic and hard copies) to/by the Regional Co-ordination Office latest by 5pm, June 30, 2007. Concept notes submitted/received later shall not be accepted.

Regional Coordination Office
BIO-EARN Programme
The Inter-University Council for East Africa
3rd Floor, East African Development Bank Building
P.O. Box 7110, Kampala, Uganda.
Tel: +256-41-349 583
E-mail: e.kahangi@bio-earn.org; estherkahangi@yahoo.com 
E-mail: j.bananuka@bio-earn.org; bananukaja@yahoo.com 
Website: www.bio-earn.org

 

Additional background information:

  Download BIO-EARN Innovation Fund Proposal (80KB file)

            

East African Regional Programme and Research Network for Biotechnology, Biosafety and Biotechnology Policy Development

All content ©BIO-EARN Programme 2006-2008   Website updated 29 May 2008