Spain: AEI

Name of Funding agency
Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI)
Geographical coverage (national/regional)
National
Name of the programme/initiative
Proyectos de Colaboración Internacional (PCI)
Programme owner
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Program manager (executing funding organisation)
AEI
Contact person(s) (e-mail, tel.)

Representative: 

Name: Severino Falcón Morales 

E‐mail:    

 

Administrative and technical issues: 

Name: Jorge Sotelo Santos; Raquel Fernández Reyes 

E-mail:    

 

Scientific Issues: 

Name: Dr. Roberto Pacios; Dr. Federico Mompeán García

Funding commitment
1.000.000 €
Maximum funding per grant awarded to a partner

The following funding limits are considered eligibility criteria. Proposals not respecting these limits could be declared non eligible. 

 

IMPORTANT: a maximum of two Spanish Partners requesting funding to the AEI in the same Proposal are allowed. 

 

The following funding limits (including direct + 25 % of indirect costs) are considered eligibility criteria. Proposals not respecting these limits could be declared ineligible. Please, indicate separately direct and indirect cost and keep amounts multiple of 1000. In any case, the AEI will round the numbers to a multiple of 1000. 

 

Maximum amount per Proposal NOT coordinated by a Spanish partner funded by AEI:  

  • If there is only one Spanish partner in the proposal, the maximum funding is 200.000€.  
  • If there are two Spanish partners, the maximum funding amount per proposal is 250.000€. 

 

If the Consortium is led by a Spanish Coordinator funded by AEI, the maximum funding amounts per proposal are the following:  

  • if there is only one Spanish Partner in the proposal, acting as Coordinator: 300.000€. 
  • if there is one Spanish Partner in addition to the Spanish Coordinator: 
    350.000€. 

Centers formed by different Spanish legal entities will be considered as a unique entity, and thus the maximum funding should not exceed the limits per proposal established above (for example, mixed centers). 

Type of research eligible for funding: eligible TRL range

Fundamental/Basic Research, Applied Research, Experimental Research.

All TRLs.

Funding rates (approx.)

100% of eligible costs

Major eligibility criteria (e.g. types of organisations, thematic restriction, cost types and caps)

The eligible entities for the AEI funding are (check General requirements): 

Non-profit research organizations (such as universities, public research institutions, technological centres and other private non-profit institutions performing RDI activities in Spain), as per PCI call document (or equivalent).  

 

MANDATORY: 

 

The Spanish Principal Investigators (PIs) must be eligible as per PCI call (or equivalent) and must have experience as investigators in projects funded by the Plan Nacional I+D+i 2008-2011, the Plan EstatalI+D+i 2013-2016, the Plan EstatalI+D+i 2017-2020, ERC Grants, European Framework Programmes or other relevant international programmes.  

 

Important: 

1. Applicants have to send to the AEI () the document “Declaración de responsable” duly signed by the Spanish principal investigator. They must send it until one week after the deadline of the call, i.e. 22 May 2024. 

• The document to be signed you can find here (Word). 

• Please, pay special attention to points 8, 9 and 10 of the declaration linked to the incompatibilities 

2. The applicants should include the PI’s full name and the full name of their institution as it is stated in the “Sistema de Entidades (SISEN)”. 

 

 

Incompatibilities (these must be taken into account when participating in different ERA-NETs or other international initiatives): 

  • Principal Investigators will not be eligible for funding if they apply in more than one proposal of this transnational joint call, in more than one proposal in the same PCI call (or equivalent) and in PCI calls (or equivalent) of consecutive years.  
  • If the same PI submits two or more proposals to the present call, all but one will be declared ineligible, without the possibility of changing the PI. 
  • A PI that has been granted a PCI the previous year will be declared ineligible, without the possibility of changing the PI. 
  • PIs must remain unchanged between the proposal of this transnational joint call and the national PCI call. 

 

Please consult the specific document on eligibility for PCI calls. 

 

The AEI will avoid double funding and will not grant projects or parts of projects already funded through other national or EU calls. 

 

Eligible costs: 

  • Only personnel costs for exclusive dedication to the project are eligible. The costs of permanent staff linked to the beneficiary entity or members of the research team will not be considered eligible costs. 
  • Direct costs such as current costs, small scientific equipment, disposable materials, travelling expenses, coordination costs, and other costs that can be justified as necessary to carry out the proposed activities. VAT could be non eligible, depending on the application of RRF funds. 
  • Indirect costs (overheads) are eligible costs (25% of total direct costs, including outsourcing). 
  • Subcontracting should not exceed 25% of total final budget (excluding overheads).  

 

Prioritisation criteria: 

In the case two or more projects are considered equal with respect to their scientific merits, the AEI will prioritise funding projects that comply with more of the following criteria: 

 

Mandatory acknowledgement: 

Any publication or dissemination activity resulting from the granted projects must acknowledge funding by the AgenciaEstatal de Investigación: “Project (reference nº XX) funded by the AgenciaEstatal de Investigación through the PCI XX call (or its equivalent)”. 

Submission of the proposal at national/regional level (schedule, cut-off dates, deadlines, etc.)

Only for selected projects.  

Please consult PCI 2024-1 for specific details of the procedure, since requirements will be similar. 

Submission of financial and scientific reports at the national/regional level

Yes

Further guidance

Instrument for funding the Spanish groups: 

The instrument for funding Spanish groups is the Spanish call on RDI projects “Proyectos de Colaboracióninternacional (PCI)”, applicants are encouraged to consult the call PCI 2024-1since the requirements will be similar. 

 

Funding Programme: 

The framework for this funding action is the Plan Estatal de InvestigaciónCientífica, Técnica e Innovación 2021-2023. On a national level, the Call will be managed by the Subdivisión de ProgramasCientífico-TécnicosTransversales, Fortalecimiento y Excelencia of the AEI. Subdivisión de Programas Científico-Técnicos Transversales, Fortalecimiento y Excelencia ofthe AEI  

 

Do No Significant Harm principle (DNSH) 

The projects granted under this call are encouraged to comply with the DNSH criteria (do not significant harm) and state it so in the proposal (see article 6.3 RC-PCI2024-1)  

 

Data Protection: 

By submitting a grant application to the AEI, the applicants consent to communication of the data contained in the application to other public administrations, with the aim of further processing of the data for historical, statistical or scientific purposes, within the framework of the Organic Law 3/2018, of December 5, on Personal Data Protection and Guarantee of Digital Rights.