Monthly Archives: November 2020

WE4F hopes to expand the scale of innovations that impact the sectors food and water, food and energy or all three sectors of the nexus (food, water, energy) to increase the sustainability of agricultural food value chains, improving energy and water efficiency as well as to improve climate-resilient agriculture in developing countries and emerging markets, with a particular focus on the poor and women.

To achieve this goal, the effort must include partners from the private sector, NGOs, other research institutions, and other donors who share the common goal of increasing food production through sustainable water and energy usage. A key consideration of this effort is to ensure that feedback loops are created that integrate local conditions and new knowledge into both national and international policy and decision-making as integrate capacity development, knowledge management and the use of investment capital in a synergistic way to create an enabling environment in countries throughout the region.

We are looking for innovators who intend to expand their businesses or organizations commercially, using a for-profit business model and the addition of outside investment capital, and which will utilize WE4F grant funding as a catalyst attract investors, commercial value chain participants and other relevant partners to help expand to wide-scale adoption of an innovation and attract private capital. If you have a commercially proven product, service or business model that you would pitch to an investor for debt or equity investment, we want you to apply to WE4F. If you have a great idea for a development project but no track record of successful sales, WE4F is probably not the right vehicle for you.

Target Groups of the WE4F Grand Challenge

WE4F works with entrepreneurship and innovation through the following actors:

• Innovators with demonstrated potential for financially sustainable scaling that have previously received support and proved successful in the go-to-market phase from either the Securing Water for Food or Powering Agriculture Grand Challenges (for a detailed description of the selection criteria see Terms of Reference of the regional innovation hubs on the WE4F website).
• Private, for-profit companies or teams or groups within non-profits or universities which maintain their own budget and are responsible for generating revenue that have as the primary or a major part of their business model an innovative product or service that addresses the nexus of water-energy-food. These organizations can apply through the Calls for Innovation.
• Other actors that are identified on a case-by-case basis by the Regional Innovation Hub and which fit the criteria of WE4F and are crucial for the scaling of impacts.

Through our support for innovations, WE4F expects to target poor men and women smallholder farmers and others working in all parts of the agriculture value chain. Specifically, our interventions will help companies and organizations providing nexus-relevant products and services to reach women and the poor as commercial customers, equipping them with the means to achieve greater earnings and social mobility.

Goal and Focus Areas 

WE4F aims to:

• Increase food production along the value chain through a more sustainable and efficient usage of water and/or energy.
• Increase income for ‘Base of the Pyramid’ (BOP) women and men in both rural and urban areas.  
• Provide companies and organizations the technical assistance and capital they need to scale solutions to meet the challenges in the WE4F nexus.
• Promote climate and environmental resilience and biodiversity through the sustainable, holistic management of natural resources and ecosystems.

Thematic Areas in Which Innovation Is Needed 

The WE4F Founding Partners have identified priority thematic areas in which innovation is urgently needed as mentioned below. Innovations supported by Water and Energy for Food could include but are NOT limited to the themes mentioned below:

• THEME 1: Innovations in food production to reduce water usage
• THEME 2: Efficient use of water resources for food production
• THEME 3: Sustainable use of energy and water on farms
• THEME 4: Energy innovations for food processing, and/or logistics
• THEME 5: Food production with efficient energy use
• THEME 6: Leveraging food waste for energy

Value: $25,000.00 to $500,000.00

APPLY

Opens

Nov 3 2020 12:00 AM (EST)

Deadline

Dec 15 2020 05:00 AM (EST)

Retrieved on 18 November 2020 at https://innovations.smapply.io/prog/we4f_sse_asia_rih_call_for_innovations_2020/

The APN invites proposals under the CAPaBLE Programme for funding from October 1, 2021. A limited amount of financial support is available for regional research activities that fall within its areas of interest.

Activities related to CAPaBLE programme that APN supports cover the following:

1. Capacity development activities that promote the following approaches related to one or more the five thematic areas of APN:

• Utilizing and strengthening existing capacity
• Creating opportunities to use/instil capacity
• Developing new capacity through innovative approaches

2. Awareness raising and dissemination activities for policy- and decision-making communities, civil society and/or the general public.
3. Science-policy interfacing in the context of the five thematic areas.
4. Capacity development partnership activity that contribute to the capacity development components of the evolving global change arena, including IPCC, IPBES, post-2015 Sustainable Development goals, and ongoing and new global change and sustainability research programmes.

High Priority Themes for Funding

At the APN’s 43rd Steering Committee Meeting (held in July 2020), the APN SC agreed to conduct an online survey to assess the continued relevance of the priority topics from the FY 2019 Call for Proposals for the FY 2020 Call for Proposals and to identify key and emerging issues in 2020. Following the results of the survey, APN invites trans- and interdisciplinary capacity development proposals focusing on the following themes for South Asia, Southeast Asia, Temperate East Asia and the Pacific as indicated below:

1. Global change and sustainability in the COVID-19 era: Pursuit of transformation to more resilient societies
   • Integrated approaches to promote decarbonized societies, regional circular and ecological sphere (R-CES), and formulation of decentralized societies to create long-term economic and societal benefits.
   • Build back better: promote greener economies, improve air quality and waste
   • Impacts on local livelihoods and human security: increasing resilience and adaptation while ensuring harmony between society and nature.
2. Climate change and climate variability and their related impacts in national and regional contexts (particularly climate projections/downscaling, extreme events, AP-PLAT, DRR and adaptive recovery, monsoon, etc.))
3. Ecosystem-based adaptation and disaster risk reduction
4. Smart agriculture (particularly resource allocation, livestock, food, technology transfer, innovation, extension, etc.)
5. Transboundary issues (particularly pollution, water quality, human health, fisheries and microplastics, marine plastic debris, invasive species, waste management, etc.)

Proposals that do not address any of the above themes will not be accepted under the 2020 Call for Proposals.

Eligibility

Researchers, academics, practitioners working in institutions based in APN member countries and approved countries are eligible to apply for APN grants. Details of eligibility criteria are outlined in the Guide for Proponents.

Special consideration

At the 43rd Steering Committee (SC) meeting held online in July 2020, SC members reconfirmed the importance of enhancing support to and engagement of early-career researchers/scientists in the Asia-Pacific region by providing a platform for early-career researchers/scientists to utilize their knowledge and innovative ideas to address regional issues related to global change and sustainability. Therefore, APN encourages applications from early-career researchers/scientists/practitioners. Collaborative regional research proposals submitted by early-career proponents that fulfil the eligibility criteria set by the SC will receive particular attention.

Note on criteria:

1. The main proponent should have a Master’s degree with three years of working experience, a PhD degree with at least one year of working experience, or received his/her highest postgraduate degree within the previous ten years; and
2. The team has at least 1 early-career researcher/scientist from each APN member country or APN approved country engaged in the proposal.

Restrictions

Please note that APN does not support:

• The running costs of institutions;
• The salaries of administration staff; the salaries of researchers who receive or are to receive full-time salary support;
• The salaries of consultants (project leaders and collaborators should have the expertise to conduct the activities);
• The maintenance of long-term observation and monitoring systems; and
• General purpose equipment such as personal computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets or fixed office structure (desks, chairs, etc).

For further information on what APN can and cannot support, please refer to Information for applicants.

Submission Procedure

Proponents must submit a Summary Proposal under the CAPaBLE Programme by completing the submission form. The form must be completed and submitted by Sunday, 6 December 2020. Applications will undergo a screening process performed by the APN’s Capacity Development Committee (CDC) and Scientific Planning Group (SPG) who will select successful proponents that will proceed to the next stage. All proponents are notified of the results of the preliminary screening by the end of January 2021 or in early February 2021.

Proponents who pass this stage will be invited to submit a Full Proposal for further consideration by the CDC, SPG, external reviewers and APN stakeholders, as appropriate.

Closing Date

Summary Proposals must be completed and submitted by Sunday, 6 December 2020. Please refer to Information for applicants or send your inquiries to online.advisory@apn-gcr.org.

Retrieved from: https://www.apn-gcr.org/apnis/public/calls/22

The Digital Collaboration Fund aims to address this challenge. Through a series of grants, we are supporting organizations to devise new virtual ways of working internationally, in turn creating a climate-friendly approach to international collaboration and artistic exchange.

Eligibility Criteria:

Eligible countries:

• Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Indonesia, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Pakistan, Peru, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela, Vietnam, Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia) Yemen, Zimbabwe.

General eligibility information:

• The fund is open to arts and culture organisations and higher education organisations with an arts and culture focus.
• Applications must be a partnership between at least one UK organisation and one organisation based in one of the countries listed below.
• There must be one lead applicant, but this does not need to be the UK organisation.
• Whilst the funds are designed to benefit the artistic community, applications will only be accepted from legally registered organisations and collectives. Applicants must have a registered business bank account.
• We will accept applications for multilateral projects, with the focus on the programme being delivered mutually across the UK and in overseas countries.
• In general, funding should be split 60/40 between the UK and the other countries. The lead partner should get no more than 60% of the funding and at least 40% of funding should be distributed in one or more of the countries listed below.

Grant Category:

1. Research and development grants: to research and develop proposals for new virtual collaboration projects
2. Restart grants: for existing projects that are currently on pause due to Covid-19, to help organisations restart them via digital means
3. Collaboration grants: for new projects with a focus on virtual collaboration and other new ways of working

Application Dateline: 18 November 2020

Retrieved on 5 November 2020 From:
https://www.britishcouncil.org/arts/digital-collaboration-fund?fbclid=IwAR1sUPZBr4H0r61O7wB3_jljpa-JT6yQpaH6kn0rJf7abFUnoi0x01vEVTA

AI for Accessibility grants support projects that use AI to empower people living with disabilities. Microsoft is looking for individuals or teams who are not only passionate about making the world more inclusive, but also firmly rooted in the communities they intend to benefit. We want to invest in ideas that are developed by or with people with disabilities.

Eligibility Criteria

Invite applications from developers, NGO’s, academics, researchers, and inventors to accelerate their work for people with disabilities. This is a global program: Grant applications from all countries are eligible.

Research Areas

Daily life

Over 1 billion people around the world live with disabilities, but only 1 in 10 have access to the assistive technology they need. Accessible, affordable technology allows people with disabilities to participate in an inclusive society and economy. AI solutions for smart cities, transportation, and education can improve daily life for people with disabilities.

Communication and connection

For people with disabilities, assistive communication tools are critical. Communication challenges can affect any of us, at any time, based on temporary, situational, or permanent issues. We support AI projects that create and advance connections through inclusive and assistive tools.

Employment

Globally, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is 2-3 times that of people without. And in the US, this has not substantially changed in the last 30 years since the establishment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). AI can improve engagement in the workplace via projects that leverage shared data and tools to empower this untapped talent pool.

Grant Size

Grant size are $10,000, $15,000, or $20,000 (depending on project scope and needs).

 Application Dateline: 15 December 2020

Retrieved from:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/ai-for-accessibility-grants/