Monthly Archives: October 2013

Norway Grants or EU funds?

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Today, I’ve decided to speak a bit about the Norway Grants and how to make the most of them. Are they different from the more-known EU structural or research (FP7) funds? Who can apply? Etc. By using the example of a project I have worked on, I will also show how Norway Grants can be combined with the two EU options so as to achieve the optimal funding package.

What are the Norway Grants?

Norway Grants are a funding scheme provided by Norway to the 12 EU countries which joined in 2004 and 2007 (basically Eastern Europe) with the overall aim to reduce social and economic disparities in Europe, bearing in mind a sustainable and eco-friendly development. These grants are part of a wider scheme – called European Economic Area Grants (EEA) – which comprises of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, to which the latter is by far the largest contributor, with 95% of the entire budget.

Norway Grants are set up for five years and we are now in the 2009-2014 period.  For this timeframe, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs – the decision-making body of the scheme – has put aside 800 million Euro, which supports 61 programmes in the following areas: Carbon capture and storage, Green industry innovation, Decent work and tripartite dialogue, Research and scholarship, Human and social development and Justice and home affairs.

The first time I heard about the Norway Grants was from a Hungarian municipality I was working with on an EU project. Before entering our consortium, the municipality of Mórahalom had made use of Norway Grants (as well as other financial instruments such as Structural Funds and other EU initiatives) to improve and develop its infrastructure. The results were really impressive – even thought there are only 6000 people living there, the town had an infrastructure which cities ten times bigger would envy. I think this shows the extent of the good some properly and wisely used funds can do for people.

 

 

Norway Grants vs. EU funds


Keeping in mind the example of Mórahalom, I would first like to frame the Norway Grants into a larger scheme of funding possibilities, one in which different sources of money can be combined to cover different types of costs. To address the issues of the community’s infrastructure and energy sources, the Hungarian municipality decided to utilize several sub-programmes, so to speak, of the FP7 and Structural Funds, which, in the end, covered 13 of the total 14 projects initiated. In line with the specificity of the two EU funding opportunities, the projects under Structural Funds dealt with building capacities and improving existing ones, while three FP7 projects looked at putting together types of energy and demonstrating their applicability (that is, research). Still, in order to supplement this collection of projects, Mórahalom municipality applied also for Norway Grants, making use of the chance to develop a project with a social component. Specifically, the team answered a relatively broad call with a project on building facilities which could deliver social benefits.

Generally speaking, projects with social impact are welcome for Norway Grants, and I have seen some fantastic results in the area of patient care or public property restoration in the East European countries. To give just a few examples, in Poland, many buildings – among which Jesuit churches and the International Cultural Centre – were brought back to life. Likewise, in the Hungarian town of Gödöllő, several buildings of great historical value were restored, boosting not just tourism but people’s perception of their environment. For this reason, I would say that Norway Grants take into account issues less considered by those EU programmes of research and innovation we usually deal with.

There are, of course, characteristics which are less great, so to speak. For once, the Norwegians pay great attention to budget allocation, more so than the EU’s FP7. Not that this is bad in essence, but you need to be extremely specific in your budget description. Also, you should know that this budget will has limits. While FP7 can be very generous once your proposal has been approved, the Norway Grants have less money at their disposal. In terms of budget structure, in certain programme-areas no more than 10% should go on dissemination. This is different to EU requirements which, although not specifying an amount, are always stressing the importance of promoting the results of projects.

I personally think that the Norway Grants limitation is not a problem but is definitely an issue to consider.

Another difference which I picked on is the level of competition at the proposal level. The most recent call we have submitted a proposal under the Norway Grants allocated funding for 7-8 future projects. This is mostly connected to the fact that it is normally small projects which ask for them; what remains after the first one goes to the next, and so on. With regards to the EU, it can happen that for some calls for proposals, only a maximum of two will receive funding. If there are indeed two, this normally means that two ideas were really good among the applicants and the evaluators decided to give both the chance.

A good thing about the Norway Grants application process is that it is normally shorter than the FP7, for instance. It normally takes two months to receive the evaluation and around four months for the money to come through (as opposed to FP7 which is between four and eight months)

Consortium requirements vary – you may be asked to work with a Norwegian partner or to enter a consortium, or you can just work on your own; depends on the type of project. If you wish to renovate a building, you won’t need a team of Norwegians to fly over. It would be a good idea to ask for their participation when you want to run a project on social issues – like elderly care, for instance, an area where the Nordics excel. You should, however, take note that it might not always be easy to find a Norwegian partner, as it happened in the case of the project I am working on.


Concluding remarks

To draw the line, we need to look at the big picture. Although not as generous as the EU, Norway Grants supplement the pool of funding opportunities. If we are to analyze the source of money, we must admit that the Scandinavians have accumulated impressive knowledge on social and other “softer” issues. We can use them not just as our sponsors but also as model of management and source of know-how. I think a good place to start analyzing if your company or organization can be the recipient of the grants is to ask yourself what type of project you have, how much money you need and what sort of results you expect.

Europa Media trainings – What sets us apart from competition?

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The idea for the Europa Media trainings came quite naturally after working for several years on EU projects. The demand was there and it only took a few information days and other similar events, following the invitation of the National Contact Point and the Investment Agency, to realize that we are onto something that will not only help so many people but also make us grow as an organization.

Our training courses are designed to help those who are interested in the EU funding opportunities and would like a more in-depth perspective on what this will entail. So far we have organized more than 100 courses, helping more than 5,000 participants. Our clients are mostly researchers but we also deal with a significant number of administrative and management staff from research and higher educational organizations, SMEs, non-profit and industrial associations or international organizations from Europe but also from the US, Canada or China.

 So, you may now ask yourself why bother with our courses when there is so much free information available online. You may also want to know what sets us apart from our competitors. These are valid questions and we are more than happy to explain why we are the best at what we do.

First, our courses are led by people who make a living out of EU project management.

Our team doesn’t just do trainings on EU funds, but it is actively and on a day-to-day basis involved in successful projects, from deciphering the EU jargon of the call for proposals to comparing numbers on audit sheets. From us you won’t just get generic answers about what should go where and in which form; we answer specific questions about your real-life situations by always referring to real-life examples.
We are a team of 15 people, each with his or her experience in various EU projects. We are based in the beautiful city of Budapest but we operate all around Europe, following the busy schedule of our clients.

To cater for all of our clients’ needs and make sure we cover all major problematic aspects of the EU project life-cycle, we have developed five specialised, individually tailored workshops that can be divided into four categories – proposal development, evaluation, project management and financial management. This way we manage to cover technical, legal as well as financial aspects.
Here is what to expect:

1.    Proposal development – for this training we normally choose three or four topics and design our exercises according to them. We want participants to first understand the system in which they operate and so we begin with explaining the basic rules of EU funding. Then they receive materials – for instance, a call text, proposal template of a real project – on the basis of which they work on their own until we reveal the real outcome.

2.    Evaluation – This is a crucial one because it is where participants learn how to place themselves in the shoes of the proposal evaluators. By the end of the session, all attendants will have to submit their own evaluation of a given proposal, meet with other evaluators and ultimately deliver a collaborate report. We expect participants to be able to understand the strengths and weakness of a project proposal and to hopefully learn from someone else’s mistakes by the time they are in the position to develop their own attempt.

3.    Project management – As we believe project managers are like the caretakers of a home – making sure everything runs smoothly, we structure our course so as to foster an effective decision-making process, in line with EU requirements. We come up with several scenarios, each with a specific problem based on real, our own projects. Our participants then need to opt from a series of solutions from a card that we provide and can compare their results with the correct answer which is to be revealed only at the end.

4.    Financial management – Since this is a generally a difficult part of the project life-cycle, we have decided to develop two workshops from two different perspectives: financial reporting and EC audits.

–    Financial reporting – If you want to understand EU financial talk, then we will offer an intensive training on the financial issues from the basics till advanced level. To make things accurate, we provide a variety of materials, from a taxi receipt, travel documentation, catering, translation, equipment charges, to salary slips, timesheets and contracts – all based on real project materials. Your task is to prepare a Form C for reporting your organisation’s costs in the project and discuss with us the different options of eligibility.

–    EC Audits – We recommend this training for those who are a bit more advanced and would like to understand how financial audits work. To do this, we make you the auditor for the duration of the workshop as we provide full documentation of a real past project. We only supervise your thinking process and guide you to reach the optimal result.

I hope this blog post has convinced you of the worth of our work and the energy and passion we put into it. If you would like to know more about what we can do for you, check out the Services section above or drop us a line. We are looking forward to working with you and helping you achieve your goal.

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Cultural differences in business practices – Finland

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A Finnish man from the countryside had a teenage son who was born mute. One day, as the two were working the land, the boy’s plough broke. To his father’s astonishment, the son started swearing angrily at the land. “Son!” shouted the father, “I did not know you could speak. Why didn’t you say anything until now?” “I couldn’t find the right moment” answered the boy as he started fixing the plough.

 This Swedish joke is probably one of the first things I ever read about Finland as a kid.  The second thing I discovered was its large output of metal music with a melancholic twist.

Silence is golden

My wise-looking Finnish teacher at the University of Helsinki liked to stress the Finnish uniqueness in being appropriately quiet. Feisty and always with a perfect timing for her jokes, Miss Silfverberg taught us that, in Finland, silence is golden, and one must learn to listen if he – or she, as she always emphasized – wants to truly communicate with Finns.

 

 Scientists agree. Finnish silence is something real and one will probably avoid active discussions and passionate arguments in a meeting. According to Michael Berry[1], an American academic who studies Finnish speech culture and communication norms, Finns prefer listening in silence rather than doing small talk. This scientific research is backed by Ms. Silferberg, as she believes that we may break the ice with Finns by talking about the weather, but “we will find some very cold water underneath”.

 One stereotype which is usually associated with quiet people is that they are not friendly. That is not true. While Finns may not be the ones initiating the discussion, they will be very happy to give you an answer. You should, though, be prepared for straightforwardness. Rather than going around the bush with fancy euphemisms, Finns tend to give short, straight and very logical answers. I remember being lost once in Helsinki so I went with a map to two young men who were chatting on the street. I asked if they could help me and their answer was – “No”. After what seemed like some very long five seconds of really uncomfortable silence they added that they did not know the city that well themselves. Miss Silfverberg applies the same critical thinking to personal relations. She logically prefers having acquaintances, as keeping friends can be very demanding…

 Business wise though, one great thing about communicating with Finns is that they have a very good command of English, probably even of Swedish (which is an official language, next to Finnish). This is great because, as I have personally experienced, their mother tongue is tough to learn, arguably one of the toughest in the world.

 

Equality for all

 Whether in business, government or in a school classroom, equality is one of the things that Finns value the most. Coming from Romania, a country which is based on top-down hierarchical systems, I was astonished to observe how Finns look at social relations, even from an early age. As a volunteer in a Finnish high school for students aged 14 to 18, I had no reply to the 15-year old who told me, straight-faced, that “teachers have to earn their respect in front of the students” and that there is no need to call anybody Mr. and Mrs. Their English language teacher nodded approvingly as she distributed sheets with “acceptable and unacceptable swears in English” (“c***” and “f***” words included).

Stemming from a visible sense of duty towards the others, the Finns are quite vocal about the Nordic social welfare system. With the idea of not leaving anybody behind, Finns invest in quality services for all[2]. If you go to Finland you’ll be surprised by the high prices of, well, pretty much anything, the price of a high wage, high tax economy that invests in free education for everybody.

Those involved in EU projects know that the issue of gender equality is highly important in developing a proposal for funding. And Finland takes gender talk seriously. It has one of the highest rates of female political participation: 42.5% of Finnish parliamentarians are women. It was also one of the first countries to give a female minister (Miina Sillanpää, 1927).

On a personal note, I know when a country is serious about gender equality when it is also men talking about it in the media. While small pay gaps still exists – women earn 80% of what men do for the same job[3] – the Finnish authorities have official goals to gradually reduce these gaps.

And, since we are on the horizontal issues topic, let me just add that copy-right is sacred. From pillow design to pop songs, Finns protect and respect their and other’s property. And they are also passionate about branding. Most of us have heard of Nokia, Angry Birds and, why not, Santa Claus. Some of you, about Marimekko and the Moomins. Finns are proud of their own products and they are learning fast how to market them. If you walk around Helsinki, you will see Angry Birds games, Angry Birds toys, Angry birds mugs, Angry Birds anything…

Passionate about innovation

 

The Finns are keen on new things and innovation and don’t just rely on seasonal tourism to Santa Claus Park in Lapland. According to a 2013 special report by the Economist[4], Finns are turning entrepreneurship into a lifestyle. Partly due to the government initiative to promote innovation but also due to the giant Nokia’s rapid decline, Finns have embraced innovation as a means of helping the economy and, of course, themselves.

Perhaps one of the most visible proofs of their commitment to innovation, Finland has made broadband internet a legal right for all its citizens. Even though the majority of its population did have access to these services, in 2010 the government concluded that it was time to look at the internet not as a means for entertainment but as a fundamental right.[5]

As an extracurricular activity next to my studies, I took part in a pilot project initiated by the Demos think-tank together with the University of Helsinki aimed at promoting the entrepreneurial spirit among young people. Some of the chosen projects have actually succeeded. To give just an example, one of the ideas incubated turned into a small company which produces some of the coolest open – air events in the whole of Finland.

Regardless of their focus, most of these endeavours shared the idea of a common good. One essential element of this common good is nature. Beginning with family gathering and ending with official meetings (you might have heard about the Sauna-diplomacy, negotiations led my Finns with the Soviets during the Cold War), Finns will always love to retreat for a moment of silence (!) in a cottage by one of the country’s many lakes. I am not saying that, for instance, when you will do business with Finns, you will automatically be handed a towel and invited to a sauna in the woods, but don’t be surprised if does happen or you hear about it from others. Finns love nature and are interested to invest in it because they appreciate the role it plays in their well-being.

Finnishing remarks

Most of what I have written here comes from my personal experience. I do not claim that all Finns are the way I just described them but I do want to offer a flavour of my connection to this remarkable Nordic country. At first look, success in marketing heavy metal bands abroad and a free iPhone game about birds shot at pig’s heads might not appear to say much about Finland. But in actual fact they are symbolic of a country which takes time to find unexpectedly creative ways to respect and preserve the things it values.