Proposal – submission, evaluation and decision

Requirements for submitting a proposal

Flagship partners who want to submit a proposal must meet certain requirements.

Note: the submission of a pre-proposal is a mandatory requirement for the submission of a proposal.

As a company or a private or public institution (so-called implementation partner)

You must meet these requirements:

• Your company or private or public institution must operate in Switzerland and engage in value-creating activities.
• You must cover the costs incurred within your company for the Flagship which must at least correspond to 40 to 60% of the overall project cost, and be prepared to cover your research partners' expenses, known as the “cash contribution”, amounting to at least 5% of the total project costs.
• Swiss research partners must be prepared to implement a flagship with you.

As researchers

You must work at a Swiss research centre, and companies must want to realise a flagship with you. Your research institution (so called research partner) must belong to one of the following categories:

• Higher education research centres as per Art. 4, Letter c of the RIPA
  
• Non-commercial research centres outside the higher education sector in accordance with Art. 5 of the RIPA
  
• Government bodies as per Art. 16 (3) of the RIPA which carry out their own research projects for the purpose of fulfilling their mandates
  
• Federal research institutes in accordance with Art. 17 of the RIPA
  

Criteria for evaluating your proposal

The members of the Innovation Council and experts will assess the quality of the applications submitted on the basis of the following criteria: 

• Innovation degree: Is the scientific and economic/societal approach novel? Is it not only an “incremental” but also a “systemic” innovation, i.e. does the scientific and economic/societal approach contribute to change a system in the long term?
• Value creation and sustainability in Switzerland: Will the implementation of the research results on the market have a positive influence on the competitive situation of the implementation partner(s)? Will successful implementation demonstrably reduce (social) costs and/or create an economic benefit (e.g. reducing poverty, increasing the quality of life, improving the quality of education, reducing injustice or increasing biodiversity), which will lead to a positive impact on the future wellbeing of the country?
• Flagship setup
  o Methodological quality: What is the quality of the project structure? (e.g. are the goals and milestones realistic? Is the exchange between the project partners guaranteed and expected?)
  o Expertise of the flagship partners: Do the project partners have the necessary expertise for the execution and the intended implementation on the market? Is the consortium well positioned across disciplines (transdisciplinarity)?
  o Cost-benefit ratio of the Flagship

Evaluation and decision

First, the Innosuisse Secretariat checks your application. If the application meets the formal requirements, the substantive assessment process begins. The experts assess the content of your proposal in accordance with the evaluation criteria. Based on this assessment, the Innovation Council of Innosuisse decides whether or not to fund your flagship.

Your application is approved

Following the decision of the Innovation Council, Innosuisse will send an information letter by e-mail announcing the approval of your application.

Your application is rejected

Following the decision of the Innovation Council, Innosuisse will send the decision letter including the reasons for rejection of your application by e-mail. An appeal against the decision can be lodged with the Federal Administrative Court within 30 days.