EARTO promotes the interests of over 300 Research and Technology Organisations in Europe

EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY ORGANISATIONS
Rue Joseph II, 36-38, B-1000 Brussels
Phone +32 (0)2 502 86 98, Fax +32 (0)2 502 86 93, office@earto.eu

 

N°1, 28 January 2010

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Open Calls for Proposals and Tenders

Open Calls for Proposals and Tenders

Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7)
Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP)
Tenders Electronic Daily (TED)

In this Issue

• Open Calls for Proposals and Tenders
• EARTO Annual Conference 2010
• Annual Conference – Call for Papers
• New Staff at the EARTO Secretariat
• EARTO Strategy – Follow-up to the EARTO Executive Board Meeting
• Simplification of the Framework Programme
• Ex-post FP6 Audits – Latest Developments
• Research Project on the Costs of Research
• New Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science
• EARTO participation in Commission High Level Expert Group on Key Enabling Technologies
• EARTO High-Level Meeting with Anneli Pauli
• Meeûs
• AERTOs Workshop on Spin-off Technologies
• Future Internet PPP – Consultation Meeting with Stakeholders in Nice
• Job Vacancies in RTOs
• Events by and with EARTO
• European News
• Meeting room

EARTO News

EARTO Annual Conference 2010

The 2010 EARTO Annual Conference  will take place in Gothenburg, in Sweden, from 19 to 21 May. A copy of the programme is available on the dedicated conference website, together with practical information about Gothenburg, accommodation and travel arrangements, and a registration page.

The theme of this year’s Conference is “Sustainable RTO’s for a Sustainable Economy and Society”. The concept of sustainable development is increasingly at the centre of all manner of public policies. Many of the “grand challenges” address sustainability issues, and government policies for economic growth and competitiveness are increasingly framed with sustainability in mind.

This conference will focus on RTOs’ essential contribution to the sustainability agenda, given their general mission to contribute to a better society and a competitive economy through R&D and innovation.

The conference will also consider how RTOs need to be equipped in order to be able to tackle the sustainability agenda effectively. This is partly linked to the issue of funding, but also to things such as a clearly focused mission, a viable and sustainable business model, effective mechanisms for anticipating future demand for strategic knowledge, skills and competence, and more besides.
The new European Commissioner for Research and Innovation (see below) has been invited to make the keynote address, in the company of the Swedish Minister of Research.

This year’s conference marks the tenth anniversary of the founding of EARTO. As part of the celebrations, the conference dinner will feature an address by a surprise guest speaker.

For further information, please contact Kadija Taffah.

Annual Conference – Call for Papers

EARTO is seeking one or two further contributions for two of the parallel sessions in the afternoon of 20 May:

Parallel Session “Addressing the Grand Challenges”
There is an emerging consensus that future EU research and innovation policy should focus more fully on the grand challenges facing society: issues such as climate change and mitigation, security of energy supply, an ageing population, etc. Many recent new EU policy initiatives are intended, directly or indirectly, to address such grand challenges. They include, for example, Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs), Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), the Lead Markets Initiative, or Joint Programming.

We are looking for an additional one or two presentations about innovative policy approaches or programmes addressing grand-challenge issues. They need not be related specifically to the mentioned EU policy initiatives.

Parallel Session “Sustainability Issues and Case Studies”
This parallel session is an opportunity to present case studies of specific and novel projects addressing key sustainability issues. It is also an opportunity to discuss important but perhaps less obvious sustainability matters (e.g. there will be a presentation on the impact of rising energy costs on global supply chains and the possible consequence of “repatriation” of certain economic activities). Again, we are seeking an additional one or two presentations.

If you are interested in making a presentation in one of these two parallel sessions – or can suggest a subject and speaker – please contact Kadija Taffah with summary details as soon as possible.

New Staff at the EARTO Secretariat

Monica Ibido joined the EARTO Secretariat as Policy Officer at the beginning of the year, replacing Mikael Kekkonen, who has moved to a position in the Permanent Representation of Finland to the EU. Monica will take responsibility for several policy areas and initiatives.

Prior to joining EARTO, Monica was a Project Manager at ASD-Europe in Brussels, the European Association representing the aeronautics, space, defense and security industries. She was responsible for an FP7 project aimed at encouraging and supporting the participation of SMEs in aeronautics projects and programmes (FP7 and Clean Sky JTI). Prior to this, she was Project Manager at ENEA (the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development).

Monica has long experience of EU research and innovation funding schemes, project management in FP6 and FP7, project proposal writing, and innovation and research policy at EU level. She speaks Italian, English and French.

EARTO Strategy – Follow-up to the EARTO Executive Board Meeting

The EARTO Steering Committee met on 11 January to review current activities and, to discuss and propose follow-up to the strategy discussion which took place at the Executive Board meeting in Luxembourg last September.

The Steering Committee proposed (i) the preparation of high-impact case studies illustrating the contribution of RTOs to innovation and (ii) the commissioning from a reputable, independent consultancy or institute of a study arguing and quantifying RTOs’ impact on innovation/competitiveness. A task force of Board members will oversee the implementation of these actions.

For further information, please contact Christopher John Hull.

Simplification of the Framework Programme

“Simplification” of the Framework Programme remains high on the agenda of the Commission. This was confirmed by the incoming Commissioner for Research and Innovation, Máire Gheoghegan-Quinn, at her confirmation hearing in the European Parliament (see below) as well as by outgoing Commissioner Potočnik in a speech earlier this week.
 
Simplification sounds like good news. However, many proposals for simplification coming from the Commission risk bringing complication for FP participants.

The influential CREST Committee (high-level committee of Member State R&D officials) was invited by the Commission to discuss several proposals for simplification at its meeting on 22 January. The discussion paper produced by the Commission for this purpose, which became available prior to the meeting, contained some worrying ideas, and the EARTO Secretariat and Board Members consequently approached CREST delegates in advance of  the meeting.

Copies of the Commission discussion paper and EARTO’s message to CREST delegates can be found here and here.

For further information, please contact Pauline Bastidon or Christopher John Hull.  

Ex-post FP6 Audits – Latest Developments

The College of Commissioners adopted a Communication on “Simplification of the Recovery Process in the Framework of the Audit Strategy under the Framework Programmes for Research” at its last meeting before Christmas. For the first time, we see some relaxation of the Commission’s hard-line approach to ex-post FP6 audits. The document is significant because agreed at the highest level in the Commission. Being an official Communication, it will be freely published, although so far only a French version is circulating. A draft English version of the Communication, which seems to be identical to the French one, is available here.

The Communication contains two main ideas. First, the Commission proposes to stop the systematic recalculation of FP6 cost statements. Instead, it will accept to make estimates of money to be repaid on the basis of average error rates found as a result of audits (using averages per type of error or global averages). Affected FP6 participants would then need to consider carefully whether their audited projects might over-state “errors”. The wider significance of this is that the Commission would have to accept to do a deal covering the totality of an organisation’s FP6 projects and that beneficiaries would not be liable to further penalties, financial or otherwise. The agreement would put an end to audits of FP6 projects for a given beneficiary.

The second proposal focuses on eligible personnel costs, specifically certain direct taxes and social charges related to personnel expenditure. This, too, has its wider significance, since in justifying the change the Commission admits that FP participants had “legitimate expectations” that their costs would be accepted by the Commission because they had systematically been accepted by Commission Project Officers previously. 

The Communication does not go into detail about how the modified approach will be implemented, and it may take several months before it becomes reality. The EARTO Secretariat is still analysing the practical meaning of the changes.

For more information, or if you need assistance with ex-post FP6 audits, please contact Christopher John Hull. 

Research Project on the Costs of Research

DG Research is funding an “Analysis of the Evolution of the Costs of Research - Trends, Drivers and Impacts”. The work is being undertaken by a consortium of specialised research institutes led by EARTO member AIT - Austrian Institute of Technology.

EARTO welcomes the study as an opportunity to emphasise to the Commission the full economic cost of research and the need for cost-reimbursement models that recognise this full cost.

EARTO Secretary-General Christopher John Hull is a member of the Expert Group appointed to advise the study.

New Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn is the Commissioner-designate for Research, Innovation and Science. She has been a member of the European Court of Auditors since 2000.

On 13 January, Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn faced a three-hour hearing in the ITRE Committee of the European Parliament.

She pledged to move research, innovation and science 'to the heart of European policy', and to stimulate the emergence of a single market for innovation. She announced that her policies would focus on three main areas: completing the creation of the European Research Area (ERA), addressing societies' grand challenges, and creating an innovation research culture. These grand challenges are likely to include Climate Change, Energy, and Health and Ageing.

One of her top priorities for research will be the simplification of the rules for the Framework Programmes. She announced that she would be looking into the possibility of establishing different tolerable error rates for different EU policy areas, and stated that adopting a goal of zero risk would bring zero innovation. One of the most important dossiers on her desk will be the mid-term review of FP7. She stated that the research budget would have to support both large and small projects, and promised that she would try to do more to involve SMEs in the various research programmes. Importantly, she stated that she strongly believed that "one size does not fit all" in research policy.

EARTO has already had the opportunity of a meeting with her private office to discuss, amongst other things, the contribution of RTOs to innovation and tackling the grand challenges, their role in the Framework Programme, and the Commission’s unacceptable ex-post FP6 audit campaign. For further information, please contact Christopher John Hull.

EARTO participation in Commission High Level Expert Group on Key Enabling Technologies

Following the publication of a Commission Communication on Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) last autumn, the Commission now proposes to establish a High Level Group (HLG) to make recommendations for the more effective deployment of KETs in Europe. KETs include nanotechnology, micro- and nano-electronics, advanced materials, biotechnology, photonics, advanced manufacturing, and carbon capture and storage.

This High Level Group promises to be a real opportunity to have a significant impact on future Commission R&D&I priorities. The Commission has invited EARTO to nominate senior RTO candidates for a fifth of the members of the Group, including the President.  Selection of the Chairman and the members of the HLG is ongoing.

Please contact Christopher John Hull for further information.

EARTO High-Level Meeting with Anneli Pauli

A small delegation of CEOs from EARTO members will meet DG RTD Deputy-Director General Anneli Pauli in mid-February. Ms. Pauli is charged with the development of European Research Area policy. The meeting is recognition of RTOs as key actors in the European Research Area and is expected to discuss their future role in ERA policies and programmes.

For further information, please contact Christopher John Hull.
 

Meeûs

After a review, it has been proposed to close down the Meeûs discussion forum. The review concluded that Meeûs has not generated sufficient traffic to merit its continuation.

Please contact Pauline Bastidon for more information. 

AERTOs Workshop on Spin-off Technologies

The RTO ERA-NET project AERTOs held a first workshop on spin-offs in Brussels on 9 and 10 December. The objective is to improve the spinning-out process. Participants agreed that the three main issues for RTOs are the lack of venture capital, lack of entrepreneurs, and the difficulty of bridging the gap between Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 and TRL 9.

This workshop continues the former EARTO Working Group on Spin-offs.

For more information, please contact Christopher John Hull.

Future Internet PPP – Consultation Meeting with Stakeholders in Nice

The 2011- 2012 work programme for the Future Internet PPP is currently being drafted. As an input to the work programme drafting process, the Commission services will organise an open consultation workshop in Nice, France on 12 March 2010. A draft agenda will shortly be published on the Commission’s website.

For further information, please contact Pauline Bastidon.  

Job Vacancies in RTOs

Unit Manager (M/F) Process engineer - Centre Henri Tudor

The mission of Public Research Centre Henri Tudor is to support Research, Development and Innovation in the private and public sectors by providing services in the following areas: materials technologies, environmental technologies, health care technologies, information and communication technologies as well as business organisation.

Our Resource Centre for Environmental Technologies (www.crte.lu) is currently seeking a Unit Manager (M/F) Process engineer.

The role offers two key challenges:
               - To manage an organisational unit of CRTE, with a range of administrative tasks, coaching of colleagues as well as networking with public and private stakeholders, both at national and international level,
               - The strategic development of the unit in terms of R&D activities and consulting services, with a focus on the development and testing of ecotechnologies for wastewater treatment in municipal and industrial    applications.

R&D Engineer (M/F) Environmental modeller - Centre Henri Tudor 

Our Resource Centre for Environmental Technologies (www.crte.lu) is currently seeking a: R&D Engineer (M/F) Environmental modeller

The role offers two key challenges:
•        Develop activities in uncertainty analysis and scenario simulation in a European project on the evaluation of Water Framework Directive programmes of measures. (www.life-m3.eu)
•        Assist in projects of domains (groundwater and surface water pollution) with robust scenario development for decision support.

R&D Engineer (M/F) Life Cycle Assessment Analyst - Centre Henri Tudor

Our Resource Centre for Environmental Technologies (www.crte.lu) is currently seeking a: R&D Engineer (M/F) Life Cycle Assessment Analyst

The successful candidate will join the Life Cycle Assessment team on the development and application of LCA methodologies in the framework of research projects and collaborations with public and private customers on European level. LCA is applied in the sectors of manufacturing industry and services, including waste recycling, wastewater treatment, bioenergy, energy intensive systems and buildings and construction.

R&D Engineer (M/F) General equilibrium modeller – economist - Centre Henri Tudor

Our Resource Centre for Environmental Technologies (www.crte.lu) is currently seeking a: R&D Engineer (M/F) General equilibrium modeller – economist

The role offers to key challenges:
• To contribute to the common development of two economic models for Luxembourg:

- a computable general equilibrium model;
- a techno-economic model.
• To assimilate results into a hybrid Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework;
• To assist the Luxembourg public bodies in the economic and sustainable development and strategic planning for Luxembourg, in particular regarding future energy supply-demand scenarios. 

Further information on these positions can be found here.

EARTO gives space in this newsletter to members who would like to publish their job vacancies. Please contact Pauline Bastidon.  

EARTO Calendar

Events by and with EARTO

European and Other News

The EARTO Meeting Facilities

Meeting room

The EARTO meeting room is available to members for meetings of up to 12 participants, 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.

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