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Regional approach towards FP6. Network of contact points in large ACC and Member States

Regional approach towards FP6. Network of contact points in large ACC and Member States  -  REGinNET
 
The Project have 3 objectives:
1. establish cooperation links between large Accession countries and Member States through :
- exchange of experiences, 
- creation of  a learning community
- and development of common standards and tools in their work
 
2.  strengthen bilateral cooperation between ACC Regions and Member States by fellowships
-learn how the work is organised
-to include partners in proposals
- to encourage potential proposer to invite Polish partners
 
3. raise awareness  in the regions of FP6 priorities
- to show that there is huge uncovered research potential
- to include participants in events from other ACC countries and MS
 -to teach potential proposers how to write CRAFT and RTD proposals
 
There are 3 types of problems encountered during the work as Contact Points for EU FPs.
1. Problem with adequate information and networking possibilities in large ACC
2. The need of enhancement of methods of work in ACCs regions
3. The problem of potential proposers from ACC regions to obtain information and find good contacts
 
1. Problem with adequate information and networking possibilities in large ACC
In large Accession Countries the work of NCP must be supported regionally in order to reach larger research community. The most developed network of contact points exists in Poland with coherent structure of 10 regional, 50 branch and 200 local contact points, but also in other large ACC.
There are regional institutions whose mission includes provision of information and assistance to potential participants such as Euro info Centres, Technological Parks, Chambers of Commerce, etc. Regional Contact Points or other support organizations have an important role as an intermediary level in the structure giving day to day advise and organisisng information days.
Unfortunately as they are not NCPs they cannot come to Brussels for specialized trainings and infodays organised by the Commission for the National Contact Points. They lack of direct contact to the info on thematic priorities. First of all they must relay on information about the calls, rules, etc by viewing the Cordis base only.
Secondly they cannot make contacts with other National Contact Points in order to include the participants from the regions to the projects submitted by foreign partners, since RCP are unknown to NCPs as sufficient and skilled liaison institutions.
The other problem is ACCs are still newcomers to the framework programmes (participating from 1999) compared with Member States that take part in Framework Programmes since 1984 so they have well established methods of work, specialized tools and networks. They know each other and meet regularly and exchange information and experiences.
Those institutions – regional contact points needs:
  • to enhance their competences in various FP6 aspects,
  • to build international cooperation network,
  • to build efficient tools to better serve their community (data bases, partner search, organization of info-days. etc.)
 
2. The need of enhancement of methods of work in ACCs regions
 
Big ACCs have a problem of including partners from different parts of the and help the research institutions and organizations from regions to get into the projects submitted by foreign partners. In order to know what projects are being submitted it is good to spend some time with the Host institution (NCP or other) and work together to establish cooperation links to improve its methods of work.
There is existing cooperation between some regions and foreign NCPs that needs to be strengthened in order to face the participation of ACC organizations in IPs and NoEs.
The choice of foreign Host organizations is based on previous good collaboration with ACCs, excellence at the European level as a ‘trainer organisation’ and excellence as a consultation body in all thematic priorities or specialized topic e.g CRAFT and help to SMEs.
The choice of the Host organization by the respective region and the fellow will depend on the current needs and lack or insufficient knowledge in specific areas.
 
3. The problem of potential proposers from ACC regions to obtain information and find good contacts
It is extremely difficult for potential proposers to obtain adequate information about the call, meet potential partners and experience how to write a proposal at one place and time. They have to spend a lot of time and money going to information days, brokerage events and pay for the specialized workshops in order to learn how to write the proposal. The experience of the Contact Persons also shows that even if they are interested in the participation in the call when they come back home they concentrate on other urgent activities. At the end they do not have time and motivation to look for partners and to write a proposal.
This problem is even more important in big ACCs. They lack money, useful contacts and they do not know how to prepare a good proposal.
The other problem is that a lot of Info Days take place in Brussels. Sometimes the participants are invited by personal invitation only. Even when it is possible to participate it costs a lot of money to go and stay in Brussels just for 1 day.
These meetings are packed with lectures and there are short coffee breaks so that the participants cannot take the opportunity to learn each other and to form consortia not to speak about learning how to write a good proposal and see examples of successful proposals.
 
The idea of the project
The project will address these needs by creating a network of ACC regions and Member States that will learn from each other, strengthening bilateral cooperation and bringing researchers from ACC and MS to joint Information Days.

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