Digital for Resilience Challenge
The Digital for Resilience Challenge focuses on supporting research teams to focus on the challenge of enhancing Ireland’s capabilities in crisis prediction and response.
Do you have an idea for a solution that could make Ireland more capable in crisis prediction and response?
The Digital for Resilience Challenge provides researchers with the opportunity to explore development of new digitally enabled methods, models, and tools that will help gain deeper insights and better understanding of the origins and potential impacts of future environmental, social, or economic scenarios, and allow Ireland to prepare better for future shock events. Following review of applications, successful teams will receive funding of up to €200,000 along with training to accelerate development of their idea. A number of teams will then be selected as finalists and receive up to €500,000 to further develop their idea before an overall winner is selected for the €1 million prize award.
It is an agile, fast-paced programme that allows research teams to work with societal stakeholders to deliver tangible impact with their research. In addition to funding, teams will be provided with training and mentoring to support acceleration of an idea and to demonstrate how it can solve real-world problems. Participation has the potential to open up significant career development and collaborative opportuntities.
Applications are welcome from teams of academic researchers based at eligible Irish research bodies. Teams are strongly encouraged to consider including researchers from different and diverse disciplines, at all career stages.
Applications should be submitted by two academic researchers who will act as team lead and co-lead. It is strongly recommended that applications also identify a Societal Impact Champion to act in a non-technical leadership role. Where a Societal Impact Champion is not identified at the time of application, teams successful in their applications will be expected to have the Societal Impact Champion in place soon after their award commences.
The Digital for Resilience Challenge has four phases: Concept, Seed, Grow and Prize Award. Participation in the challenge will involve teams progressing through the phases, each supporting further development of the challenge concept and solution, to compete for an overall prize award of €1 million.
|
Phase |
No. Teams |
Duration (Months) |
Funding (€) |
|
Concept |
10 |
6 |
50,000 |
|
Seed |
10 |
12 |
150,000 |
|
Grow |
3 |
12 |
500,000 |
|
Prize Award |
1 |
24 |
1,000,000 |
The Digital for Resilience Challenge supports research teams to focus on the challenge of enhancing Ireland’s capabilities in crisis prediction and response. The challenge provides researchers with the opportunity to explore development of new digitally enabled methods, models, and tools to gain deeper insights and better understanding of the origins and potential impacts on future environmental, social, or economic scenarios, in order to better prepare for future shock events.
The Digital for Resilience Challenge will build national capacity in crisis prediction & response, and, by demonstration of impact potential, support efforts to manage key national risk areas and inform national risk management strategies and policy on how our society and economy can be more resilient. This challenge is also aligned to national strategies (incl. Our Public Service 2020 and Civil Service Renewal 2030 Strategy) where the development of foresight capabilities has been identified.
Applications are encouraged to focus on the challenge of enhancing Ireland’s capability in crisis prediction and response. Specifically, it asks how digital technologies (such as multi-scale or agent-based modelling and simulation, AI and machine learning, digital twins) can be used to anticipate, monitor, and manage shock societal, economic, and environmental events (such as pandemics, supply/demand disruptions, natural disasters).
Researchers are encouraged to collaborate across disciplines to gain a deeper understanding of the issues involved and develop more complete responses (e.g., environmental, social or economic). Under the Digital for Resilience Challenge, consideration should also be given to the principles of equity, inclusion, and diversity, and how these can be reflected in research and form part of measures and recommendations on future resilience.
Digital products, processes and services must be ethical. Solutions developed as part of the challenge should ensure trust, privacy and security are considered and incorporated at all stages from design to deployment.
The National Challenge Fund was established under the Government’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), funded by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility. The fund is coordinated and administered by Science Foundation Ireland.
Applications must be submitted through SFI’s Grants Management System SESAME which will open for submissions on November 14th. If accessing SESAME for the first time, researchers should contact their local Research Office to get access to the system.
The deadline for submission of applications to this call will be 10th February 2023.
Applicants should carefully review the call documentation below including eligibility information before preparing an application. Applicants must use the templates provided below and adhere to all guidelines.