Viktorija Kaidalova
EU-Malaysia Cooperation
EU Delegation to Malaysia
EU collaborative research funding opportunities: Framework Programme 7 and Horizon 2020
24 April 2012 University of Nottingham,
Global Research Workshop
Presentation Outline
• What is FP7 • What is Horizon 2020 General questions • Why submitting a project proposal to the European Commission
(EC)? • Who can participate ? What are the funding conditions? • What kind of project proposals can be submitted? • What is a call for proposals ? How to get involved • Step 1 – where to find FP7 calls for proposals ? • Identifying relevant research areas • Step 2 – Find a consortium/European proposal coordinator • CORDIS partner search tool • Step 3 – Help to prepare the proposal • Step 4 – Submitting the proposal • Step 5 - Project proposal selection procedure • How to prepare a good project proposal? • Useful links
What is Framework Programme 7
• Multi-annual programmes aiming to integrate research, foster excellence, pool resources, address globalisation etc.
• The EU Framework Programmes (FPs) have been implemented since 1984 and typically cover a period of five years. This is the 7th FP (2007-2013).
• FPs have been the main financial tool through which the EU supports R&D both within and outside Europe.
• FP grants are awarded to European and non-European researchers to co-finance research, technological development and demonstration projects.
• Funding for scientific research includes both
– Project funding for Applied Science
– Fellowships also for Basic Science
• The largest research funding program in the world
Funding
3.27 5.36 6.6
13.12 14.9617.5
50.5
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
1984-1987 1987-1991 1990-1994 1994-1998 1998-2002 2002-2006 2007-2013
€ Billion
Ideas – Frontier Research (7,4 billion €)
Capacities – Research Capacity (4,2 billion €)
People – Marie Curie Actions (4,7 billion €)
Cooperation – Collaborative research (32 billion €)
Specific FP7 programmes relevant for Malaysia
Cooperation – Collaborative Research
1. Health 2. Food, agriculture and fisheries, and biotechnology 3. Information and communication technologies 4. Nanosciences, nanotechnologies, materials
and new production technologies 5. Energy 6. Environment (including climate change) 7. Transport (including aeronautics) 8. Socio-economic sciences and the humanities 9. Space 10. Security
NB: All ten themes have an international dimension – open to Malaysia
Ten themes
ASEAN Participation in FP7
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Bru
nei D
aru
ssala
m
Burm
a/ M
yanm
ar
Cam
bodia
Indonesia
Lao (P
eople
's
Dem
ocra
tics
Republic
of L
ao)
Mala
ysia
Philip
pin
es
Sin
gapore
Thaila
nd
Vie
tnam
Transport (including Aeronautics)
Science in Society
Research Infrastructures
Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies,
Material and new Production
TechnologiesMarie-Curie Actions
Information and Communication
Technologies
Health
Food, Agriculture, and Biotechnology
Environment (including Climate
Change)
Energy
Activities of International Cooperation
Participation of Malaysia
• International Cooperation Partner Country (ICPC) • Eligible to receive funding (same rights and obligations) • Consortia must have the minimum required number of MS / AC participants
• As of March 2012, 102 eligible proposals were submitted in response to 307 FP7
calls for proposals
• The MY applicant success rate is 20,3% against average of 22,8% among non-EU applicants
• Currently Malaysian partners participate in 15 FP7 cooperation projects of the total value of projects ~ €80 million
• Malaysian top 5 collaborative links are with UK, Germany, France, Thailand and Switzerland
What is Horizon 2020
• Commission proposal for a 80 billion euro research and innovation funding programme (2014-2020)
• Part of proposals for next EU budget, complementing Structural Funds, education, etc.
• A core part of Europe 2020, Innovation Union & European Research Area:
– Responding to the economic crisis to invest in future jobs and growth
– Addressing peoples’ concerns about their livelihoods, safety and environment.
– Strengthening the EU’s global position in research, innovation and technology
What’s new
• A single programme bringing together three separate programmes/initiatives*
• More innovation, from research to retail, all forms of innovation
• Focus on societal challenges, e.g. health, clean energy and transport
• Simplified access, for all companies, universities, institutes in all EU countries and beyond.
*The 7th research Framework Programme (FP7), innovation aspects of Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP), EU contribution to the European Institute of
Innovation and Technology (EIT)
Horizon 2020 priorities
Priority 1: Excellent science Why: • World class science is the foundation of tomorrow’s technologies, jobs and wellbeing • Need to develop, attract and retain research talent • Researchers need access to the best infrastructures
Priority 2: Industrial leadership
Why: • Need of more innovative SMEs to create growth and jobs • Strategic investments in key technologies (e.g. advanced manufacturing, micro-electronics) underpin
innovation across existing and emerging sectors • Need to attract more private investment in research and innovation
Priority 3: Societal challenges
Why: • EU policy objectives (climate, environment, energy, transport etc) cannot be achieved without innovation • Breakthrough solutions come from multi-disciplinary collaborations, including social sciences & humanities • Promising solutions need to be tested, demonstrated and scaled up
Broader access
• For SMEs - dedicated SME projects to address societal challenges and enabling technologies
• For all regions – tailored support to policy learning, twinning, networking, complementing Structural Funds
• For international partners – broad access to Horizon 2020 (“mainstreaming”), strategic initiatives where there is mutual benefit
• For all forms of innovation - social innovation, services, pilots, stimulating demand through public procurement, standard setting
Next steps
From 30/11: Parliament and Council negotiations on the basis of the Commission proposals
Ongoing: Parliament and Council negotiations on EU budget 2014-20 (including overall budget for Horizon 2020)
Mid 2012: Final calls under 7th Framework Programme for Research to bridge gap towards Horizon 2020
By end 2013: Adoption of legislative acts by Parliament and Council on Horizon 2020
1/1/2014: Horizon 2020 starts; launch of first calls
General questions Why submitting a project proposal to the EC?
• Not only because the project proposal - if selected - will be (partially) funded by the EC
A grant of 50 to 100% is allocated (depending on the nature of the project, the type of the organisation, etc.)
With no rights claimed by the EC (in terms of research results, IPRs, payback scheme, etc.)
• But (first & foremost…) because FP7 is an opportunity for any organisation to Improve its knowledge (FP7 vision, cooperation framework, planned roadmap, ongoing activities, information, tools, etc.)
Benefit from a true collaborative (international) programme / project (contacts, sharing of knowledge & experience, finding complementary skills, etc.)
Enhance its image through key references
Who can participate (1)
• 27 EU Member States (MS) Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands,
Spain, Sweden, Portugal, United Kingdom, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania
• 3 Associated Candidate Countries (ACC or AC) Croatia (to become Member of the EU on 1 July 2013), Turkey, FYROM
• 6 Associated States (AS) Iceland, Israel, Liechtenstein, Norway, Serbia and Switzerland
• ICPC target countries (emerging & developing countries) • Countries neighbouring the EU: North Africa / Western Balkans / Eastern Europe / Central Asia
• Developing countries: ACP (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific) / Asia (except Japan, Taiwan, Singapore,
South Korea) / Latin America • Emerging Economies: China / Brazil / India / Russia / South Africa / Etc.
• Other "third" countries (USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Singapore, South Korea, etc.) are considered as
industrialised countries & funded oniy exceptionally (if essential for carrying out the action / if specified in the WP or a Specific Programmes/in case of bilateral S&T agreements - eg. South Africa)
Who can participate (2)
• Participation in FP7 is open to a wide range of organisations and individuals including:
– Research groups at universities or research institutes – Companies looking to innovate – SME’s and SME associations – Gov’t bodies (local, regional or national) – Post-graduate students – Institutions running trans-national research infrastructures
• Any undertaking, university or research centre or other legal entity, whether established in a:
- EU Member State (MS), or - Associated country (AC), or • International organisations and participants from third countries
can participate in addition to the minima
Minimum conditions for participation in FP7
• General At least 3 independent legal entities from 3 different EU Member States (MS) or
Associated Countries (AC) (provided this minimum has been achieved, any number of additional participants from other countries can be included)
Additional conditions can be established by the work programme - or specific programmes (e.g. number/type of participant, place of establishment, etc.)
• Specific
Collaborative projects for specific cooperation actions dedicated to international cooperation with partner countries (ICPC) identified in WP (SICAs): min. 4 participants (2 in different MS or AC + 2 in different ICPC countries unless specified in WP)
Participation of international organisations & participants from third countries if in addition to minima
What kind of project proposals can be submitted?
An innovative research project
Research (and demonstration in certain cases) Deployment or commercial activities are not supported by FP7
Collaborative projects
The basic idea is to encourage organisations from EU countries & from 3rd countries to join forces
Projects answering the specification of FP7 Calls for proposals
Proposals can be submitted only in response to Calls for proposals Proposals have to strictly answer the specification of the Calls
What kind of project proposals can be submitted?
Typical FP7 research project
6 to 10 or more research partners from many countries
Universities, Research Institutes, Companies (especially SMEs)
A collaborative exercise (research is divided in “work packages” and “tasks”)
4 years duration
Co-financing by EU (3-6 million €, divided among all project partners)
one partner is the project coordinator
What is a call for proposals?
• FP7 is implemented through periodic “Calls for Proposals”
2 to 3 series of calls per year in average
• Calls are competitive!
Only the best proposals can be funded (50% to 100% of project total costs)
• The evaluation of received proposals is performed by independent experts based on clear evaluation criteria
Contracts can typically be signed 8 to 12 months after the Call closure date
How to get involved Step 1 - WHERE TO FIND FP7 CALLS FOR PROPOSALS?
• Programs for all aspects of FP7 are published annually
• Find them on https://cordis.europa.eu
• Read carefully – identify relevant open and upcoming calls
• You must respond to a call
Identifying relevant research areas
• Must be based on your organisations research and strategic goals
• Maximum funding for most projects is 50-75% > need to secure co-funding internally
or a national level
• Write proposal is time consuming
• Proposals submitted must be relevant to the action lines open within specific calls
• The role of each partner must be clearly articulated and illustrate how their experience is relevant and complementary
• Need to identify European partners that you wish to work with in the long term to justify investment building a relationship
• Irrelevant proposals will not be evaluated
How to get involved in project proposals?
If you have a project idea in mind Read into detail all documents related to the Call for Proposals you are targeting
(WP, call details, selection criteria, etc.) to check how your project can fit in and if it fits, go!
- Develop your vision into detail - Identify & motivate potential partners bringing targeted skills - Investigate FP7 information to refine the project objectives & the partnership - Attend the pre-Call Information days organised by the EC to better position
your proposal & establish contacts
If you want to be involved in projects under construction Contact the organisations you already know & who may submit proposals. Ask
for their support! Attend pre-Call events & investigate FP7 information to identify the projects in
which your skills could be useful & the organisations preparing proposals you could contact
In both cases, be ready to invest time! Drafting a good proposal or convincing a third party to take you on board of a
proposal requires a lot of time and efforts but… is worthwhile!
Step 2 - Find a Consortium/ European proposal coordinator
• Scientific friends
• CORDIS partner search (see next slide)
• Internet (FP6/FP7 project lists)
• Conferences
• Official FP7 information events
• National Contact Points
CORDIS partner search
Malaysia- FP7 National Contact Points
Malaysia- FP7 National Contact Points (cont.)
Malaysia- FP7 National Contact Points (cont.)
7. NCP for NMP (Nanosciences, nanotechnologies, materials and new production technologies)
Dr. Ahmad Makinudin Dahlan [+ NCP for INCO and NCP for Marie Curie]
Principal Metrologist, National Metrology Laboratory, SIRIM Berhad, Lot PT 4803, Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi, 43900 Sepang, Malaysia Tel no.: +60 3 87781663 Fax no.: +60 3 87781616 Email: [email protected] AND Mr. Zulkifli Mohd Nani Senior Consultant, WAITRO Secretariat, SIRIM Berhad, No.1, Persiaran Dato’ Menteri, Section 2, 40911 Shah Alam, Malaysia. Tel no.: +60 3 55446000 Fax no.: +60 3 55108095 e-ma Email : [email protected]
Step 3 – Help to prepare the proposal
– EPSS (electronic submission) – Proposal – Part A “Administrative information” – Proposal – Part B “Template” – description of your institution – CVs of key researchers – importance of the project in your country – economic and social impact of the project – how to exploit the results – list of references and related projects – Illustrations – your required budget – Send your PIC (Participant Identification Code)
Proposal preparation
1) Proposals must be submitted electronically, using the Commission's Electronic Proposal Submission Service (EPSS). Proposals arriving at the Commission by any other means are regarded as ‘not submitted’, and will not be evaluated.
2) All the data that is uploaded is securely stored on a server to which only the coordinator and the other participants in the proposal have access until the deadline. This data is encrypted.
PROPOSAL – PART A administrative information
• Form A1 (to be filled in by the coordinator) Project title, acronym, objective, etc. 2000 character proposal abstract • Form A2 (to be filled by all partners, one form each) Proposer legal details Proposer identification as SME / Public body / Research Centre /
University / Etc. Proposer identification through its PIC (Participant Identification Code)
• Form A3 (to be filled in by the coordinator) Breakdown of costs per partner (direct / indirect costs)
PROPOSAL – PART A administrative information
Participant Identification Codes (PICs)
• The Participant Identification Code is a unique 9 digit number that helps
the European Commission to identify a participant. • If a PIC is not yet available for your organisation, you can still submit
your proposal by entering the organisation details manually. • However, it is strongly recommended that before submitting a proposal
via the Electronic Proposal Submission System (EPSS), you self-register your organisation in the Participant Portal under the ''My Organisations'' ''Register'' tabs and receive a temporary PIC, which can then be used in the EPSS. The use of PICs – even temporary ones – will lead to more efficient processing of your proposal.
PROPOSAL – PART B “template”
• Section 1: Scientific and/or technical quality (recommended length: 20 pages)
1.1 Concept and objectives 1.2 Progress beyond the state-of-the-art 1.3 S&T methodology and associated work plan, which includes - Gantt chart, work-package list, deliverables list, description of each work-package and summary,
summary effort table, milestone list, Pert chart
• Section 2. Implementation 2.1 Management structure and procedures 2.2 Individual participants (maximum one page per participant) 2.3 Consortium as a whole 2.4 Resources to be committed (about two pages)
• Section 3. Impact (recommended length: 10 pages) 3.1 Expected impacts listed in the work programme 3.2 Dissemination and/or exploitation of project results, and management of
intellectual property
Section 4. Ethical Issues
Step 4 – Submitting the proposal
• Only the coordinator is authorised to submit the proposal
• Proposals must be submitted on or before the deadline specified in the Call fiche. It is the coordinator’s responsibility to ensure the timely submission of the proposal.
• The EPSS will be closed for this call at the call deadline. After this moment, access to the EPSS for this call will be impossible.
• =>Do not wait until the last moment before submitting your proposal!
Step 5 – Project proposal selection procedure
• All proposals are independently accessed by a miniumum of 3 evaluators against proposal criteria
• Following submission of written reports by each evaluator, there is a Consensus meeting whereby the evaluation team discuss each criteria and agree the comments and matching scores
• Proposals are ranked based on scores at end of evaluation process
• Panel Meeting of all evaluators for that Call discuss short-listed proposals and agree on ranking
• Proposals who passed all criteria and received high ranking in the list of projects are called to negotiations
Project proposal selection procedure – overview
Evaluation criteria
Section 1 - Scientific & technical quality (threshold 3/5) Soundness of concept, quality of objectives (all instruments) Progress beyond the state-of-the-art (CP) Contribution to long term integration of high quality S&T research (NoE) Contribution to the coordination of high quality research (CSA) Quality & effectiveness of the S&T methodology & associated work-plan (CP) Quality & effectiveness of the joint programme of activities & associated work-plan (NoE) Quality & effectiveness of the coordination/support action mechanisms & associated work-plan (CSA)
Section 2 - Implementation (ALL instruments) (threshold 3/5) Appropriateness of the management structures & procedures Quality & relevant experience of the individual participants Quality of the consortium as a whole (complementarity, balance, etc.) Appropriate allocation & justification of the resources to be committed (budget, staff, equipment, etc.)
Section 3 - Impact (threshold 3/5) Contribution to the expected impacts listed in the WP under the relevant activity (all instruments) Appropriateness of measures for the dissemination/exploitation of results & management of IP (CP) Appropriateness of measures for spreading excellence, exploiting results & disseminating knowledge through engagement with
stakeholders & the public at large (NoE & CSA)
Total score required to meet overall threshold: 10/15
From the project proposal to the selected project
• Submission To be made electronically (EPSS) through a set of documents respecting detailed templates &
guidelines, and… in time (strict deadlines!)
• Evaluation A fair, transparent & relatively quick process (2-3 months) involving independent experts
working on the basis of the Call documents and of (public) selection criteria
• Negotiation If the proposal is pre-selected, the proposers & the EC work together on the possibility to
transform the proposal into a project, on the basis of evaluators’ remarks & comments
• Contract (if the negotiation phase is successful) Can be signed between the EC & the project
coordinator as soon as 4 to 6 months after the submission deadline
• Project The project can then smoothly developed on the basis of a “Description of Work” (DoW) & of
the “Contract and its annexes” (administrative & financial issues) Its progress will be reviewed by the EC every 6-12 months
HOW TO PREPARE A GOOD PROJECT PROPOSAL?
Be successful - What can count against you:
Abstract unclear
Proposal can only be understood by experts
Financial plan inconsistent; budget and distribution of funds
unclear
Goals and content (priorities) not taken into account
Goals, methodology and/or work plan not detailed enough
Roles of partners & cooperation unclear
Management unclear; coordinator not qualified
Project too ambitious
HOW TO PREPARE A GOOD PROJECT PROPOSAL?
1) Make sure, all along the proposal preparation period, that the proposal answers the specification of the Call for Proposals and Guidelines
2) Make sure your proposal is of high quality During the preparation process, periodically have your proposal
evaluated by persons not involved in the proposal preparation; ask them to use the same background information & selection criteria the evaluators will
During the evaluation process the evaluators will start reading the proposal 1/2 page summary and will have to be 90% convinced after this…
3) Structures (e.g. management) are clearly presented
4) Proposal is submitted completely and on time
Info on Calls
Each thematic area issues regular calls in the Official Journal and through the Cordis website
Call closing date, available budget, focus, etc.
The information pack for open Calls generally include:
Call Text
Work-Programme Description
Guide for Proposers
Proposal Evaluation and Selection Procedures
Grant Agreement Template
Financial Guidelines
Negotiation Guidelines
USEFUL LINKS
• The European Commission http://ec.europa.eu/ • FP7 http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7 • National Contact Points (NCP) http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ncp_en.html • FP7 contacts in 3rd countries http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/third-countries_en.html • Cordis partners service http://cordis.europa.eu/partners-service/ • Horizon 2020
http://ec.europa.eu/research/horizon2020/index_en.cfm?pg=home
Thank you!
