N°8, 15 July 2009
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Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7)
Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP)
Tenders Electronic Daily (TED)
On 23 June 2009, the European Commission adopted a decision which stipulates that:
The use of average personnel costs in FP7 projects is acceptable if the difference between the average rate and the extreme values (upper and lower rates) is not above 5% for each personnel category.
It is not acceptable if the difference between the average rate and the extreme values (upper and lower rates) is above 25% for any personnel category.
A methodology not fulfilling the first criterion (deviation equal or below 5%) and in which, for each personnel category, the deviation is not above 25%, is acceptable if it is applied by a beneficiary having participated in at least 4 FP6 or FP7 projects with an EC contribution in each of them equal to or above EUR 375.000.
Beneficiaries can only apply average personnel costs in FP7 projects once their methodology has been approved by the Commission. Any beneficiary whose methodology is not approved on the basis of the acceptability criteria must submit actual personnel costs.
The Decision is available here.
The European Commission has also produced a guidance note which is available here.
For further information, please contact Christopher John Hull.
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.
The FP7 performance benchmarking tool helps EARTO members compare how well they are doing in FP7 compared with other RTOs. It is a 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. Submitted data are treated confidentially and are presented anonymously.
Access to the service is via the members' area of the EARTO website.
There has been a proposal that we should expand the survey to include the CIP programmes (ICT PSP – Information Communication Technologies Policy Support Programme and IEE – Intelligent Energy Europe) and other relevant European research programmes.
We have created an expanded version of the benchmarking survey, which will allow us to collect data related to participation in the CIP programmes. We would be grateful if you could let us know whether the updated survey covers the right programmes and whether it is easy to use. You will only need to scroll down to access the new sections on the CIP programmes, once you are viewing the survey.
The updated version of the survey is available here.
Any additional comments on the survey are most welcome. We would be particularly keen to know whether you would like us to include other specific programmes, such as sub-programmes of the PEOPLE programme (we would be grateful if you could give us a precise list – e.g. “Initial Training Networks”).
For further information or to provide feedback on the updated survey, please contact Pauline Bastidon.
As part of the European Economic Recovery Plan, the Commission is launching three Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in close cooperation with industry on "Factories of the Future", "Energy-efficient Buildings" and "Green Cars" to provide EUR 3.2 billion of support for long-term "smart" research investment in the manufacturing, construction and automotive sectors.
In order to support the preparation of proposals, the Directorates General for Research, Information Society and Energy and Transport held a Joint Information Day on Research PPPs on 13 July 2009 in Brussels.
Science and Research Commissioner Potočnik confirmed that, to meet the need for a rapid start-up, the initiatives will be implemented in the first instance through a series of cross-thematic Coordinated Calls under the 2010 Work Programmes of the relevant FP7 themes, with a single stage submission and evaluation procedure. The Calls are expected to be published on 30 July 2009, with deadlines on 3 November 2009 and 14 January 2010 (for certain Green Cars initiatives) and the first research projects are expected to start in the spring of 2010.
There are ongoing discussions about the future of the PPPs post-2013, with the possibility of the creation of a JTI for each PPP. There is therefore a possibility that the rules for participation and evaluation might change in a few years. The Commission’s objective in the long run would be to have an equal contribution from the public and private sector.
However, for the time being, Commissioner Potočnik confirmed that the calls would be operating under FP7 rules: the eligibility rules of FP7 will still be in place, such as minimum number of participants, nationality requirements and deadlines. Funding will represent up to 50% of eligible costs for industry and up to 75% of eligible costs for public bodies, not for profit research centres, higher education bodies and SMEs. As for other FP7 projects, funding will also represent 100% of eligible costs for coordination and support actions and 50% of eligible costs for demonstration projects, for all participants. There will be limits in terms of funding for certain projects.
Increased funding from the ICT theme will help the Commission reach its budgetary objective without equal funding from the private sector. It must be noted that factors such as a strong industrial participation and the relevance of the project to industry will be taken into account when evaluating the proposals. Industry will also be heavily involved in the evaluation process. A specific annex to the FP7 2010 Work Programme providing further details on the PPPs calls for proposals will soon be published.
Ad-hoc advisory groups representing the private sector for each of the Public-Private Partnerships have been set up, with participants from different types of organisations, from research centres to big industry players and SMEs. These advisory groups have adopted draft strategic multi-annual roadmaps for the "Factories of the Future" (FoF) and "Energy-efficient buildings" (EeB) PPPs for the period 2010-2013. The two draft roadmaps are available here and here. A draft roadmap is being prepared for the "Green Cars" PPP and will be available soon. These drafts are open to comments until end of October 2009. Comments on the FoF PPP roadmap can be sent to Rikardo Bueno, while comments on the EeB PPP roadmap should be sent to Stefano Carosio.
Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding also announced that a new Public-Private Partnership on "Internet of the Future" would be launched in the coming months. A Communication on this new PPP is being prepared by her services. This new PPP is expected to be operational by 2011.
For further information, please contact Pauline Bastidon.
The Secretariat has learnt recently that staff members of some RTOs are no longer being invited to participate in project evaluations or that their invitation has been cancelled shortly before an evaluation "due to potential conflict of interest".
The Secretariat would like to hear from members who might have experienced something similar. This could have negative consequences for the sector by consistently reducing the number of evaluators from RTOs. Please contact Christopher John Hull if you have been affected by this change of policy.
On 2 June 2009, the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) launched a second call for proposals for research. Around €140 million have been allocated to this second call, with €71.3 million by the Commission matched by in-kind contributions of the industrial partners. The closing date for this second call for proposals is 15 October 2009.
The 29 project topics aim to put fuel cell and hydrogen energy technologies on the market two to five years sooner than what is estimated without the support it offers. Selected teams of researchers will investigate bottlenecks in the whole range of applications for these energy technologies, from cars to large scale power plants, as well as the whole supply chain from hydrogen production to demonstration of the market-readiness of applications.
Breakthrough research should foster the use of hydrogen-fuelled buses and fuel cell vehicles. It will help develop hydrogen storage and improve fuel cells' durability, performance and the cost-efficiency to make green applications such as power stations or laptops ready for the market.
This call is the second being launched by this EU-wide collaborative private-public partnership whose total budget amounts around €1bn to be invested by 2014.
Further information on this new call for proposals can be found here.
Planning for the management structure of the Alzheimer Joint Programme is well on the way. The management structure will comprise four elements: a Management Board, a Scientific Advisory Board, an Executive Board and a Secretariat. The Management Board will act as a decision-making body and will consult the Scientific Advisory Board on detailed preparations of the strategic research agenda.
Representatives sent to the Management Board were officially nominated on 18 June. Participating countries agreed on terms of reference and a procedure and timetable for election of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman and appointment of the Scientific Advisory Board and the Executive Board. 15 members from various European countries (including non-participants in the pilot programme) will sit on the Scientific Advisory Board.
France is providing the secretariat for this initiative until the end of the year.
The next meeting of the Management Board will take place on 6 October 2009.
The European Council of December 2008 called for a European Innovation Plan, due to be released towards the end of 2009.
DG Enterprise has established a Business Panel to provide inputs from a business perspective on priorities for future EU innovation policy. The panel is due to provide a final report in early Autumn 2009 which is intended to provide a major input to the European Innovation Plan.
From 7 July to 31 August 2009, the panel is holding an open online debate on its ideas and proposals through the Innovation Unlimited site. An online consultation to receive proposals on what should be the priorities and ideas for future EU innovation policy has been launched on this website.The debate will feed into the final report, which will also provide the underpinning evidence and rationales for the panel’s ideas and recommendations.
The online consultation is organised around five major themes, subdivided into proposals. Proposals worth noting include:
• A re-organisation of EU action around grand societal challenges;
• Measures to ensure that the public sector dedicates at least 1% of public departmental budgets in every country to innovation;
• A full roll-out of e-procurement;
• Measures to speed up the uptake of innovative solutions and technologies, especially in the public sector;
• Specific EU support for platforms and mechanisms for trans-national transfer and scale up;
• A combination of infrastructure projects with innovation activities that exploit the infrastructure, including in the Structural Funds and recovery packages;
• A major development of the European Investment Fund to create new models to fund trans-national partnerships, corporate venturing and societal innovation funds;
• An acceleration of pan-European venture capital funds;
• Measures to fund and encourage collaboration between “innovation labs”.
A PDF version of the consultation text can be found here.
Any proposals submitted that are considered appropriate will be posted as part of this consultation for others to comment, rate and share. The panel will look at all new proposals and comments received in formulating their final report to the European Commission. The deadline for the consultation is 31 August 2009.
Please contact Pauline Bastidon for more information.
As a part of the Swedish EU-presidency, the Swedish Government hosted a conference on the future of European research: “New Worlds - New Solutions ? Research and Innovation as a Basis for Developing Europe in a Global Context”. The Conference took place in Lund, Sweden, on 7-8 July 2009. The overall theme of the Conference was the role of research and innovation in the development of Europe up to 2025.
Participants agreed on a document – the Lund Declaration – which was handed over to the Swedish Minister for Higher Education and Research Tobias Krantz. The Declaration is the fruit of four international workshops held in preparation for the conference, which brought together 350 researchers, politicians, industrialists and research funders to explore possible options for Framework Programme 8.
The declaration states that European Research Policy should move away from its present rigid thematic structure and instead focus on the Grand Challenges, such as climate change, water shortage, demography and pandemics. It recommends that this should be done through public-private partnership and increased cooperation between the Member States and the Commission. Meeting the Grand Challenges will also require bringing together supply- and demand- side measures and policies, such as lead market initiatives, public procurement, problem- and issue- driven policies and priority setting. Finally, the Declaration states that a risk-tolerant and trust-based approach in research funding entailing actions for necessary changes in the Communities’ Financial Regulation and Rules for participation and dissemination is needed to successfully meet the Grand Challenges.
The Lund Declaration can be found here.
CETMA Consortium, the Engineering, Design and Materials Technologies Center, is an applied multidisciplinary research and advanced industrial engineering center created in 1992.
CETMA is a non-profit operating consortium; its profits are reinvested in educational and research activities. CETMA offers innovation, products and processes development, planning, simulation and characterisation services for materials and components. Its specific expertise lies in areas such as materials and structure engineering, information technology and industrial design.
http://www.cetma.it/en_Default.aspx
The first "European Innovation Summit", organised by Knowledge for Innovation, will take place in the European Parliament on 13 and 14 October. This event is targeted at new MEPs and will aim to promote innovation in the newly elected European Parliament. EARTO is participating in the planning of one of the sessions which will focus on ways to reshape R&D for excellence in innovation.
The event will feature exhibitions, conference sessions, interviews, and networking opportunities. Special highlights include a ‘Welcome Reception’ for new and returning MEPs and a Plenary Session with Commission President Barroso (tbc) for “Europe’s Future Nobel Prize Winners”. The conference will gather policy makers from the EU institutions, Member States, regional organisations and networks, and stakeholders from the academic and private sectors.
More information is available here.
A full programme and abstract for the various sessions of the Innovation Summit is available here.
Europe-wide collaborative research projects between businesses, research institutions and higher education have made the protection of IP crucial. A soundly developed set of contracts for research co-operations is essential for facilitating the management and protection of IP.
The European conference on IP Management in European Research Co-operations on 7th - 8th September 2009, Berlin, Germany will provide essential information on:
• how to secure IP, its exploitation and management,
• how to face international challenges for European research co-operations,
• how to secure IP when working with model agreements for research co-
operations (such as Lambert, DESCA, etc.),
• how to commercialise research and make use of IP,
• how to find alternative ways for dispute resolution,
• how to handle IP in M&A transactions,
• how to deal with in-licensing opportunities.
Special focus will be given to practical questions regarding the management of IP, dispute resolution and due diligence.
Please click on the following link for detailed information: PDF brochure "IP Management in European Research Co-operations".
The World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Center, the Centre for Intellectual Property Rights (CIR) in Leuven, Belgium, EARTO, EIRMA and ProTon Europe are co-organising a symposium on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in Research and Development collaborations, which will be held in Leuven on 13 November 2009.
R&D collaborations often involve complex questions related to Intellectual Property (IP) rights which may result in disputes. Thinking carefully about the options available to resolve disputes forms an important part of IP management since IPR disputes can affect the way research projects are conducted, the relationship between the collaborators and the exploitation of results after a project. In many cases, the way disputes are resolved is central to the success or failure of research collaborations. In this respect, ADR mechanisms, such as (expedited) arbitration, mediation and expert determination may be timely and cost-effective alternatives to court procedures.
The purpose of this symposium is to bring together leading professionals from companies, research organisations, law firms and universities active in research collaborations in different sectors to discuss trends, evaluate the kinds of disputes that are arising and are likely to arise in the future, and assess the merits of the various options available for resolving them. The programme includes several panels with speakers, who will describe their experience with disputes and dispute resolution in R&D collaborations.
A copy of the programme is available here.
Registration forms are now available here.
For more information, please contact Mrs. Linda Mees by phone (+32 16 32 37 32) or by email.
EARTO gives space in this newsletter to members who would like to publish their job vacancies. Please contact Pauline Bastidon.
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 Commission has published an updated version of the Work Programme 2009 for the Specific Programme "People". It replaces the older version of this document from August 2008.
Long-awaited funding proposals for the EU's Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) are now expected to emerge from the European Commission in the autumn.
The EU executive's communication on...
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology has published an updated version of its guidance paper on KICs cost reporting.
This paper contains guidance on how to complete Part A, form 3.1....
A draft summary of the 2010 calls for proposals of the ERC is now available online. € 1.118 billion is expected to be made available through calls from the Starting Independent Researcher Grant (StG)...
On 3 July, the Commission adopted a Decision amending provisions of the Council Regulation setting up the Clean Sky JTI related to the IP regime in use.
Under the new rule, it will be allowed to...
Today the conference ”New world – New solutions” in Lund came to an end. For two days, 350 researchers, research funders, business people and politicians have been gathered to discuss the future...
The December 2008 European Council called for a European Plan for Innovation.
As a first step the Commission intends to present possible short term actions in response to the economic crisis and...
The Commission has launched a new website on EU Framework Programme evaluation and monitoring.
This site is the entry point for the European Commission's activities on Framework Programme...
As part of the new strategy on research described in the communication "Moving the ICT frontiers - a strategy for research on future and emerging technologies in Europe", the Commission proposes to...
As a part of the Swedish EU-presidency, the Swedish Government will host a conference on the future of European research; New Worlds - New Solutions ? Research and Innovation as a Basis for...
The EU’s food industry is not excluded from today’s economic downturn. To give this important industry sector fresh impetus, European Commission Vice President Günter Verheugen and Commissioners...
The landscape for ICT (Information and Communication Technology) standardisation has dramatically changed over the last decade. Alongside the traditional standard stetting organisations, specialised...
The European Commission’s handling of the Galileo satellites and associated global positioning system was so bad that it should think twice before getting involved in any other large infrastructure...
With today's publication of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative (JTI)'s second call for proposals for research, Europe stays the course to realise the potential of fuel cell and...
Small, innovative companies should be given special status by the European Patent Office (EPO) in order to remove barriers to intellectual property protection, according to a new report by the...
The Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI) has passed a major milestone by completing a review of more than 300 major European biobanks. Project managers Professor Kurt...
Europe can meet its ambitious renewable energy targets, but only if governments increase their financial and regulatory support for the new technologies, concludes a new report from the European...
The Commission adopted today a decision establishing a template for National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs) as required by the recent Renewable Energy Directive. The template will guide...
On 23 June 2009, the European Commission adopted a decision which stipulates that:
The use of average personnel costs in FP7 projects is acceptable if the difference between the average rate and...
The EU needs to improve its "innovation climate" and the speed with which it transforms research into commercial products, EU Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potočnik told EurActiv in an...
In April 2007, the European Commission, through the Directorate-General for Research, commissioned a study to evaluate and assess the impact of the ERA-NET scheme and related ERA-NET actions under...
The European nuclear fission research community has finalised their Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), which was presented at the FISA 2009 conference held in Prague, the Czech Republic from 22 to 24...
CORDIS recently launched a new information service designed to complement the Seventh Framework Programme's security research theme. The new Security Research Information Service now features news,...
A newly-produced report ‘A European Eco-efficient Economy’ focuses on Europe’s potential for creating an eco-efficient economy, one of the areas that will be given priority during the Swedish...
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.
To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, please send an e-mail to Pauline Bastidon.