Skip to content
Login E-loket

SBO (Strategic Basic Research) projects

SBO funding supports problem-oriented, cutting-edge research with potential for concrete economic or societal applications.

Status

Announcement of results

Objective

The SBO (Strategic Basic Research) funding programme aims to turn scientific ideas into innovation. It therefore focuses on innovative research which, if scientifically successful, offers the prospect of subsequent economic or societal applications (in the form of a new generation of products, processes and/or services).

The term “strategic” refers to the problem-driven and application-oriented focus of the programme to address a specific economic and/or societal need or problem. The term “basic research” refers to the need to generate internationally innovative knowledge in order to achieve the intended application, whereby the risk of failure is significantly higher than is usual in applied research. The difference with curiosity-driven (fundamental) research lies in the fact that knowledge generation as such (i.e. the acquisition of new knowledge without any concrete practical application or prospect of use) is not the objective of this funding programme.

The SBO programme is divided into two areas of application: an economic part for projects with a primarily economic objective and a societal part for projects with a societal objective. If, in case of scientific success, research results are mainly intended to be used by economic actors, the economic programme should be selected. If, on the other hand, mainly social stakeholders are involved, the societal programme component is the obvious choice.

Successful SBO projects are characterized by a project definition and approach that the research consortium develops together with stakeholders from the intended value chain. These stakeholders commit to the sustainable implementation of successful outcomes.

Important dates

Procedure Date
Call Opening Monday, May 19, 2025
Pre-registration Friday, September 12, 2025, 5pm
Final Submission Friday, September 26, 2025, 5pm
Start Rebuttal Wednesday, January 7, 2026, 10am
End of Rebuttal Thursday, January 15, 2026, 11:59pm
Results Announcement of call 2024 Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Announcement Results of call 2025 Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Important changes in call 2025-2026:

  • A researcher may act as supervisor-spokesperson or co-supervisor for a maximum of one SBO project per call.
  • The sum of submitted and ongoing SBO projects by one supervisor-spokesperson or co-supervisor must not exceed two. The start date of a newly awarded SBO project will be used as the reference date for calculating this total number of projects.
  • The Flemish, national and international university supervisors and co-supervisors must have a ZAP appointment and thus comply with the provisions of Art. 10 of the Fundamental Research Project Regulations. For non-university applicants, an equivalent functional role with a doctoral title is expected, e.g., at the level of Principal Investigator, Research Director, Senior Fellow, Chief Scientist (non-exhaustive list).
  • C-scores apply to both the annual regular (i.e., bottom-up) SBO call and the biennial thematic SBO projects (innovation in the agri-food sector). Project applications that have received a C-score cannot be submitted to the next SBO call, , regardless of their type. This means that regular SBO projects that receive a C-score in odd years cannot be submitted to the next thematic call for research projects in the area of innovation in the agri-food sector, nor can projects submitted to the thematic call and ending up with a C-score be submitted to the subsequent regular call.
  • The same project cannot simultaneously be evaluated in two SBO channels (i.e., the SBO programme & the programme for research projects in the area of 'Innovation in the agri-food sector').
  • The online application form now contains a specific tab 'Research Security'. Applicants are required, based on the topic of their research proposal, involved countries and foreign partners, to complete a set of questions regarding unwanted knowledge transfer, misuse of research results and/or interference. If the outcome of this questionnaire shows that your project proposal needs a research security approval, please contact the dedicated contact persons at your host institution immediately, preferably well before the pre-registration of your proposal.

Features

  • Project period: 4 years. With justification, a shorter project period is acceptable.
  • Eligible organizations: research institutions (such as universities, university colleges, strategic research centers)
    • A maximum of 20% of the budget may be earmarked for non-Flemish research institutions
    • IMEC, VITO, VIB, Flanders Make, VLIZ, Flemish university colleges (“hogescholen”) and Flemish scientific institutions with a government grant are obliged to submit the proposal together with at least one other Flemish research institution
  • Acceptable costs:
    • Research staffing, operation, equipment, subcontracting contracts (in accordance with cost model rules)
    • Maximally € 500,000/year (overhead included), corresponding to € 425,000 excluding overhead; per project year per participating legal entity with a share of at least 15% of the project budget
    • guideline with regard to the magnitude of the project budget: about € 1.7 M excluding overhead
  • Funding percentage of the acceptable cost: 100%
  • Available budget for this call (overhead included): € 42.5 M
  • Call 2024 success rate: 15%
  • Call open: May 19, 2025
  • Submission of applications through the FWO e-portal
  • Deadline transfer of the proposal in preparation from project supervisor to the ”host institution of the supervisor” (=main applicant): September 12, 2025 at 5 PM
  • Deadline submission final project proposal by the main applicant: September 26, 2025 at 5 PM. Since the projects are submitted by the host institutions, internal submission deadlines tend to differ. Please contact the responsible services at the supervisor's host institution
  • Announcement of results: end of May 2026

Profile applicants and conditions

  • As a team of researchers, you wish to conduct innovative research that creates prospects for new economic or societal applications in close dialogue with potential economic and/or societal actors. For this purpose, the applicants are obliged to install an advisory committee consisting of potential economic or societal users (exception: for projects aiming at the creation of a spin-off company an advisory committee is optional).
  • To accomplish this research, you need bench fees, equipment and personnel grants.
  • Your research project will be carried out under the supervision of a supervisor-spokesperson, possibly in collaboration with one or more other co-supervisors working in an organisation that meets the definition of a research organisation. Domestic and non-Flemish university supervisors and co-supervisors applying for a budget should have a ZAP appointment and thus comply with the provisions of Art. 10 of the regulations for fundamental research projects. Non-university (co-)supervisors are expected to have a doctoral title and an equivalent functional role within their organisation (e.g., level: Principal Investigator, Research Director, Senior Fellow, Chief Scientist (non-exhaustive list). If in doubt about the eligibility of your institution or appointment, please contact the FWO at SBO@fwo.be well in advance.
  • The project partners are the owners of the obtained scientific results. Transfer of intellectual property rights of the scientific results to an economic actor must be done at market-compliant conditions.

Procedure

  • As supervisor of the project, you are responsible for preparing your proposal via the FWO e-portal and transfer your pre-proposal to your host institution (=main applicant of the proposal) through the FWO e-portal by Friday, September 12, 2025 at 5 PM. This pre-notification is required for the eligibility of the final project proposal.
    • This pre-proposal should contain at least the following information 1) project title and duration (“General” tab), 2) non-confidential summary and detailed scientific and valorisation innovation objectives (“Summary” tab), 3) full composition of the project consortium (“Applicants” tab), 4) specification of the research topic, selection of the thematic SBO expert panel and experts to be avoided (optional, max. 3) (“Peer Review” tab). In addition, consent should be given by accepting the declaration (“Consent” tab).
  • Your host institution submits your full proposal to FWO via the e-portal by Friday, September 26, 2025 at 5 PM. Please contact the research coordination office and/or Tech Transfer Office of your research institution for internal deadlines and practicalities.
  • Your application is submitted to a number of international experts.
  • You receive the reports from the international reviewers on Wednesday, January 7, 2026 and you have 7 working days to rebut. This is done via an invitation e-mail to the supervisor, as well as via a notification in the e-portal. It is important to check whether the invitation message from the FWO has not ended up in a spam folder. If you did not receive a message on January 7, 2026, you must inform the FWO at your earliest convenience.
  • The project application, expert recommendations and the written feedback from the applicants is subject to a two stage internal peer review procedure: i) Thematic SBO-expert panels in collaboration with the Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship Agency (VLAIO) evaluate the project applications within their scientific expertise on the basis of the reports of the external referees and the rebuttal. ii) The steering committees (economic and societal part) act as meta-review panels for all projects within their finality. They propose the ranking of the project applications.
  • The FWO board of trustees decides on the support, within the available SBO resources, during its meeting at the end of May 2026.
  • Subsequently, you will receive feedback on the decision and its rationale.

How to apply?

As supervisor of the project, you are responsible for preparing your proposal via the FWO e-portal and transfer your pre-proposal to your host institution (=main applicant of the proposal) through the FWO e-portal by Friday, September 12, 2025 at 5 PM.

Support of potential applicants

Potential applicants may request an exploratory (online) discussion with the FWO staff. Please send an e-mail to sbo@fwo.be including a short abstract (max. 1 page A4). The applicants should also provide a number of possible dates (day and desirable hour) when this exploratory interview could take place. The information that is provided during this meeting should be interpreted as non-binding advice and no rights can be derived from this information. This service cannot be guaranteed during the summer recess.

Contact

For questions with regard to the modalities of the SBO programme, please contact sbo@fwo.be.

Support for ongoing SBO projects

Recipients of an SBO grant may find a listing of practical and administrative information regarding the grant agreement, the reporting as well as other aspects related to the implementation and follow-up of their SBO project, here.