BONUS Call 2012: Innovation
In support of sustainable management action in the Baltic Sea region:
The first BONUS innovation projects announced, thirteen projects worth close to EUR 7million start their implementation in spring and summer 2014
19 May 2014, Bremen. During the European Maritime Day 2014, devoted solely to the topic of innovation and maritime technologies, BONUS, the joint Baltic Sea research and development programme in collaboration with its call partner BSR Stars, announces its first thirteen Baltic Sea innovation projects selected for funding that are starting in spring and summer 2014. BONUS is the result of a collaboration between all Baltic Sea states and the EU and aims to ensure a cleaner, sustainable and more prosperous Baltic Sea. This EUR 100 million programme is funded by the national research and innovation funding institutions in the eight Baltic Sea EU states and the EU’s Seventh Programme for research, technological development and demonstration. Russia also participates in BONUS through bilateral agreements.
“Today’s announcement marks the beginnings of practical embedding of innovation into a regional research governance framework. Selecting and funding these projects from BONUS’ first ever innovation call demonstrates that BONUS is already implementing numerous principles of the Horizon 2020 in the Baltic Sea region in very practical terms,” says Kaisa Kononen, Executive Director of BONUS. “We will announce a further call for innovation proposals in late 2014 and I strongly encourage the SMEs to get involved and seize the opportunity to engage and lead in projects supporting the Baltic Sea protection action.”Collaboration with the relevant macroregional networks of companies, research actors and financiers that have emerged through BSR Stars, as well as other networks within the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, is necessary for implementing innovation oriented calls.”We need innovation, not only in terms of development of new technologies, but also in terms of new ways of collaboration. The BONUS and BSR Stars collaboration is an excellent example. These two networks have evolved within different sectors, but have now created a novel set of innovation projects by joint funding. I am sure that many similar potential synergies hide within the EU Strategy – one just have to discover them”, says Karin Nygård Skalman, Programme Director, BSR Stars, VINNOVA.
The selected transnational BONUS innovation projects comprise a total of 52 participating organisations representing all the BONUS member states of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden, as well a partner from France. There are typically 3-4 participants per consortium with 2 to 3 years implementation period and financial support of EUR 0.5 million per project.
Key policies that the policy driven BONUS research and innovation programme supports include the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan and the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive and other coastal and marine environmental policies and plans. BONUS has come a long way from its first science plan focusing on the sea and calls announced only on basic research. The current strategic research agenda that underpins all the BONUS calls include now the entire catchement-coast-sea continuum as well as the inclusion of the innovation in its calls.
“We certainly look forward to seeing the benefits from these thirteen innovation projects towards the Baltic Sea region and its sustainable development as well as the wider European community and protection of European seas. It is also obvious that in the future BONUS, possibly then geographically and/or thematically enlarged and under the Horizon 2020, sustainable development, including innovation and blue growth, will be in the focus,” Kononen concludes.
The thirteen BONUS innovation projects announced 19 May 2014:
AFISMON - Development of the current Automatic Flow Injection Sampler to monitor microbially driven biogeochemical processes in the Baltic Sea water
ANCHOR - The captain assistant system for navigation and routingduring operations harbour
ESABALT - Enhanced situational awareness to improve maritime safety in the Baltic
FERRYSCOPE - Bridging the divide between satellite and shipborne sensing for Baltic Sea water quality assessment
FISHVIEW - Assessing fish passages by the use of a robotic fish sensor and enhanced digital imaging
GEOILWATCH - Geopositional early warning system integration for disaster prevention in the Baltic Sea
HARDCORE - Harnessing coastal radars for environmental monitoring purposes
MICROALGAE - Cost efficient algal cultivation systems – a source of emission control and industrial development
OPTITREAT - Optimasation of small wastewater treatment facilities
PROMISE - Phospohorus recycling of mixed substances
PINBAL - Development of a spectrophotometric pH-measurement system for monitoring the Baltic Sea
SWERA - Sunken wreck environmental risk assessment
ZEB - Zero emissions in the Baltc Sea
More information about the BONUS call 2012: Innovation and the funded projects at www.bonusportal.org/inno
and Maija Sirola, Communications Manager, BONUS EEIG, tel. +358 (0)40 352 0076, maija.sirola(at)bonuseeig.fi,
BONUS www.bonusportal.org
BONUS is a joint research and development programme producing knowledge to support development and implementation of regulations, policies and management practices specifically tailored for the Baltic Sea region. It issues calls for competitive proposals and funds projects of high excellence and relevance based on its strategic research agenda.
Facts about the Call
The BONUS call 2012: Innovation is arranged in collaboration with the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region flagship project BSR Stars.
- Date of publication: 12 November 2012
- Preregistration deadline: 12 February 2013 at 17.00 CET
- Proposal submission deadline: 12 March 2013 at 17.00 CET
- Budget: EUR 7 million with flexibility of 10 %
- Funding scheme: Collaborative projects
- Funding threshold: Maximum requested BONUS contribution to collaborative project, including contributions from both the BONUS EEIG and the BONUS participating states, is limited to EUR 0,5 million
- Project implementation: Projects will start at the earliest in December 2013 and the total duration of projects will be no longer than three years
- Themes addressed: Each proposal must address one key innovation theme from those opened for this call and at least two other supplementary themes included in the BONUS strategic research agenda 2011-2017
National Contact Points:
Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation Shin Skovbølling Knudsen
Estonian Science Foundation Margit Suuroja
Ministry of Employment and the Economy (Finland) Pirjo Kutinlahti
Forschungszentrum Jülich Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH (Germany) Ulrich Wolf
Latvian Academy of Sciences Ineta Pliksa
Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology, MITA (Lithuania) Anzelma Useliene
National Centre for Research and Development (Poland) Olesia Witowska
Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems, VINNOVA Marit Werner
About BONUS:
BONUS is a joint Baltic Sea research and development programme producing knowledge to support development and implementation of regulations, policies and management practices specifically tailored for the Baltic Sea region. It issues calls for competitive proposals and funds projects of high excellence and relevance based on its BONUS strategic research agenda 2011-2017.
Half of the funding of the EUR 100 million to BONUS for the coming five years is covered by the national research funding institutions in the eight EU member states around the Baltic Sea and the other half by the EU Commission’s Research Framework Programme (FP7). www.bonusportal.org
About BSR Stars:
The BSR Stars is a cooperation programme between ministries and national innovation agencies in ten countries in the Baltic Sea Region. BSR Stars speeds up innovation in the macro-region using transnational cooperation to create strengthened competitiveness and sustainable growth.