N°2, 2nd March 2009
If this newsletter does not load correctly in your browser, please click here.
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 dedicated conference website provides information about the programme, facilities for conference registration, and information and booking facilities for hotel accommodation.
As always, EARTO members and invited guests attend the conference free of charge.
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 on the scope for using EU Structural Funds for R&D and Innovation. This will also be the subject of one of three parallel sessions during the afternoon of the first day. Other sessions will focus on Working Effectively for SMEs and Building Strategic Alliances between RTOs.
The second day’s plenary session will address the changing structure of the EU Framework Programme, its consequences for RTOs , and RTO proposals for the future development of the Framework Programme. To prepare this discussion, EARTO is launching a Task Force of interested members to analyse current Framework Programme developments and to prepare future proposals.
Visit the website and register now!
On the afternoon preceding the EARTO annual conference - May 4th, starting at 14:00 - there will be the traditional EARTO "Working Group" meeting.
The Working Group is a forum open to all interested EARTO members for discussing current European R&D developments, project ideas - indeed anything of likely common interest.
Topics so far placed on the agenda of the Working Group meeting in Paris include:
There will also be an opportunity for recent new members of EARTO to briefly present themselves.
Members wishing to propose other topics for the Working Group agenda are invited to contact Kadija Taffah as soon as possible.
The first competition for the annual EARTO Innovation Prize is now open.
The 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 will be awarded for the first time in 2009.
Full details about the prize are available here.
The time-table is as follows:
April 10th: Closing date for applications
May 4th: Completion of stage-one screening
June 15th: Completion of final evaluation and selection
October: Award 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).
A high-level Task Force of senior legal and financial officers from affected RTOs is monitoring this issue with support from the EARTO Secretariat.
The Task Force will meet again on March 3rd to review developments and consider possible joint action towards the Commission.
For further information, please contact Christopher John Hull
The Special Interest Group on Spin-offs provides a forum for managers from RTOs with a structured spin-off policy. They meet about once a year, to compare notes, inform each other about new developments in their respective spin-off programmes, and generally to exchange experience and information.
The group will next meet in Paris, in the run up to the EARTO conference, on 4th May from 10:00 to 13:00.
For more information: 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 a first successful workshop, on Novel Bioactive Substances for Industrial and Biomedical Use, was held in Zagreb on November 25th and 26th.
It is now proposed to launch a second Special Interest Group devoted to 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 is sad to lose Nina Baumeister, who will take up a post in the European Commission's DG Research on March 15th.
Nina joined EARTO 18 months ago from the Brussels office of the Helmholtz Association of research centres. She quickly established herself as very valuable asset, taking responsiblity for several policy areas (e.g. Structural Funds) and policy initiatives (e.g. JTIs) as well as looking after EARTO's website and newsletter.
Nina will join a unit of DG Research responsible for policy regarding JTIs, Article 169 initiative, Joint Programming, ERA-NETs as well as relations with research organisations.
We wish Nina the very best in her new position.
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 Secretariat has been approached by a serious source in Scandinavia who is working with a small fast-growing company which collects very large quantities of used textile materials (principally used clothing). At present, most of this material is treated as waste and is either incinerated or buried in refuse tips.
The firm is interested in finding higher added-value uses for this material. It would be potentially interested in acquiring existing technology or engaging in a research project to develop new technology.
Any interested RTO is invited to contact Christoper John Hull.
The Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) Panel of the European Parliament published the final report of its project on ‘Policy options for the improvement of the European Patent system’ in September 2007. As a follow up to this, in 2009 STOA launched the project ‘Current Policy Issues in the Governance of the European Patent System’.
As a first step in the new project STOA is organising a conference on 17th March with the goal of reviewing issues related to the current status of governance of the European patent system in view of the results of the previous project. One important aim is to work towards building a system (forum or network) linking MEPs from different committees with other stakeholders in order to improve decision making on IP-related issues.
The programme of the conference is available here.
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 two of these workshops took place already. The third - on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation - takes place on 16th March in 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.
The European Commission recently published an updated version of the 'Guide to Intellectual Property Rules for FP7 projects' (Guide to IPR).
Public authorities should back innovative SMEs from the beginning of the procurement process, regardless of whether their product or service ultimately wins a public contract, MEP Malcolm Harbour...
The Handbook gives a concise overview of the aid possibilities for SMEs as allowed by the Community state aid rules.
The European Chemicals industry employs around 1,2 million people and is a world trade leader. Today the High Level Group on the Competitiveness of the European Chemicals industry has met for the...
The chairman of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT), Martin Schuurmans, has denied claims by a leading academic that the institute's flagship innovation projects will become...
EARTO is launching an annual innovation prize in order to promote the RTO profession, both to potential customers as well as to a wider political and general public.
Welcome to the EIT - Energy KIC Proposal Website!
Purpose of this website: Manages the proposal preparation process until the submission of the EIT - ENERGY KIC Proposal to the European Institute...
European research funding runs the risk of becoming unattractive to researchers if the grant application process is not radically overhauled, Dr. Inge Gräßle (EPP-ED, DE) has warned in an interview...
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.