The Technology Agency of the Czech Republic has announced the 7th public competition in the Programme for the Support of Applied Research and Innovation SIGMA - sub-objective 2, early career researchers and equalisation of opportunities in applied research projects. The SIGMA - DC2 programme aims to increase the involvement of early-career researchers in the fields of applied research in specific projects directly with subjects from the application practice. Another objective is to promote equal opportunities for women and men in the applied research competition.

Maximum amount of support per project: 5 million CZK per project.
Maximum aid intensity per project: 85 %.

The key persons of the research team in the role of Principal Investigator/Other Investigator/Research Team Member must meet the definition of an early career researcher. These are persons under 35 years of age or studying for a bachelor's, master's, doctoral or graduate degree, provided that no more than 5 years have elapsed since the first regular completion of the highest level of study. The project proposal must involve at least one enterprise and at least one research organisation as a lead applicant or other participant. Each early-stage researcher (as principal investigator/coinvestigator/member of the research team) may be a key person in up to two project proposals submitted under this call for proposals.

Four research themes have been identified for this call for proposals. When submitting a project proposal to ISTA, applicants are required to select one topic with which their project proposal is aligned.
These topics are as follows:

• Telemedicine
• AI and Sustainable Mobility
• Manufacturing technologies and materials
• Community energy and its management systems, Small-scale energy storage

More information can be found on the provider's website.

The competition closes on 27th March 2024. If you are interested in submitting a project in this competition, please contact the Research and Development Department no later than 29th February 2024. The internal deadline for submitting the final project proposal to the Research and Development Department is 19th March 2024. Before this date, it is mandatory to consult the project proposals with the Human Resources and Economics Departments.

TA ČR will organise an online information webinar for the applicants of the 7th public call for proposals of the SIGMA - DC2 programme on 13th February 2024 at 10:00. You will be able to watch the webinar live on YouTube (no installation required).