Arqus Innovation Fund – Call 2024
The Arqus Innovation Fund incentivises innovative internal bottom-up initiatives with an impact on the entire Alliance from Arqus staff and students through the availability of seed-funding to foster innovation and entrepreneurial mindset, and also to strengthen the visibility of Arqus internally and promote further staff engagement.
The aim of this seed-funding call 2024 is twofold. For Arqus Working Groups: The aim is to provide guidance to Arqus Working Groups on the external funding opportunities available for the individual innovative initiatives in the Arqus Erasmus+ work plan 2022-2026, and to provide financial support for expenses that cannot be covered by other sources. Please note that funding for the design of innovative forms of mobility will be assessed separately under this seed-funding call. For ad hoc bottom-up initiatives: The aim is to incentivise innovative ad hoc bottom-up initiatives from Arqus academics, administrative staff and students with a joint approach.
Parameters & Requirements
For this second call, €295.215,57 in total will be allocated. The distribution of the funds is the joint responsibility of the selection committees. The call runs from 30th April to 30th June 2024.
All members of the Arqus European University Alliance – including Working Groups, academics, admin staff and students – are invited to submit proposals for individual innovative initiatives to be developed and implemented up to and including 30 September 2026 (end of the eligibility period), indicating the expected expenditure and bearing in mind the established selection criteria.
Specific requirements for Arqus Working Groups
The Alliance is looking for innovative initiatives that go beyond what is currently offered in the relevant field. The focus here is on the impact that these initiatives will have. The initiatives submitted by Arqus Working Groups must be linked to the Erasmus+ work plan 2022-2026.
Specific requirements for ad hoc bottom-up initiatives
At least three partner universities must participate in the submitted joint initiatives, which should be open to all nine partner universities. The focus is on the impact that these joint initiatives will have on the entire Alliance.
The Alliance is looking for activities that are linked to the major goals of the Arqus European University Alliance and the Arqus Boards: Education, Research & Innovation, Societal Engagement. The following ceilings have been established:
Smaller projects with a minimum of 3 Arqus partners participating: € 5,000.00.
Larger projects with 5+ Arqus partners participating: € 10,000.00.
Types of activities supported under this call: challenge-based-learning programmes, collaboration project labs, cross-disciplinary seminars, events for the general public, joint short-term study projects, research training, twin/triplet transition initiatives, workshops.
Please note that activities with a pure research purpose will not be funded.
Selection & Criteria
The evaluation and selection of initiatives submitted by the Arqus Working Groups will be made by a selection committee composed of academics and administrative staff from each Arqus partner university.
The evaluation and selection of ad hoc bottom-up initiatives submitted by Arqus staff and students will be made by a selection committee composed of academics of different disciplines from each Arqus partner university.
Each selection committee will organise its own joint selection meeting to evaluate, select and rank the applications submitted for the corresponding sub-call according to the established selection criteria.
Both selection committees will be asked to appoint a chair and vice-chair who will meet in a joint selection meeting to discuss the selection results of each sub-call and prepare a proposal for the allocation of funds. Following the committees’ proposal, the final decision on the allocation of funds will be made by the Executive Council of the Arqus European University Alliance.
All applicants will be informed about the selection results in writing in early fall 2024.
For the selection, the following selection criteria will apply and be assessed with the relevant score:
Relevance (maximum 10 points per sub-criteria)
Level of ambition of the proposal
Jointness (joint added value)
Link to the Arqus major goals, the Arqus Boards and the Erasmus+ work plan 2022-26 (the latter only applicable to proposals submitted by the Arqus Working Groups)
Quality (maximum 10 points per sub-criteria)
Feasibility
Innovativeness
Number of participating partner universities
Impact (maximum 10 points per sub-criteria)
Directly impacted members of the university community (students/staff)
Potential impact on the entire Alliance
Sustainability & scalability
Application
Please complete the following data in the online form and submit your application(s) for this call by 30th June 2024. The budget must be submitted by filling out this Excel template. To help you prepare your application, you can download the application form in Word format here and thus get an overview of the data and information required.
Please note that successful applications will be called to regular coordination meetings with the co-leads of the Arqus Talent & Innovation Fund as a form of monitoring. Please note that you are required to submit one application per activity/initiative. For further questions, please send an email to
Annex I: For the allocation of the fund, unit costs/lump sums will be applied as follows. For the calculation of the budget, please use these unit costs/lump sums.
Annex II: Please submit the budget by filling out this Excel template.