Completing a doctoral thesis in business – Win4Doc

The sponsor is established as a commercial company,

• regardless of the sector;
• any size: small, medium or large company

The partner university is not a sponsor (see ‘Benefits’ below).

The maximum portion of eligible expenses covered by the Walloon region for the sponsor is:

• Small enterprise: 70%
• Medium enterprise: 60%
• Large company: 50%

Admissible expenses include: 

• the researcher’s salary;
• fixed operating and coordination costs for the company (up to €10,000 per half-year plus costs for missions abroad and the organisation of the intermediate evaluation meeting);
• general costs, corresponding to 10% of the total of "researcher's salary" and "operating costs";
• subcontracting costs: fixed operating and coordination costs for the university department (up to €10,000 per half-year). In case of a co-supervision with another university unit or a collaboration with another research entity, these costs will be distributed among the different research entities.

Projects are submitted via the ONTIME platform in the form of a declaration of intent (DI) by the sponsor (the company). Two calls per year are planned (the complete timing is in the description document of the Win4Doc program. The submission of the project involves two successive stages:

1. the declaration of intent (DI);
2. Win4Doc (detailed proposal).

Target audience – Eligibility criteria

A proposal is eligible if the following elements are all answered in the affirmative:

• The consortium includes one company with a business unit in Wallonia.
• The research consortium includes at least one university partner and three partners at most, in accordance with the rules described in paragraph 2.2 of the vademecum.
• The sponsor is a company.
• The submission methods have been followed
• The member(s) of the research entity/entities may not be member of the board of directors of the sponsoring company.
• The project falls within one of the technological fields covered by the current call for tenders.
• The research has not already received public funding.
• The partnership agreement is signed by all the partners.
• At the time of submitting the application, the company must not be experiencing difficulties, in accordance with the guidelines from the European Union concerning State aid and the rescue and restructuring of companies in difficulty.
• When submitting the project, the partners must have fulfilled all of their administrative obligations with respect to their prior agreements with the administration (reports, declarations of debts, etc.), in accordance with the deadlines outlined in these agreements or established by the administration.

Assessment criteria and project selection

The projects are assessed in accordance with the legal basis defined in the Walloon Government Decree concerning support for research, development and innovation in Wallonia. Each of the criteria defined in the decree has its own maximum score:

• Article 38: The innovative nature of the project (rating/20)
• Article 45/46: Excellence and experience (rating/15)
• Articles 39 and 45/46: The quality, feasibility and relevance of the project (rating/15)
• Article 40 – 43/1: The promotion of innovation (rating/30)
• Article 41: The contribution to sustainable development (rating/10)
• Article 43: The degree of risk (rating/10)

Furthermore, as part of ‘Win4Doc’ aid, the assessment also covers the following elements.

• The researcher’s profile. This is included in the ‘Excellence and experience’ assessment criterion.
• The quality of the coordination and management, within both the company and the host university laboratory. This is included in the ‘Quality, feasibility and relevance of the project’ assessment criterion.
• The international scope. This is included in the ‘Excellence and experience’ assessment criterion.
• Projects that are declared eligible for funding (favourable funding, favourable under condition, favourable under subject) are included in a ranking list sent to the selection jury. Projects eligible for funding for which the researcher is identified at the submission of the final proposal will be considered as a priority in the ranking.

Other conditions

• The researcher must be hired no later than the date on the document describing the call for projects.
• The applicant must have a diploma that makes them eligible to complete a doctorate in the partner university
• The applicant must have obtained this diploma within the last ten years (at the start date/submission date for the project).
• The project is part of Wallonia’s RIS3 Smart Specialisation Strategy and favours themes connected to this.