On the 9th September the Steibeins Europa Zentrum in collaboration with the MFG Baden Württemberg has run a workshop on the European Seventh Framework Programme (FP/7), with the aim of giving the applicants some useful tipps to present a successful project, being aware of possible tricks. More than 40 german future applicants had the chance to improve their knowledge on the programme and make questions to clear their doubts. Here a brief overview of what has been said.
FP/7 is the short name for the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, the EU’s main instrument for funding research in Europe. The broad objectives of FP7 have been grouped into four categories: Cooperation, Ideas, People and Capacities. For each type of objective, there is a specific programme corresponding to the main areas of EU research policy. All specific programmes work together to promote and encourage the creation of European poles of (scientific) excellence. The programme will run from 2007 till 2013 with a budget of 54.521 billion euro.
The complexity of the programme required a careful understanding of the requirements set up in the call. Take your time to read and understand all the documents and, in case you still have any doubts, there are a lot of european contact points who can help you to work on your proposal.
Heike Fischer from Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum
First of all, who can participate to FP7?
Any company, university, research centre, organisation or individual from the EU-27 Member States may participate in a collaborative project. But also associated, candidate and third countries may take part to a project.
No one can present a project on his on: a fundamental prerequisite to take part to FP7 is to set up a consortium of at least 3 partner. In choosing partners it’s crucial to look for reliable organisations, which will for sure carry out the work assigned to them. For a successful project management a clear division of tasks among partners is vital. Look for partners with differente expertise, which can bring complementary knowledge and support in the project, adoiving – in the meantime – any form of internal competition. And remember that the transnational dimension of the project is a key factor for its success.
If you have never draw a proposal before, finding the right european partners could not be that easy. Fortunately, there are a lot of database that can help you in your search: in these database organisations looking for partnership can upload their profile by entering their project idea or specific expertise and, of course, can look for other partners reading all the profile divided by projects and countries.
Here are some useful links:
Cordis database
Enterprise Europe Network
Is your idea right for the FP7 and how can you develop it?
This is also an important questions that should be answered before drawing a proposal. Ideas should fit to the detailed request from the EU and should therefore proposed in the framework of the right programm. But good ideas are not enough. A good project should show a high profile project management that takes into consideration a solid risk management and a wide dissemination strategy. If you are not sure that your project has all these requisites you can ask for advise to the one of the many contact point and institutions that all over Europe help applicants to write proposals, check financial matters and evaluate the work done from a outsider’s point of view.
In Germany you can in any time contact the National Contact Point for any problems regarding European project. If you are in Baden-Württemberg you can directly ask the Steinbeins Europa Zentrum, your regional contact point.
Here you can find all the slide and the information provided during the workshop:
Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum
Grundprinzipien der Europäische Forschungsförderung
Der Weg zum Antragstellung und Aufbau eines Konsortiums
Aktuelle IKT Aufrufen in 7. Forschungsrahmenprogramm
Finanzielle Aspekte in einem FP7 Projekt
September the 3rd: a workshop for INTERREG IV B NWE was held in Bonn to guide the german speaking applicants through the impervious road, which bring to the development of successful projects. The MFG Baden-Württemberg was there, here a short report of the event.
For the ones who are still confused on the matter, it’s important to know that Interreg IV B NWE (North West Europe) is a financial instrument of the European Union’s Cohesion Policy. It funds projects which support transnational cooperation. The aim is to find innovative ways to make the most of territorial assets and tackle shared problems of Member States, regions and other authorities.
The Iinterreg IVB NWE priorities at a glance:
1. Developing the NWE knowledge-based economy by capitalising on our capacity for innovation
2. Substainable management of natural resources and of natural and technological risks
3. Improving connectivity in NWE by promoting intelligent and sustainable transport and ICT solutions
4. Promoting strong and prosperous communities at transnational level
Unlike its predecessor Interreg III B, the Interreg IV B is mainly focused on projects which will provide a concret outputs, developing a final product with a visible value and able to prove the long lasting impact of the project. That means that studies will not longer be financied. Besides, the transnational dimension of the project will be crucial: the greatest potential for added-value through transnational cooperation can be achieved in projects where the problems addressed is of such nature that it cannot be satisfactorily tackled within one nation state.
Here are some useful tipps emerged from the conference:
- A well defined project required at least 6 months of development
- It is always better to have a face-to-face meeting with the partners you are working with
- In writing the project avoid to use jargon
- Deserve the right attention to the budget calculation: even things like translation and travel costs shouldn’t be understimated
- Staff costs are usually calculated considering the gross-income
- Don’t over estimate the costs of contribution in kind
- Before submitting a project check if some other projects on the same topic have already be presented
- Last but not least, form matters: don’t forget to sign the project, to completely fill the form, to provide all the documents required and to send everything on the right time
At the workshop – organised by the Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung (BBR) – was also presented the German Contact Point for the Interreg NWE, an istitution which should be contacted by the German applicants to get some useful tipps and recommendations but also in order to absolved at the First Level Control (FLC). For any further information:
Eva C. Lupprian
Deutsche Kontaktstelle
Interreg IVB Nordwesteuropa (NWE)Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Mittelstand und Energie
des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen
Haroldstraße 4
40213 Düsseldorf
Tel.: ++49 (0)211 837 4149
Fax: ++49 (0)211 837 4206
E-Mail: nwe-contactpoint@mwme.nrw.de
The MFG Baden-Württemberg Project Development Team is pleased to welcome you on its new webblog! Using this platform we will try to keep you inform on the most relevant European matters regarding calls, applications, projects and international affairs. We will share useful tipps and recommendations which can lead to successful project development and keep you updated on ongoing projects we are working on. We will also provide you with a continually updated lists of conferences and events regarding international topics, which will help you not to miss anything important happening in Europe.
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We wish you an interesting surfing!
The MFG Project Development Team
Simona Pede • 
1:57 pm • 
