Health and ICT Funding Opportunities in Third Countries

FP7 is a very large programme offering many opportunties, but did you know that there are also funding opportunties available in third countries? Surely you knew, but how to access them? Where to find information and where to apply? This is already more difficult to find information about.

In May and June, there will be two networking events where programme owners from countries different as the US, Brazil and India and many more will present the opportunities in their countries and how you can take part.

The event in May is focusing on ICT and takes place in conjunction with the ICT Proposers days in Budapest the 20 May.

If you are in the health sector it might be interesting to discover the funding opportunties in an event organised as part of the Health Info day 9 June in Brussels.

We will of course be there, as organisers (part of INDIA GATE project’s activities) but also to learn about the priorities in other third countries, and of course to meet interesting people! Now when the practial arrangments are almost done, I’m really looking forward to the events! Are you coming as well?

The events are organsied by common efforts by projects funded by the European Commission, they are of course free of charge.

Register and read more at the Access4EU site http://www.access4.eu/home/691.php

First training of focal points in India

Did you know that there are National Contact Points in third countries outside Europe? These are working like the European ones to promote the Seventh Framework Programme and assist the involvement in projects.

Organisations in third countries who wish to participate in projects funded by the FP7 are facing the same problems as European organisations, but there may also be additional ones due to the cultural and political context or internal rules in the organisation. There might be obstacles we are not thinking of being in Europe. This is one good reason to have trained people based in the country. In India there are so far few official National Contact Points, and the process of appointing more is rather slow for different reasons. With the EUINEC and in cooperation with the New INDIGO project, we decided to find a practical solution to provide assistance on a longer term; the establishement of focal points. The focal points, are people who already has experience in FP7 and European cooperation and the idea is to train them so that they can assist their fellow colleauges to take part in projects. The idea is to develop an informal network of support people;a training of trainers approach.

The first training will take place in only few weeks at CDAC’spremises in Trivandrum, India. Lots or preparation is ongoing, from finalising invitations and practical arrangements, to developing training material and exercises and programming a common space for exchanging documents. We have been planning it for long and finally it is almost time, I’m looking forward very much!

http://www.euinec.org/Home/euinechome.jsp

http://www.newindigo.eu/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNWeBVBqo2c&feature=related

Bodil

Junior Project Management

For me, the greatest thing with the trainings must be meeting with all people. I enjoy very much the lunches, coffee breaks and common dinners. Last week’s course was no exception; 27 managers and scientists from all over Europe came together to learn all about FP7, proposal development and project management during 3 intensive days.

It was also time for the first boat trip of the year….

Instead of going for wine tasting (as during wintertime) in the evening, we enjoyed the beautiful view from the Danube together with great food and wine during a 2 hour tour. The only one I feel a bit sorry for would be the guide, people simply seemed to enjoy the company of their table mates too much so there was not much attention to the historical facts and small stories about Budapest and Hungary…but that’s a minor problem, right?

The second night was as nice as the first one, but on land instead of water and palinka instead of wine…

But the trainings are not only of course about networking, most time was spent on funding schemes, and reimbursement rates, PIC codes, FORM Cs and other FP7 particularities. But with nice people, that’s also fun, and isn’t it great to have fun at work? :)

Bodil

The EIT’s Vision For the Future

    On 14 April 2011, the EIT organized a conference under the auspice of the Hungarian Presidency, with the aims to allow the EIT Governing Board to present its strategic vision for the future of the EIT and new Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) and to gain valuable, first hand feedback from key EIT stakeholders.

The conference was held in Budapest, hosted at EIT headquarters, in close collaboration with the Hungarian Presidency of the European Council.

The event had been opened by Minister of State Dr. Zoltán Cséfalvay- Ministry for National Ecomonomy,Hungary, followed by Commissioner A. VASILIOU- European Commissioner of Education, who has launched the open public consultation on the future of the EIT, and the potential (link) future KIC themes.

Briefly,the KICs are the EIT’s operational base. The first three KICs were designed in 2009:

• Climate-KIC (climate change)
• EIT ICT Labs (future information and communication society)
• KIC InnoEnergy (sustainable energy)

The funding of the KICs by the EIT accounts for only 25% of the total KICs budget. The remaining 75%reflects the commitment of KIC partners and comes from the partner’s resources and regional, national or European funding attracted by partners.

The EIT and the KICs are designed to continously learn from each other. They establish and facilitate a culture that helps unlock Europe’s underused potential to leverage people, technology and business innovation for greater EU innovation impact.

“Patience Required” R.L Hudson 

The themes- exposed by Richard L Hundson (CEO and Editor of Science Business) what the EIT is considering as societal challenges to be addressed by means of a future KIC are: added-value manufacturing; ageing population; biotechnology; food for the future; healthy childhood; human learning and learning enhancements; security and safety and territory and smart cities.

After exposing them the discussion session has taken place, involving the presented stakeholders, representatives from Member States and the field of business, higher education and of course researchers.

During this interactive session from time to time the moderator raised the attention of speakers to consider the scope,  the scope utility, the competitveness and the relevances of EIT model (to business, research and education.)

The other significant message of the conference was to launch the call for particaption on the open public consultation on the future strategy of the EIT, as the The European Commission is seeking our views on the future strategy of the EIT. Following the success of the EIT’s Initial phase and eIT Governing Board’s draft Strategic Agenda (SIA), the results of this consultation will feed into the SIA, which the commission is due to propose ny the end of this year. The agenda will outline the Institute’s main priorities until 2020,focusing on the EIT’s mission and objectives,governance,funding and future priority themes for its Knowledge and Innovation Communities. (KICs)

To accompany the consultation the Commission will organise: 

• a question and answer session about the public consultation for interested stakeholders

-05 May, 2011 Brussels, DG Education and Culture premises at Madou Tower.

• an information session on the first outcomes of the consultation (06 July, Brussels)

The results will be analysed and summarised in a report that will be published in the second semester of 2011…..

Further information: http://eit.europa.eu/home.html