Support programmes
With our financial resources we support individual researchers and research teams with personal fellowships and project funding.
All about support programmes
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.
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:
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.
Application template and Excel template for submission of the budget (see e-loket)
Manual for applicants SBO-economic
Manual for applicants SBO-societal
Manual for users SBO-economic
Manual for users SBO-societal
Manual on the sustainable development criterion (evaluation criterion U3)
Score grid SBO-economic
Score grid SBO-societal
Cost model
Letter of intent for legal entities that act as (co-)applicant, other than Flemish universities, university hospitals, strategic research centers and ITM
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.
For questions with regard to the modalities of the SBO programme, please contact sbo@fwo.be.
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.