Samih Darwazeh Innovation Grant Submission rules and guidelines

1. Proposal Submission Rules & Guidelines
Revision 4,
September 2011

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Context and scope .........................................................................................................................3
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 3
2. Submission .................................................................................................................... 5
2.1. Calls for proposals........................................................................................................ 5
2.2. Pre-proposal checks ..................................................................................................... 5
2.3. Submission of proposals .............................................................................................. 5
2.4. Reception ...................................................................................................................... 6
2.5. Eligibility check ........................................................................................................... 6
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3. CONTEXT AND SCOPE
This document establishes ASRF’s rules for the proposals submission, and gives the basic
guidelines the applicants would need to follow.
The related evaluation, selection and award procedures can be found in separate documents.
1. INTRODUCTION
This call is designed to capture innovative ideas and opportunities at colleges, universities and
research institutes. We solicit your best ideas on a range of targeted research topics with the
goal of commercialization, solving industrial needs or community/environmental needs.
Funding made through ASRF is primarily intended to provide financial support for the
Principal Investigator (PI) and his/her team of researchers, students and technicians. We grant
3-5 awards annually each provide cash support for a limited period of one year, renewable up
to a maximum of three years, typically in the range of $15,000 - $150,000 US inclusive of
overheads. This can vary depending on the type of research funded.
Type Amount
Innovation Grant 10,000 ≤ 100,000
Proof of concept ≤ 10,000
Student ≤ 1,000
Applications for financial support from ASRF are generally made in the form of proposals
submitted electronically.
The selection & treatment of the proposals rest on a number of well-established principles:
i) Excellence. Projects selected for funding must demonstrate a high quality in the
context of the topics and criteria set out in the calls.
ii) Transparency. Funding decisions must be based on clearly described rules and
procedures, and applicants should receive adequate feedback on the outcome of the
evaluation of their proposals.
iii) Fairness and impartiality. All proposals submitted to a call are treated equally.
They are evaluated impartially on their merits, irrespective of their origin or the
identity of the applicants.
iv) Confidentiality. All proposals and related data, knowledge and documents
communicated ASRF & the evaluation committee are treated in confidence.
ASRF will take all possible precautions not to disclose the submitted information in
proposals outside the review system.
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4. v) Efficiency and speed. Evaluation, award and grant preparation should be as rapid as
possible, c o m m e n s u r a t e w i t h m a i n t a i n i n g t h e q u a l i t y o f t h e
e v a l u a t i o n , a n d respecting the timeframe.
vi) Ethical and security considerations: Any proposal which contravenes fundamental
ethical principles, or which fails to comply with the relevant security procedures may
be excluded at any time from the process of evaluation, selection and award. (see
Ethics Checklist).
The call and associated Guide for Applicants may spell out in more detail the way in which
these rules and procedures will be implemented and, where relevant, which options are to be
followed.
The various steps involved in the proposal, submission, evaluation and selection procedures
are summarised in a diagram in a separate document; refer to “02 Chart for Submission Rules
& Guidelines”
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5. 2. SUBMISSION
2.1. Calls for proposals
Proposals are submitted in response to calls for proposals announced through the ASRF
website, every six months. The content and timing of calls are set when the calls are
announced. If there are specific notes related to the call, they will be published with the
announcement. ASRF website http://asrf.jo/ provides access to all the necessary information for
those wishing to apply to calls, including contact details for further inquiries.
Calls are considered 'open' until the specified deadline.
Depending on the objectives of the call, the work programme and call may make a distinction
between different types of projects.
In general there will be announcements of three different types.
i) Specific Calls.
These calls would address the needs of certain industries, or will be announced as a
response to specific demands of the fast changing market.
ii) General Calls
Calls that will support rising of general innovative ideas
iii) Special Calls.
Calls that may be announced outside the schedule cycle, as a response to a sudden need, or
to support a new idea.
A call will have a two-stage submission and evaluation procedure.
Applicants first submit reduced or outline proposals (also called pre-proposals). Only those
whose proposals were evaluated positively at the first stage are invited to submit complete
proposals in a second stage.
2.2. Pre-proposal checks
When warranted by the nature of a particular call, an informal advisory pre-proposal check
service may be offered by the CEO. The purpose is to advise potential applicants on whether
proposals appear to be eligible and within the scope of the call. If applicable, details of the
procedure for pre-proposal checks will be set out in the relevant Guide for Applicants. The
CEO may be contacted by phone or email, details can be found on ASRF website.
2.3. Submission of proposals
The call for proposals will have two stages. In the first stage, participants are asked to submit
an pre-proposal of their proposed collaborative research project through FastLane.
Usually within 1 month, all submitted pre-proposals would be reviewed, and selected authors
will be invited to submit a full proposal for the second stage.
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6. ASRF must emphasize that the written language for the pre and full proposals must be
English.
Application must be all sent before the announced deadline.
Proposals should be sent in electronic versions; additional hard (printed) copies are welcomed.
If more than one copy of the same proposal is received, only the most recent eligible version
is evaluated.
Proposals are archived under secure conditions at all times. After completion of the evaluation
and any subsequent negotiation, all copies are destroyed other than those required for
archiving and/or auditing purposes.
Ethics check list should be sent along with the agreement, Refer to Document “04 Ethics
Checklist”
2.4. Reception
The date and time of receipt of the last version of submitted proposals are recorded. After the
call closure, an acknowledgement of receipt is sent to the applicant by e-mail containing:
– Proposal title, acronym and unique proposal identifier (proposal number);
– Name of the programme and/or activity/research area and call identifier to which the
proposal was addressed;
– Date and time of receipt (which is set to the time of the call deadline for proposals
submitted electronically).
There is normally no further contact between ASRF and applicants on their proposal
until after completion of the evaluation, except for proposals which are subject to hearings
or where applicant is called for negotiation. ASRF may, however, contact an applicant in order
to clarify matters such as eligibility.
2.5. Eligibility check
Proposals must fulfil all of the eligibility criteria if they are to be retained for evaluation.
These criteria are rigorously applied. Each stage is subject to an eligibility check. The
following eligibility criteria apply to all proposals submitted under a call.
– Receipt of proposal before the deadline date and time established in the call, if
applicable.
– Completeness of the proposal, i.e. the presence of all requested administrative forms
and the proposal description (N.B. the completeness of the information contained in
the proposal will be for the experts to evaluate; the eligibility checks only apply to
the presence of the appropriate parts of the proposal).
– Scope of the call: the content of the proposal must relate to the topic(s) and funding
scheme(s) set out in t h e a n n o u n c e m e n t o f the call (in the case of Specific &
Special Calls). A proposal will only be deemed ineligible on grounds of „scope‟ in
clear-cut cases.
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7. – Applicants must have an affiliation, where the latter will be responsible for all the
legal issues related to the project. An individual is also welcome to apply, in that case,
ASRF will help find him an affiliate where he could conduct his research.
If it becomes clear before, during or after the evaluation phase that one or more of the
eligibility criteria have not been fulfilled, the proposal is declared ineligible, and is withdrawn
from any further examination. Where there is a doubt on the eligibility of a proposal, ASRF
reserves the right to proceed with the evaluation, pending a final decision on eligibility. The
fact that a proposal is evaluated in such circumstances does not constitute proof of its
eligibility.
3. Communication and announcement of selected/reject proposal
Shortly after the call deadline, ASRF will send an acknowledgement of receipt to the e-mail address
given in the submitted proposal.
The applicant may be called for hearing during evaluation phase to give further illustrations about their
proposal.
The applicant shall be informed of evaluation result.
If application is approved, applicant and affiliate shall be called to sign agreements with the first party, the
funder, milestones shall be agreed, and start of project shall be announced.
Principle investigator shall also give written confirmation assuring the project is his idea & could not be
found anywhere through a literature search.
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