TÜBİTAK Issues Call to Combat Coronavirus

Turkchem 27 Mar 2020 73 1 dk okuma

TURKCHEM

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19), designated as a pandemic by the World Health Organization, has affected our country as it has the entire world. In response to this emergency, TÜBİTAK has opened a special call for proposals with the aim of focusing its support on projects related to the development of products that can be used in the diagnosis and treatment of the novel coronavirus and effective protective products for disease prevention, as well as applications concerning support processes. Within the scope of the special call opened under TÜBİTAK 1507 coded "SME R&D Start-Up Support Program," rapid support will be provided for R&D projects to be submitted on the following topics, as examples, concerning the development of products used in the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19, equipment for improving environmental conditions, and effective protective products for disease prevention:

Disinfectants
Masks
Protective clothing
Diagnostic kits with validation criteria (sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, precision, linearity) within internationally accepted limits
Devices used in intensive care units
Equipment for improving environmental conditions
Pharmaceuticals
Vaccines
Information technology applications that could affect the direct or indirect consequences of the outbreak

Beyond these topics, any type of project application that could be related to the fight against the novel coronavirus may be submitted to the call. The call opened on 26 March 2020 and will close on 2 April 2020 at 23:59. Pre-registration documents will not be sent to TÜBİTAK under this call. After completing online pre-registration in PRODİS, project applications can be submitted. The restriction specified in clause (a) of the second paragraph of article 14 of the TÜBİTAK SME R&D Start-Up Support Program Implementation Principles, namely "at least two SME-scale enterprises as partners must apply jointly, with support provided for the first five projects," will not apply to this call. The duration of projects to be supported under this call may be at most 9 months. Requests for extension of duration will not be accepted.