Incubators - Base4NFDI

Incubators and service integration

What are incubators?

Incubators in Base4NFDI mean a time-limited, jointly driven collaboration between a basic service and an interested partner.
Partners can be an NFDI Consortium, a research institution, or another service. Interested partners need to apply to join.
Together, both sides (partner and basic service) define a concrete goal and work toward integrating the service into the partner's workflows. Depending on the service and the goal, this can range from consultation and guidance to hands-on technical implementation or co-development of new features.
Due to this structured approach, incubators can speed up the development and integration of a service in the community and thus can lead to a measurable, successful result.
Incubator projects apply to almost all basic service candidates but in doubt, please contact the basic service directly; find email addresses here.

Find practial information in the FAQ section and available calls and monitoring dashboards from participating basic service candidates below on this page.

Services grow in co-development settings!

Incubator dashboards and integration info per basic service

Service integration

While the term and project "incubator" has a positive effect for awareness in the community and success of completion, an integration of a service in a community can also happen without an incubator work programme.
Integration in the communities can also look like consultations, use cases, focus groups, or similar.

Not sure where to start? Take a look at the Guide - 5 steps to integration.

Frequently asked questions

Who can participate?

NFDI Consortia, NFDI and basic services, external partners and any group stated in the respective call.

Why should groups participate?

Incubators give a clearly defined time frame to speed up development and lead to a measurable result. While the concept "incubator" creates awareness and uptake for your service or app, they also are a good opportunity to create success stories which are a plus for for future funding and collaboration.

How to apply?

The basic services run application calls a few times a year, usually via RocketChat, mailing lists and/or their websites. Base4NFDI also regularly publishes the calls on the www.base4nfdi.de website and/or LinkedIn.
The basic services usually offer condensed templates that interested groups need to fill and send to the teams during the respective calls. Find info on the respective dashboard pages linked above.
After the submission deadline, the applications are being reviewed by the services and you will be notified if your incubator was accepted.

How do proposals usually look like?

Incubator proposals may list a set of work packages in a definite time frame and a project plan that describe the goals and interaction between the basic service and the partner.

How long does an incubator project last?

Time and duration is dependent on the agreed time frame between service and incubator project, usually weeks to multiple months. As an example, for IAM4NFDI and TS4NFDI, one incubator project lasts six months.

Who decides whether an incubator proposal is accepted?

The basic service teams internally discuss whether the applicant/application is accepted for an incubator project based on the service's capacity.

Are funds available for participating in an incubator project?

Incubator projects are not funded. Participating services or NFDI Consortia need to set aside time and resources for an incubator cycle. Base4NFDI does not provide funding. Basic services should allocate time for support in the proposals.

How do we make it a successful incubator project?

Chances for success increase if time, communication and resources are retained and involved groups stay actively engaged. The groups are advised to stay engaged, track progress, and define the effort as best as you can upfront - this is critical for expectation management.

Where can I see the current status of incubators?

The teams monitor and track the status of incubators and integration in their dashboards, see above for the yet available links.

Does it have to be an incubator?

No, services can also be integrated without the label "incubator", yet we see significant positive aspects when using this term and a definite time frame and project plan.

What else can be expected?

An incubator is run by the basic service team. Base4NFDI does not run incubators.