Thirty top scientists from all over the world will head to the Central Bohemian Region. Their research of cancer or space will be supported by the Horizon Europe program with 3.6 million EUR.
The Central Bohemian Innovation Center (SIC) succeeded in tough competition and received a prestigious grant from the Horizon Europe program, an MSCA-COFUND call, of almost 5.9 mil. EUR for the implementation of the MERIT – Central Bohemia Mobility Program for Excellence in Research, Innovation and Technology program. 116 entities from all over the European Union applied for the grant. SIC ranked 4th with a 98% rating!
The program aims at transferring knowledge and experience from abroad to regional research centers and companies. The five-year program will attract 30 postdoctoral fellows from around the world to the region. They will work on the development of new medicaments or study the space and will be able to use the unique research infrastructure of the region – for example the most powerful laser in the world.
“I am very happy that we were able to succeed in the MERIT program. We already submitted the application in 2019 and 2020. At that time, the project was not financially supported due to the lack of funds – despite our high score exceeding the 70% limit for obtaining support in both years,” says Pavel Jovanovič, director of SIC, and added: “It is a huge achievement and behind it stands the immense effort of the SIC team. Big “thank you” goes to everyone involved. At the same time, I am pleased that we are continuously succeeding in fulfilling the regional innovation strategy and transferring foreign know-how to the Central Bohemian Region.”
The MERIT program will be co-financed by the Central Bohemian Region and the implementating partners. Its 3 strategic objectives are in line with the Regional Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization (RIS3). “One of our priorities regarding the region is to strengthen the area of research and innovation and to attract top scientists to the Czech Republic. Thanks to this great program, they can work in the best scientific institutions and connect it with practice in companies and establish new contacts,” says the Governor of the Central Bohemian Region, Petra Pecková, who has recently taken over the agenda related to innovations, and thus the Central Bohemian Innovation Center, after the late Deputy Věslav Michalik.
“Věslav Michalik has for a long time worked to promote science and innovation as the key to the growth of both society and economy. I would like to follow up on his work and develop it further. In cooperation with SIC, we also want to further promote the representation of female scientists in technical and natural science research fields,” added Governor Pecková.
A total of 15 Central Bohemian research organizations are involved in the program. The involved research centers include top workplaces such as ELI Beamlines and HiLASE laser centers, the University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings, the Astronomical Institute or several institutes of the biomedical and biotechnological center BIOCEV. The other 36 associated partners are mainly companies or foreign universities. Examples of some of the large companies, where the scientists will work, are the automobile company VALEO or EATON development center dealing with intelligent energy management. As for the small and medium-sized companies, DEVINN, operating in the field of hydrogen mobility, is an example.
MERIT supports research activities and education of selected researchers in the following application areas: biotechnology and biomedicine, laser technologies, space technologies, sustainable energy and materials, or digitization as a cross-cutting area. These areas are in line with RIS3 strategy and other European or global strategic frameworks. Researchers can test the results of their research project in practice, collect ideas from companies and transfer them to the academic environment. MERIT will build on several already existing regional programs led by SIC, such as the regional Welcome Office.
