Tagged / Work Programme

European IPR Helpdesk – slides from 30/09/15

Academic and RKEO staff enjoyed the recent webinar regarding IP Management in EU-funded Projects /Horizon 2020, presented by Jörg Scherer, Managing Director of the European Research and Project Office (Eurice)
The webinar covered:

  • The importance of considering Intellectual Property from day oneeurope
  • How to embed IP within the project submission and agreement documents
  • Definitions, ownership and access rights
  • Obligations to disseminate, protect and exploit
  • The IP landscape and implementation

The slides are available to BU staff along with other publications from the European IPR Helpdesk.

Although the slides are instructional, it is not the same experience as attending the webinar. Why not come along to the next events:

02/11/15  IP Management in H2020 – with a special focus on MSCA

02/12/15   Impact and Innovation in H2020 – a Guide for Proposers

16/12/15   Maximising the impact of H2020 projects

They will all take place in the Casterbridge Room, starting promptly at 9:30. Please contact Dianne Goodman to reserve your place.

 

European News (w/c 14/9/15)

Every week I receive an email from UKRO updating me on the EU-related activities including funding calls, info days, tenders and other news which helps keep me up to date with the EU. As this blog can be accessed externally, we cannot give you all the information that they email, but you can get the full subscriber experience by registering at the UKRO website.UKRO logo

Highlights from the most recent email are:

  • UKRO ITN (Innovative Training Network) event on 7/10/15 – please see the previous blog post about this event
  • ERC Consolidator Grant Information sessions – see University of Sheffield on 3/11/15 and  London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on 6/11/15 to register
  • Info Week for Societal Challenge 2 (Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, maritime and maritime inland water research and bio-economy) runs from 24/11/2015 to 27/11/2015
  • Experts are required for EC non-food Scientific Committees in the topic areas of Consumer Safety  and Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks – deadline 2/11/15
  • Did you miss the H2020 Co-ordinators’ Day on 8/9/15? You can see videos of the presentations to find out more about H2020 project management
  • The draft Work Programmes are being made available. Please note that they are still under review and should not be assumed to be finalised
  • EU and China have launched a new Co-Funding Mechanism for research and innovation

If you are looking for specific funding, please make use of BU’s subscription to ResearchProfessional or search on the Participant Portal. For tenders, please use TED – Tenders Electronic Daily.

Also being discussed on planet EU:

  • ResearchProfessional are reporting on changes to demand management within Horizon 2020 (log-in to our institutional account to read more)
  • There are concerns about a move to an increased emphasis on applied research and product development within the H2020 Societal Challenges Pillar, according to a freely available article from ResearchResearch.Research-Professional-logo

If you would like further assistance in developing your EU knowledge and engagement, please contact Emily Cieciura, Research Facilitator: EU & International

 

Potential Changes to Horizon 2020 Priorities

The European Commission intends to introduce three major funding streams into Horizon 2020 and ditch six others, a draft plan obtained by Research Europe says.

The new focus areas for the 2016 and 2017 work programmes will be the Internet of Things, automated road transport and an approach to sustainable industrial production called “the circular economy”, according to the draft plan.

Work programmes for 2014-15 were built around 12 priorities, but only six of these—digital security, smart cities, energy efficiency, low-carbon energy, blue growth and food security—will remain for the next phase of the programme.

The six surviving priorities and three new ones will form the backbone for calls for proposals in pillars two and three, covering industrial leadership and the societal challenges. The document also promises a stronger role for the social sciences in 2016 and 2017.

The six areas to be downgraded are personalised healthcare, waste, water, mobility, disaster protection and tackling the financial crisis. They will no longer be considered as overarching focus areas, according to the plan. Instead, they are likely to be tackled through individual Horizon 2020 calls.

The 12-page draft has been developed on the basis of recommendations from about 20 advisory groups, as well as public consultations. It is still subject to alteration, but has been passed to member states’ representatives on the Horizon 2020 programme committee.

According to the document, the selected nine focus areas offer the best chance for Horizon 2020 to support EU policy goals, including economic growth and employment, the development of a digital single market and improved energy supply. They will also help the EU to raise its manufacturing success by developing emerging industries such as cyber-physical systems and 3-D printing, it says.

On the social sciences and humanities, the document says the Commission will include the disciplines as an “integral part in the conceptual design” of calls this time round. This follows a recommendation from the European Forum on Forward Looking Activities, or Effla, that non-technical solutions to problems should be given more emphasis. “A lot of the societal challenges are driven heavily by human behaviour, and that didn’t seem to be coming out sufficiently [in the last work programmes],” says advisory member Luke Georghiou, the vice-president for research and innovation at the University of Manchester.

The document also indicates that 2016-17 work programmes will more actively seek non-EU participation, as was recommended by member states. “Many topics will be flagged as being specifically relevant for international cooperation,” the document says, and specific funding will be offered “to ensure the right international partners are attracted”.

Other areas considered more important than before include public procurement to fund commercial R&D, the use of challenge prizes to solve particular problems, and gender studies. Measures will be taken to raise the participation of female researchers, it says.

The document is accompanied by 17 annexes setting out plans for each of the societal challenges and the enabling technologies for 2016-17, as well as the Future and Emerging Technologies, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and research infrastructures from the first pillar. These documents are the basis for the work programmes, due to be finalised in the second half of 2015.

But despite acknowledging that Horizon 2020 has more flexibility than Framework 7, Georghiou says the Commission could still do more to update its priorities, even after the work programmes are under way. “It’s an in-built problem, if you set out a programme that has a several-year horizon and is focused on societal challenges, that the nature of those challenges will evolve as the programme proceeds,” he says. “You can’t start with an initial list of topics and expect that to be unchanged, so you have to keep updating and revising it.”

BU subscribe to Research Europe, which is part of the many resources provided by ResearchResearch To find out more and to add Research Europe to your personal alerts, please see the recent post on Research Professional.

Want to see the calls for proposals for FP7 Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities to be launched in July? Then read on!

I’ve managed to obtain a draft version of the FP7  Socio-Economic Sciences and Humanities Work Programme which features the calls for proposals to be released in 2012. This is just a draft and therefore subject to change but it gives you a great idea as to what the European Commission are looking to fund. The Work Programme is a tedious read so I’ve summarised the info on funding in there for you; the aim of the call etc. I have bookmarked the document so you can jump straight to the call that interests you from the front page.

As this document is highly confidential I have placed it on our I drive; it is strictly forbidden to circulate this outside of BU! I:\R&KEO\Public\RDU\Draft Work Programmes for 2012-13

There are also the drafts for Environment, Health, ICT and Food, Agriculture, NMP, Fisheries & Biotechnology and others  in there too which I’ve blogged about previously. The final official version of the Work Programmes aren’t released until July 2012 so this gives you a fantastic head start to preparing a submission.

EC Work Programme 2012 is unleashed!

The European Commission’s Work Programme for 2012 has been adopted! This document outlines political priorities and actions to be delivered. The 2012 programme is focussed on fostering a sustainable and job-rich economic recovery, reflecting the Europe 2020 strategy and its flagship initiatives and is built on three overarching priorities:

  • Building a Europe of stability and responsibility;
  • Building a Union of growth and solidarity; and
  • Giving the EU an effective voice in the wider world.

CONFIDENTIAL! FP7 Food, Agriculture, Fisheries & Biotechnology likely future calls for proposals are here!

Exciting news if you’re interested in applying to the FP7 Food, Agriculture, Fisheries & Biotechnology theme next year – I’ve managed to obtain confidential documents which hint at calls to be released next July.

The documents are long and very dull and I’ve saved you the pain of reading these by summarising them for you with bookmarks to allow you to jump straight to the area which interests you.As these document are highly confidential I have placed the summary on our I drive; it is strictly forbidden to circulate this outside of BU! I:\R&KEO\Public\Draft Work Programmes for 2012. The final Work Programmes which feature the calls for proposals aren’t officially released until July 2012 so reading this gives you a fantastic head start to preparing a submission.

Whenever I can obtain other documents indicating future calls for FP7 I will summarise these for you and place on the blog (I’ve already done this for the Health theme) so keep checking the EU blog to make sure you don’t miss out!

Sign up for FP7 information & alert service

The UK Research Office (UKRO) promotes effective UK participation in European Union funded research, higher education and training, and related activities. Established in Brussels in 1991, UKRO is jointly sponsored by the UK Research Councils.UK Research Office
UKRO provides information and advice on EU funding opportunities, and EU programmes and policies. You can sign up for the UKRO FP7 information and email alert service. Simply, “create a profile” (a personalised web page, covering the areas that you are interested in) and then select to receive email alerts at whatever interval you would prefer. UKRO has also produced a  guide to help you understand more about this service.