Presentation held by Ms. Anita Grozdanov- Faculty of Technology and metallutrgy as a part of the WINS ICT Call7 Session at the 8th SEEITA and 7th MASIT Open Days Conference, 14th-15th October, 2010

1. Opportunities for Macedonian SME’s in FP7
Dr. Anita Grozdanov,
Faculty of Technology and metallurgy
NCP-SME, NCP NMP R. Macedonia

2. “Triangle of Knowledge”
Research
Growth
and Jobs
Education Innovation
Knowledge is at the core of the Lisbon agenda, and underpins all its elements.
Research and technology are, together with education and innovation, the
components of the “Triangle of knowledge”.

4. What is the Seventh Framework Programme?
•The Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013) of the European
Community for Research, Technological Development and
Demonstration Activities
€50.5 billionΞ £35 billion = £35,000,000,000
•Building the Europe of Knowledge
•The biggest Research Programme in the World

5. The Structure of FP7
4 specific programmes
Cooperation – 9 Thematic Areas/ Priorities
Ideas – Scientific Excellence – Think SFI!!
People – Marie Curie
Capacities - SMEs, regional potential, Science in
Society and international cooperation.

6. Overview of the European SMEs
European SMEs:
• 23 Million enterprises
• 75 Million jobs
• 2/3 privet jobs in
Europe are in SMEs
• 99% of all European
enterprises
Micro-businesses dominate employment
in countries such as Italy (48%) and Greece (57%), whilst
the share of large enterprises in total employment in the
United Kingdom is over 45%.
“Small firms are in fact the real giants of the European economy”
Source: Eurostat (2005)

7. Categories of SME
70
60
50 Basic
SMEs
70%
40 Technology
adopting
enterprises
%
Leading
30 20% Technology
users
<10%
20 Technology
pioneers
<3%
10
0 None of few R&D Adapting existing Developing or High Level
activities technologies – low combining research activities
innovative SMes existing
technologies on
an innovative
Source: EURAB’s report on “SMEs and ERA” level

8. The Importance of SMEs in the European
Economy
• SMEs represent 99% of all
enterprises throughout Europe
• SMEs account for 67% of
European GDP
• Provide 55% of total jobs in the
private sector

9. Capacities; 4 097 JRC (EC); 1 751
People; 4 750
€ million
Cooperation
Ideas; 7 510 Ideas
People
Capacities
JRC (EC)
Cooperation,
32 413
FP7 budget: € 54 bn

10. SME specific actions
Indicative budget breakdown 2007-2013

11. Budget allocation to SMEs
in FP6 and FP7
€ million FP6 FP7 FP6 FP7 Increase
annual annual annual
average average average
SME specific 473 1.336 118 191 61%
measures
SME participation 1.865 4.862 466 695 49%
(15% target)
Total 2.338 6.198 585 885 51%

12. CAPACITIES - International
Cooperation
Coordination of the international cooperation actions
under the different programmes and across Themes
CAPACITIES – the vehicle for this coordination
Aim :
To strengthen overall coordination to ensure a coherent
approach and develop synergies with
other Community policies

13. Thematic Breakdown Within the Cooperation
Programme
Thematic Area Budget (€m) %
Health 6,050 19
Food, Agriculture, Fisheries, and
Biotechnology 1,935 6
Information and Communication
Technologies 9,110 28
Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials
and new Production Technologies 3,500 11
Energy 2,300 7
Environment (including Climate Change) 1,900 6
Transport (including Aeronautics) 4,180 13
Socio-economic Sciences and the Humanities 610 2
Space & Security 2,780 9
Total Cooperation Budget 32,365

14. What does FP7 fund?
• Not your short term new product project
• Not to enable your organisation to survive
• Knowledge generation that looks a bit too much
in the future for you to fund fully
• Things you can’t do alone
• To establish and bind expanded networks

16. NEW call

39. Administrative procedures
• Following on from proposal preparation and submission, participation
in an EU project brings with it the necessity to complete contract forms,
to record the amount of time and resource spent on a project and
regular reports and audits
Need for disciplined partnership
• It is important, especially for short projects, to ensure that all partners
understand the need for setting and maintaining a rigorous timetable
for reporting and delivery of results.
• key issue for project coordinators, especially if they are an SME, is the
obligation to respond to the frequent reporting requirements set by the
European Commission.

40. FP7 proposal: SMEs
Research for the benefit of SMEs (2)
• Target population: all SME that need to outsource research activities
– Mainly low to medium tech SMEs with little or no research capability
– Research intensive SMEs who need to outsource research to
complement their core research capability
• More than doubling of average annual budget
– FP6: about 120 M€/yr
– FP7: 270 M€/yr
• Actions in the entire field of science and technology (bottom-up)
• Improvements and simplification of modalities (e.g. evaluation, financial
regime, IPR)

41. SME support in FP7
“People” programme
Industry-academia partnerships and pathways
• support cooperation between academia and
industry
• encourage SME participation through
 Staff secondments between
academia and industry
 Temporary hosting of experienced
researchers from outside
 http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/people/industry-academia_en.html

42. SME support in FP7
“Cooperation” programme
 SME are encouraged to participate in collaborative research
projects within this specific programme
 In order to form a favourable environment, a target of 15% SME
participation has been set 40,7 million euro per year!
 This representing an amount of about 5 bn € until 2013
 Simplified financial and administrative procedures (e.g. 75%
funding rate for SME, reduced requirements for audit certificates,
no bank guarantees)
 Identification of areas and specific measures of particular interest to
SME in the individual work programmes
 http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/home_en.html

43. HOW
1. Presentation of the FP7 programme
2. Presentation of the guides & documents for FP7
3. Presentation of the project preparation process
4. Team consultation
5. Following of the success story of MK-FP7 SME
projects
6. Consultation with EC-FP7 Office

45. Tips to optimise participation
- Start your experience as partners in projects co-ordinated by
others
- You’ll be seen as far away partners. You must have a + to
be preferred to others
- Seek advice from those who have experience
- Search for already funded projects within your areas of
interest (be complementary, avoid overlapping)

46. How to get into a partnership
• If new to Europe look at ways to get in..
• Get active early… watch out for NCP info
• Network with potential partners - Travel
• Have a sales pitch on what you and your instit offer
• Pick up the phone
• There are a range of examples of what works

47. Partner searching
• Go to the training
• Keep in contact with the NCP
• Watch partner searches…Our method..
• Cordis is an option
• NCP search
• KEEP TRYING…

48. Finding Partners
– CORDIS Partner Finding Service
– Do it Yourself
– http://partners-service.cordis.lu/
– NCP Industial engagement
IDEAL*IST Partner Finding Service
– Free assisted service
– http://www.ideal-ist.net/
– Use Local support if available
– Hang around in foreign bars

49. Delivering of Partner Search List

50. PREPARING THE PRPOSAL
A proposal has two parts:
1. Part A – contain the administrative information about the proposal
and the participants (the work, contact persons, participants, funding
info)
(annex 3 of the Guide)
(on-line form)
2. Part B – template or list of heading, you should follow the structure
to present the scientific and technical content of the proposal.
(annex 4 of the Guide)
(keep the proposal limits)
3. Use EPSS to upload the parts A & B, submitte

51. PART B
1. Scientific and/or technical quality
1.1. Concept and objectives
1.2. Contribution to the co-ordination of high quality research
1.3. Quality and effectiveness of the co-ordination mechanisms, and
associated plan
2. Implementation
2.1. Management structure and procedures
2.2. Individual participants
2.3. Consortium as a whole (only if relevant)
2.4. Resources to be committed
3. Impact
3.1. Expected impacts listed in the work programme
3.2. Spreading excellence, exploiting results, disseminating knowledge
4. Ethical Issues

53. PIC (Partner Identification Code)
Organisation Data
=================
Legal name :
Business Name :
Official Language :
Name in 2nd Language :
2nd Language :
Legal form :
VAT Number :
Registration Number :
Registration Date :
Registration authority :
NACE Code :
Registration Country :

54. EVALUATION procedure
• The evaluation will follow a single stage
procedure; proposals will not be evaluated
anonymously.
• The evaluation criteria and scoring scheme are
set out in annex 2 of the work programme.

55. Evaluation criteria
S/T QUALITY IMPLEMENTATION IMPACT
“Scientific and/or technological “Quality and efficiency of the “Potential impact through the
excellence (relevant to the implementation and the development, dissemination
topics / activities addressed by management” and use of project results”
the call)”
 Sound concept, and quality of  Quality of the consortium  Contribution, at the European
objectives as a whole (including [and/or international] level, to the
 Innovative character in relation to complementarity and balance) expected impacts listed in the
the state-of-the art  Appropriate allocation and work programme under the
 Contribution to advancement of justification of the resources to be relevant topic/activity
knowledge / technological committed (budget, staff,  Appropriateness of measures
progress equipment) envisaged for the dissemination
 Quality and effectiveness of S/T and/or exploitation of project
methodology and associated work results, and management of
plan intellectual property

57. Positive Pass
• For the evaluation of ERA-NET or ERA-NET Plus
proposals (coordinating), thresholds for the individual
criteria will be:
• 1. S&T quality: threshold [4] out of [5]
• 2. Implementation: threshold [3] out of [5]
• 3. Impact: Threshold [3] out of [5]
• The overall threshold, applying to the sum of the
three individual scores, will be [10.]

58. Funding schemes
• To support actions implemented on the basis of the
call for proposals:
1. Collaborative projects
• Projects can range from small or medium-scale (≤ € 3 Million) to large
scale integrating projects (between € 3 and € 6 Million)
2. Networks of Excellence
3. Activities run by a number of research organisations integrating their
activities in a given field
3. Coordination and Support Actions
• Activities aimed at coordinating or supporting research activities and
policies (~ € 1Million)
4. Others: Individual projects (ERC); Fellowships; Research
projects for third parties (i.a. SMEs)

59. FP7 Funding schemes overview
Funding Nature Max EU Duration of Targeted at N° of
scheme Contrib. project partners
Small- Single issue 2-3 M€ 18-36 m 6 – 15
medium CP project
(STREP)
Large CP (IP) Multidisciplina 4 – 20 36-60 m Research 10 – 20
ry integrated M€
institutes,
projects
universities
CSA Preparing 0.5 M€ 9-30 m and 1 – 15
Supporting future actions
industry,
CSA Coordinating 1 M€ 18-36 m including 12 – 36
Coordinating & networking SMEs
participants
NoE Integrating 7 M€ 48-60 m 6 – 50+
research
activities

60. FP7 Funding rates
Funding rates also depend on:
Type of Public bodies, universities, research
organisation centres, SMEs 75%
Type of
project Accompanying measures (CSA) 100%
Project management
Type of
activity but NOT exceeding 7% of total 100%
funding

61. Why shall SMEs participate?
Economic benefits can be achieved & innovative performance increased
• Consider FP7 funding as additional money
• Commercial risks are reduced
• Increased turnover and profitability
• Enhanced productivity and market share
• Establishing new international contacts and partnerships (research business
with foreign institutions and firms) – future economical benefits
• Access to new markets
• Contribution to a marketable technology – benefiting from it, exploitation
of the results
• Long term perspectives (innovative approach of the SME will be stronger)
• More patents
Successful FP participation can lead to stronger competitiveness of
the enterprise

62. Does my organisation qualify as an
SME ?

63. SME PROFILES FOR FP7
SME Definition
The new SME definition takes into account
the size
MICRO < 10 employees < €2 million turnover
SMALL < 50 employees < €10 million turnover
MEDIUM < 250 employees < €50 million turnover
and ownership
AUTONOMOUS: < 25% owned by non-SME
PARTNER: 25 to 50% owned by Universities, Venture
Capitalists etc
LINKED: special case for groups and subsidiaries
THE SME DEFINITION DOES NOT TAKE ACCOUNT OF SME TYPES
AND ACTIVITIES i.e. HIGH-TECH, LOW-TECH

64. Which sort of SME are you ?

65. SMEs in FP7
Main initiatives
Complementary pillars of SME support in FP7
Dedicated scheme Budget increase for
Optimized
with special emphasis the SME specific
participation of SMEs
on SMEs measures
"Cooperation" "People" "Capacities"
SMEs
Research performing Research performing
outsourcing research
SMEs SMEs
Industry-academia
Thematic areas Bottom-up approach
pathways

66. SMEs in FP7
specific initiatives
“Capacities”- Research for the benefit of SMEs
Objective:
Strengthen the innovation capacities of SMEs
to develop new products and markets by
outsourcing of research:
 Increase their research effort
 Acquire technological know-how
 Extend their networks
 Improve the exploitation of research results

67. FP7 proposal: SMEs
Research for the benefit of SMEs (1)
Two specific schemes to support SMEs or SME
associations in need of outsourcing research
– Research for SMEs: to support small groups of
innovative SMEs to solve common or
complementary technological problems
– Research for SME associations: to support
SME associations and SME groupings to develop
technical solutions to problems common to larger
number of SMEs in specific industrials sectors or
segments of the value chain

68. Research for the benefit of SMEs
Work programme
1. Supporting SMEs outsourcing research activities
- Research for SMEs
- Research for SME associations
2. Developing and coordinating support
to SMEs at national level
- Eurostars Article 169 Initiative
- ERA-NET
- Support to national and/or regional “exploratory awards”
- NCP-network
3. Support measures
- Coordination and Support Actions
- Studies
Total budget within FP7: Million € 1.336

69. SMEs in the
knowledge economy - KBBE
• SMEs are at the core of the European industry and are
a key component in the chain of transformation of
knowledge into exploitable products, processes and
services
• SMEs are faced with increasing competition in the
internal market and globally and need to increase their
research intensity and networks and expand their
business on larger markets
• A growing number of SMEs are directly concerned by
research activities

70. SME support in FP7
JTI Example
 The Innovative Medicines Initiative will support
the development of new knowledge, tools and
methods so that better and safer medicines can be
made available more quickly.
 The programme will have €2 billion to invest over
seven years. The Community contribution of €1
billion will go entirely to SME and universities for
research that can be used by the pharmaceutical
sector
 Major companies will match this amount and will
involve these SME and universities.

71. Funding Scheme
Key Indications
Research for SMEs Research for SME
associations
Duration 1-2 years 2-3 years
Number of 5-10 10-15
partners
Total budget € 0.5 – 1.5 Million € 1.5 – 4 Million
Activities R&D, demonstration, R&D, demonstration,
management, other management, other
activities activities

72. Number of partners
Minimum requirements, coordination
Research for SMEs
 At least three independent SME participants, established
in three different Member States or Associated countries.
 At least two RTD performers.
 Other enterprises and end-users optional.
Research for SME associations
 At least three independent SME association/groupings,
established in three different Member States or Associated
countries, or one European SME association/grouping.
 At least two RTD performers.
 Other enterprises and end-users with at least two SMEs.
SMEs or SME associations may entrust coordination to a
partner in the consortium specialised in professional
project management.

73. Complementarities between FP7 and CIP
FP7-RTD CIP
• Funding of • Research, • Take-up of proven
projects technological technologies:
development and environmental, ICT and
demonstration Energy-efficiency
• SMEs • Simplification • Actions and services
participation in • Definition of thematic encouraging SMEs
Research content participation in FP7
• Specific schemes for
SMEs
• Access to finance • « Risk Sharing Finance • Risk capital (start-up and
Facility » for large expansion)
European RTD projects and • SMEs Guarantee facility
infrastructures (with EIB) • SMEs loan securitisation
• Capacity building
• Dissemination of • Within projects • Networks providing
knowledge • In thematic areas innovation support services
• Promotion projects to remove
non-technical barriers (Article
43)
• Regions • Research driven clusters • Innovation clusters

74. How can local networks like the
NCP contribute to positive results
for RM
Dr. Anita Grozdanov
NCP SME
NCP NMP

75. MKD SME in FP7

76. More information
Research for the benefit of SMEs:
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/capacities/research-sme_en.html
CORDIS/SME TechWeb:
sme.cordis.lu/research/fp6_support.cfm
National Contact Points
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp6/ncp.htm