Purpose
The purpose of this initiative is to fund applied projects to increase the maturity level of their technological development in one of the following areas:
- Proof-of-Concept (PoC) Projects (two years): Projects focused on validating ideas of proven quality will be eligible for funding, provided they aim to achieve a Technology Readiness Level(TRL) of 3 or 4, that is, projects that seek to develop and validate the idea at the laboratory level.
- Prototype Technology Validation (VTP) Projects (three years): Projects of proven quality that, based on a previously validated idea, aim to achieve a score of 5 or 6 on the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale—that is, that aim to develop and validate a prototype in a relevant environment—will be eligible for funding.
The following types of projects may be submitted:
- Individual projects: submitted by an applicant organization and to be carried out by a research team led by a principal investigator. Projects led by emerging researchers (born in 1980 or later) will receive special consideration during the evaluation process.
- Coordinated projects: consisting of two or more subprojects, which must adequately justify in the project proposal the need for such coordination to address the proposed objectives, as well as the expected benefits of the coordination. Each subproject will have its own team and a principal investigator. One of the principal investigators will serve as the coordinator and will be responsible for the project’s implementation.
Participation in the project will be mandatory for companies or other public or private entities interested in the project’s development and outcomes; however, such participation shall not constitute any form of direct assistance to them from the grants that may be awarded under this call for proposals.
Requirements
Requirements for applicants:
The following legal entities, provided they conduct or manage R&D&I activities in biomedicine or in health sciences and technologies:
- Health research institutes accredited by ministerial order (IIS).
- Public health entities and institutions with clinical assistance activities.
- Public health entities and institutions without a health activity license, but with demonstrable R+D+I activity in the area of knowledge of Public Health.
- Private healthcare entities and institutions that are licensed to provide healthcare services and are affiliated with or have agreements with the National Health System (SNS).
- The OPIs (Public Research Organizations).
- Public universities and private universities with proven R&D capacity and activity.
- State-level technology centers and state-level centers supporting technological innovation that are registered in the Registry of Centers established by Royal Decree 2093/2008
- Other public R&D, research and knowledge dissemination centers and research infrastructures, with their own legal personality, linked to or dependent on the General State Administration or the rest of the Public Administrations and their agencies.
- Public and private non-profit entities that carry out and/or manage R&D activities, generate scientific or technological knowledge or facilitate its application and transfer.
- Public consortia and state public consortia with R&D&I activities in Biomedicine or Health Sciences and Technologies.
- Other health administration units.
- Be a member of the staff of the applicant organization, as listed above, and have a formal civil service, statutory, or employment relationship with that organization for at least the entire period between the application submission deadline and the final award decision. If, after notification of the grant award decision, the principal investigator ceases to be affiliated with the organization, the recipient institution must request a change of principal investigator or institution.
- Not currently participating in an FSE program, a pre-doctoral training contract, or a Río Hortega contract.
The remaining members of the research team must:
- Have a formal civil service, statutory, employment, or paid training relationship with any of the entities eligible to apply for this program for at least the entire period between the deadline for submitting applications and the date of the award decision.
- The expectation of being appointed or hired by the beneficiary entity as a result of having successfully completed a competitive public recruitment process shall be considered sufficient grounds for an employment relationship.
- In exceptional cases, when their contribution is deemed necessary for the viability of the project, research teams may include personnel who are contractually affiliated with entities not headquartered in Spain (provided such entities are eligible under this call for proposals, as indicated in the previous section), and such personnel may constitute up to 25% of the research team.
Application
Applications and all other required documentation must be submitted exclusively through the ISCIII’s online portal.
The application forms will require only the signature of the legal representative of the applicant entity, who will collect the signatures of the other interested parties and be responsible for their safekeeping and authenticity.
Applications must be accompanied by the following documentation:
They form an integral part of the application and may not be upgraded retrospectively:
- Application form.
- Research project report in Spanish or English, using exclusively the standardized template corresponding to AES 2026.
- Abbreviated Curriculum Vitae (CVA) in Spanish or English, automatically generated by the CVN editor or by any institution certified under the FECYT’s CVN standard that offers the CVA service, for principal investigators.
For coordinated projects, a complete application must be submitted for each subproject.
In addition, applications must be accompanied by (documentation that can be corrected):
- Abbreviated Curriculum Vitae (CVA) in Spanish or English, automatically generated using the FECYT CV editor or by any institution certified under the FECYT CVN standard that offers the CVA-ISCIII service, for the remaining members of the research team.
- A Business Interest Document (DIE) in the standard format, certifying collaboration and ties with companies or other public or private entities interested in the development and results of such projects, if applicable.
- For coordinated, multicenter projects involving multiple participating centers, the standard-format coordination report must also be completed.
Call for Applications Guidelines
The complete terms and conditions of the call for applications can be viewed by clicking here.