N°1, 29th January 2009
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Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7)
Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP)
Tenders Electronic Daily (TED)
The 2009 EARTO Annual Conference will take place in Paris on Tuesday, May 5th and Wednesday, May 6th, kindly hosted by a consortium of our French members: the Association des instituts CARNOT (AiCarnot), the Association des Structures de Recherche Contractuelle (ASRC), the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) , and the Réseau des Centres Techniques Industriels (CTI).
The location for the conference is Les Salons de l'Aveyron in the recently re-developed Bercy area of eastern Paris.
The first day of the conference programme will feature several highlights, including an address by European Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner (acceptance in principle) and three parallel sessions on:
• Using Structural Funds for R&D and Innovation
• Working Effectively for SMEs
• Building Strategic Alliances between RTOs
The second day’s plenary session will address in particular the changing structure of the EU Framework Programme, its consequences for RTOs , and RTO proposals for the future of the Framework Programme. To prepare this discussion, EARTO is presently establishing a Task Force of interested members to analyse current developments and to prepare future proposals.
A block booking of hotel rooms in different price categories is being made. A dedicated conference website will be launched in mid-February, with facilities for conference registration and hotel booking.
EARTO Members are invited to offer presentations for the parallel sessions on:
• Using Structural Funds for R&D and Innovation
• Working Effectively for SMEs
The Structural Funds session is intended to illustrate by case studies how the huge Structural Funds budgets may be employed to fund R&D and innovation projects. Papers offered for this session should report on R&D or innovation projects which are already in operation (or which, at least, have been accepted for funding) and which have a significant RTO involvement.
Papers for the SME session should offer case studies of novel ways of working with SMEs to boost innovation and competitiveness.
Please provide an outline of your proposed presentation by Friday 13th February at the latest to Kadija Taffah.
On the afternoon preceding the EARTO annual conference there will be the traditional EARTO "Working Group" meeting. This is an open meeting for all interested EARTO members. Following the long-established tradition, the Working Group meeting will offer an opportunity to discuss current EU R&D developments and related matters not covered in the conference programme itself.
Possible topics so far identified for the agenda include:
• ex-post FP6 project audits by the European Commission and consequences for RTOs
• First EIT Call for Proposals for Knowledge and Innovation Communities
• EARTO FP7 performance benchmarking database
• EARTO FP Proposal Preparation Service
• EARTO RTO Yearbook project
• EARTO Innovation Prize
Members are invited to propose other topics for the Working Group agenda to Kadija Taffah as soon as possible.
The Executive Board of EARTO has decided to launch an EARTO Innovation prize in order to promote the RTO profession, both to potential customers as well as to a wider political and general public. A Task Force of Board members and their nominees has finalised a detailed specification for the prize, which is currently under final scrutiny by the Board.
It is intended to formally announce the first competition in mid-February 2009. This is a pre-announcement of the main features of the competition.
The annual EARTO Innovation Prize is open only to EARTO members. A jury selected to provide a balanced representation from the worlds of research, industry, public service and innovation will select the winning innovations: in the first instance, up to three innovations may be rewarded each year.
Each prize will reward a recent innovation achieved with a significant contribution from an EARTO member.
Rewarded innovations will have the following characteristics:
• social and/or economic relevance;
• inventive originality;
• proven or at least plausibly demonstrated practical application, and
• proven or at least plausibly demonstrated viability.
The prize - in the form of a certificate and a trophy - will be awarded to the RTO per se, in recognition of a collective effort by the winning organisation. Awards will be made in the autumn of each year at a dedicated, high-level ceremony in Brussels.
The EARTO Innovation Prize wil be awarded for the first time in 2009. The time-table is as follows:
|
February 15th |
Announcement and invitation to EARTO members to submit applications |
|
April 10th |
Closing date for applications |
|
May 4th |
Completion of first-stage screening and pre-selection |
|
June 15th |
Completion of final evaluation and selection |
|
October |
Presentation of awards at ceremony in Brussels |
If you are currently experiencing an ex-post audit of your FP6 projects by the European Commission, or have been informed that you will be audited shortly, you may wish to contact the EARTO Secretariat for advice.
EARTO continues to monitor with the greatest attention the issue of ex-post FP6 audits, which threaten serious financial harm to many RTOs (see previous issues of EARTO News).
The latest development is that the Commission is refusing to make payments on current FP projects to RTOs with which it is in discussions about the findings of earlier audits of FP6 projects. This is clearly intended to apply pressure.
Last year EARTO and the EUROTECH Special Interest Group established a high-level Task Force of senior legal and financial officers from affected RTOs. The Task Force will meet again the coming weeks to consider further possible joint action towards the Commission.
For further information, please contact Christopher John Hull
In July of last year, EARTO launched an experiment with technical Special Interest Groups. The idea is to group together members with complementary technological expertise in specific fields of application, in order to develop joint projects and to bid for contracts.
The first group has been launched on the initiative of Neven Zarkovic from EARTO member Rudjer Boskovic Institute (RBI) in Croatia, and the first workshop, on Novel Bioactive Substances for Industrial and Biomedical Use, was held in Zagreb on November 25th and 26th.
The workshop was successful and developed into an international conference, which included:
• presentations of the partner institutes Joanneum Research Institutes (JR, Austria), Jozef Stefan Institute (JSI, Slovenia) and Rudjer Boskovic Institute (RBI, Croatia) done by respective Directors;
• 27 research presentations done by experts from the partner institutes, and
• parallel session of the three Directors and administrative officers of the institutes devoted to the future interaction activities.
Among the conclusions of the meeting were:
• R&D on New Materials can initiate and support industrial development in particular of modern industry based on micro and nano technologies, which we find necessary in current socio-economic situation.
• R&D of New Materials is also important for development of modern medicine, especially for drug development and development and functionalisation of novel materials for medical implants, which is of broad socio-economic relevance.
• Sophisticated equipment and methods available at RTOs are open for potential partners and should promote collaboration between RTOs, other research institutions and industry.
• Material Sciences could be a strong link to join R&D activities of RTOs and other R&D oriented partners (industry, research institutions, etc.); therefore EARTO should push this topic further involving other RTOs, organising similar further workshops and informing industry and European Commission on EARTO’s initiative.
It was further agreed to continue with similar activities in spring 2009, devoted to the next topic – Biosensors.
Interested members are invited to contact:
Neven Zarkovic M.D., Ph.D.
Senior Scientist
Laboratory for Oxidative Stress
Rudjer Boskovic Institute
Bijenicka 54,
10000 Croatia
Phone: ++385 1 457 1234 / 456 0937
Fax: ++385 1 456 1010
E-mail: zarkovic@irb.hr
EARTO gives space in this newsletter to members who would like to publish their job vacancies. Please contact Nina Baumeister.
November 8 - 9, 2010
ESWIRP first workshop, Cologne, Germany
October 27, 2010
EARTO Innovation Prize - ceremony
October 11 - 15, 2010
2nd European Innovation Summit
September 23, 2010
DESCA Consultation Group Meeting
September 22, 2010
DESCA Core Meeting
September 16, 2010
EARTO Communication Task Force, Brussels
September 15, 2010
EARTO Innovation Prize Jury Meeting, Brussels
Preparations for the launch of the first Knowledge and Innovations Communities (KICs) within the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) are proceeding rapidly.
An updated presentation about the EIT including selection criteria for the KIC is available here.
The EIT plans to launch two or three KICs in January 2010. They will be selected through an open Call for Proposals. The selected KICs will address one or more of the following themes:
• Future ICT
• Sustainable energy
• Climate change adaptation and mitigation
The EIT is presently holding a series of workshops, one on each of the three themes, to give interested stakeholders a chance to learn more about the EIT and to exchange ideas about possible KICs.
The first of these workshops, on future ICT, took place in Budapest on January 23rd. The other two will take place as follows:
• 15th February, Sustainable Energy, Vienna
• 16th March, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, Madrid
Further details regarding the forthcoming workshops are available here.
The Call for Proposals for the first KICs will be launched by April, with a closing date in August. This is expected to be a highly competitive exercise, and there are good reasons to think that the winning consortia will be based substantially on already existing initiatives.
Further information: Mikael Kekkonen.
JIIP, the Joint Institute for Innovation Policy ,was launched in Brussels on the 26th of January. A virtual institute between TNO, VTT, Joanneum Research and Tecnalia, JIIP aims at sharing and pooling the capacities and competencies of its members and at developing joint research projects and joint strategic research areas.
More information: Director Jos Leijten or Assistant to Director Angélica López
Many speak about Open Innovation, but what is it really? This conference organized by YEAR (Young European Associated Researchers) gives an overview over the topic, and lets the participants also practice its learnings as well as network with other researchers interested in the same area.
Confirmed Programme
Introduction
• Wim Vanhaverbeke – Open Innovation
• Marko Torkkeli (Lappeenranta University of Technology) – Open Innovation: Networks
Business models – examples from industry
• Jens Leker - Open Innovation in the Chemical Industry – “8 years of not sold here and not invented here”
• Jaap Lombaers – Holst Center
• Robert Nieuwenhuis (Fellowforce.com) – Made by co (about co-creation)
• Petri Kalliokoski (VTT) – Open Innovation at Research Companies
• Maria Antikainen(VTT) – Customer Motivation in Open Online Communities
Workshop
How to make the transition from closed to open innovation in your company?
The DESCA management group (ANRT, EARTO, EUROCHAMBRES, FhG, Helmholtz, KOWI and UNITE) met on January 26th to plan DESCA activities in 2009, including possible revisions to the core DESCA texts.
The current version of DESCA (Version 2) has been reviewed and no urgent changes appear necessary.
During 2009 the DESCA Management Group will contribute to a Commission study into the feasibility of model European contracts for collaborative and contract research.
Further information: Nina Baumeister.
The European Commission yesterday (28 January) proposed to reallocate five billion euro of unspent EU money, mostly to support clean coal projects, offshore wind farms and the deployment of broadband...
Europe's innovation and research policies were designed for developed Western European countries and do little to help boost the developing economies of the Union's eastern members, according to...
- additional support for small and medium-sized companies
- comprehensive package on energy and climate change, including the automotive industry
- additional support for Central and Eastern...
MEPs yesterday (14 January) approved new EU rules to open up national defence procurement to all European suppliers, raising hopes that more transparency and competition will be introduced to this...
On 13 and 14 January, the ARTEMIS Brokerage Event will take place in the Crown Plaza Hotel at Brussels Airport.
In 2009, the biggest share of the EU budget – 45% or €60 billion - will go to research, innovation, employment and regional development programmes, combining short and longer-term measures to help...
The EARTO meeting room is available to members for meetings of 12 (14 absolute maximum), including light refreshments (coffee, tea, etc.) and the use of a projector, at €250 per day. Lunch arrangements are extra.
Members needing a larger meeting room are welcome to contact the Secretariat for assistance.
For further information, please contact Sylvia Lopomo at the EARTO Secretariat: +32-2-5028698.
To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, please send an e-mail to baumeister@earto.eu.