The program Proof of Concept is funded by the World Bank through the project "SAIGE" (Serbia Accelerating Innovation and Entrepreneurship Project), a partnership project of the Republic of Serbia, the European Union, and the World Bank dedicated to strengthening scientific research and innovative entrepreneurship in Serbia.

The DefensivACME project is the first in the list of approved projects with the most achieved points. The other participants from IBISS are colleagues from the Department of Ecology, Dr. Jelena Kulaš and Dušanka Popović, and the Department of Plant Physiology, Dr. Suzana Živković, Dr. Marijana Skorić, and Dr. Milica Milutinović. A colleague from the Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering (IMGGE), Milica Živković also participates in the project.

Additionally, our colleagues Dr. Jelica Lazarević and Darka Šešlija Jovanović from the Department of Insect Physiology and Biochemistry and the Department of Evolutionary Biology are participants in the project, on which the PI is from the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade.