Projects based on the results of research funded by NCN will be awarded preferential points in every Akces NCBR acceleration call. Initial data from the call for the Impakt programme show that researchers with prior NCN grant experience are choosing this path.
NCN funds basic research, while Akces NCBR supports teams that already have research results and want to test their market potential. The preferential points are the result of an agreement between the two institutions, signed in March this year.
Initially, the points applied only in the call for the HPN Impakt programme, which ran until the end of May. They now cover all Akces NCBR acceleration calls.
Proposal evaluation in the Impakt call is ongoing, but it is already known that almost one in five of the nearly 120 proposals came from applicants with previous NCN experience. This shows that NCN grant recipients regard acceleration as an extension of their own research work.
The Deep Tech programme
A call for the Deep Tech programme, run by Akces NCBR in cooperation with the NCBR National Contact Point for EU Research Programmes, is currently under way. The programme supports advanced technologies emerging in Poland: artificial intelligence, biotechnology, medical, climate and space technologies, robotics and cybersecurity. Teams with projects at technology readiness levels (TRL) 3–8 may apply to the programme.
Qualifying teams will receive up to PLN 300,000 in grant funding, mentoring support worth around PLN 100,000 and access to the EIC Launchpad track, preparing them to apply to the European EIC Accelerator call. The programme's budget is around PLN 10 million, which will make it possible to support nearly 25 projects. Projects based on the results of NCN grants will receive preferential points during evaluation, increasing their chances of qualifying.
The call remains open until the end of July. Detailed information about the call and the rules of participation is available on the Akces NCBR website.