The BIRD program is aimed at supporting commercialization projects from Research Organizations, Higher Education Institutions, and SMEs to be submitted by eligible applicants represented by individual researchers. Selection is based on two core principles: (i) technological readiness and (ii) commercial potential of the project.
The BIRD program pursues the following objectives:
1) Build and strengthen systemic partnerships between industry, research institutes, and universities for technology development and transfer to address systemic problems in manufacturing sectors.
2) Stimulate SME’s investment activity in R&D and private research organizations of high-quality R&D.
3) Contribute to collective efforts to develop new technologies in areas of national importance.
4) Cooperate with leading international research centers and global businesses.
Proposals selection. Proposals must be submitted in 1) English and 2) Uzbek or Russian optionally. The selection process includes submission of proposals, formal compliance check, external technological evaluation by the International Evaluation Platform, commercial evaluation and shortlisting of proposals by the International Expert Board, pitching session, and signing of protocol of winners by the International Expert Board that lead to the obligatory participation in the acceleration program for winners and signing of Grant Agreement.
Business Investments in R&D Program – has an allocation of US $10 million and will finance matching grants for sub-projects to (i) support later stages of research commercialization, (ii) R&D for SMEs, and (iii) early stages of knowledge-based startups. Grant recipient for BIRD grant funds can be a legal entity created after the grant is awarded in the Republic of Uzbekistan in the form of an LLC or an existing SME company registered in the Republic of Uzbekistan in the form of an LLC.
The general requirements for the BIRD program are:
|
Requirement |
Business Investments in R&D Program |
|
Grant amount |
up to US $600,000 |
|
Co-financing amount (mandatory) |
at least 25% of the grant amount |
|
Implementation period |
up to 24 months |
|
Proposal submission period |
from 25th December 2023 to 20th March 2024 |
For more information, see the Grant Program Manuals: https://wbgrants.uz/
All applications will be accepted online: https://app.wbgrants.uz/
For all questions, please contact the Program Implementation Team and Project Implementation Unit:
Tel: +998951405995, +998995812612, +998 97 170 67 84,
e-mail: munis@wbgrants.uz
