China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) (www.ceibs.edu) has established a research fund with donation from Cathay Capital Private Equity (www.cathay.fr/en/). The fund invites academics and scholars to submit research proposals for projects on private equity-related topics. We expect to approve around a half dozen projects of one-year length and give grants of US$10,000 per project. Projects of longer time span may apply for continued support after completing the research specified for the grant year. The topics of particular interest for 2018 (calendar year) include:

1)      Detailed overview of cross-border private equity (PE) or cross-border venture capital (VC) funds in China, Europe, the United States, and/or other regions.

2)      Analysis of different models implemented by cross-border PE/VC fund managers.

3)      Analysis of similarities and differences between cross-border PE and VC funds.

4)      Analysis of success and failure factors of cross-border PE and VC funds.

The recipient of the grant is required to submit one research paper (of any length) and one non-technical white paper (4-5 pages single-spaced) upon completion of the project, and present the research results in a conference organized by CEIBS and Cathay Capital.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: Each research proposal should consist of at most three single-spaced pages, and must include:

(1)    The project title, information on the principal investigator (PI) and institution where the PI is affiliated, information on any co-PIs, a summary of the project, the project’s intended contribution, the data to be employed, research methodology, and preliminary results (if any). It will be useful for the screening committee to know if required data have already been sourced or are known to be available.

(2)    The proposal should include the following statement: Any publication resulted from the project will acknowledge the financial support of the CEIBS-Cathay Cross-Border Private Equity Research Fund. The PI should sign and date after this statement.

(3)    A bank account that can receive US$ payment, or an alternative payment method proposed for approval by CEIBS Finance Department.

Please append the CV of the principal investigator to the research proposal, and email one single pdf file to ResearchApplication@ceibs.edu with “CEIBS-Cathay Grant Application” as the subject. The deadline for proposal submissions is 31st October, 2017. Project approval decisions will be made and emailed by 30th November, 2017.

GRANT DETAILS: Funding will be paid in two stages: 50% of the grant (US$5,000) will be paid upon approval of the research proposal; the remaining 50% (US$5,000) will be paid if the following three conditions are met. Grant recipients are responsible for paying taxes on the money received. CEIBS will pay the grants as honorarium before tax.

(1)    Submission by 1st September, 2018 a preliminary draft of the research paper, and a preliminary draft of the white paper (4-5 pages single-spaced) which should include a description of the major findings in non-technical, easy to understand language.

(2)    Submission by 15th December, 2018 a final draft of the research paper and a final draft of the white paper (4-5 pages single-spaced) that give due consideration to all comments and feedback received.

(3)    Presentation by the PI or co-PI of the research results at a conference to be organized by CEIBS and Cathay Capital (date and venue to be determined). For each project, CEIBS will cover one hotel room of 3-night stay (in the conference-designated hotel only) and all conference meals. CEIBS will not cover any conference-related travel and insurance expenses, as well as any other expenses unspecified here.

ABOUT CEIBS: China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) is a joint-venture for management education co-founded by the Chinese government and European Union. CEIBS is committed to educating responsible leaders versed in “China Depth, Global Breadth”. CEIBS MBA, EMBA and Executive Education programmes are all ranked in the world’s top-30 by the Financial Times. CEIBS has campuses in Shanghai, Beijing, and Zurich (Switzerland), and teaching facilities in Shenzhen and Accra (Ghana). CEIBS has more than 19,000 alumni from over 80 countries worldwide, and has provided management training for more than 130,000 executives from China and abroad.

ABOUT CATHAY CAPITAL: Cathay Capital Private Equity was founded in 2006 by Mr. Mingpo Cai (CEIBS EMBA2004) and Mr. Edouard Moinet, and is the first independent Chinese-French private equity firm approved by the AMF (the French Financial Market Authority) and is the leader in the field of Franco-Chinese small and medium enterprises (SMEs). With a double-presence in Paris and Shanghai, Cathay Capital puts itself at the service of companies that it helps with their international expansion, especially in France and China.