Who is eligible?

• Q: Who are the potential leading partners?
• A: The list of eligible QI partners can be found here: www.eastern-partnership.ptb.de/about-the-project/partner-institutions/

• Q: Are Conformity Assessment bodies eligible?
• A: Yes, they are. They need to team up with on of the QI institutions to hand in the proposal. It depends on the status of the CAB if they need to team up with an additional private sector stakeholder or not.

• Q: Can both applicants be governmental organisations, e.g. a QI institution and a testing laboratory under a govermental agency?

• Q: Does an inspection body of a Market Surveillance Agency have to cooperate with non government organization?

• A: The idea is to stimulate partnerships that lead to innovation. In the example of market surveillance, it is in the interest of future inspections that capacities of the private sector to comply are built up, e.g. in the framework of a QI4GT project.

• Q: Can one organisation participate in parallel QI4GT projects?
• A: Yes, this is possible. Different proposals per country and per partner organisations can be submitted. But we recommend to plan ressources.

• Q: Can pharmaceutical companies participate?
• A: Yes, they can. There are no restrictions regarding the sector/ value chain – provided that it is relevant for the Green Transformation of the country.

• Q: We are an accredited private laboratory in the field of laboratory analyses in water. Are we eligible for a project regarding the monitoring of waste water discharged into natural receivers?

• A: The QI4GT fund is not meant to cover running operational costs of institutions. But if the project contributes to innovations open to other stakeholders as well, it is eligible.

• Q: For partners/ consultants involved in other PTB activities, such as Calidena, is there a conflict of interest if they are involved in a QI4GT project?

• A: If there is no direct obvious conflict of interest, they are eligible to be involved in other projects.

• Q: Can the second partner organization be an NGO or a foundation working in the field connected to the Green Deal approaches?

• A: Yes.

What can be funded?

• Q: Shall Standardisation, Accreditation and Metrology be combined?
• A: It is possible to involve one QI institution or component only. But it is also possible that different QI institutions can team up in one project or different components can be combined.

• Q: What is considered as relevant for green transformation - e.g. transport in Georgia?
• A: Many sectors can be relevant, the PTB project supports ideas, where QI institutions have a role to play.

• Q: Can awareness raising be considered?
• A: Yes, awareness raising can be considered.

• Q: Is the QI4GT fund for Green Transformation or also Circular Economy?
• A: We see Circular Economy as a part of Green Transformation. For orientation on possible Green Transformation topics please consult the publications that you can find in the relevant section on our webpage.

• Q: Is a Digital Transformation project eligible?
• A: A Digital Transformation project that has a clear relevance for Green Transformation is eligible for this QI4GT Fund Call. Projects without this link are not eligible.

• Q: Could you please specify what kind of „own contributions“ are expected?
• A: To show an ownership of the applicants, we expect also own funds to add on the PTB = taxpayer‘s money. Own contributions can be contributions „in kind, that means non-monetary contributions such as the provision of rooms and catering for meeting or the provision of laboratory spaces for training, but also providing staff resources.

• Q: If we are planning to develop methodological documents, which requires new equipment and test with this equipment: Is the procurement of equipment eligible? And our work on the equipment?
• A: The limit for procurement of equipment is 10% of the total funding provided by PTB. The work of internal staff of the participating institutions is considered as own contributions. The work of international or national experts can be funded.

• Q: There was a selection process for Calidena value chains in each of the countries. Can sectors be included in QI4GT projects that were not selected in these Calidena processes?
• A: Yes, the QI4GT fund is open for all sectors. The VC studies published here can give orientation, but are not binding in the pre-selection.

• Q: Can sectors that benefited of Calidena process (e.g. Pharma in Armenia)  hand in QI4GT project ideas?
• A: Yes, provided that they meet the criteria, e.g. relevance for green transformation

• Q: Market Surveillance organization needs staff training to gain skills in working with pre-laboratory so-called screen testing equipment for identifying non-compliant products. Is this kind of activity eligible for funding.

• A: The QI4GT fund is not meant to cover running operational costs of institutions. But if the project contributes to innovations and if there is a clear relevance for green transformation, it is eligible.

• Q: We are a testing lab in a  field clearly linked to Green Transformation. We would like to accredit the lab. Is this eligible for funding?

• A: The QI4GT fund is not meant to cover running operational costs of institutions. But if the project contributes to innovations open to other stakeholders as well, it is eligible.

• Especially in the case of private institutions, PTB is careful not to disturb competition in the country by awarding funds to single companies. Private companies can be involved in general capacity building activities provided by the project.

• Q: We want to establish a training course for auditors of energy efficiency for construction, is this activity of an NGO together with the NMI eligible?

• A: Yes, especially if it contributes to new Qi services such as new measurement services.

• Q: Is it possible to obtain funding for the development or improvement of a database for monitoring environmental components (water, air, soil)?

  A: Setting up the database as such is not eligible, but if the project contributes to innovations in measuring these parameters, it is eligible.

• Q: What is the funding available per project?

• A: The maximum funding per project is 80.000 Euro. The funding will be not transfered to one of the partners, but administered by PTB to directly finance costs of activities such as expert fees.

How can we apply?

• Q: Can we get support in project idea development?

• A: Yes, the PTB project offers and finances bilateral consultancy in metrology, accreditation, QI, project development,... You can ask for such a meeting by writing an e-mail to eastern-partnership@ptb.de. Please briefly describe your project idea and what kind of consultancy you might need.

• Q: In which way shall we prepare the project proposal? Is the template in Annex 1 of the ToR sufficient?

• A: Yes, the annex template is sufficient.

  The process is a two-step approach: By April 30, 2024, we would like you to formulate project ideas. The pre-selected project ideas will be further developed (operational plan, budget etc) together with PTB in June/July.It is a collaborative project development process between PTB and the partners. If no common understanding can be found in this inception phase, the pre-selected project idea will not be supported.

• Q: Where can we find the ToR?

• A: The ToR are published in English in the section about the PTB Fund.

• Q: The proposal needs to be handed in through a QI institution – how can we as private sector stakeholders with a project idea get in contact with them?

  A: Our QI partner institutions are listed here with links to their websites: www.eastern-partnership.ptb.de/about-the-project/partner-institutions/
  We expect that you commonly develop the project idea, bringing in expertise from all project partners. The partner institutions are informed about the Call. Some of them nominated contact persons.
  If you have an idea, you have to discuss with them the relevance for the QI system in your country – which is also one of the selection criteria. QI institutions can be involved in more than one proposal, if they have the necessary capacities. If you have specific questions, please contact eastern-partnership@ptb.de

• Q: In the proposal template, there is only room for 3 partners. Can we add a column for a 4th partner?
• A: Yes, there is no limitation to participating partners, But please be aware of the budget limitation of 80.000 Euro funding in total per project.

• Q: In the proposal, if we show statistics or legislation reference in project proposal, do we need to share links too?
• A: You can provide evidence to underline the relevance or methodology of your project. But you can keep the proposal short, as it is a two-step approach. By April 30, 2024, we would like you to formulate project ideas. The pre-selected project ideas will be further developed (operational plan, budget etc) together with PTB in June/July.

How is the fund implemented?

• Q: How many QI4GT projects will be financed under this 2024 Call?
• A: The earmarked total budget of the second call is max. 400.000 Euro. The number of projects depends on their budget, the feasibility and the quality of the proposals.

• Q: Is there a balance between EaP country, e.g. one funded project per country?
• A: No, there is no pre-definition of country of origin. We follow the indicated selection criteria, and origin of project partners is no criterium.

• Q: How are the funds being administered? Does the applying QI institutions get the funds for the partners as well?
• A: All contracts and procurement is administered through PTB.

• Q: When the proposal is approved, who will be involved in the soft measures? Where do the experts come from?
• A: The work of national or international experts can be funded. You are welcome to suggest suitable experts to PTB, who will be contracted by PTB. PTB can also support you with finding suitable experts. Inhouse experts by applicants are considered as in-kind contributions.