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Emergency Call for research into COVID-19 in response to the Sars-CoV-2 outbreak

KLIPHA-COVID19: Funding of company projects and clinical trials
Call open from 10.03.2020 10:00 to 11.05.2020 16:00
Programme owners/funding providers
BMK - Bundesministerium für Klimaschutz, Umwelt, Energie, Mobilität, Innovation und Technologie Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Wirtschaft
Short-term funding of EUR 26 million will be made available in response to the current coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 outbreak via the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). The funding is provided by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs (BMDW) and the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK). The FFG will process the Emergency Call in a fast-track procedure. The planned projects should be designed for short-term implementation (development period up to 12 months). The deadline for the submission of projects is 8 April 2020 (for short-term decisions) and 11 May 2020 (for additional applications and funding decisions). The FFG warrants that the applications submitted for both deadlines will be evaluated as quickly as possible.

We make every effort to process your applications as quickly as possible. Due to the large number of applications, we recommend that you first contact the FFG Funding Service, which will then direct you to the right contact persons.

Target group

The Call is aimed at Austrian companies planning a research and development project according to the Call Guideline KLIPHA-COVID19.

Companies submitting clinical trials must have preliminary results or experience with using the substance to be tested on other coronaviruses (e.g. SARS, MERS) or must have products on the market which have already demonstrated to be effective against coronaviruses in general or against symptoms similar to those caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus (e.g. respiratory diseases).

Cooperation with science

The FFG is responsible for processing the Emergency Call and can thus not engage in match-making between companies and scientific institutions.

Given the urgency and the need for quick action we have compiled links and contact persons of scientific institutions or network organisations interested in offering their expertise and/or services to Austrian companies, which you can find on the FAQ page of the Call (German only).

Details

Funding is provided for R&D projects and clinical trials of Austrian companies, which  focus on the following topics related to the coronavirus and which can be implemented in a short period of time:

  • Virus biology and transmission;
  • Infection prevention and control;
  • Research and development of medicines and other treatments and development of new diagnostic methods;
  • Planning and conduct of clinical trials.

NEW: In addition to the "classic" pharmaceutical, diagnostic and prevention projects mentioned above, individual R&D projects can be supported in the areas of alternative and innovative, industrial manufacturing strategies in medically critical areas (eg protective clothing).

Competitive procedure

Given the urgency and limited budget, the Call will be conducted in a competitive procedure.

Project duration

A project duration of 12 months must be specified in applications via eCall.

Key points of the call

There will be two deadlines to enable quick decisions and allow companies to start their projects as soon as possible.

  • Deadline for submission: 8 April 2020 (16:00)
  • Deadline for submission: 11 May 2020 (16:00)
  • Deadline for funding decision: asap
  • Budget: 26 million euros
  • Funding in the form of non-repayable grants 

Call documents

The following five amendments were made to the Call Guideline between 10/3/2020, 21/3/2020 and 9/4/2020:

  1. clinical trials are also included;
  2. an additional second deadline of 11 May 2020 was introduced;
  3. the budget was increased from € 1 million to € 21 million;
  4. only a project duration of 12 months is to be specified in the eCall
  5. the budget was increased by another € 5 million.

Contact

Karin RUZAK
Karin RUZAK T 0043577551507

Advice via the FFG Funding Service

We make every effort to process your applications as quickly as possible. Due to the large number of applications, we recommend that you first contact the FFG Funding Service, which will then direct you to the right contact persons.