FAQ

Applications will be considered from:

1. anyone currently employed at one of the partner universities (AU, AAU, DTU, KU, SDU). Although any application must be sent via their own university. See note below.
2. those not currently an employee of one of the partner universities. However, their application must have an authorized signatory, from the partner university where they intend to execute their GXA project. See note below.

Please note that only a partner university can apply for GXA funding for your P2X project application. Therefore, a partner university must approve and accept that it is a condition for a GXA grant, that you are employed at the partner university no later than per the start date of the project period, and that your employment at the university is maintained throughout the project period.

Yes, you can apply without a ph.d.! If your project is excellent, with potential for growth, and feasible, please apply. You can be a post.doc, a ph.d., a researcher – but it must be YOUR project, your dream.

No. GXA is not for research and GXA fellows (those getting salary from GXA) are expected not to be engaged in research. This means that GXA fellows should not spend time writing or reviewing scientific papers, teaching courses, writing scientific grant proposals or similar academic work.
This, however, does not mean that a GXA project cannot involve active researchers in an indirect capacity, e.g. in an advisory role, but GXA fellows should be 100% committed to getting their GXA project off the ground.

The typical time for accelerating your project in the GXA program is 2 years. We mentor each project during the full period to help acceleration. In some cases, the period can be extended. This extension must be applied for before the end of the project period and the exension is only timevise. The project budget will remain the same.
Please note that if you do not follow your proposed plan, the GXA Steering Committee can stop your project before finalization - see more under "How and when is my project evaluated during the project period"

Please check the call text on the website. To discuss your idea prior to submitting your application, you are welcome to reach out to

GXA Scientific Director Peter Vesborg, mail: peter.vesborg@fysik.dtu.dk
GXA Technical Director Jesper Klingsten Nielsen, mail: jesper.nielsen@fysik.dtu.dk

The email correspondace is confidential between you and any of the GXA Directors.

Assuming the project is within GXA scope the applications are assessed according to three criteria: 1) Excellence of idea, 2) potential for growth, and 3) feasibility. All three are equally important, and each must be clearly illustrated in your application.

No, neither overhead nor the project supplement* is eligible for funding. Only the direct project costs should be included in the application budget.
If your project is awarded funding, a 15% overhead will be added.

*Agreement between the Danish universities and private foundations.

Please make sure you include:

• Application template (send it as a PDF)
• Include full CV of you and all your team members as part of the application (can be submitted as separate documents).
• Record and share a 5 minute video where you present your technology and your team if applicable

You can furthermore include (optionally)

• 10 extra A4 pages of relevant project information, this should include a detailed view of the scale-up of your technology (what will you have archived after 12 and 24 months), a detailed business plan, pictures/illustrations of setup and deep technology description of how does it work and its advantages)

Please make sure that you are available for a 5-10 minute online interview on the date of the next GXA Steering Committee meeting. For more information, please see the Call for Projects.

The Steering Committee will read and assess the applications and let you know their decision within approximately 5 weeks after the submission deadline. The Scientific Director as well as the Technical Director will read the applications, but will have no vote in the assessment of the applications.

Calls for proposals are announced three times per year. Reapplication is only permitted if this is explicitly stated in the rejection letter. In such cases, applicants are required to consult either the Scientific Director or the Technical Director before resubmitting their application.

No. This is a national program and each applicant has identical chances. The Scientific Director and the Technical Director will allocate the same amount of time (max. 30 minutes) to each person asking for feedback on his/her idea.

All GXA fellows will be employed at a Danish University (not necessarily DTU) and IPR is handled according to the usual rules for university employees. This means that any foreground IPR generated by GXA fellows is handled as if they were PhD students, postdocs or faculty at their respective university where the university handles patenting and assumes rights to IPR. Upon graduation from the GXA program, any project reliant on IPR must negotiate licensing/purchase of IP with the relevant university on standard terms.

The benefits of the above IPR arrangement are:
1) The legal framework is standardized, familiar to all universities. No resources are wasted on up-front legal negotiations before there is even a clear path to market (i.e. before a GXA project is initiated)
2) Patenting costs are paid by the universities.

Make a qualified assessment and explain your reasoning where appropriate. During the GXA Fellowship, you will have access to technical support, laboratory facilities, and mentoring at no cost, all based at the GXA premises at DTU. We may be able to suggest potential team members, but it is ultimately your responsibility to recruit and build the right team for your project.
Please note that your project should be at TRL 3 or higher before applying. Also remember that a startup is rarely a one-person endeavour.

During the GXA project period, you are required to submit quarterly status reports.

Approximately halfway through the project period, your GXA project will undergo a midterm evaluation. The midterm evaluation is a go/no-go assessment, and your project will be evaluated against the following three criteria: 1) relevance, 2) activities and risks, and 3) planning and execution.

1. Submission of a short evaluation report describing the progress and status of each milestone and deliverable defined in your GXA project.
2. An evaluation meeting with the Scientific Director, the Technical Director, and, if possible, a member of the GXA Steering Committee.