N°13, 18th December 2008
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The EARTO Secretariat
wishes all members
a merry and peaceful
Christmas
and
a happy and successful
New Year
Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7)
Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP)
Tenders Electronic Daily (TED)
If you are currently experiencing an ex-post audit of your terminated FP6 projects, 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 and unjustified financial harm to many RTOs (see previous issues of EARTO News).
During the past week, the EARTO Secretariat has met members of Commissioner Potocnik's private office in order to communicate our strong doubts about the legality of the Commission's behaviour and to warn of the threat of serious reputational damage to the Commission and to European research policy.
The Secretariat has also exchanged information with university representatives in Brussels and with many French research organisations which have been the subject of audits.
For further information, please contact Christopher John Hull
The Innovative Medicines Joint Technology Initiative (IMI) published its first call for proposals earlier this year. The evaluation and selection process has now been completed, and the first contract negotiations are presently taking place.
EARTO is carefully monitoring IMI because of its unsatisfactory IP policy and its unacceptable funding model that limits the reimbursement of indirect costs (overheads) to 20% of direct project costs.
Early protests by EARTO were later joined by the univeristies and have resulted in a review of the IP policy, which will be made early next year. We continue to press for a review of the funding model, again with support from the university sector.
We wish also to monitor the IMI contract negotiation process. Any EARTO member with experience or knowledge of the IMI contract negotiations is invited to contact Nina Baumeister in the EARTO secretariat as soon as possible.
This workshop is an opportunity to learn about the EIT and to better position your RTO as a participant in the first EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), preparations for which will begin in the first part of next year.
The purpose of the meeting is to give as much information as possible about the critical policy decisions currently being prepared in the EIT Governing Board and, if needed, to formulate recommendations for transmittal to the EIT Governors.
The workshop is timed to take place in advance of three meetings being organised by the Commission to discuss the thematic content for KICs: dates and locations should be published in mid-December. These meetings will be followed by an important meeting of the EIT Governing Board which will decide guidelines for the future form of the EIT's Knowledge and Innovation Communities.
The EARTO Secretariat is carefully monitoring developments in order to prepare the 13th January workshop. Presentations at the workshop will be made by EARTO staff and by the EIT unit of the European Commission. We are also inviting presentations from members with ideas for possible KICs.
A detailed agenda for the workshop will be published in mid-December. If you are interested in attending or making a presentation, or if you wish for more information, please contact Mikael Kekkonen.
The EIT has begun the search for its first full-time Director. This influential post requires a highly qualified and experienced individual. Further details are available here . The closing date for applications is January 6th. Please contact Mikael Kekkonen for further information.
The European Commission is setting up a Task Force to help prepare the IP policy of the EIT. EARTO has been invited to participate in the Task Force, which will hold its first meeting on January 14th. For further information, please contact Christopher John Hull
The EU Structural and Cohesion Funds are proposing to spend more than €50 billion on R&D and innovation during the coming years.
The EARTO Secretariat is organising a one-day workshop in Brussels on February 3rd to provide information to interested members. The agenda will include:
• a presentation by the European Commission on the general framework and rules for using the Structural and Cohesion Funds
• practical examples of R&D and innovation projects financed using the EU funds
• discussion among members on their experience of working with the funds.
If you are interested in participating or wish further information, please contact Nina Baumeister.
The EARTO Working Group on Quality and Excellence in RTOs is a forum where members exchange experience on methods and issues related to quality management in RTOs.
The Working Group last met at the EARTO offices in Brussels on 17th December. The main item on the agenda was presentations by members on their approach to measuring RTO impact. There was also a session devoted to handling customer complaints.
Spanish member FEDIT presented the outline of a project to support the further organisational development of RTOs in Spain, which led to a discussion about a possible complementary European project involving RTOs from additional countries. FEDIT and the EARTO Secretariat will pursue this possibility in the coming months.
The Working Group meeting also reviewed a draft questionnaire prepared by the EARTO Secretariat in connection with the proposed RTO Yearbook.
For further information please contact Nina Baumeister.
This service gives EARTO members a simple-to-use tool for comparing how well they are doing in FP7 compared with other RTOs. It is a benchmarking database in which you record the numbers of proposals you have submitted (or in which you are a participant), how many have passed the evaluation threshold, and how many have been accepted for funding. You can make comparisons with other RTOs accoring to size category and in different FP7 thematic priority areas. Submitted data are treated confidentially and are presented anonymously.
Several RTOs have recently updated or provided data for the first time.
You can access the data via the Members Area of the EARTO website.
For further information, please contact Nina Baumeister.
The DESCA management group (ANRT, EARTO, EUROCHAMBRES, FhG, Helmholtz, KOWI and UNITE) will meet on January 26th to plan DESCA activities in 2009, including possible revisions to the core DESCA texts.
Any proposals for improvements to DESCA may be sent to Nina Baumeister.
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
The European Universities Association (EUA) has published a report on how higher education institutions are responding to financial pressures. Based on an in-depth, European-wide study, the report argues that the first step for universities in addressing these challenges is to identify the full costs of their activities for both internal and external purposes. Moving to full costing is essential to reinforce their financial sustainability.
The report calls on national governments to recognise the importance of granting autonomy to universities and to assist in the implementation of full costing.
This is part of EUA’s ongoing work on financial sustainability. It will be completed by a new study focusing on universities’ diversification of income streams (EUDIS), which is the second step in consolidating higher education institutions’ financial structures.
Following the success of the first round of projects under the Victorian Government’s Energy Technology Innovation Strategy (ETIS), a second round of funding totalling AUD$182 million was announced in April 2008 (ETIS2).
The Victorian government is committed to ensuring Victoria is a world leader in the development of new cutting edge, low-emission and renewable technology. This funding aims to accelerate the development of technology needed to provide a smooth transition to a carbon constrained future.
The Victorian Government has set a long-term target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent by 2050, in comparison to 2000 levels. Being a leader in clean energy technology will help Victoria to meet this target by assisting projects to overcome the last, and often one of the most costly, stages of technical risk before a project is fully tested and available for commercial use.
Of the AUD$182 million, AUD$72 million is available to support large-scale demonstrations of leading sustainable energy technologies, such as solar, geothermal, biomass conversion, wave technology and energy storage.
Another AUD$110 million is available to support large-scale demonstration projects of either integrated, or component, carbon capture and storage technologies.
Please contact Nina Baumeister for more information.
The EU has been losing ground in pharmaceutical innovation. European patients still suffer from inequalities in the availability of information about medicines, whilst counterfeits are on the rise....
The lack of a Europe-wide Community patent poses "incredible challenges" for small businesses and undermines the EU's goal of becoming the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world,...
Interested companies and research bodies can already consult a list of planned Clean Sky JTI calls for proposals for the first half of 2009, to see if the proposed topics suit their technical...
The environmental and biological sciences dominate the list of 10 research infrastructures that have just been added to the European Roadmap for Research Infrastructures. The second edition of the...
At the end of the year, the French Presidency of the EU will draw to a close and the Czech Republic will take over the reins for the first time since it joined the EU in 2004.
The European Commission welcomes the agreement by the EU Member States to align EU legislation on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures to the United Nations Globally...
The EC recently funded a feasibility study to look into setting up a new research infrastructure, which would be a cluster of distributed nanoscience foundries co-located at large-scale research...
The EC recently adopted a Communication on rare diseases, which essentially sets out a European strategy for this area. The Communication follows on from a public consultation carried out earlier...
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.