How to apply

Eligibility Criteria

The project must concern a biotherapy or bioproduction approach in health related to at least one of the three thematic axes of DIM BioConvS:

1. Life engineering and bioproduction
2. Development of therapeutic proof of concept
3. New, high-throughput, and standardized analytical methods

The research team benefiting from the regional grant must be located in Île-de-France (without necessarily being part of the founding teams of DIM). From January 2024, it is mandatory for any laboratory to submit the DIM BioConvS membership application form, which you can find at this link:

Join the DIM BioConvS

The acquisition must take place within 18 months following the funding decision (i.e., no later than march 2027).

The submitted project cannot be the subject of another grant from the Île-de-France Region. For any specific questions, contact DIM BioConvS.

Selection Process and Criteria

The selection process will take place in several stages:

1. Pre-selection by the Scientific Council based on alignment with the themes and any previous DIM funding obtained
2. Evaluation of pre-selected projects by two external experts
3. Selection jury composed of members of the Scientific Council

The evaluation criteria are:

• The scientific quality of the project
• The strategic nature of the equipment, its shared use, and the involvement of young researchers and emerging teams

Collaborative or platform projects will be prioritized. Projects involving a socio-economic partner are encouraged. Institutions that have not received DIM BioConvS funding for equipment will also be prioritized.

List of required documents in each application

• The completed form including administrative, financial, scientific, and technical information (template to download from the left menu)
• A quote for the equipment
• The co-financing letter signed by the legal representative of the acquiring institution. If applicable, a letter must be provided by each co-financing institution.

Note: The co-financing letter must be signed by the legal representative of the acquiring institution. The signature of the laboratory director will not be accepted.

Any incomplete application will not be evaluated.

Funding Characteristics

Depending on available resources, scientific feasibility, and with the agreement of the applicant, DIM BioConvS reserves the right to fund only part of the submitted project.

Each grant recipient commits to advancing the necessary funds.

Each equipment funding by DIM is subject to a minimum 34% co-financing clause. This means that for the total equipment expenditure (which may include multiple items belonging to the same platform), at least 34% of the total price (excl. VAT) must be financed from a source other than this call (institution or any other grant that does not come from the Île-de-France Region). Supplier discounts cannot be considered as co-financing.

See the Frequently Asked Questions for more details.

Eligible Costs

Equipment with a total cost exceeding €7,500 excl. VAT is eligible. Shipping, installation, training, and maintenance costs may be eligible if these are clearly stated in the initial quote and thus directly covered by the supplier. Computers and software are also eligible if they are essential for the functioning of the equipment.

No management fees may be deducted from the allocated amount for the acquisition of equipment by the managing, beneficiary, and/or co-financing institutions.

All expenses are accounted for excluding VAT.

Commitments

Publications

The recipient commits to citing the Île-de-France Region and DIM BioConvergence for Health in any publication where experiments were carried out thanks to the purchased equipment, by adding the following statement in the acknowledgments section:
“This work has been supported by Region Île-de-France in the framework of DIM BioConvS.”

The Île-de-France Region encourages its members to deposit their publications on open-access platforms (HAL, etc.).

Communication obligations

The Île-de-France Region logo must appear on all information, communication, and/or event materials related to the supported project, whether printed, digital, or audiovisual.

The visibility of regional support will be ensured by placing stickers with only the Region’s logo. These stickers will be provided by the Region’s services.

Personal Data Management

DIM BioConvS commits to complying with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which includes all rules regarding the protection of individuals concerning the processing of personal data, the free circulation of such data, and the right to data protection.

Applicants for this call authorize DIM BioConvS to process personal data collected during submission for the purpose of processing their application. The collected data will be retained for the duration of the selection process of the winning projects and shared with the staff of the institution hosting DIM (Université Paris Cité) in charge of managing this call and with the project call jury, composed of researchers from the DIM BioConvS network (French or international), members of the DIM BioConvS Executive Committee, and those responsible for managing DIM BioConvS at the Île-de-France Region. In the event of a grant award, the data of the winners will be kept until December 31, 2027.

At any time, it will be possible to contact the DIM BioConvS administrator (contact@bioconvs.org) to request the deletion of their personal data.