partnership nwo domain aes & science– plantum · the abiotic environment in a fast and...

Applied and Engineering Sciences Science

Call for proposals

Partnership NWO Domain AES & Science– Plantum Abiotic stress in plants. Working towards enhanced climate proof plant production by understanding mechanisms and genetics of plant responses. Guidelines for funding proposals for research under the Partnership NWO Domains AES & Science – Plantum. Deadline for submission of full proposals: 9 July 2019; 14:00:00h CE(S)T Utrecht/ The Hague, April 2019 Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research NWO Domain Applied and Engineering Sciences NWO Domain Science

Contents Partnership programme Abiotic stress in plants

Contents ........................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 3 About the partners ............................................................................................................. 3 Background ....................................................................................................................... 4 Objective of the programme ................................................................................................ 5 Research areas and scientific challenges ................................................................................ 5 Specific requirements to the programme ............................................................................... 7 Notes on Intellectual Property policy (IP policy) & Publication arrangements ............................. 10 Deadlines and Time frame ................................................................................................. 10 Assessment procedure ...................................................................................................... 14 After award ..................................................................................................................... 17 Contact information .......................................................................................................... 20

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Partnership Abiotic stress in plants

Introduction This partnership is a joint action of two NWO Domains being the Domain Applied and Engineering Sciences and the Domain Science. While this is a strong collaboration, the practical execution of the call will be governed by NWO Domain Applied and Engineering Sciences. This brochure explains the objectives and working methods of the NWO Domain Applied and Engineering Sciences (In Dutch NWO Domein Toegepaste en Technische Wetenschappen; TTW). This will be further referred to as ‘NWO Domain AES’ or ‘AES’. It details the conditions governing proposals submitted to NWO Domain AES for the funding of scientific research under the Partnership programme NWO Domain AES & Science – Plantum. This partnership will be further referred to as Partnership Abiotic Stress in plants. NWO Domain AES is part of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO; see also www.nwo.nl) which supports a strong system of sciences in the Netherlands by encouraging quality and innovation in science. Responsibility for the national science and innovation policy lies with the Ministries of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) and Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (EZK). As such, NWO Domain AES provides government funding. Before submitting your application electronically via ISAAC, NWO Domain AES recommends that you visit its website (www.nwo.nl/ttw) to verify that you have the latest version of this brochure, and that you read the guidelines carefully. Moreover, please familiarize yourself with ISAAC (www.isaac.nwo.nl) before you start submitting your proposal.

About the partners

NWO Domain AES

It is in the ambition of NWO Domain AES to connect people and resources to improve science-wide technology and technological knowledge, that contributes to the creation of economic value and provides solutions for societal challenges. NWO Domain AES does so by: • bringing scientific researchers and potential users together; • funding excellent research in the applied and technical sciences. Research funded by NWO Domain AES generates valuable knowledge. In addition to stimulating excellent science, NWO Domain AES aims to promote the application of knowledge. The term used by NWO Domain AES to refer to the set of activities aimed at maximising the possibility of research results being applied is ‘utilisation’. In order to promote utilisation in addition to scientific quality, NWO Domain AES establishes a user committee for every funded project. NWO Domain AES expects applicants and users to actively collaborate towards promoting utilisation and towards NWO Domain AES’s objective of transferring knowledge to users. Users, user committees and intellectual property play a crucial role in utilisation. Users of research are defined as natural persons or legal persons (at national or international level) who are able to apply the results of the research. A distinction is sometimes drawn between direct users, usually companies, and end users. In that case, it is not sufficient to designate end users only. It is NWO Domain AES’s explicit intention that potential technology users and end users outside the inner circle and outside the research field of the researchers submitting the proposal should be involved in the project from beginning to end. Users should be able to apply the knowledge generated by the research in the medium to long term. We refer to the ‘Guidelines for applicants’, published separately and the brochure ‘Guidelines Users Committee NWO domain TTW 2017’ on TTW’s website (www.nwo.nl/ttw). If identified, involved or committed before submission, (potential) users should be indicated in the utilisation section of the research proposal. Please note that a Partnership specific IP policy is in place (see ‘Guidelines for applicants’ published separately).

NWO Domain Science

http://www.nwo.nl/

http://www.isaac.nwo.nl/

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The NWO Domain Science stimulates excellent research through research funding and setting the agenda. In this capacity it is the coordinator of natural sciences research in the Netherlands. The NWO Domain Science connects researchers with each other and with civil society organisations and industry. This is done by organising meetings and maintaining close contacts with researchers and stakeholders.

Plantum

Plantum is the Dutch association for the plant reproduction material sector. The members of Plantum are active in breeding, propagation, production and trade of seeds, bulbs, tubers, cuttings and young plants. Plantum represents and promotes the interests of its members and, on behalf of the sector, acts as a discussion partner with government bodies and interest groups. Plantum’s focus is on consolidating the competitive position of the sector and of the groups of affiliated members on an international level. Plantum also initiates new developments and serves as a source of information for companies. Plantum takes positions in political and social debates and enjoys broad national and international recognition as an authority and expert proponent of the interests of the plant reproduction material sector in the Netherlands.

Roles of Partnership partners

The two partners in this Partnership Abiotic Plant Stress have their own interest and contribution to the partnership. NWO Domains AES & Science will facilitate the establishment of the partnership and formulate the call for proposals, assess and select projects qualifying for funding and take care of secretarial work while monitoring the progression of funded projects. Plantum has posed scientific questions and seeks collaboration with academia for resolution of these scientific challenges through this partnership and therefore have particular interest in the outcome of the research projects.

Background NWO Domains AES & Science initiated this Partnership programme to stimulate effective cooperation between academic and industrial partners. This Partnership programme is financed by the NWO Domains AES & Science and strongly supported by Plantum and its members.

The Netherlands has a strong track record with respect to biotic stresses in plants. Academic groups and plant breeding companies have a world leading positions when it comes to understanding how plants can cope with biotic stress factors and producing crops that can withstand such stressors. The vast efforts in research and development are a natural result of the many challenges that biotic stresses pose on crop production worldwide. However, the world is changing. Global competition in plant breeding is intensified, climate change will alter the abiotic environment in a fast and sometimes unpredictable way, and the human population is ever growing. This calls for development of crops that have the ability to withstand abiotic stresses, so that they can be cultivated in new or rapid changing environments whilst producing high yields and providing an advantage in global competition. This is the time to fuel the development of climate smart plant production. Ensured quality, harvest certainty and resilience are main issues for plant production in the near future. Because of their world leading position, Dutch plant breeding companies have a huge impact on the global availability of solutions for production challenges. Equally, Dutch scientific groups work at the forefront of unravelling plant characteristics and genetics that are essential for developing new resilient crop varieties. With this partnership we aim at pushing climate smart plant production to the next level. We invite scientists to submit a dedicated research proposal aligned with the scope of the programme. The proposed research should provide answers to the scientific and technological challenges in application areas of abiotic stresses in plants. We explicitly ask academic researchers to draft their proposals in co-creation with the Plantum members. In addition we strongly encourage researchers to seek close collaboration with Universities of Applied Science in order to fully facilitate the translation from research to utilisation, from the very start.

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Objective of the programme

Scope of the programme

Current crop varieties are well adapted to the present climate. To ensure quality, harvest certainty and resilience in the light of climate change, climate smart solutions are needed. Plant breeding is key for the development of resilient crops, however there is a lack of knowledge about the genetic compounds underlying the interactions between abiotic stresses and plant performance, including seed quality and germination. Bio-informatics is considered a key component. With this programme we aim to build a community of researchers, plant breeding companies and other stakeholders to work on this specific issue. The programme is solution oriented and stimulates projects built around commercially interesting crop species and translation of knowledge between these crops. The aim is to clarify underlying mechanisms, but also to probe into the existing natural variation of relevant traits. As precision phenotyping is currently a bottleneck in germplasm improvement for plant stability in environments prone to abiotic stress, the application of new phenotyping tools are considered to be part of the programme.

The programme aims at generating the following outputs: Output 1: Understanding physiological mechanisms of plant responses to abiotic stress. Output 2: Insight into genetic factors and mechanisms that enhance abiotic stress adaption in crop plants. Output 3: New phenotyping platforms developed to objectively measure the relation between abiotic stress and plant performances including seeds and seedlings. Through utilization of the results obtained via these three research lines, the partners aim to reach substantial advancement in the field of plant abiotic stress adaptation. Submitted projects should clearly present the potential for utilization of the results by the Plantum associated companies.

Research areas and scientific challenges To enhance the academic level of the research questions underlying the partners’ ambitions, several academic researchers were consulted in two match making events prior to drafting this call. The input from these meetings has served as a basis for the following description of the research areas and scientific challenges.

The programme focusses solely on five types of abiotic stress and their interaction:

1. Temperature 2. Drought 3. Humidity 4. Salinity 5. Light

Research on combined stress factors is very welcome.

1. Temperature

Temperature fluctuations can have major effects on plant growth, development and reproduction. The fluctuations in temperature can vary in magnitude and duration, and future trends may become increasingly unpredictable. In addition, changes in temperature are often correlated with changes in light conditions. This pallet of fluctuating environmental conditions may hence influence the internal developmental programme of plants in various ways.

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This calls for crop varieties that can deal with mild and extreme temperature stresses in terms of production, uniform growth and reproduction cycles. A better understanding of temperature sensing and the unique features of the involved signalling pathways would be very useful for breeding purposes. In this context, the genetic mechanisms and genetic variation underlying differences in stress responses is key. The ability to control temperature sensing and the plant’s response to temperature fluctuations would be a great asset for the production of more resilient plant variations.

2. Drought

Drought is considered as the lack of available (fresh) water for the root system. A shortage in water-uptake from the soil can result in negative changes in plant physiology, flowering and seed set. This greatly affects the ability to maintain yield quality and quantity in certain crops, especially in combination with altered humidity and salinity levels. Crop varieties that can cope with periods of drought are hence needed to ensure necessary levels of crop yield and quality. This can be achieved by producing crop varieties with enhanced levels of drought tolerance. In this respect, the genetic variation and mechanisms underlying differences in drought tolerance play a key role. The mechanisms and pathways of sensing drought stress and subsequent plant responses are not well understood in crop species. Insights in these mechanisms and pathways is, however, important for future climate smart plant production. In this context, knowledge of the development and functioning of the root system can be a relevant.

3. Humidity

Humidity can affect plant performance in several ways. Plants react to humidity by opening or closing their stomata. Under low humidity conditions the plans cannot open their stomata due to the risk of water loss. This greatly effects the exchange of gases between the plant and its environment, and subsequently hampers the functioning of the photosynthesis apparatus. A very high humidity on the other hand will limit the functional exchange of gasses between the internal and external parts of the plant. Both type of humidity stress can affect plant growth and development. Although there are certain similarities between the effects of closed stomata and open stomata in a humid environment, there are also distinct effects on plant physiology. Currently there is a need to understand the problem of humidity and to define the limiting factors with respect to plant performance in both high and low humidity environments. Knowledge of the plant responses to external and internal factors may be key to steer stomata regulation and control under different environmental conditions. Natural variation and underlying mechanisms play a key role in developing this knowledge.

4. Salinity

The availability of fresh water is likely to become increasingly challenging. Long periods of droughts, decreased water levels, and flooding, for example, can all affect salinity levels of water for field crops. This means that it will become more and more difficult to provide crop plants with a continuous flow of high quality fresh water. Seedling establishment, plant development and production are all directly affected by water quality. The development of crop varieties that can deal with these conditions is therefore very relevant. A first coping mechanism could be that plants are enabled to avoid the salt stress by specific root growth patterns and plasticity therein. The inhibition of salt uptake, whilst maintaining chloroplast function, could be another possible route. When the exclusion of salt is not feasible, compartmentalization of salt could provide a solution. This can either be the storage of salt in the root system, or compartmentalization of ions in other plant parts. Harvestable plant parts should always remain free of hyper accumulation of salts. The ability to control the uptake of salts and to steer the accumulation in certain plant parts are undoubtedly key elements in future salt resilient crop varieties.

5. Light

Light provides the energy source for photosynthesis and plays a critical function in plant development and metabolism. Light quality, the spectral composition of the light, influences plant morphological and developmental processes. Low light levels lead to slow growth, decrease of leaf weight and flower bud number, whereas exposure to excess light levels can damage the photosynthetic apparatus. In the natural environment, plants experience a range of light intensities. The light intensity can strongly vary in time.

To cope with this variability, plants have evolved sensing and response mechanisms that allow efficient acclimation. Also, plants have developed a stress memory that supports adaptation to recurring

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stress. One possible way to improve stress responses in crops may thus be to enhance the stress memory. For this, the light sensing and response processes and the stress memory mechanisms need to be understood and translated into crop species. Also, more fundamental knowledge is needed about the influence of light quality on plant architecture, productivity, and developmental phase transitions.

Topics not eligible for funding within this Partnership programme

Biotic stress is not within the scope of in this call, this also includes biotic factors that influence the plants ability to react to abiotic stresses. NWO will ultimately decide whether the focus of the project proposal is in line with the scope of the programme. If a project proposals fails to comply with the scope of the programme NWO can declare that proposal non-admissible. In that case the proposal will not be taken into consideration for granting.

Specific requirements to the programme

Who can apply

Scientists employed by Dutch (Technical) Universities and institutes eligible for funding by NWO Domain AES) can submit a proposal to this Partnership call.

Full, associate and assistant professors and other researchers with a comparable appointment can submit an application if they: − are employed (i.e. hold a salaried position) at one of the following organisations:

• Universities established in the Kingdom of the Netherlands; • University medical centres; • NWO and KNAW institutes; • the Netherlands Cancer Institute; • the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen; • researchers from the DUBBLE Beamline at the ESRF in Grenoble; • NCB Naturalis; • Advanced Research Centre for NanoLithography (ARCNL); • Princess Máxima Center.

− also have an appointment period for at least the duration of the application procedure and the entire duration of the research for which the grant is being applied for. Personnel with a zero-hour appointment is excluded from applying.

Please see ‘Guideline for applicants’ published with the call for proposals on the Partnership website.

Criteria for submission The proposals must meet the following criteria:

• Proposals that fit within the programme should address topics of abiotic stress in plants that fall within the description outlined in the ‘research areas and scientific challenges’ section.

• Proposals with a total budget of 750.000,- euro or more must be submitted by at least two departments with distinct disciplines, and include at least two companies that are a member of Plantum. Proposals with a total budget between 500.000,- and 750.000,- euro can be submitted by researchers from a single discipline and need to include at least one Plantum company.

• Envisaged project results should be applicable in the area of plant breeding on the middle long term (i.e. five-ten years).

• The research has to fit within the roadmaps of the Top Sector Horticulture and starting materials (In Dutch ‘Tuinbouw en Uitgangsmaterialen’: https://topsectortu.nl/nlFout! De hyperlinkverwijzing is ongeldig.).

Co-funding criteria The Partnership programme is funded by NWO Domains AES & Science. In addition the members of Plantum are committed and engaged to provide 50% in cash co-financing to the projects. This 50% in cash co-

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financing is a prerequisite for submission. Co-financing can also be provided by companies that are not a member of Plantum, however at least half of the co-financing has to come from a Plantum member (i.e. 25 % of the total project budget). Participating companies are further required to contribute to the overhead costs by an additional payment of 10% of their contribution to Plantum. For example, if a company contributes 300.000 euro to a project that is awarded, an additional 30.000,- euro is required to cover the overhead costs of this programme. Plantum will cover these costs for all its members.

Fit in the programme Proposals should address the research areas described in the ‘Research areas and Scientific Challenges’ section. Only those research proposals that fit into the described scope of the programme may be submitted. Whether a potential project proposal fits into the programme is decided by the NWO programme officer, responsible for this call. The project idea should be discussed with Plantum and whenever possible drafted in co-creation with the contributing companies.

Multidisciplinarity Collaborations between researchers from different disciplines are strongly encouraged. Close collaboration with Universities of Applied Science is particularly welcomed in order to maximise utilisation of the results and facilitate a broad knowledge transfer. NWO considers the main applicant to be the project leader and the sole contact person throughout the assessment procedure as well as the penholder of the consortium after award of funding.

Involvement in multiple projects Within this programme, a researcher may associate his/her name to more than one research proposal. A researcher is allowed to submit only one proposal as main applicant.

Partnership programme and budget Together NWO Domains AES & Science have made available 1.500.000,- euro (inclusive of Dutch VAT), for this Partnership programme. The Plantum companies have agreed to provide an additional 50% in cash co-financing to the proposals of their interest, in order to match the NWO grant(s) at the project level. The applicants must contact the relevant companies while drafting the proposal in order to receive a commitment of 50% in cash co-financing for their project proposal. Each company is requested to pay an additional 10% in cash for each individual contribution to Plantum. Plantum will use this contribution to pay 150.000,- euro to the programme, which will be used to cover the overhead costs of NWO. Plantum will cover these costs for its own member companies The final date of the projects and project activities is six years after the start of the project. Each project has to start within 12 months after the award date. The final date for project activities within this Partnership programme is therefore exactly seven years after the award date.

Partnership project and budget The maximum size of a Partnership project is between 500.000,- and 1.000.000,- euro (inclusive of Dutch VAT), of which half (i.e. between 250.000,- and 500.000,- euro) can be requested from NWO and the other half is derived from the 50% in cash co-financing per project. The typical Partnership project duration is four years starting from the award date of the project grant within the Partnership programme.

Partnership agreement The Partnership programme is a cooperation between NWO Domain AES & Plantum. A Partnership agreement has been signed between these partners. For any issues that might arise during the course of the project, the project leader can consult NWO Domain AES for advice.

Funding conditions and Intellectual property (IP) policy This Partnership call is published by NWO Domain AES. This call for proposals and the NWO Grant Rules 2017, version January 2019 and ‘Guidelines Users Committee NWO domain TTW 2017’ are applicable to this Partnership programme (www.nwo.nl/ttw-projectleider). Management and administration of project (proposals) will take place according to procedures of NWO Domain AES.

http://www.nwo.nl/ttw

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The Plantum companies within this Partnership programme, obtain non-exclusive rights to use and commercialize the results (all inventions, know-how, materials, methods, processes, products, programmes, software, findings and discoveries and any IP rights pertaining thereto), with the option to obtain exclusive rights against a market price to be agreed upon (see Notes on Intellectual Property policy & Publication arrangements).

Resubmitting research proposals

Research proposals that were rejected in a NWO Domain AES evaluation procedure cannot be resubmitted automatically. When a research proposal is resubmitted, the scientific description Section 4 of the application form and/or the utilisation plan Section 5 of the application form must have been significantly revised. NWO Domain AES will judge this. The previous referees’ comments may be used as a guideline in revising the proposal. When submitting the research proposal, the applicant is obligated to attach a statement in English explaining the revisions. If the research proposal has not been revised sufficiently, it will not be eligible for funding.

Submission of project idea for funding elsewhere

If identical or very similar research proposals are or will be submitted to NWO or other funding bodies, including the Topsector calls, this must be stated in the proposal. For the duration of the assessment procedure of this Partnership programme call, the submission of identical or very similar proposals (to judgement of NWO Domain AES) to more than one of the following calls is not permitted: NWA-ORC, Open Technology Programme (OTP) and ‘Perspectief’ Programme.

Data management

Responsible data management is part of good research. NWO wants research data that emerge from publicly funded research to become freely and sustainably available, as much as possible, for reuse by other researchers taking into account the terms and conditions of the Partnership framework agreement. Furthermore NWO wants to raise awareness among researchers about the importance of responsible data management. Proposals should therefore satisfy the data management protocol of NWO. This protocol consists of two steps: 1. Data management section The data management section is part of the research proposal. See Appendix 5 of ‘Guideline for applicants’ published with the call for proposals on the Partnership website. Researchers should answer four questions about data management within their intended research project. The researcher will be asked to think about how the future data should be ordered and categorised so that it can be made freely available. This has to be done before the research starts. Often, measures will need to be taken during the production and analysis of the data to make their future storage and dissemination possible. Researchers can state which research data they consider to be relevant for storage and reuse. 2. Data management plan After a proposal has been awarded funding the researcher should elaborate the data management section into a data management plan. The plan should be submitted to NWO via ISAAC within a maximum of four months after the proposal has been awarded funding. NWO Domain AES will approve the plan as quickly as possible. Approval of the data management plan by NWO Domain AES is a condition for disbursement of the funding. The plan can be adjusted during the research. Data management is requested on project level. Further information about the data management protocol of NWO can be found at http://www.nwo.nl/datamanagement-en.

Nagoya Protocol

The Nagoya Protocol became effective on 12 October 2014 and ensures an honest and reasonable distribution of benefits emerging from the use of genetic resources (Access and Benefit Sharing; ABS). Researchers who make use of genetic sources from the Netherlands or abroad for their research should familiarise themselves with the Nagoya Protocol (www.absfocalpoint.nl). NWO assumes that researchers will take all necessary actions with respect to the Nagoya Protocol.

http://www.absfocalpoint.nl/

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Intellectual Property policy & Publication arrangements NWO Domain AES facilitates the transfer of knowledge between the technical sciences and users. In this process it is important that a responsible approach is taken with regard to research results in general, and patentable inventions and discoveries in particular. NWO Domain AES's aim is firstly to exploit and publish the results of research as widely as possible, whilst retaining the possibility to establish Intellectual Property (IP) rights and to subsequently transfer these rights to user(s) or grant a licence to user(s) for these and, secondly, to stimulate collaboration between researchers and various external companies. NWO Domain AES adheres to a set of rules concerning Intellectual Property (IP) that support NWO Domain AES's mission and are covered by NWO’s IP policy. NWO’s IP policy can be found in the NWO Grant Rules 2017, version January 2019. It possible for NWO Domain AES to take the lead in making arrangements for IP and similar matters; in such cases, NWO Domain AES's Intellectual Property policy will be followed (this option is referred to as option 1).NWO Domain AES offers knowledge institutions the opportunity to make their own IP and Publication (IP&P) arrangements with the parties with which they cooperate, this option is referred to as option 2. If knowledge institutions prefer to make their own arrangements, they must make this known - with the approval of the companies concerned - at the time the application is submitted, and have concluded the arrangements within three months of receiving NWO Domain AES's approval for the project. The main applicant/project leader has the lead in these circumstances. The arrangements will subsequently be reviewed by NWO Domain AES to ensure they are compatible with four criteria that reflect the task and mission of NWO Domain AES.

Decision must be known on submission

NWO Domain AES asks the party submitting the research proposal to indicate, in advance, which option has been chosen with regard to IP&P arrangements for the results of the research. The two options and the attendant implementing conditions are described in the table below.

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NWO Domain AES takes the lead in making Intellectual Property and Publication* arrangements ('AES IP&P arrangements') • Part 3 of the ‘Guidelines Users’ Committee NWO

Domain AES’ on 'Intellectual Property' (see the brochure on www.AES.nwo.nl) is applicable.

Access to foreground IP rights for private party or parties / consortium:

ο 0-10% private contribution private party or parties: private party/parties have no automatic right

ο 11-30% private contribution private party or parties: private party, parties or consortia have right of option

ο 31-50% private contribution private party or parties: non-exclusive non-transferable commercial licence + right of option to exclusive right. Contribution towards patent costs can be required

ο Private parties can combine their contributions so as to achieve a more favourable ranking

ο Confidential information remains confidential

ο Results can always be published but publication may be suspended for a maximum of 9 months in connection with the protection (patent) of the results

• Agreements must be confirmed in writing within six

months of the project being awarded Further information on the options can be found in chapter 4 of the NWO Grant Rules 2017, version January 2019, the brochure ‘Guidelines Users’ Committee NWO Domain AES’ and in the relevant/underlying 'Guidelines for financing applications'

Main applicant / project leader takes the lead in making Intellectual Property and Publication* arrangements ('Own IP&P arrangements') • 'Own IP&P arrangements' fulfil the following criteria:

i All necessary foreground information (IP ensuing

from the AES project) and - insofar as legally possible - background information (already existing IP from company and/or knowledge institution) is available for the execution of the project

ii The agreement is aimed at the application or allocation of the results by way of publication

iii Publication of scientific knowledge from the project will not be obstructed by users, but the beneficiary and users may determine the publication schedule

iv Any results generated from the project by the beneficiary remain available for the beneficiary for educational and research purposes

• On submission: The knowledge institution(s) and all users

agree that the provisions under 'Own IP&P arrangements' will apply to the AES project and declare that they do or will satisfy the criteria from i to iv above After award: All beneficiaries and all users approve the agreement in writing

• NWO Domain AES will receive from the project leader, no

later than three months after awarding the project: i. The signed agreement in which IP&P arrangements are made with the user(s) ii. A signed IP&P statement in which the beneficiary declares that the agreement relating to the IP&P arrangements with the user(s) satisfies all the pre-determined criteria. The project leader hereby refers to the relevant provisions in the agreement

• NWO domain AES reviews the agreement against the pre-determined criteria; if NWO domain AES approves the agreement, NWO domain AES informs the project leader that the project can be started

*NB: All scientific publications resulting from research that is funded by grants derived from this Call for proposals are to be immediately (at the time of publication) freely accessible worldwide (Open Access). There are several ways for researchers to publish Open Access. A detailed explanation regarding Open Access can be found on www.nwo.nl/openscience-en.

http://www.ttw.nwo.nl/

http://www.nwo.nl/openscience-en

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Option 1: NWO Domain AES makes Intellectual Property & Publication arrangements

NWO Domain AES takes the lead in the negotiations on the subject of IP&P arrangements, this option is referred to as option 1. Once a project has been approved, all users that contribute to the project receive a letter from NWO domain AES informing them that the project has been awarded to the knowledge institution. In addition, NWO Domain AES asks the user to sign the letter to (re)confirm its participation in and contribution to the project. Further details of NWO Domain AES's IP policy can be found below.

The main principles of NWO Domain AES's IP policy.

• Ownership of the results of research The results of research carried out by the research institute(s) in the context of a AES project are owned jointly by the participating institute(s) and by NWO. ο Ownership of the results of research that are generated exclusively by user(s) in the context of a

AES project is vested in the user(s) in question. The user(s) will allow NWO Domain AES and the research institute ‘freedom to operate’.

ο The results of research that are generated jointly by the research institute(s) and the user(s) in the context of a AES project are owned jointly by the participating institute(s) and by NWO. If the co-inventing user has itself provided more than 10% of the project funding in the form of personnel, that user will be granted a non-exclusive, royalty-free and non-transferable licence for the use of the invention, patent or patent application.

ο Existing IP rights continue to be vested in the holder(s) of such right who contribute these rights to the project. Insofar as it is possible under the law, and insofar as it is not detrimental to the reasonable commercial interests of the right holder, this/these right holder(s) will facilitate, at their own discretion and in all reasonableness, a freedom to operate.

ο ‘Freedom to operate’ means that the holder of the intellectual property right grants licences to others within the project: • insofar as legally possible; • insofar as necessary for the project (without charge); • insofar as necessary for the exploitation of the results of the research and possible concomitant

results (at a fair market price); • insofar as such freedom to operate is not detrimental to the reasonable commercial interests of

the right holder. • Protection of research results, confidentiality and publications

NWO Domain AES attaches considerable importance to the protection of knowledge in the process of knowledge transfer. Users admitted to the user committee, undertake to maintain confidentiality with regard to the research results. However, parties can agree - either prior to or during the lifecycle of the project - that protection of the knowledge generated by the project can be suspended if that would be beneficial to the commercial exploitation of the expertise and intellectual property generated by the project. The researcher is obliged to report any invention to NWO Domain AES immediately.

NWO Domain AES should receive prior warning about any obstacles to the free use or exploitation of results. Should any obstacles to the implementation of NWO Domain AES’s IP policy emerge, NWO Domain AES will impose additional conditions. If it emerges during the course of the project that the project leader has failed to notify NWO Domain AES about such relevant information, NWO Domain AES may suspend the project until the obstacles concerned have been removed. NWO Domain AES may request access to contracts and/or patents in this respect. Contracts must not be in conflict with NWO Domain AES’s IP policy. If it emerges that NWO Domain AES cannot have free access to the results of the AES research, NWO Domain AES may decide not to award or to discontinue the project.

Option 2: Intellectual Property & Publication arrangements are made by the applicant

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If the knowledge institution elects to make its own arrangements with the user for Intellectual Property rights and Publication, those arrangements must be set out in writing. They must also satisfy the following conditions: i. All necessary foreground information (IP ensuing from the AES project) and - insofar as legally

possible - background information (already existing IP from company and/or knowledge institution) is available for the execution of the project;

ii. The agreement is aimed at the application or sharing of the results by way of publication; iii. Publication of scientific knowledge from the project will not be obstructed by users, but beneficiaries

and users may determine the publication schedule; iv. Any results generated from the project by the beneficiary remain available for the beneficiary for

educational and research purposes. Furthermore, the following conditions apply on submission or on award of a project: • On submission: the knowledge institution(s) and all users agree that the provisions under 'Own IP&P

arrangements' will apply to the AES project and declare that they do or will satisfy the criteria from i to iv above.

• After award: The knowledge institution(s) and all users approve the agreement in writing. Within three months of the award of the project, the main applicant/project leader will submit a copy of the agreement to NWO Domain AES, indicating where arrangements for each of the specified conditions can be found. Within three months of the award of the project, all benificiaries and users concerned will also declare that all the conditions have been satisfied; this will be done by signing and returning the contract. If, on review, it transpires that the arrangements made do not satisfy the conditions set out above, NWO Domain AES can extend the original three month period after award by a further period of up to two months, to enable the user(s) and the beneficiaries to modify the arrangements so that they do satisfy the pre-determined conditions. If at the end of this period the conditions have not been satisfied, this means that the conditions attached to the award have not been fulfilled and there can be no allocation of funding. Please note, after the award and start of a project, additional users can be added to the projects user committee. This can be done to increase the potential for utilisation of the project results. However, consultation and (conditional) approval of the existing user committee members and AES is required.

Deadlines and Time frame Please be aware that it is strongly advised to contact the Partnership partners in a very early stage while drafting your proposal to discuss your project idea and to determine whether the project fits within the scope of the Partnership programme. Please contact Plantum (see ‘Contact information’) to obtain the contact information of companies that have expressed their interest in a specific topic.

Deadlines for the submission of a full proposal

The submission deadline for full proposal in this Partnership programme is July 9th, 2019 at 14:00:00 hours CE(S)T (Central European (Summer) Time). A full proposal is submitted via ISAAC. NWO Domain AES recommends that you visit its website (http://www.nwo.nl/ttw) to verify that you have the latest version of this brochure, and that you read the `Guidelines for funding’ as well as the ‘Guideline for applicants’ (two separate documents) carefully. NWO Domain AES adheres the NWO policy for deadlines ‘Handhaving deadlines’. Your submission receives time and date of receipt or registration. Please be aware that submission registrations of 14:00:01 CE(S)T on the day of deadline or later will not be taken in consideration. For this reason we recommend to familiarize yourself with ISAAC (http://www.isaac.nwo.nl) in advance of the deadline and before you start the submission of your full proposal.


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Time frame for proposals

CALL OPEN May 1st, 2019

DEADLINE FULL PROPOSALS July 9th, 2019; 14:00:00 hr CE(S)T

Assessment formal requirements by AES July, 2019

Applicants: Revision of proposal to fit formal requirements 2nd- 3rd week July, 2019 (1 week)

Assessment by international referees July – October, 2019

Applicants: Rebuttal November, 2019 (1 week)

Advice Assessment committee to NWO Domain AES board December, 2019

Decision by the NWO Domain AES board Mid-January, 2020

Notification to applicants on board decision End January, 2020

Project leaders: projects should start before February 1st, 2021

Assessment procedure

Assessment of Full proposals

Formal requirements

The submission and evaluation process starts with a call for proposals. The Board of NWO Domain AES will decide on the funding of full proposals. NWO Domain AES confirms receipt of the full research proposal submitted to ISAAC. It then verifies the formal requirements to determine whether the research proposal is eligible for consideration. If the relevant conditions (see ‘Specific requirements of the programme’ and ‘Guidelines for applicants’ published together with call for proposals on the NWO website ) are not fulfilled or the information requested is incomplete, the research proposal will not be taken into consideration. In that case, NWO Domain AES returns the research proposal to the main applicant within five to ten working days with a request for adjustments or additional information to comply with the requirements. The main applicant is given five workdays (one week) - calculated from the date of NWO Domain AES’s notification - to submit a revised version (via ISAAC). If the information required is not provided, or is incomplete by the deadline, the research proposal is considered as withdrawn and will not be eligible for funding within this Partnership.

Preselection

If the amount of full proposals submitted is more than four times the number of proposals the programme budget allows to fund, NWO Domain AES retains the right to perform a pre-selection based on one or a combination of the evaluation criteria (see ‘Assessment Committee’). Possible implications for the timeline of assessment and awarding procedures will be communicated to the main applicant.

Assessment by referees

NWO Domain AES submits the full research proposal to a number of international experts in the relevant specialist area (peer review). These referees are selected from science, large research institutes and/or industry. Referees remain anonymous. They assess the proposal on the basis of specific questions about scientific quality and utilisation. The questions submitted to referees (see Appendix 3 within the ‘Guideline for applicants’) published on the Partnership website together with the call for proposals. NWO Domain AES recommends that applicants anticipate to these questions in the research proposal. The number of referees consulted by NWO Domain AES depends on the nature of the research proposal and the size of the budget

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contained in the research proposal. For the purposes of this Partnership programme, NWO Domain AES aims to have the research proposal assessed by three to five referees. NWO Domain AES gives applicants the opportunity to provide suggestions for referees. Please add a list of the names and contact information for a maximum of five independent (according to NWO code of conduct on conflicts of interest, see below) (inter-)national referees with relevant expertise, when submitting the proposal via ISAAC. Please note that referees with a past collaboration or co-authorship will not be taken into account. NWO Domain AES does not use a non-referee list, which allows certain referees to be excluded in advance. However, the applicant(s) may ask NWO Domain AES to exclude up to two people or organisations from acting as referees. NWO Domain AES will grant this request only if the provision of information from the research proposal to that referee might obstruct the utilisation.

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Applicants’ rebuttal

In ISAAC the individual referees’ comments are anonymised, if necessary paraphrased, and grouped together per question. NWO Domain AES then requests the main applicant by e-mail to respond in English to the referees’ comments provided in ISAAC. The available text fields in ISAAC for the response to the comments are not restricted by word limits. The main applicant should respond to each question or each comment raised by the referees. The referees’ comments together with the responses from the applicant(s) will be used by the assessment committee in their assessment.

Assessment committee

To maximize objectivity of the assessment as far as possible NWO Domain AES puts together a multidisciplinary assessment committee consisting of five-eight members. The members are highly educated, recognized and/or experienced people with an affinity to the research field. The assessment committee will consist of international scientific experts and one representative of Plantum. Each committee member assigns two ratings to each proposal, one for scientific quality and one for utilisation prospects. The two criteria are equal in weight and a ranking based on the sum of the calculated averages for both criteria is determined upon first round of individual written assessment by the assessment committee members, please see the ‘Guideline for applicants’ for the evaluation criteria. Assessment committee meeting During the assessment meeting the full proposals are discussed. A priority ranking for the research proposals is established and the advice of the assessment committee to NWO Domain AES Board is formulated. Minimal quality criteria Full proposals can only be considered for funding if both the scientific quality and the utilisation quality together score no more than 7.0 and the individual criteria score no more than 4.0. The Guideline for applicants published with the call for proposals on the partnership website contains an explanation of how the scores of the quality criteria should be interpreted. The available programme budget may not be sufficient to award funding to all full proposals that meet the eligibility criteria for funding. In case of ex aequo, the proposal with the best score for utilisation (prospects) will be prioritized. Of note, the data management section in the application is not evaluated and hence not included in the decision about whether or not to award funding. However, both referees and committee can issue advice with respect to data management.

Decision by the NWO Domain AES Board

The AES Board bases its decision on the prioritization of the research proposals. The priority ranking established by the assessment committee is the primary starting point, however the available budget for the Partnership programme and any additional policy considerations may result in deviation from the advice of the assessment committee. The AES Board does not assess the scientific content of the research proposals. In practice, unfortunately, the available budget will not be sufficient to fund every proposal of sufficient quality. The AES Board may attach additional conditions to the award of funding. These conditions may relate to matters imposed by this call for proposals or the NWO Grant Rules 2017, such as intellectual property, co-funding by (potential) users, major investments and/or special infrastructural facilities.

NWO Code of Conduct on Conflicts of Interest

NWO Domain AES asks active researchers from research institutes and specialists from other knowledge-intensive organisations to participate in assessment procedures. These people are involved in ongoing or new research and often belong to large organisational associations and research networks. Therefore, any conflict of interests, or anything that remotely resembles this, must be avoided in the assessment of research proposals.

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To ensure a fair assessment and transparency for applicants, NWO Domain AES uses the NWO Code of Conduct on Conflicts of Interest. This code identifies possible forms of conflicts of interest and indicates the steps to be taken to avoid conflicts of interest. Parties subject to the code of conduct are: referees, jury members, committee members, members of decision-making bodies and AES officers. The full text of the code of conduct on conflicts of interest used by NWO Domain AES is available at: https://www.nwo.nl/en/documents/nwo/legal/nwo-code-of-conduct-on-conflicts-of-interest.

After award (see also the ‘NWO Grant Rules 2017’, version January 2019 on www.nwo.nl)

After awarding

The main applicant becomes the project leader. In projects with various knowledge institutions as applicants, subproject leaders need to be appointed for the various parts of the project. The knowledge institution of the main applicant is the main beneficiary and the official secretary. The knowledge institution of the main applicant concludes a financial agreement with NWO. If the proposal is awarded funding then the main applicant’s knowledge institution receives an award letter with appendices. This sets out the legal and financial conditions of funding and should be signed for approval by the knowledge institution. One representative of each knowledge institution other than that of the main applicant will also receive a copy of the award letter which should be signed and returned to NWO. The main applicant’s knowledge institution is responsible for making financial agreements with the co-applicants from other organisations. The (sub)project leaders and beneficiaries are jointly responsible for the realisation of the entire project.

Data management

After a proposal has been awarded funding the project leader should rewrite the data management section into a data management plan. Project leaders can make use of the advice from the referees and committee when they write the data management plan. The plan should be submitted to NWO via ISAAC within a maximum of four months after the proposal has been awarded funding. NWO Domain AES will approve the plan as quickly as possible. Approval of the data management plan by NWO domain AES is a condition for disbursement of the funding. The plan can be adjusted during the research.

Start and starting date of the project

The allocated funding budgets do not become available until the necessary documents have been signed and received by NWO Domain AES and all relevant award conditions have been fulfilled. If the latter is not yet the case, for example due to continuing negotiations about intellectual property, written permission to start the project can be requested from NWO Domain AES. Without such written permission, potential financial risks are borne by the applicant(s). The starting date of the project is the date on which an initial expenditure of allocated funds is undertaken. It usually relates to the appointment of the first staff member at the project’s expense or first expense for materials. The Partnership project should start no later than February 1st 2021.

Changes to project plan and/or budget

Each substantial deviation from and/or change to the project plan awarded funding by NWO requires NWO's prior consent. This also applies to changes in the composition of the personnel detailed in the project plan and/or hours for which the personnel are deployed on the project and/or a change of project leader. The separate budget categories in the funding/granting decision and/or the approved budgets, are maximum amounts (see NWO Regulation on Grants 2017 for further details).

User committees

NWO Domain AES ensures that the knowledge generated by the research is practically and effectively transferred to users by consulting with the project leader of each research project to set up a user committee on the basis of the users proposed in the project plan. The proposed users, as outlined in the project plan, are formally invited by NWO Domain AES to participate in the user committee. Those participating in the user committee commit themselves to the conditions

https://www.nwo.nl/en/documents/nwo/legal/nwo-code-of-conduct-on-conflicts-of-interest

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included in the ‘Guidelines Users’ Committee NWO domain TTW’. See the ‘Notes on Users, co-funding and letters of support’ in the ‘Guideline for applicants’ published with the call for proposals on the Partnership website, and the brochure ‘Guidelines Users’ Committee NWO domain TTW’ on www.nwo.nl/ttw-projectleider.

During the course of a research project, NWO Domain AES & Science may change the composition of the user committee if there are grounds for doing so; such changes will be made with the approval of the project leader. In doing so, NWO Domain AES will make due allowance for the advice of the sitting users and the level of their pledged co-funding, if applicable. The guiding principle will be to ensure that the composition of the user committee maximises the likelihood of the results being applied and that the interchange of ideas, including confidential information, remains possible.

Advisory board and programme meetings

A advisory board consists of at least 4 persons that are partly representatives from Plantum and its member companies, and partly selected experts from the field that may or may not be involved in the Partnership programme as a user. These experts will be jointly appointed by Plantum and the NWO Domain AES programme coordinator. After granting the research projects, the advisory board can advise on the overall direction and management of the programme as well as individual projects. The advisory board stimulates the collaboration between the granted projects, as well as the connection to ongoing applied research projects within the Plantum members. Researchers are urged to adhere to the advice and direction of the advisory board with respect to adjustments in the projects towards the benefits of the programme objectives. All members of the advisory board are subject to confidentiality restrictions to protect any results or ideas laid down in the university project proposals. The advisory board shall meet at least once per year, unless the advisory board decides differently based on particular needs. The members of the advisory board shall appoint a secretary from their midst, who shall execute all administration for the advisory board. A representative of NWO-domain AES will be present during these meetings.

Reporting

The project leader reports on the progress of the project twice a year, in writing, and the user committee then meets to discuss the progress made. As an exception – to be decided by NWO Domain AES – the user committee may meet less frequently. Utilisation of the research results is always on the meeting agenda. It covers collaboration with (potential) users and the protection and commercialisation of the knowledge generated.

Publication and Confidentiality

The results of the project are confidential until NWO Domain AES – after consultation of the user committee- has given permission for publication. Arrangements made between the project partners in terms of IP and publication (for further information, see ‘Guideline for applicants’ under ‘Notes on Intellectual Property & publication arrangements’) will be upheld provided that they have been approved by NWO Domain AES. A publication is the disclosure of results by any means, with the exception of disclosure resulting from a patent or patent application.

Open Access

All scientific publications resulting from research that is funded by grants derived from this call for proposals and approved by the user committee are immediately (at the time of publication) freely accessible worldwide (Open Access). There are several ways for researchers to publish Open Access. A detailed explanation regarding Open Access can be found on www.nwo.nl/openscience-en.

Extension

An extension of the duration of a project is possible only in very limited cases. The prospects in terms of utilisation are crucial in this respect. From the utilisation perspective, funds remaining on the project can be used to extend one staff position (1 fte) for a period of up to three months. If the extension requires an increase in the budget, co-funding by (one of the) users is a prerequisite. This co-funding is subject to the same criteria as co-funding on submission of a research proposal. The NWO Domain AES contribution is inclusive of the funds remaining on the project and is subject to an upper limit of 50% of the total

http://www.nwo.nl/ttw-projectleider

http://www.nwo.nl/ttw-projectleider

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costs for the extension of the project.

Termination and termination date

The termination date of a project is the date on which the last temporary appointment is terminated. The project leader then receives two final forms from NWO Domain AES to round off the project in terms of both content and funding. Unallocated credits cease to be valid after the end of the project. The summaries requested in the final form are used for the purpose of publication in NWO Domain AES’s utilisation report. NWO Domain AES publishes an annual utilisation report giving progress updates five and ten years after the start of a project.

Discontinuation

NWO may discontinue a project before the official termination date if the obligations and/or NWO Grant Rules 2017, version January 2019 are not or are no longer fulfilled, or if the scientific quality of the research and/or utilisation of the results of the research are inadequate.

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Contact information For questions regarding partnership guidelines please contact us: Tamara van Mölken Bea Pauw Senior Programme Officer Senior Programme Officer [email protected] [email protected] +31 (0)30 600 1323 +31 (0)70 344 0734 Mrs. C (Corrina) Vermaak Management assistant [email protected] +31 (0)30 600 1285 Visiting address Visiting address NWO Domain AES NWO Domain Science Van Vollenhovenlaan 661 Laan van Nieuw Oost-Indië 300 3527 JP Utrecht 2593 CE Den Haag The Netherlands The Netherlands Postal address Postal address Postbus 3021 Postbus 93138 3502 GA Utrecht 2509 AC Den Haag The Netherlands The Netherlands www.nwo.nl/ttw For questions regarding possible interested companies please contact:

Monique van Vegchel Beleidsmedewerker Plantum [email protected] +31 (0)182 688668 Vossenburchkade 68 2805 PC Gouda The Netherlands

Technical questions about the online application system ISAAC

For technical questions about the use of ISAAC please contact the ISAAC helpdesk. Please read the manual (tab ‘Help’) first before consulting the helpdesk. The ISAAC helpdesk can be contacted from Monday to Friday between 10:00 and 17:00 hours CE(S)T on +31 (0)20 3467179. You can also submit your question by e-mail to [email protected]. You will then receive an answer within two working days.

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Links • Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) www.nwo.nl • NWO Domain AES

www.nwo.nl/ttw • NWO Domain Science

www.nwo.nl/science • Partnerships

www.nwo.nl/onderzoek-en-resultaten/programmemas/partnership • Plantum

www.plantum.nl • General Funding Conditions / NWO Grant Rules 2017, version January 2019

https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0039531/2019-02-07 • Code of Conduct on Conflicts of Interest www.nwo.nl/en/documents/nwo/legal/nwo-code-of-conduct-on-conflicts-of-interest • Cleanroom regulation

www.nwo.nl/ttw-aanvrager • Salary tabel personnel (fixed rates)

www.nwo.nl/ttw-aanvrager • Co-funding in personnel (rates)

www.nwo.nl/ttw-aanvrager • Info foreign travel and accomodation expenses

www.nwo.nl/ttw-aanvrager • Info thesis printing costs

https://www.nwo.nl/en/documents/ttw/project-management---niet-gekoppeld/reimbursement-of-thesis-printing-costs

• Nagoya Protocol www.cbd.int

• Topsector Tuinbouw en Uitgangsmaterialen https://topsectortu.nl/nl

• ISAAC www.isaac.nwo.nl; An ISAAC manual can be found in ISAAC (tab ‘Help’) • ISAAC helpdesk

[email protected] • Open calls NWO Domain AES

www.nwo.nl/financiering/onze-financieringsinstrumenten/Open+voor+aanvragen/true/NWO-onderdeel/scienceareaTTW?initialized=true

• Applications for the Partnership call NWO Domain AES – Abiotic stress in plants

http://www.nwo.nl/ttw

http://www.nwo.nl/onderzoek-en-resultaten/programmas/partnership

https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0039531/2019-02-07

http://www.nwo.nl/ttw-aanvrager





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