Notice on Issuing the Application Guide to the International Science and Technology Cooperation Program under the 2023 Shanghai Action Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation

To those concerned,

To thoroughly implement the innovation-driven development strategy and speed up building Shanghai into a globally influential center of science, technology and innovation, the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (STCSM) now releases the Application Guide to the International Science and Technology Cooperation Program under the 2023 Shanghai Action Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI for short) in accordance with the Plan of Shanghai Municipality for Building a Globally Influential Center of Science, Technology and Innovation in the 14th Five-year Plan Period.

I. Scope

Theme 1: Intergovernmental Sci-tech Cooperation

Objective: To support scientific research cooperation between local universities, scientific research institutions, enterprises and counterparts in related countries or regions, with a view to enhancing academic and technological exchanges, deepen sci-tech cooperation and exchanges between Shanghai and other countries or regions for win-win development.

Countries and Regions: 1. United Kingdom 2. Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany 3. Bavaria, Germany 4. Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France 5. Portugal 6. Hungary 7. Belarus 8. St. Petersburg, Russia 9. Finland 10. Central Denmark Region 11. Gothenburg, Sweden 12. Queensland, Australia 13. Dunedin, New Zealand 14. Quebec, Canada 15. Chile 16. Israel 17. Singapore 18. Thailand 19. Cambodia 20. Ho Chi Minh City and other cities and provinces in southern Vietnam.

Areas: Biomedicine, integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, energy and environment, new materials, advanced manufacturing, and marine science.

Duration: From September 1, 2023 to August 31, 2026.

Funding: Non-fixed grants with a ceiling of RMB500,000 for each project.

Eligibility: The applicant organization shall have the capability of implementing a project and demonstrate the resources for international collaboration.

The foreign partner shall have obtained funding from a government of any of the aforementioned countries/regions. The applicant organization shall provide written documents (e.g., project contract and proof of appropriation) proving that the Principal Investigator (PI) of the foreign partner has received funding from the foreign government concerned. A Chinese translation shall be attached.

Limitation: No more than three applications for each country or region shall be applied by each applicant organization. No more than six projects shall be approved for each country or region. The total number of approved projects shall not exceed 45.

Application Period: Starting from 9:00 on March 29, 2023 and ending at 16:30 on April 18, 2023.

Theme 2: Shanghai-Israel Industrial Innovation Cooperation Program

Objective: To encourage and support STI cooperation between Shanghai and Israeli enterprises, in accordance with the joint statement on technology and innovation cooperation signed by STCSM and Israel Innovation Authority in June 2018.

Areas: Life and health, agricultural technology, energy and environmental technology.

Priority shall be given to industrial cooperation projects that will be settled in the China-Israel Innovation Hub (Shanghai).

Duration: October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2026.

Funding: Non-fixed grants with a ceiling of RMB1,000,000 for each project. The ratio of self-raised fund to applied fund is not lower than 2:1.

Eligibility: The applicant organization shall be a Shanghai-registered enterprise and partner with an Israeli enterprise. The enterprises must be in an established cooperation, be familiar with international laws and regulations on sci-tech cooperation, understand the IP rights and benefit distributions mechanism, and have the capability of implementing a project.

Application Requirements: The applicant organization and the Israeli partner (an Israel-registered enterprise operating in Israel) must submit an application to STCSM and Israel Innovation Authority respectively within the deadline concerned, and fill in the Project Information Form for Shanghai-Israel Industrial Innovation Cooperation Program (see Annex).

Application Page for Israeli Enterprises:

Contact in Israel: Ms. Odelia Toledano

Tel.: +972-3-5118166

Email: APAC@innovationisrael.org.il

Application Period: Starting from 9:00 on March 29, 2023 and ending at 16:30 on April 28, 2023.

Theme 3: Yangtze River Delta (Shanghai)-Singapore Industrial Innovation Cooperation Program

Objective: To encourage and support STI cooperation between Shanghai and Singapore enterprises, in accordance with the memorandum of understanding on STI cooperation signed by the STCSM and Enterprise Singapore in December 2021.

Areas: Life and health, artificial intelligence, information and communication technology.

Duration: October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2026.

Funding: Non-fixed grants with a ceiling of RMB1,000,000 for each project. The ratio of self-raised fund to applied fund is not lower than 2:1.

Eligibility: The applicant organization shall be a Shanghai-registered enterprise and partner with a Singapore enterprise. The enterprises must be in an established cooperation, be familiar with international laws and regulations on sci-tech cooperation, understand the IP rights and benefit distributions mechanism, and have the capability of implementing a project.

Application Requirements: The applicant organization and the Singapore partner (a Singapore-registered enterprise operating in Singapore) must submit an application to STCSM and Enterprise Singapore respectively within the deadline, and fill in the Project Information Form for Yangtze River Delta (Shanghai)-Singapore Industrial Innovation Cooperation Program (see Annex).

Contact in Singapore: Ms. Felicia Lim

Tel.: +65 6279 3368

Email:   

SingaporeShanghai_InnovationCall@enterprisesg.gov.sg

Application Period: Starting from 9:00 on March 29, 2023 and ending at 16:30 on April 28, 2023.

Theme 4: Yangtze River Delta (Shanghai)-Finland Industrial Innovation Cooperation Program 

Objective: To encourage and support STI cooperation between Shanghai and Finnish enterprises, in accordance with the memorandum of understanding for STI cooperation signed by the STCSM and Innovation Funding Agency Business Finland in December 2020.

Areas: Carbon reduction, industrial digitalization, health, etc.

Duration: October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2026.

Funding: Non-fixed grants with a ceiling of RMB1,000,000 for each project. The ratio of self-raised fund to applied fund is not lower than 2:1.

Eligibility: The applicant organization shall be a Shanghai-registered enterprise and partner with a Finnish enterprise. The enterprises must be in an established cooperation, be familiar with international laws and regulations on sci-tech cooperation, understand the IP rights and benefit distributions mechanism, and have the capability of implementing a project.

Application Requirements: The applicant organization and the Finnish partner (a Finnish-registered enterprise operating in Finland) must submit an application to STCSM and the Business Finland respectively within the deadline, and fill in the Project Information Form for Yangtze River Delta (Shanghai)-Finland Industrial Innovation Cooperation Program (see Annex).

Contacts in Finland:

Mika KLEMETTINEN (Finnish, English)

Tel.: +86 134 8274 6884

Email: mika.klemettinen@businessfinland.fi

Elisa YU (English, Chinese)

Tel.: +86 138 0174 4271

Email: elisa.yu@businessfinland.fi

Application Period: Starting from 9:00 on March 29, 2023 and ending at 16:30 on April 28, 2023.

Theme 5: International Sci-tech Cooperation between Enterprises

Objective: To encourage joint R&D and concerted efforts for tackling hard-nut S&T problems by local and foreign enterprises, for stronger presence on the international market by sharing international sci-tech resources, with a view to further improving the STI capabilities of Shanghai enterprises and enhancing their international competitiveness.

Areas: Biomedicine, energy and environment, new materials, advanced manufacturing.

Duration: October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2026.

Funding: Non-fixed grants with a ceiling of RMB1,000,000 for each project. The ratio of self-raised fund to applied fund is not lower than 2:1.

Eligibility: The applicant organization shall be a Shanghai-registered and partner with a foreign enterprise (not from Israel, Singapore and Finland). The enterprises must be in an established cooperation, be familiar with international laws and regulations on sci-tech cooperation, understand the IP rights and benefit distributions mechanism, and have the capability of implementing a project.

Application Period: Starting from 9:00 on March 29, 2023 and ending at 16:30 on April 18, 2023.

Theme 6: International Sci-tech Partnership Project

Objectives: To draw on international experience, expand and deepen international cooperation, foster the ability of qualified scientific institutes in Shanghai to participate in or initiate international big science plans and projects, and encourage deeper international cooperation and exchanges at a higher level through large research infrastructures, with a view to building Shanghai into a center of science, technology and innovation with a stronger influence and a raised voice in the international STI arena.

Areas: Earth system, cosmic evolution, agriculture.

Duration: September 1, 2023 to August 31, 2026.

Funding: Non-fixed grants with a ceiling of RMB2,000,000 for each project. 

Eligibility: The applicant organization shall be a local university or scientific institute. The applicant shall be the Principal Investigator (PI) and must have participated in an international cooperation program at or above the provincial or ministerial level in the area of application. Project consortia must include partners from at least three countries, and the project must meet at least one of the following criteria: a) It has comparative advantages in the international frontiers in basic areas, with extensive international cooperation, and has the potential to participate in or initiate international big science plans and projects. b) By using the existing big science facilities or those under construction in Shanghai, it has the potential or ability to launch big science research plans or to conduct pre-research of the next-generation big science devices for frontier science issues. c) By collaborating with international sci-tech organizations, it has the capability of leading or jointly launching large international cooperation projects, and has the potential or capability of becoming a global or regional hub of international sci-tech organizations or research projects.

Limitation: One application only by each applicant organization. The total number of projects approved shall not exceed 3.

Application Period: Starting from 9:00 on March 29, 2023 and ending at 16:30 on April 18, 2023.

II. Application Requirements

The following requirements shall be observed apart from the above conditions:

1. An applicant organization shall be an incorporated or unincorporated body registered in Shanghai and have the capability of implementing a project.

2. The project that has been fiscally funded by the government shall not be submitted.

3. All applicant organizations and project participants shall abide by the research ethics, observe the laws on the management of human genetic resources and the regulations on the biosafety management in pathogenic microbiology laboratories, and meet the management requirements of research integrity. The Principal Investigator (PI) shall certify the authenticity of all materials submitted. The applicant organization shall be responsible for the eligibility of applicants, verify the authenticity and integrity of materials submitted, and shall not submit an application involving confidential information.

4. If the application for excluding specific experts from the review panel is submitted, an official letter indicating the list of excluded experts and the reason issued by the applicant organization shall be uploaded with the feasibility plan of the project.

5. A person who has served as the PI of two or more research projects under this Action Plan shall not apply for any project as the PI.

6. To verify its established cooperation with a foreign partner, the applicant organization shall submit a photocopy of the valid cooperation agreement or text (a valid Chinese translation shall be attached to the original copy in a foreign language). In particular, such cooperation agreement or text shall contain: (a) detailed information such as both parties' names, organizations, departments, posts (or titles) and contacts, or stated otherwise separately; (b) items such as the term of cooperation, the content of cooperation, each party's input, division of roles, distribution of intellectual property and other benefits, and the date of signature; (c) the research content shall be consistent with the project under application; and (d) the seal of the applicant organization shall be affixed on the cooperation text and supporting documents.

7. The applicant organization shall submit the stamped guarantees with the seal of the enterprise containing the following information: (a) the ratio of self-raised fund to applied fund is not lower than 2:1; and (b) there is no authorized use of patents (technologies) or technology transfer of cross-holding with the partner concerned.

8. Documents and other written materials testifying the applicant organization's compliance with the above requirements shall be uploaded in a scanned digital format to the application system as attachments.

III. Application Method

1. The application shall be submitted online without any printed materials. Applicants may access the application page in two ways: (Note: The project application system is in Chinese ONLY.)

(1) "Government Online-Offline Shanghai" -- "Government Services" -- "Information Management Platform for Fiscal Expenditure on Science and Technology in Shanghai";

(2) [Initial filling] Log on "Government Online-Offline Shanghai" (an unregistered applicant organization shall first create an account on the registration page), open the application guide page, and click a corresponding subject to start project application;

[Continued filling] Log on "Government Online-Offline Shanghai" and proceed with project application.

Please refer to Online Help for instructions.

IV. Review Method

Correspondence review in round 1 and face-to-face review in round 2 for Intergovernmental Sci-tech Cooperation.

Single-round correspondence review for Shanghai-Israel Industrial Innovation Cooperation Program.

Single-round correspondence review for Yangtze River Delta (Shanghai)-Singapore Industrial Innovation Cooperation Program.

Single-round correspondence review for Yangtze River Delta (Shanghai)-Finland Industrial Innovation Cooperation Program.

Single-round correspondence review for International Sci-tech Cooperation between Enterprises.

Correspondence review in round 1 and face-to-face review in round 2 for International Sci-tech Partnership Project.

V. Service Hotlines

021-12345

8008205114 (Landline)

4008205114 (Mobile)

Science and Technology Commission

of Shanghai Municipality

03/21, 2023