MFG European Reporter -

Following the example set by Heidelberg Innovation Forum, the National Research Council Canada (NRC-IIT) organises the matchmaking event for the third time. This year they are working together with New Brunswick Information Technology Council (NBITC) and the Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN).
The overarching theme of New Brunswick Innovation Forum 2010, taking place on 5th and 6th October 2010 in Saint John/Canada,  is the Digital Economy. A selection committee will review the submissions and choose eight panelists in each of the following streams:
• Looking for technology transfer opportunities
• Offering collaboration opportunities
• Looking for funding
• International opportunities – this category is reserved for International researchers and companies that are offering business opportunities to Canadian companies.

MFG Baden-Württemberg is a partner of NRC-IIT and therefore happy to support you in taking part in New Brunswick Innovation Forum. If you’re interested in presenting your business idea and/or R&D results in front of Canadian investors, don’t hesitate to contact us!

Call for Proposal is open until 25th June 2010.

MFG Baden-Württemberg will present the “MFG Visual Experience Lab” at FMX 2010, the internationally renowned platform for computer animation, visual effects, games and digital media.  MFG uses this new laboratory to test and research current visualisation trends and technologies together with universities, businesses and talented newcomers from South-West Germany, providing them with an open experimental forum in which to study current trends and projects and test new applications jointly with MFG.

FMX visitors will have the opportunity to learn how these technologies can be integrated into computer games and virtual training worlds, for example at the “MFG Games Track” on May 5 or at the demonstration of the “MFG Visual Experience Lab” on May 6.

Read more in MFG’s press release (pdf)

As you probably realised we didn’t post that much on our blog recently. We’ve been quite busy writing project proposals for Lifelong Learning Calls 2010.
We met the deadline, but weren’t doing much else. We’d like to apologise for that. But now, here is our proposal news:

We submitted SESAM. The project develops a Serious Game supporting students and young entrepreneurs to learn how to organise and manage an event within the creative industries. Also SMeLE has been submitted, focussing on the Usage of Social Media Tools in Learning Environments of the Knowledge Intensive Sector.

Plus, we join the projects
- BRAIN (Blu Ray Apprentissage Industriel Numerique) – as you can imagine this one is lead by our French partner afpa.
- EU-ISN (European Innovation Skills Network) – this network proposal is led by our Belgium partner MENON.
- VETWORK (Bottom-up Consensus Building and Stakeholders Networking for Innovation in VET), led by Belgium partner European Association of Institutions in Higher Education and
- Web2.SME (Inter-Organisational Social Network for Innovation and Internationalisation of SMEs), led by our Spanish partner Camara Oficial de Comercio, Industria y Navegación.

Keep your fingers crossed for one or another successful proposal…
And if you have any good ideas for other calls or you’re generally looking for a new partner, please feel free to contact us any time! More information on current calls can be found in our Project Development Newsletter (pdf).

The Call for Proposals for the ninth Heidelberg Innovation Forum is open right now. Until 8th of February 2010 you’re invited to submit your business ideas focussing on Cleantech and Green IT – to participate in the convention for funding of technology-based start-ups and financing of research projects.

The forum will cover a broad sprectrum in the field of cleantech industries. Topics may range from Green IT and ICT innovations, Energy Efficiency, Energy Storage, Renewable Energies and White Biotech over Sustainable Mobility to Product Recycling. But other ideas from your subject area are also possible.

At the forum each panellist has 8 minutes to present his idea to investors and decision makers. Then in the breaks it is time to "Meet the Panellists" and engage in transfer business. Top industry representatives and researchers are expected to attend.

The Heidelberg Innovation Forum, taking place on 22nd of April 2010, is organised by MFG Baden-Württemberg mbH in collaboration with the European Media Laboratory, established by SAP co-founder Dr. h.c. Klaus Tschira.

Find out more…

On the 27th and 28th of October in the wonderful location of Strasbourg the second meeting of our Pro CI project took place. Together with our partners from France, Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland and England we have kept on working on the project idea, that we are willing to submit under the next Interreg NWE call in March 2010. Those who have already worked on an Interreg Project know for sure how much work and efforts it requires. Strong and reliable partnership are the basis for a successful project. That’s why MFG is glad to have the chance to work with creative and innovative European partners as Flanders DC, The Digital Hub, AER, Iconoval, CIDA and Brainport Development.

Personal meetings offer the great opportunity to get to know better and learn to trust the people you are working with. Even if sometimes it could be difficult to arrange a meeting according to the busy agenda of everyone, we strongly believe that it is always worth to meet your partners, before of course meeting them once again in a Skype conference!

Pro CI Consortium

Klaus Haasis and Sergio Duretti

We are happy to celebrate the strong collaboration with our Italian partner, CSP- Innovazione nelle ICT, now strengthened with a Memorandum of Understanding signed by Mr Haasis, CEO of MFG and Mr. Duretti, Director of CSP.

Under the umbrella of Open-Days, Mr Haasis and Duretti met each other for a strategic meeting, during which future cooperation activities have been defined. CReATE, Focus, SVEA, Master dei Talenti – with the collaboration of Fondazione CRT of Turin – are just some examples of projects and programmes which remark the collaboration between CSP and MFG during these years.

The moment of the signature

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