IAPP NUIG 23012008

1
Introduction to the Marie Curie Industry-Academia
Partnerships and Pathways (IAPP) Dr Dagmar
Meyer Marie Curie National Contact Point
www.iua.ie
NUI Galway, January 23rd 2008
2
Basic features of IAPP

• What are Industry-Academia Partnerships and
  Pathways (IAPP)?
• simple funding mechanism for partnerships between
  public and private research organisations
• based on a common research project designed to
  exploit complementary expertise and create
  synergies
• bottom-up approach (no predefined priority areas)
• project duration typically 4 years with the aim
  to develop long-term collaborations

3
What does the funding cover?

• Funding is provided for
• exchange of know-how and experience through
  inter-sector secondments of research staff
• research and networking activities
• Optionally
• recruitment of experienced researchers from
  outside the partnership, for transfer of
  knowledge and/or training of researchers
• workshops and conferences involving external
  researchers
• for SMEs research equipment (up to 10 of the EC
  contribution for each SME participant) in duly
  justified cases

4
Success rates and funding level

• Experiences from first call (budget 38.5m)
• only 102 proposals from across Europe, 2 with
  Irish coordinators
• 41 projects invited to negotiations, 5 on reserve
  list (success rate 40 !!)
• requested funding 0.25m to 2m
• Budget for second call 45m
• Deadline 25 March 2008

5
Who can apply?

• Consortium composition basic rules
• at least two partners from two different Member
  States or Associated Countries
• of these one private sector / industry partner,
  one from the public sector
• more partners can be added, from either sector,
  from any country (including Third Countries)
• most common size 2-3 partners, rarely more than
  6-7 partners (first call 1 successful
  proposal with 13, one with 15 partners)

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Definition of industry partner

• What counts as private sector organisation /
  industrial partner?
• commercial enterprises (big or small companies
  SMEs, spin-offs, start-ups etc. particularly
  encouraged)
• national organisations (if operating on a
  commercial basis)
• Basic requirement (cf. Work Programme)
• Within this scheme, the industrial partners must
  be organisations operating on a commercial basis,
  i.e. companies gaining the majority of their
  revenue through competitive means with exposure
  to commercial markets.

7
Definition of public sector organisation

• What counts as public sector organisation?
• national organisations (e.g. universities
  IoTs, public non-commercial research centres
  etc.)
• non-profit / charitable organisations (NGOs,
  trusts, etc.)
• International European Interest Organisations
  (e.g. CERN, EMBL)
• Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
• International Organisations (e.g. WHO, UNESCO,
  etc. funding subject to certain conditions)
• Any organisation that does not count as industry
  partner
• if in doubt, contact us for clarification!

8
Location of participating organisations

• Where can the organisations be located?
• Member States (MS)
• there are now 27 EU member states
• Associated Countries (AC)
• Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Israel,
  Switzerland, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Serbia,
  Turkey
• since January 2008 Montenegro and Albania
• Third Countries (TC)
• more than 140 International Cooperation Partner
  Countries (ICPC), e.g. South Africa, India,
  China, Russia, (can be fully funded)
• other Third Countries (OTC), e.g. USA, Canada,
  Australia, New Zealand, Japan, (normally
  self-funded)

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Staff secondments (I)

• Staff secondments between partners from different
  sectors
• main focus of the scheme
• researchers of any level of experience are
  eligible (including post-graduate students, e.g.
  for summer placements)
• technical and managerial staff in well justified
  cases
• no nationality restrictions, but in general the
  usual mobility condition applies
• secondments must in general be trans-national,
  but up to 30 of person months in the
  consortium can be used for intra-national
  secondments

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Staff secondments (II)

• Duration of secondments
• between 2 months and 2 years (cumulative over
  the lifetime of the project, can be split into
  shorter periods)
• Previous activity in the seconding organisation
  and reintegration
• participating staff must have been active in
  seconding organisation for at least one year
  prior to the secondment
• mandatory reintegration of at least one year
  after the final secondment period (not funded by
  the project)

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Staff secondments (III)

• Balance between partners
• ideally, secondments should be reasonably
  balanced between partners, but no expectation
  that they must be symmetrical as in one-for-one
  exchange
• One-way secondments not excluded if well
  justified (cf. Guide for Applicants)
• A consortium could make a good case for having
  more secondment months from one sector (a large
  university department for example) to the other
  sector (a small company, where researchers are
  relatively few). Moreover, projects with
  secondments in only one direction are not
  excluded where there is a clear mutual benefit
  for both sectors, and where the consortium duly
  justifies this one-way exchange.

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Recruitment of researchers

• Recruitment of researchers from outside the
  consortium
• optional and must be justified
• at the level of the consortium not more person
  months for recruitment than for secondments!
• only experienced researchers are eligible (e.g.
  post-docs or senior researchers)
• technical or managerial staff not eligible
• duration 12 24 months (split stays possible in
  exceptional cases, e.g. for family reasons)
• nationality and mobility conditions apply

13
Nationality and mobility conditions

• Nationality condition
• recruited researchers cannot have the nationality
  of the host institution (no nationality condition
  for seconded researchers)
• special rules in case of dual nationality or
  return to Europe after long stay in a Third
  Country
• Mobility condition
• researchers/staff members must not have spent
  more than 12 months within the last 3 years prior
  to the secondment/recruitment in the host country
• International Organisations
• no nationality or mobility condition applies

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Allowances to the researchers

• Living allowance (including all mandatory
  deductions) basic rate submitted to
  country-specific correction coefficient (Ireland
  113.3)

• Mobility allowance (basic rate 500/800 monthly,
  depending on family situation)
• Travel allowance (250 - 2500 for every 12
  months period or fraction thereof, depending on
  distance)
• Career exploratory allowance (2,000 once, only
  for newly recruited researchers)

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Contributions to the consortium members (I)

• Contribution for the execution of the partnership
  project/programme
• 800 per person month, covering
• costs associated to the publication of vacancies
• internal training actions
• participation in research and transfer of
  knowledge activities (research costs,
  participation meeting and conference attendance,
  etc)
• contribution to the expenses related to the
  co-ordination between participants
  (partnership meetings, detachment of staff, etc)

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Contributions to the consortium members (II)

• Contribution to the organisation of international
  conferences, workshops and events open to
  participants outside the partnership
• 300 per researcher day (from outside the
  partnership), covering
• organisational expenses (invitation of keynote
  speakers, publications, rental of premises, web
  casting)
• participation fees of researchers from outside
  the partnership

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Contributions to the consortium members (III)

• Management activities
• max. 3 of total Community contribution
• Overheads
• 10 of direct costs except subcontracting
• for SMEs
• research equipment (up to 10 of the EC
  contribution for each SME participant) in duly
  justified cases

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Indicative timetable for IAPP scheme
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Submission procedure

• Only electronic submission using EPSS (Electronic
  Proposal Submission Service)
• Proposal has two parts
• Part A administrative information about
  proposal, coordinator and partner institutions
  (prepared forms)
• Part B free text covering a number of predefined
  aspects of the project, limited number of pages
  (prescribed font size and margins), limited size
  of pdf-file
• Deadline is STRICTLY enforced

20
Evaluation basic principles

• Evaluation according to criteria provided in the
  Guide for Applicants
• Different criteria carry different weights
• Thresholds for some evaluation criteria
• Overall threshold is 70
• All issues need to be addressed! Dont waste your
  chances.
• Always keep in mind the objectives of the
  activity!

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Evaluation process

• All proposals undergo initial eligibility check
• Evaluation by at least three experts from an
  international pool (not all experts are exactly
  from your field of speciality!!)
• Proposals that miss a threshold are rejected
• Remaining proposals are ranked within each panel
• Distribution of funding to different panels in
  proportion to proposals submitted
• All applicants receive evaluation summary report
  (very useful for re-submission!!)
• Reserve lists in case of late withdrawal etc.

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Evaluation criteria
Overview
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IAPP ST Quality

• ST objectives of the research programme,
  including in terms of intersectoral issues.
• Scientific quality of the joint collaborative
  research programme.
• Appropriateness of the research methodology.
• Originality and innovative aspects of the
  research programme knowledge of the
  state-of-the-art.
• Weight 25, Threshold 3/5

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IAPP Transfer of Knowledge

• Quality of the transfer of knowledge programme
  consistency with the research programme.
• Importance of the transfer of knowledge in terms
  of intersectoriality.
• Adequacy of the role of researchers exchanged and
  recruited from outside the partnership with
  respect to the transfer of knowledge programme.
• Weight 20, Threshold 3/5

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IAPP Implementation

• Capacities (expertise / human resources /
  facilities / infrastructure) to achieve the
  research and exchange of know-how and experience.
  Fit between capacity of host and size of support
  requested.
• Adequate exploitation of complementarities and
  synergies among partners in terms of transfer of
  knowledge.
• Appropriateness of management plans (recruitment
  strategy, IPR strategy, demarcation of
  responsibilities, rules for decision making
  etc).
• How essential is non-ICPC Third Country
  participation, if any, to the objectives of the
  knowledge transfer programme.
• Weight 25, Threshold 3/5

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IAPP Impact

• Provision to develop new intersectoral and
  lasting collaboration.
• Strategy for the dissemination and facilitation
  of sharing of knowledge and culture between the
  participants and external researchers (including
  international workshops, training events).
• Extent to which SMEs contribute to the project.
• In case of SME participation Adequacy of the
  available infrastructure for the performance of
  the project. In case extra equipment is
  requested, necessity and justification in the
  context of the partnership.
• Weight 30, Threshold none

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Experiences from first call

• Out of 102 proposals evaluated, 36 (35) failed
  to achieve one or more of the required
  thresholds
• 13 failed the ST criterion
• 19 failed the Transfer of Knowledge criterion
• 16 failed the Implementation criterion
• 34 failed the overall threshold of 70 applied to
  the total score

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More information

• Official website of the FP7 People (Marie
  Curie) programme on CORDIS
• http//cordis.europa.eu/fp7/people/
• Follow the link to
• Find calls for this activity
• to download the Work Programme 2008 and the
  Guide for Applicants 2008
• Deadline 25 March 2008

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EI support for FP7 applicants travel grants

• Enterprise Ireland travel support
• for researchers in higher education / publicly
  funded institutions
• for visits by Irish researchers abroad to meet
  potential partners or attendance at EU
  information days/workshops relating to FP7
• covers least-cost travel plus subsistence rates
  up to 150 per day (typical length of visits
  three days)
• during the period of FP7, any one researcher can
  receive up to 3,000 to facilitate multiple
  visits to research partners (open to discussion!)

30
EI support for FP7 applicants coordination grants

• Enterprise Ireland coordinator support
• for researchers in higher education / publicly
  funded institutions
• to facilitate preparatory work leading to a
  proposal for the coordination of any research
  project under FP7
• grants up to a maximum of 25,000
• for coordinator (or internal approved staff)
  least cost travel and subsistence expenses, costs
  of hosting meetings, communication costs with
  consortium members, employment of researcher for
  short-term analysis, professional services in
  preparation of application, strategy development
  and planning
• replacement teaching costs in well justified
  cases

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EI support for FP7 applicants feasibility studies

• Enterprise Ireland financial support for
  companies
• covers company negotiations with research
  partners and/or preparation of joint RD proposal
  for FP7
• Salaries
• Overheads (30 of salaries)
• Travel subsistence
• Consultancy fees
• covers all areas (incl. Social Sciences etc.)
• grants to SMEs and High Potential Start-ups up to
  a max of 25,000 (with equal investment by the
  company)
• under review support for multinationals?

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EI support for FP7 applicants more details

• More details on Enterprise Ireland FP7 support
  schemes and application form
• http//www.enterprise-ireland.com/FP7/Financial
  Support.htm

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Meeting room facilities in Brussels

• Irish Liaison Office
• for EU RTD

meeting room bookings Catriona Ward EU RD
Liaison Office Park Leopold Rue Wiertz 50
Wiertzstraat Bruxelles 1050 Brussel Tel. 32 (0)2
673 9866 catriona.ward_at_enterprise-ireland.com
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Marie Curie key contacts in Ireland

• IUA Marie Curie Office
• National Contact Point/National Delegate
• Dr. Dagmar Meyer - dagmar.meyer_at_iua.ie
• Dr. Conor OCarroll - conor.ocarroll_at_iua.ie
• mariecurie_at_iua.ie
• 353-(0)1-6764948
• Enterprise Ireland National Contact Point
• Bill Kee - Focus on Industry
• bill.kee_at_enterprise-ireland.com
• 353-(0)1-8082277