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°5, 20 May 2009

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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
• New Staff at the EARTO Secretariat
• EARTO Annual Conference, Paris, May 5th and 6th
• From FP7 to FP8
• EARTO Innovation Prize: 15 Proposals
• EARTO-EUROTECH Task Force on ex-post FP6 Project Audits by the European Commission
• FP7 Cost Statements
• FP7 Performance Benchmarking
• EARTO Technical Special Interest Groups: Biosensors
• R&D Networking in Environment and Energy
• Job Vacancies in RTOs
• Events by and with EARTO
• European News
• Meeting room

EARTO News

New Staff at the EARTO Secretariat

Pauline Bastidon joined the EARTO Secretariat as Policy Officer on 4 May 2009, replacing Nina Baumeister who has moved to a position with DG Research in the European Commission. Pauline will take responsibility for several policy areas and initiatives and will look after the EARTO website and the  newsletter.

Prior to joining EARTO, Pauline held the position of Public Affairs Executive at the BioIndustry Association (BIA) in London, the voice of the UK healthcare biotech sector. She was responsible for a broad range of activities, from implementing the delivery of BIA lobbying strategy at national and European level and monitoring political activity and policy developments, to looking after the extranet and parts of the weekly newsletter. Pauline worked on various policy issues such as access to public and private sources of funding and regulatory issues linked to the approval of medicines. She is familiar with innovation and research policy at UK and EU level. Prior to this, she worked in the Brussels Office of the British Medical Association (BMA), where she produced a guidance note to FP7 for BMA members.

EARTO Annual Conference, Paris, May 5th and 6th

The 2009 EARTO Annual Conference took place in Paris on 5th and 6th May, 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 conference presentations are available for download here.

A selection of photographs from the conference is available here.

From FP7 to FP8

The second day plenary session of the EARTO Annual Conference was largely devoted to an analysis of how European research policy has evolved during the past several years, a review of more recent developments, and a presentation of proposals by EARTO for what should happen in the near future.

The conference learned that the incoming Swedish EU Presidency shares EARTO's view of a confusing profusion of new initiatives in the Framework Programme. There is a need to clarify the "governance of ERA" (European Research Area). This clarification will be a priority of the Swedish Presidency (July-December, 2009).

During this session of the conference, EARTO gave its own analysis of recent ERA developments and presented a set of proposals designed to ensure a more coherent approach in the future. The analysis and proposals were the result of work in an EARTO-EUROTECH Task Force. This work is intended to feed into the mid-term review of FP7, which is foreseen for 2010: mid-term reviews of Framework Programmes have often presaged major innovations in the following Framework Programme.

The EARTO-EUROTECH proposals envisage the creation of a European Strategic Technological and Applied Research Council (ESTARC).  ESTARC would be a high-level independent body which would monitor the development of the European Research Area with particular reference to strategic and applied research and technological development. It would identify currently uncovered and emerging strategic technological and applied research priorities and opportunities, and would propose and implement corresponding programmes. The implementation of these programmes would be assured by a dedicated agency under the authority of ESTARC.

The initial ESTARC proposals include programmes for promoting strategic alliances between RTOs (but not excluding other partners such as universities and enterprises where appropriate), programmes for supporting projects promising disruptive and next-generation technologies, and a European programme for new technology-based start-ups and high-growth technology-based companies modelled on the US Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programme. 

A detailed presentation of the ESTARC proposals is available here. Members' comments are most welcome.

During the coming months EARTO proposes to liaise closely with the European Commission and the European Parliament in order to prepare the ground for the mid-term review of FP7 and the preparation of FP8.  

EARTO Innovation Prize: 15 Proposals

The first annual competition for the newly announced EARTO Innovation Prize closed on April 10th. A total of 15 submissions were made by 11 individual RTOs in the EARTO membership. They range over a large number of technology and application areas:

The EARTO Innovation Prize Task Force met in Paris on May 4th and selected the 7 best proposals from among these 15 for forwarding to the Innovation Prize Jury, which will make the final evaluation and selection of the winner(s).

The Task Force decided that the identity of the 7 selected proposals should not be published before the jury has made the final selection.

The Innovation Prize Jury will comprise five independent members, under the (non-voting) chairmanship of the EARTO President, assisted by the chairman of the EARTO Innovation Prize Task Force.

The evaluation and selection process is expected to take place in September, with announcement of the winners immediately afterwards. The prize(s) will be awarded at a prestigious ceremony in Brussels in November.

EARTO-EUROTECH Task Force on ex-post FP6 Project Audits by the European Commission

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.

Contacts are being established with industry and other affected parties in order to share information and to coordinate responses towards the Commission. Additionally, information is being provided to Member State governments in order to gain their support.

For further information, please contact Christopher John Hull

FP7 Cost Statements

Many FP7 beneficiaries have applied to the Commission for certification of their method of applying average personnel costs. But none appears so far to have received a definitive answer from the Commission. Now the time is approaching to submit the first cost statements. What to do?

The FP7 "methodology certificates" were first announced in the summer of 2006. Three and a half years later the Commission is still unable to decide how to implement them.

EARTO has seen a recent internal DG Research document which indicates that no decision on methodology certificates can be expected in the near future. Consequently, DG Research intends to require beneficiaries to submit cost statements on the basis of individual personal costs, i.e. average personnel costs will not be allowed. This is likely to be problematic for many beneficiaries and is arguably not consistent with the FP7 Rules of Participation.

DG Information Society (INFSO) is taking a different approach. At least one EARTO member has received a letter from DG INFSO stating that it may submit its first cost claims on the basis of average personnel costs; the precondition for doing this is that a beneficiary must have previously applied for a methodology certificate (even though none have been issued so far), and of course DG INFSO reserves the right to adjust the cost claim subsequently, depending upon how finally the Commission decides to implement methodology certification.

Any member wishing for advice on how to proceed is invited to contact Christopher John Hull

FP7 Performance Benchmarking

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 according to size category and in different FP7 thematic priority areas. Submitted data are treated confidentially and are presented anonymously.
Access to the service is via the members' area of the EARTO website.
For further information, please contact Pauline Bastidon.

EARTO Technical Special Interest Groups: Biosensors

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.

In the near future it is 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 Croatiazarkovic@irb.hr
Phone: ++385 1 457 1234 / 456 0937
Fax: ++385 1 456 1010
E-mail:

R&D Networking in Environment and Energy

This event in Paris on June 2nd aims at developing and facilitating networks all over Europe on topics related to environment, energy and their industrial applications.

The first half of the day will be dedicated to presentations of French SMEs, universities, large companies or research organisations looking for European partners and the other half will offer the opportunity to European stakeholders seeking French partners to present their projects. Participation is free of charge.

More information about the event and registration is available here.

Job Vacancies in RTOs

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 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.

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