SBO Strategic Basic Research — Security and Defence

SBO Security and Defence

Funds strategic basic research in security and defense aligned with space, maritime, aviation, and cybersecurity priorities.

The FWO SBO Security and Defence programme is the inaugural dedicated funding channel for strategic basic research in the security and defence domain, launched under the Flemish Institute for Security and Defence (VISD). Its 2026 call opened on 26 May 2026 with a pre-registration deadline of 11 September 2026 and a final submission deadline of 25 September 2026. Results will be announced at the end of May 2027. The total available budget is €4.5 million including overhead — substantially smaller than the general SBO pool of €45.5 million, indicating that the programme will fund a limited number of projects in its inaugural cycle. Cost parameters mirror the general SBO: up to €500,000 per year per entity including 17% overhead, with a guideline project budget of approximately €1.7 million excluding overhead, over a four-year project period.

Unlike the general SBO, consortium formation is mandatory: applications must involve two or more applying legal entities. Non-Flemish partners are capped at 20% of the total project budget and must be based in EU, EFTA, or NATO countries — a restriction that extends to the advisory committee companies, who must confirm wholly EU/EFTA/NATO ownership structures in their letter of intent. Newly recruited project staff must also hold EU, EFTA, or NATO nationality, and proposals are evaluated exclusively by expert reviewers with EU, EFTA, or NATO citizenship. The 2026 call is entirely bottom-up — no predefined themes or roadmap priorities from the VISD orientation areas (Space, Maritime, Aviation and C-UAS, Cybersecurity, AI, Autonomous Systems, Biotechnology, Energy and Environment, Geo-intelligence) are imposed.

All proposals must include a risk analysis for technology transfer, a requirement that distinguishes this channel from the general SBO. The programme operates under its own dedicated steering committee, separate from the SBO governance structure. Teams preparing submissions should plan consortium assembly early, verify the nationality and ownership credentials of all partners against the EU/EFTA/NATO restriction, and treat the technology-transfer risk analysis as a substantive deliverable rather than a boilerplate annex.