Who must be involved in an innovation mandate? 

An innovation mandate is a project assigned to a ‘consortium’ involving a Flemish company, a Flemish knowledge institution and a post-doctoral researcher.

Eligibility: Climate plan

For projects submitted from 1 October 2022, an outline of the climate plan must be attached to the subsidy application if the (co-) applicant:

• is a large enterprise according to the European SME definition
  OR
• is an energy-intensive enterprise, i.e. has a final energy consumption of more than 0.1 PJ (petajoule) at the site level. This will consider the location in Flanders where most of the valorisation of the requested subsidy will take place. Final energy consumption is the final net amount of energy delivered to the site without taking into account conversion and transport losses (power plants, refineries, etc.) as defined in Annex 1 of the Energy Policy Agreements for the period 2023-2026. For your information: 0.1 PJ final energy consumption corresponds to 27.8 GWh of electricity, gas, fuel oil, diesel, heat, etc.             

The outline of the climate plan is an eligibility requirement.

Which criteria do postdoctoral researchers have to meet to be eligible? 

The funding programme is open to anyone who holds a doctorate (PhD) degree. Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO) does not impose any additional restrictions. The scheme is therefore open to all nationalities and all academic disciplines. A postdoctoral researcher acts as the candidate mandate holder, with the guidance of one (or more) academic promotor(s) and one (or more) industrial mentor(s). Candidate mandate holders who, at the time of submitting the application, have yet to obtain their doctorate (PhD) degree, but are due to defend their dissertation in the short term (within 6 months) should declare that they are indeed in the final stage of their doctoral project and that there are no indications that they would not succeed in obtaining their PhD in the short term. The planned date of the dissertation defence should be communicated.  

Regardless of the type, the same candidate can only be awarded an innovation mandate once and he/ she can only submit an application for an innovation mandate twice. 

The mandate holder carries out the research project in cooperation with the company and the lab of a knowledge centre. He/ She divides his/ her time between the knowledge centre and the company, as stipulated in the cooperation agreement.

Which criteria do companies have to meet to be eligible? 

All enterprises that are legal entities and have operational activities in Flanders (or at least a clear impetus to do so).

Non-profit organisations and organisations governed by public law that are a legal entity and have operational activities in Flanders (or at least a clear impetus to do so) and perform economic activities.

At the moment of the submission, the company must not be an ‘undertaking in difficulty’.

The company must have at least one employee who is competent to take on the role of industrial mentor for the mandate holder. Moreover, the existing professional environment should allow the support of the project.

For spin-off mandates, provisions must be made to set up the company in Flanders. The industrial promotor of a spin-off mandate can in exceptional cases come from a non-Flemish company if the most appropriate industrial promotor cannot be found in Flanders and in so far as the establishment of a spin-off company in Flanders is intended.

Which projects are eligible for an innovation mandate? 

The projects eligible for funding are focused on basic research, on ensuring the exploitation of the results within companies and on the economic valorisation of research. 

In case of a spin-off mandate, time can be reserved for: 

• training with regard to business skills
• drawing up a business plan
• preparatory activities in favour of the establishment of a spin-off company focused on the economic valorisation of the research results

The majority of time must, however, be reserved to engage in research activities.  

Duration of the innovation mandate 

The duration of an innovation mandate is 2 years in principle. In cooperation with an existing company, a mandate of 3 years may be requested, in which Phase 1 remains set to a maximum of 12 months. The reason for a total project duration of more than 24 months must be justified (e.g. because of prolonged testing). An interim assessment can always be scheduled for projects lasting more than 24 months (full-time basis). 

In the case of part-time staffing, the project duration may be extended in order to equate the total funding to 2 full-time person-years. An innovation mandate for part-time staffing is possible with a minimum of half-time staffing, as long as the valorisation of the research results remains possible, which is part of the evaluation of the application. 

A mandate may be interrupted in case of incapacity for work exceeding 30 days (e.g. maternity leave).