SIC Central Bohemian Innovation Centre

The Coordinator of MERIT, the Central Bohemian Innovation Center (hereinafter SIC by its acronym in Czech: Středočeské inovační centrum) is an open and customer-oriented innovation agency that supports entrepreneurs in fulfilling their ambitions and expanding their companies. It develops the innovation ecosystem of the region and it is entrusted with the implementation of the Regional Innovation Strategy of the Central Bohemia Region (RIS3). SIC's mission is to help connect research institutions and ideas with businesses in order to bring state-of-the-art innovations and solutions to local and global challenges.

SIC was awarded by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) – COFUND to co-fund a postdoctoral fellowship programme based on the principles of international mobility, intersectorality, interdisciplinarity, and intersectionality/ diversity. 

The aim of the fellowships is to cultivate talent, helping the researchers to reach maturity and preparing the next scientific leaders to tackle global challenges imperative at regional, national and international level. In particular, MERIT fellowship will support researchers to:

• explore technologies with the biggest potential for the future,
• become more competitive and independent in future career steps, for example, create their own research groups, become research group leaders and apply for national/European or international grants,
• increase their attractiveness to international progressive industries and regional, national and international level,
• adopt an ‘entrepreneurial’ mindset and get a set of skills to create their own companies, and,
• enhance networking, communication and interpersonal capacities with scientific peers, as well as the general public and the private sector.

The MERIT consortium is formed by 15 Research Organisations that will hire the fellows and 36 Associated partners that will offer secondments for 2 to 9 months.

List of recruiting research organisations:

• The Extreme Light Infrastructure ERIC/ ELI Beamlines
• Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences / HiLASE
• Research Centre Řež
• Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences
• Institute of Thermomechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences
• Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences
• Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences
• Czech University of Life Sciences Prague
• Institute of Biotechnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences
• Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences
• Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences
• Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics, and Cybernetics (CIIRC)
• Czech Technical University in Prague, University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings
• National Institute of Mental Health
• Research institute of Geodesy, Topography and Cartography

The fellows will be able to carry out their research projects in progressive research organisations while exploring technologies with the biggest potential for the future. All Implementing partners have proven exceptional research results at the national, European, and global levels, some examples:

• the most intense lasers in the world in ELI Beamlines,
• CIIRC is the leader of the H2020 RICAIP project, an international distributed research centre of excellence (CoE) that focuses on research in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI),
• the development of a device which turns an arid desert into a green landscape called S.A.W.E.R., 
• the micro power plant called WAVE (University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings), 
• the development of a small-scale nuclear reactor (Řež Research Centre),
• a Surveying Library specialised for geodesy and related fields, unique in the Czech Republic and even internationally,
• State-of-the art MRI facilities (3T Siemens Prisma MRI scanner) (National Institute of Mental Health),
• Czech University of Life Sciences Prague achieves excellent results in prestigious international rankings (THE, QS, AWRU, US NeWs BGUR),
• or even part of global projects such as ALMA, the largest astronomical project (Astronomical Institute). 

By joining their teams, fellows will be able to build their own international networks for future career opportunities.