Notification on Organizing Application for 2020 Guangdong Fundamental and Applied Fundamental Research Fund & Guangzhou Collaborative Fund Project (Guangdong – Guangzhou Collaborative Fund)

I. Project Type

(I) Youth Fund Project. It supports young science and technology personnel to independently select the subjects for foundation and applied foundation research within the subsidy scope of the fund so as to cultivate their ability to independently undertake scientific research projects and carry out innovation research, motivate their innovative thinking and cultivate talent teams for foundation research.

(2) Key Projects. The key project is open for application throughout the whole province, supporting scientific and technical personnel to focus on industrial and regional innovative development needs of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, to deeply, systematically and innovatively study the research direction with a good foundation or discipline growing points so as to promote disciplinary development, broke through major scientific problems of local and industrial innovative development and improve original innovation ability and international influence.

See the annex for detailed project application guide.

II. Requirements for Application

(I) Application restrictions.

1. For the project of 2020 provincial joint funds (including Guangdong

-Guangzhou, Guangdong-Shenzhen, Guangdong-Foshan and Guangdong-Dongguan collaborative funds, similarly hereinafter). There is no limit on the number of projects to be applied by the host institution. Every applicant can only apply for 1 provincial joint fund project.

2.If the applicant has 3 provincial-level projects of science and technology program (special project and fund, etc.) (excluding provincial laboratory, provincial key laboratory and other platform projects, inclusive policy programs and post-subsidy projects) under research or in charge, or 2 provincial fund projects under research or in charge, he/she shall not apply.

3. If there is 1 provincial-level project of science and technology program (special project and funds, etc.) which has not been accepted for 1 year after the deadline of project conclusion (excluding platform, inclusive policy programs and post-subsidy projects), the applicant shall not apply.
4. If the applicant has gained the approval of 2020 provincial fund project, he/she shall not apply.
5. If the applicant is hosting and researching over R&D projects in provincial key fields, key projects of provincial foundation and applied foundation research, provincial key fund projects, research team projects and key foundation research projects, he/she shall not apply.

See corresponding project application guide for other conditions required for application for all kinds of projects.

(II) Expenditure budget.

1. The expenditure budget should be prepared well as per management Supervision Measures of Department of Finance of Guangdong Province and Guangdong Audit Office on Financial Funds for Provincial Scientific Research Projects (YCG [2019] No.5), relevant regulations and actual conditions.
2. The “lump sum system” is used for the expenditure of Youth Fund Project.
3. The fund of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Research Team Project allocated to Hong Kong and Macao institutions can be directly appropriated to Hong Kong and Macao institutions as per Several Provisions of Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province and Department of Finance of Guangdong Province on Participation in Organizing and Implementing Finance, Science and Technology Plans of Guangdong Province by Institutions of Higher Learning and Scientific Research Institutions in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Macao Special Administrative Region (Trial) (YKGFZ [2019] No.1).

(III) Research integrity.

1. The project should be applied by the applicant in person, and application under other’s name is strictly prohibited. It is also strictly prohibited to make up a false applicant and main participants. The applicant and main participants should truthfully fill in personal information and be responsible for authenticity of the information. Meanwhile, the applicant should be responsible for authenticity of personal information of all participants, and confirm personal integrity commitment in the system (no need of uploading paper commitment letter).
2. The applicant should fill in the application form according to the guide and application requirements, and truthfully fill in relevant research foundation and research content. It is strictly prohibited to plagiarize, practice fraud or violate laws, regulations, codes of ethics and technical security regulations.
3. The applicant shall not apply for the projects with the same or similar research content under different project types or through different supporting institutions. Besides, the applicant shall not repeatedly apply for the funded project. If the relevant research content applied by the applicant has been funded by other approaches, the funding situation, the difference and connection with the project under application must be explained in the project application form.
4. If the project application involves scientific research ethics and technical security (such as ethic and information security), the applicant should strictly follow national relevant laws, regulations and codes of ethics, and provide scientific ethics review opinion of the unit and relevant certificates in the annex.
5. Where any serious dishonest conduct exists in the application process, Temporary Provisions of Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province on Recording and Punishing Serious Dishonest Conducts in Provincial Science and Technology Programs (Special Projects and Funds, etc.) should be followed.

(V) Cooperative Research Requirement.

1. Except the leading host institution, the number of cooperative research institutions for a project should not exceed 2 generally (4 for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Research Team Project).
2. The supporting institution and the cooperative research institution should sign the cooperative research agreement (or contract, similarly hereinafter) before the application form is submitted, and account for fund allocation in the expenditure budget. The cooperative research agreement may not be submitted, but should be filed to the supporting institution for reference. For the cooperative research without fund appropriation agreed upon through negotiations, the cooperative research agreement may not be signed.
3. Researchers who are now working overseas generally participate in project application as personal participant and must upload the electronically scanned document of “Informed Consent Form from Overseas Participant” (the template can be downloaded from the system) to the online application system. The people from Hong Kong and Macao can participate in project application as personal participant or in the capacity of cooperative research institution.

 III. Application Method

(I) Online paperless project application must be implemented through “Guangdong Government Service Network” or “Sunshine Government Affairs Platform for Technology Business Management in Guangdong Province” (hereinafter referred to as “Sunshine Government Affairs Platform”, website: http://pro.gdstc.gd.gov.cn/).

(II) The project is only oriented to provincial fund supporting institutions within Guangdong Province, and the organizations meeting application conditions must first apply for registration as a provincial fund supporting institution on Sunshine Government Affairs Platform.

(III) The applicant must fill in the project-related information according to the online platform requirements, upload necessary supporting materials and submit them according to the process after being reviewed by the supporting institution. Online Application Operation Guide for Provincial Fund Projects and the template of the application form can be downloaded from “Homepage – work reminding” after logging in Sunshine Government Affairs Platform for Technology Business Management in Guangdong Province.

(IV) October 1, 2020 should be uniformly filled in as the starting time for project implementation, and the termination time should be filled in according to the deadline of each type of projects.

1. Time arrangement

(I) Online application time and recommended time of the supporting institution:

August 18 – September 8 17:00, 2020