End of a period – Goodbye 2007-2013, Welcome 2014-2020!

Last week was an important week for us for two reasons: the first Horizon 2020 calls for proposals were finally launched on 11th December and we had our last training course of 2013, EU R&I Project Management and Financial Reporting, which took place in Vienna on 12-13 December.

It was Europa Media’s first time in Vienna to organise a training course. We are always keen to try new destinations, which is why in 2013 we have been for the first time in Madrid, Copenhagen and now in Vienna. In fact, we ended up travelling quite a lot in 2013. In addition to travelling for our general courses, we have been to Bilbao, Bonn, Brussels, Istanbul, Krakow, Leuven and London to deliver in-house courses at universities, research institutions and industry who wanted to get a kick-start to Horizon 2020 or tackle financial and technical challenges that they face during the implementation of their FP7 projects. We of course also travelled for kick-off or periodic meetings of our new and ongoing projects. So, coming back to Vienna, we had a very good course and a very good time there last week. We welcomed 38 participants from 15 different countries representing all types of institutions including universities, research institutions, ministries, SMEs and large industry. This time we were in a quite designy hotel (see below the “Christmas tree” which was at the lobby), which also offered panoramic views of Vienna from its 18^th floor.

Just like in our Budapest course the week before, we also had Christmas markets featuring our Vienna course. So, we had the chance to visit various Christmas markets of Vienna after an intensive day of training. Once we thought that we had enough glühwine, we naturally had to top it up with a Wiener Schnitzel at one of Vienna’s cosy cafés. This was also an occasion to celebrate the birthday of Gábor which coincidently was on the first day of the training.

We have now arrived to the end of the 2007-2013 financial period of the EU as well as to the end of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). We are now looking forward to stepping into the 2014-2020 period and the new EU Research and Innovation Framework Programme – Horizon 2020. Having had a very dynamic year full of training courses, projects and travels, our team definitely deserves a break and will be recharging for a kick-start to 2014. The next months will surely be much about putting together and submitting proposals for the first calls of Horizon 2020 while at the same time continuing to travel for training courses and project meetings.

We are now off to our yearly Christmas party and wish you happy holidays and the very best for 2014!

Ömer

New Health-2-Market free e-learning courses now available

New e-learning courses are now available for health researchers who wish to see their research ideas become business ventures under the EU-funded Health-2-Market project.  The creators are professors from top European Business Schools SKEMA business school (France), IE Business School (Spain) and University of Gothenburg (Sweden), who have large experience in both teaching and doing business.

The Health-2-Market courses and materials are free of charge and they focus on three aspects:

• Entrepreneurship and Business Planning,
• Business ventures and Marketing and 
• Intellectual Property & Ethics.

The courses range from the basics of marketing strategy to tips on how to attract partners to full-scale business planning and will help you understand the dynamics of the market and how to pursue business venture. Whether you already have some experience in the business world, or even if you have never left the science lab, the courses are designed to be easily understood by anyone.

For more information about the project, please visit www.health2market.eu

 

After the “MFA” training – FP7/Horizon 2020 Financial Management feat. the Budapest Christmas Market

Recently we have started using acronyms for the titles of our training courses when referring to them internally. So, MFA stands not for “Ministry of Foreign Affairs”, but for “Master of Finance and Administration”. This course is one of our advanced level courses focusing on the financial management and administration of EU research and innovation projects as well as on EC audits. Usually, financial managers and administrative officers from universities, research institutions, industrial organizations and public bodies, who are in charge of managing the budgets and reporting the costs of their institutions’ FP7 projects, join us in these MFA courses.

Last week we had the fourth and the last MFA of this year, which took place in Budapest. The previous three courses took place in Brussels in March, June and October. While of course we like travelling occasionally to Brussels for training courses and project meetings, we also like very much welcoming and hosting our training participants in Budapest. In fact, they also seem to prefer coming to Budapest when we ask them; but of course when it comes to logistical aspects, most of the time Brussels is the winner given its easier accessibility for people travelling from different countries.

Then again, we had 18 participants from 10 different countries joining us at the MFA course in Budapest on 28-29 November 2013. We explicitly scheduled this training course on these dates to be in parallel with the launch of the Budapest Christmas Market 2013 (Perhaps this was the “hidden” reason why these 18 people travelled to Budapest?! J). In so doing, our participants had the chance to visit the Christmas Market and have some mulled wine or tea, buy some local handicraft products and relax after a hard day of training.

Indeed, we believe that it is important to combine work with leisure-time activities. That is why, in our training courses we always have some social events, be it a common dinner, sightseeing tour, boat trip in Danube, or a Christmas market visit if the course is in that period. We believe that the same principle applies also to European projects. We always recommend our training participants to include some social activity or other ice-breaking activity such as a common lunch/dinner or team-building session in their project kick-off or periodic meetings in order to enrich the professional part of these meetings with social aspects. This, in turn, should actually boost the effectiveness of the overall performance of these meetings and consequently the project activities.

This week we are going to Vienna for our last training course of this year – PMFR (Project Management and Financial Reporting). We expect to meet 40 professionals from across Europe and beyond looking for answers on periodic reports, consortium agreements, IPR issues, financial reports and EC audits of their FP7 projects and upcoming Horizon 2020 projects. Just one day before the start of our training course, the first Horizon 2020 calls for proposals are expected to be published. We will most likely be chatting about these calls with our participants over a hot wine at one of the renowned Christmas markets of Vienna and get inspired for some new project ideas!

Ömer

Health-2-Market e-learning courses. Free support for business-minded researchers

New e-learning courses are now available for researchers who wish to see their ideas come to life. Under the EU-funded Health-2-Market project, entrepreneurial-minded researchers have the possibility to learn about how to pursue business ventures and understand the dynamics of their market. The creators are professors from SKEMA business school (France), University of Gothenburg (Sweden) and IE Business School (Spain), who have large experience in both teaching and doing business.

The Health-2-Market courses and materials are free of charge and they focus on two aspects, Entrepreneurship and Business Planning, Business ventures and Marketing and Intellectual Property & Ethics. Whether you already have some experience in the business world, or even if you have never left the science lab, the courses are designed to be easily understood by anyone. The courses range from the basics of marketing strategy to tips on how to attract partners to full-scale business planning. The premise of the service is that science is not just for labs and libraries, but can be commercially exploited for the benefit of the industry and the general public alike.

About Health-2-Market

The Health-2-Market project is a three-year Coordination Action aimed at supporting researchers working in the health and life sciences to bring their ideas to the market. In line with the EU’s vision for more marketable results, the project employs a variety of means to deliver a change to the relationship between research and business.

The logistics and programme itself rely on flexibility due to the desire to cater to the participants’ needs and busy schedules. Next to the new e-learning materials, the services comprise of 15 two-day seminars and 7 one-week “Academy” where both academics and successful industry representatives give insight into how best to transform science into entrepreneurial ventures. Hands-on support and personalized consulting services will also be available and will be conducted by Innovation Coaches.

The topics which Health-2-Market will address are: IPR and asset management, formulation of business and exploitation plans, preparation for the launch of start-ups in health/life science sectors, and case-specific knowledge transfers, should demand exist for it.

On a broader sense, it is expected that, next to equipping scientists with the tools and knowledge which will enable them to pursue their business ideas, Health-2-Market will gradually build a more entrepreneurial mindset among them.

The project is implemented by Health-2-Market consortium, which consists of: Inno AG, IE University, University of Gothenburg, SKEMA, Engage AG, APRE, Q-Plan North Greece Ltd, White Research Ltd and Europa Media Non-profit Ltd.

 

 by Krisztina Toth & Alina Totti