Notice of application for Guangdong Key Area R&D Program of “Blockchain and Fintech” 2020
The Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong province has initiated a special fund application of Key Area R&D Program which was titled as “Blockchain and Fintech”. Details of application requirements are as follows:
1.Funding fields
This special fund set two subjects with nine sub-topics. Through concentrating dominant technologies and forces, it aims to promote the deep integration of blockchain and substantial economy, and solve the difficulties on financing loans for small and medium-sized enterprises, bank risks control, supervision of authority and other significant issues to relieve major technical bottlenecks of blockchain and fintech industry innovation.
※ Please find more details of research fields as attached(Annex 1-Guide).
2.Funding amount and duration
The duration of this program is two or three year and the average funding intensity is about eight to ten million yuan per project (please refer Annex 1-Guide for more details).
3.Procedure of application
Applicants shall fill out application forms and upload needful attachments(including academic achievements, cooperation agreement, Letter of commitment for authenticity(the template can be downloaded from application system and need to be stamped by the university) and any other supplementary documents) online via the application system ( http://pro.gdstc.gd.gov.cn ) by April 6, 2020, without having to submit any hard copies.
※ For applicants who have no login ID for online application, please send your name, academic title, email address, telephone number to kevingao@cuhk.edu.cn by March 9,2020 to open account.
4. Other requirements
A. Applicants are encouraged to conduct high-quality collaborative research with researchers from research institutes, enterprises and universities whether inside or outside the Guangdong province.
B. The number of collaborative institutions for per-project shall not exceed ten while cooperation agreements（the agreement should include terms of division of labor, funding allocation for partners, ownership of intellectual property, etc.）shall be signed by the applicants and the whole collaborative institutions.
C. Assessment indicators shall be filled in on the basis of truth. Once the project is approved, the assessment indicators shall not be modified or adjusted.
D. Applicants from enterprises shall be assigned as PI is a prerequisite requirement for most of those nine sub-topics in line with the guide. For PI from CUHKSZ, the self-raised funds shall be funded by enterprises(as main participant) and not less than half of the total funds.
E. Application limit
· Applicants shall only apply (as applicant and main participant) for one project concurrently. Meanwhile, the CUHKSZ shall only apply (as applicant and main participant) for three projects in total;
· The total number of provincial technology projects a researcher undertakes as the PI should not exceed three;
· For conclusion of provincial technology projects which exist the situation of one year overdue, the PI shall not apply for this special fund;
· The PI who has the unaccomplished projects of provincial major program and key area R&D program shall not apply for this special fund as applicant; however, application is allowed as main participant;
· The same project will not be funded twice.
F. Technology Readiness Level (TRL) Evaluation. The special fund mainly supports project with TRL 3 to 6 at the stage of application and shall reach TRL 7 to 9 when project conclusion(please refer Annex 2 for TRL norms). Applicants shall elaborate on this part in the report as required and upload supporting documents to application system.
G. Research objectives shall obtain high-quality intellectual property. Applicants shall elaborate on this part in the report and upload supporting documents to application system in line with the guide on high-quality intellectual property analysis and evaluation(please refer Annex 3).
H. Applicants shall read the application guide(Annex 1-Guide )carefully for more specific requirements.
Contact information
Gao Shang kevingao@cuhk.edu.cn
