Guidelines
The Background
The Ministry for Equality, Research and Innovation is launching a competition seeking to stimulate the design/development of an application and/or service that uses space generated data such as Position, Navigation and Timing Information and/or Earth Observation images. The proposal can address (but is not limited to) any of the following areas:
• Mobile Applications
• Asset Management and Tracking
• Wearable Solutions
• Robotics
• Drones
• AI-driven space applications
• Exploitation and use of Earth Observation data
Eligibility Criteria
• The competition is open to teams composed from minimum of one (1) to seven (7) researchers whose research activities are linked to a Maltese Public Research and Knowledge-Dissemination Organisation.
• Each team must appoint a team coordinator who will act as the central contact point and representative of the team.
• All team members shall be residents in Malta.
Potential applicants who may have a potential conflict of interest or any relation with the members of the Evaluation Committee must bring this up with the Ministry in advance. The Evaluation Committee would decide whether this could constitute grounds for exclusion from participation.
Exclusion Criteria
Exclusion criteria include the following matters:
• Conflicts of interest
• Plagiarism
• Proposals not respecting the eligibility criteria
Application Process
Applicants need to register their expression of interest to participate in the Competition by Friday the 30th July 2021 by filling in the “Expression of Interest Form” and emailing it as an attachment in PDF format to [email protected]. The title of the email should be “The MFER Space – Proof of Concept Competition Expression of Interest”. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that a confirmation of receipt is provided.
Applicants are then to submit a completed and signed “Application Form” by Friday the 10th September 2021. Completed Application Forms should be emailed as an attachment in PDF format to [email protected]. The title of the email should be “The MFER Space Proof of Concept Competition Application Form”. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that a confirmation of receipt is provided.
The applications submitted will be scored by the Adjudication Committee and ranked. The teams with the highest ranking applications will be invited to pitch their concept to the Adjudication Committee during the week of the 27th September 2021. The Adjudication Committee will select the winner and the first runner up based on the scores for the written application and the pitch.
Timeline:
Launch of Competition: 12th July 2021
Registration of Expression of Interest: 30th July 2021
Deadline for Submission: 10th September 2021
Evaluation Week starting 13th September 2021
Pitches and Results Week starting 27th September 2021
Award Ceremony: First week of October 2021
Award Process
The Evaluation Team will rank each submission using the following criteria:
• Innovation (1-5): How innovative and novel the approach is compared to existing solutions.
• Market potential (1-5): An assessment of the market potential taking into consideration the foreseen demand and/or customer base and possible revenue.
• Expected Societal Impact (1-5): The expected impact that the proposed solution can have on society.
Award
The winner will be awarded a lump sum of 15,000 Euro.
The first runner-up will be awarded a lump sum of 10,000 Euro.
Confidentiality of Submissions
Unless otherwise indicated, all project application submissions except for the abstract shall be treated in strict confidence. The data collected via the application form and its subsequent processing is in line with:
• The Guidelines;
• Data Protection Act, Chapter 586 of the Laws of Malta and Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation).
• The legitimate basis to process personal data submitted by the data subject by virtue of his/her written application for aid is Regulation 6 (1)(b) of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), as ‘processing is necessary in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract’.
Contact Details
For further details, kindly contact: [email protected]
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