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2017 Call for SR&TD Project Grants will support over 1,600 projects with 375M euros

The 2017 R&D Projects Call will fund 1,618 applications, with a total value of around 375 million euros for the next 3 years, due to the joint efforts of FCT, COMPETE2020 and the Regional Operational Programmes of Portugal2020.

FCT acknowledges the delays in the communication of results for the past few months but also recognizes the collective effort of FCT's services, of COMPETE2020 and of the Regional Operational Programmes, which facilitated the significant reinforcement of the initially planned budget of only 110 million euros (which would fund only 460 projects). This is the largest funding ever awarded in R&D project calls in Portugal.

The volume of funding now available will allow for a success rate of around 50% of the 3,300 applications considered eligible, and around 35% of the total number of applications submitted in 2017 (i.e., 4,593 applications).

The process of decision making and communication of results has been particularly complex as it involves seven different institutions, implying their sequential intervention (see diagram). The phased communication of results, which began on 9 February and should be concluded in April, is a consequence of this process. As of today, half of the approved applications have received their results.

The participation of different funding agencies does not affect the final results of the call. Funding is attributed considering the merit classification of the projects, according to the serialization made in each of the 33 evaluation panels organized by FCT. The success rate is similar in all panels and for all areas of knowledge.

 

 Communication of results

Upon receiving the communication of the proposed decision of the Managing Authority (MA) of the Operational Programmes, the Principal Investigator responsible for the application should access Balcão2020, where he will find the deliberation of the MA and the technical assessment made by FCT, including the grounds for the approval or rejection of the application for funding.

Appeals should be made through Balcão2020 and begin immediately after the communication of results, except in the cases where projects are considered eligible for the call but not for funding through Portugal 2020. Principal Investigators in the latter should wait for the communication of results by FCT.