Calls for Proposals
FAPESP and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Seed Fund - Call for Proposals 2025 Versão em português
Summary
Opening and closing dates: May 7th 2025 to June 30th 2025
Publishing of results: September 30th, 2025
Fundable items: Mobility of researchers and students workshops and seed funds for limited direct costs
FAPESP support opportunity: Regular Research Grant for Seed Funding
Maximum duration of the project: 2 years
Eligibility:
- FAPESP: Researchers with ongoing research Grants at FAPESP
- Fraunhofer: Researchers of Fraunhofer Partner Institute
Submission: The joint proposal must be submitted by the researcher in Germany to Fraunhofer and by the researcher in São Paulo to FAPESP
Contact:
- FAPESP: Laura Redondo de Campos – chamada-fraunhofer@fapesp.br
- Fraunhofer: Manuel Steidle – manuel.steidle@fraunhofer.org.br
1. General Information
FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation) and Fraunhofer are pleased to receive applications for a Seed Fund Call for Proposals 2025.
The Call aims to initiate research collaborations and deepen already established research connections between researchers from the state of São Paulo and Fraunhofer.
The topics focus on all technology fields of the Fraunhofer Institutes based in Germany https://www.fraunhofer.de/en/institutes/institutes-and-research-establishments-in-germany.html
Activities pursued under this Call are expected to have benefits beyond the duration of the award, e.g., establishing long-term international collaborations, self-sustaining activities, and/or developing high-impact knowledge and technologies.
This Call is intended to support mobility and exchange activities (such as travel and workshops) and the costs of exploratory studies (consumables, third-party services, and low-cost equipment).
Research developed in cooperation with industry is highly welcomed, benefiting from Fraunhofer´s innovative environment.
2. Eligibility criteria
2.1. For FAPESP:
a) Only current Principal Investigators (PR – “Pesquisador Responsável”) or Co-Principal Investigators (PP – “Pesquisador Principal”) of one of the research grant modalities listed below are eligible to apply.
● Regular Research Grant;
● Thematic Project Grant;
● Young Investigator Grant, phases 1 (with a formal employment) or 2;
● Public Education Research Program;
● Research in Public Policies Program;
● Research Partnership for Technological Innovation Program (RPTIP);
● Engineering/Applied Research Centers (E/ARC);
● Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (RIDC);
● Initial Project π (Pi).
b) The FAPESP Grant must be active at least until December 31 st from the Call submission deadline (per item 7. Call Timeline).
c) FAPESP may accept proposals submitted to this Call linked to research proposals that are still undergoing merit review. However, if the research proposal is still under analysis or has not been approved by September 30th , the related mobility proposal will be cancelled.
d) Eligible participants of the exchange activities within the scope of this Call must be team members of the related ongoing Research grant, who are currently listed as:
● Principal or Co-Principal Investigators;
● Associated Researchers affiliated to Research Institutions in the state of São Paulo;
● Post-Doctoral, Doctoral, or Direct Doctoral fellows who must have an ongoing FAPESP scholarship during the planned exchange mission.
PARTICIPANTS MUST BE FORMALLY LISTED AS MEMBERS OF THE ONGOING RESEARCH PROJECT .
2.2. For Fraunhofer:
Lead applicants must be Fraunhofer Institute members, e.g. research staff at Fraunhofer. Eligible participants of the exchange activities within the scope of this Call must be team members of the interested workgroup, approved by the general manager of the institute where they are contracted.
3. Funding
3.1. For FAPESP
a) FAPESP will provide funding of up to €12,500 per year, per initiative, for up to 24 months.
b) FAPESP and Fraunhofer will fund a maximum of 5 approved proposals.
c) All collaborations should involve a balanced partnership regarding research commitment and efforts. We expect the collaborative activities funded under this award to last 12 to 24 months.
d) For mobility, FAPESP and Fraunhofer will cover travel (economy class air tickets - fapesp.br/5835, item 3.4.1), daily allowances (fapesp.br/17413), and insurance costs (fapesp.br/2921) for eligible researchers from their respective regions.
e) Funds are also provided for a modest level of direct research costs, including consumables, third-party services, low-cost equipment, and access to facilities to support activities and extra visitor expenditures. Workshops are also expected to be organized using the same funding items.
f) FAPESP will provide the selected proposals with funds for travel, travel insurance (fapesp.br/2921), and living allowances (fapesp.br/17413) for researchers from the state of São Paulo who will visit Fraunhofer.
I - Daily allowances are guided by Portaria PR nº 35/2020 (fapesp.br/14018). When the stay abroad is less than 30 days, a maximum of 10 per diems can be used for researchers and a up to 7 per diems for scholarship holders and other team members. The monthly rate can only be applied if the stay abroad is for a period equal to or greater than 30 days, according to FAPESP´s current tables for researchers (fapesp.br/15942) and scholarship holders (fapesp.br/15939).
II - The Grant can only be used to exchange researchers, research planning visits, international workshops, and initial data collection activities, always aiming to continue research collaboration and its consolidation.
III - The FAPESP Grants provided in the framework of this call will not be eligible for budgetary items nor overheads (i.e., “Reservas Técnicas” and “Benefícios Complementares”).
IV - Researchers and scholarship recipients must abide by the rules of their home institutions and FAPESP´s terms about absences from their activities and ongoing Grants.
V - Considering the quota of resources destined for this call, requests for budget alterations will not be analysed.
VI - The grantee must verify with the competent consulate the need to obtain the specific visa, as well as to the related costs.
3.2. For Fraunhofer:
g) Fraunhofer will receive the Brazilian researcher, within the funding period.
h) Fraunhofer is committed to a balanced partnership regarding research activities and efforts.
i) The approved Participants of São Paulo state will be received at the Fraunhofer Institutes to establish partnership development and cooperation activities.
j) Fraunhofer Stakeholders and team members will travel to the partner Institute in the State of São Paulo to build up common partnerships, with own Fraunhofer resources.
k) Activities of Fraunhofer Team Members will be described in the application letter of the Fraunhofer Institute, which will be approved by the evaluation committee.
l) If necessary “Visiting Scientist Agreement” of Fraunhofer can be applied
4. Research Proposal
4.1. The proposal must contain a Research Project jointly conceived and written by the researchers from São Paulo and Fraunhofer.
4.2. The Research Project must have a transparent and objective description of the planned collaboration (distribution of tasks, and implementation methods) and the expected benefits from the collaboration.
4.3. The Research Project must be written in English and not exceed five (5) pages, including the following information: Title, abstract, keywords, objectives, methodology, research plan, description of the research team and each expected mission and workshop. A timetable and the bibliography should also be included.
4.4. Additionally, a description should be included of how the Principal Investigators in São Paulo and at Fraunhofer intend to prepare a joint research project, resulting from the exchange activities developed from the proposal submitted to this Call, to be submitted to research funding agencies accessible in their regions to create a medium-long-term collaboration (up to one page).
4.5. FAPESP will cover the costs of the research team based in São Paulo and, accordingly, the SAGe budget form should include only local costs.
4.6. Each Fraunhofer Institute will cover its own costs for the research teams based in Germany.
5. How to submit the proposal
5.1. Applicants from the state of São Paulo should submit the joint proposal to FAPESP via the SAGe platform (fapesp.br/sage) no later than the submission closing date, observing the accompanying forms and documents.
a) The specific path for this opportunity is: Nova Proposta Inicial + Outras Linhas de Fomento > + Acordos de Cooperação > + Fraunhofer Gesellschaft - > Fraunhofer - Auxílio à Pesquisa – Regular - Seed Fund – (Chamada de Propostas 2025).
b) IMPORTANT: The PI from Germany must be registered in the SAGe system. This can be done by accessing SAGe in the English version and choosing “Not registered?” The researcher must fill in all mandatory fields, indicated with an asterisk (*). After receiving an email from SAGe, the PI must click on the link provided and complete the registration process. After successfully registering, the PI from Germany may be nominated as a member of the research project and should then access the proposal through SAGe to accept participation (menu option “My Proposals”). Additional guidelines can be found in the manuals “User Registration”, and “Confirming Participation as a Team Member” available under the “Guides” section on SAGe.
c) The Project Team should be composed by local participants, including all those engaging in research missions and, from the German side, only by the applicant (option equivalent to “principal investigator from the partner institution”).
6. Assessment Criteria
Applications will be assessed by FAPESP and by Fraunhofer. This Call´s configuration allows applications to be processed swiftly because applications must be based on existing FAPESP Grants that have already undergone robust peer review. Proposals will be assessed through the following criteria:
a) Originality of the cooperation proposal;
b) Intellectual merit and soundness of planning and methodology;
c) The potential of future collaborative research derived from this activity, and if it shows potential for submission of proposals through different funding schemes;
d) The uniqueness of this activity and the expertise of the partners;
e) The opportunities for early career scientists´ exchanges.
A Joint Steering Committee established by FAPESP and Fraunhofer will make the final decision. The committee consists of three members from FAPESP and three from Fraunhofer.
7. Call timeline
|
Call announced by FAPESP and Fraunhofer websites |
May 7th, 2025 |
|
Closing date for submission of proposals at the Fraunhofer and FAPESP |
June 30th, 2025 |
|
Publishing the Selection Results |
September 30th, 2025 |
|
Projects start |
November 1st, 2025 |
8. Contact details
For further information, applicants may contact:
FAPESP: Laura Redondo de Campos e-mail: chamada-fraunhofer@fapesp.br
Fraunhofer: Manuel Steidle e-mail: manuel.steidle@fraunhofer.org.br
9. Research Networking Tool
FAPESP:
Foreign researchers interested in finding partners in the state of São Paulo can access FAPESP’s Virtual Library (bv.fapesp.br/en/). In it, you may search for information on grants and fellowships funded by FAPESP, including abstracts and the names of participating researchers and their institutions.
Fraunhofer:
Fraunhofer offers for the search of partnerships the overview of the Institutes based in Germany: https://www.fraunhofer.de/en/institutes/institutes-and-research-establishments-in-germany.html