Presentation also given as a webinar https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/468412401

2. TSSG Positioning
• Basic Research (HEA, SFI)
 One of the TOP academic centre's in Ireland for
telecommunications
• Applied Research (EU FP7)
 EU FP7 – participating in 11 projects
 Ranked Top 10 institute in Europe for Future
Internet research
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3. TSSG Positioning Contd…
• Commercialisation (EI)
 One of the top ICT research groups for
commercialisation
 Leading edge innovation & technology
development in:
IMS
Web 2.0
Mobile
Commercial ‘Spin-offs’
 Early stage technology clusters emerging based
around TSSG technology
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4. How to write a
competitive FP7
proposal
(ICT)
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5. The views of an Expert
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6. The views of an Expert
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7. Want an FP7 Wizard?
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8. Want an FP7 Wizard?
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9. What’s to be covered
• Pointers and approach on how to write a
competitive proposal for FP7.
• Guidelines on the evaluation criteria.
• Highlight common problems.
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10. How it’s going to be covered
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11. How it’s going to be covered
• 4 Phases of Proposal Writing
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12. How it’s going to be covered
• 4 Phases of Proposal Writing
– Inception Phase
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13. How it’s going to be covered
• 4 Phases of Proposal Writing
– Inception Phase
• Project Scope, Objectives and Partners
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14. How it’s going to be covered
• 4 Phases of Proposal Writing
– Inception Phase
• Project Scope, Objectives and Partners
– Elaboration Phase
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15. How it’s going to be covered
• 4 Phases of Proposal Writing
– Inception Phase
• Project Scope, Objectives and Partners
– Elaboration Phase
• Specify the technological direction for this
proposal
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16. How it’s going to be covered
• 4 Phases of Proposal Writing
– Inception Phase
• Project Scope, Objectives and Partners
– Elaboration Phase
• Specify the technological direction for this
proposal
– Construction Phase
8

17. How it’s going to be covered
• 4 Phases of Proposal Writing
– Inception Phase
• Project Scope, Objectives and Partners
– Elaboration Phase
• Specify the technological direction for this
proposal
– Construction Phase
• Break the proposal apart
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18. How it’s going to be covered
• 4 Phases of Proposal Writing
– Inception Phase
• Project Scope, Objectives and Partners
– Elaboration Phase
• Specify the technological direction for this
proposal
– Construction Phase
• Break the proposal apart
– Submission Phase
8

19. How it’s going to be covered
• 4 Phases of Proposal Writing
– Inception Phase
• Project Scope, Objectives and Partners
– Elaboration Phase
• Specify the technological direction for this
proposal
– Construction Phase
• Break the proposal apart
– Submission Phase
• Put a clear and concise proposal together
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20. Proposal
Inception Phase
“It takes two to tango”
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21. Inception Phase
Where do proposals come from?
• It can be:
– Your own research idea
– Shared idea with someone else
– A follow on or specialisation from an
existing or previous project
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22. Inception Phase
Where do proposals come from?
• It can be:
– Your own research idea
– Shared idea with someone else
– A follow on or specialisation from an
existing or previous project
You need to construct proposal and form consortium from scratch
10

23. Inception Phase
Where do proposals come from?
• It can be:
– Your own research idea
– Shared idea with someone else
– A follow on or specialisation from an
existing or previous project
You need to construct proposal and form consortium from scratch
10

24. Inception Phase
Where do proposals come from?
• It can be:
– Your own research idea
– Shared idea with someone else
– A follow on or specialisation from an
existing or previous project
You need to construct proposal and form consortium from scratch
Proposal and consortium typically already exist
10

25. Inception Phase
Constructing a proposal from
scratch
• Identify a co-partner to work with.
– Look to fellow Irish participants.
• Create a 2 page flyer
– Project Scope and Objectives.
– Highlight current state of the art.
– Identify key use cases for the technology.
– Identify key partner profiles and roles.
– Ensure that the idea is consistent with the objectives
and targets in the published work programme call text.
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26. Inception Phase
Building the consortium
• Needs to be a balance of academic &
industrial partners.
• Partners need to have the right expertise
and have complimentary skills.
• Good to have a flagship partner active in
the area of the proposal, for example, a
proposal relating to telecoms would
typically require an operator and/or an
equipment vendor.
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27. Inception Phase
Building the consortium
• Host conference calls
– When there’s more than 3 partners start regular conference calls.
– Give each new participant a chance to explain
• What they do now.
• What they want to do in the future.
– Rebuild 2-pager flyer into 5 page position document
• Assign one editor.
• Refine project concept & objectives.
• Identify missing/weaknesses in concept and consortium
• For ICT define project type
– IP, STREP (if not already a CSA).
• For non-ICT refer to the specific call
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28. Inception Phase
Building the consortium
• Decide whether you need to go to
– EC Proposers Day.
– EC Consortation meetings.
– European Technology Platform meetings.
• Always make it a point to meet EC Project
Officers at these events.
– Arrange a follow up one to one meeting.
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29. Proposal
Elaboration Phase
“So what exactly is this
project?”
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30. Elaboration
Phase
Documenting the Proposal
• Define what collaboration tools you are going
to use
– e.g. Wiki, FTP,
– Email distribution lists,
– How partners are to provide input and
feedback
• Agree Proposal Name and Logo
• Agree Project Type
– IP, STREP
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31. Elaboration
Phase
Create Proposal Roadmap
• Coordinator is project manager and editor.
• Proposal preparation should follow a
schedule and have milestones.
• There should be a fair division of work
between partners.
• Allow time for reviews and revisions.
• Schedule more regular progress meetings
(teleconferences) and a face to face
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32. Elaboration
Phase
Create Proposal Roadmap
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33. Elaboration
Phase
Go through EC Work Programme
• Confirm all the EU rules and guidelines for this call.
• Make sure your project type is applicable (IP, STREP
or CSA).
• Highlight key words in the programme that link to
your proposal.
• Note the impact requested by the EC
– For the EC objective, EC challenge and overall work
programme goals.
• Review Evaluation Criteria.
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34. Elaboration
Phase
Define the Project Use Case(s)
• The Use Case(s) must show the Impact of
this project
– Possible domains in ICT to cover include:
• Utilities and Environment
• eHealth
• Smart Energy Grid
• Transport, Mobility and Logistics
• Content Management
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35. Elaboration
Phase
Arrange Partner Meeting
• Must have
– Presentable Concept & Objectives.
– Complete Use Case(s).
– Initial Work Package breakdown.
• Go through Part B template
• Leave the meeting with
– Agreed project objectives.
– Work package structure.
– Work package leaders.
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36. Elaboration
Collect Administrative Phase
Information
• PIC numbers
• Establish partner direct and indirect costs
• Partner Profiles
• Partner Interests
• Register proposal on the EPSS
– Partners must fill out the A2 form, get this
done as soon as possible
• Close off the partner search
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37. Proposal
Construction Phase
“Break the whole thing
apart”
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38. Construction
Template for Work Package
Phase
Description
• Objectives
• Tasks
– Role of contributing partners
• Deliverables
• Milestones
• State-of-Art
– With References
• Impact
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39. Construction
Phase
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40. Construction
Phase
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41. Construction
Actual review comments on Phase
Scientific and/or technological
excellence
• What you want to see
– The concept proposed is sound. The objectives are clearly defined,
well focused to produce ...........
– The objectives are in line with the objectives of the call. The
proposal presents a clear description of the current state of the
art. The proposal demonstrates a significant advance beyond the
current state of the art by combining existing technologies with
new ones to be developed in the course of the proposal
– What you don’t want to see
– The proposal lists some objectives, but they lack concreteness.
The description of the state-of-the-art is not complete.
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42. Construction
Agree Appropriate Management
Phase
Structure and Procedures
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43. Construction
Actual review comments on
Phase
Management
• What you want to see
– The individual participants combine an excellent set of skills and
experience in field. Some participants are also involved in
important standard setting bodies such as ITU and IETF. There is
good balance in the consortium between industry, academia,
research institutes and SMEs. The proposal clearly documents the
successful cooperation that the partners have had in the past in a
variety of configurations and projects.
• What you don’t want to see
– The workplan and WP structure are described well, but the task
scheduling is not convincing.
– The roles of the key participants within the project (WP leader,
task leader, researcher etc) are not sufficiently explained.
– The contribution and role of the subcontractor are unclear.
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44. Construction
Agree the Innovation, Impact
Phase
and Exploitation
• Coordinator should hold peer-to-peer
conversations with each partner.
• Allow for open collaboration, conversations
and changes.
– Lots of changes.
• Build up individual submissions into a
coherent picture for the project.
– Make sure the industrial partners are
contributing and reviewing the Impact
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45. Construction
Actual review comments on
Phase
Impact
• What you want to see
– The proposal is of high potential impact at a European and global
level and is in line with the expected impact of the call.
– The proposal shows appropriateness of measures for spreading
excellence, exploiting results and disseminating knowledge
through engagement with stakeholders and the public at large.
The measures for exploiting the proposal results are clearly
defined.
• What you don’t want to see
– The general impact potential is low and mainly restricted to a
specific sector. Dissemination is sufficient for the proposed
project. Although the results will be Open Source, there is no
appropriate exploitation strategy presented.
– Individual exploitation plans are standard and do not lead to a
31

46. Construction
Phase
Get the Budget Sheet in place
• Discuss and agree a total budget for the project
– Review existing projects in the programme
• And start the process of looking at
– Overall person-month cost per partner
– Travel costs
– Equipment Costs
– Audit Costs
– Indirect (Overhead) Costs
• And make sure you know how each partner applies
their overhead
32

47. Construction
Phase
Individual Partner Budget Sheet
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48. Construction
Phase
Overall Budget Sheet
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49. Proposal
Submission Phase
“Bring the whole thing
together”
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50. Construction
Phase
What you need in the Part B
• Concept & Objectives
– Does it convey the main pitch for the proposal.
• Progress Beyond SOTA
– Needs to display knowledge of current SOTA and
give a convincing argument that proposal moves
beyond this
• Project Management
– Work plan, work package structure, division of
work between partners and budget calculation –
This section is particular responsibility of
coordinator and is the most time consuming!
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51. Construction
Phase
What you need in the Part B
• Management Structure
– How project management will work and processes
to be followed - this can follow an established
template
• Individual Participants
– overview of partners, their skills & experience
• Consortium as a whole
– Why consortium in total has the correct match of
skills and resources to be successful
• Resources committed
– summary of resources committed by consortium
37

52. Construction
Phase
What you need in the Part B
• Impact
– This is an important section as it argues
how the overall proposal will impact
society. This needs to reference the text
of the objectives & targets
• Dissemination
– external publications, exploitation plans
& IP management
38

53. Construction
Phase
Identify what’s missing
• There are 9 parts
– what’s falling behind schedule?
• Finalise the Project Gantt Chart
39

54. Construction
Phase
Coordinator Take Control
• At this stage the coordinator needs to take
control as overall editor
– And start to become a dictator!
• Bring the work packages together
• Close off the Concept and Objectives
• Close off the State-of-Art Section
• Close off the Impact Section
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55. Construction
Phase
Finalise the Budget
• Maintain master workbook for the budget
• Stick to originally agreed target budget for
the project
• Complete WP Descriptions and Tasks
Assignments.
– These will change based on the budget
discussions
• Load Budget A3 forms to the EPSS
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56. Construction
Phase
Get into revision mode
• Load your first draft of the Part B onto the EPSS
• Validate the full proposal and submit
• Shorten Everything
– No matter what you do there will be unnecessary
text in the sections for
• Concept & Objectives
– Consider what part of the State-of-Art can be
moved to an Annex
• Management
• Impact
42

57. Construction
Revise / Submit - Revise /
Phase
Submit
• Submit a complete version at a very early
stage
• Submit often
43

58. Construction
Phase
The proposal is submitted
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59. Contact Details
Miguel Ponce de Leon TSSG Offices:
Research Manager
TSSG (Headquarters)
TSSG, WIT
ArcLabs Research & Innovation Building
miguelpdl@tssg.org
+353 51 302952 (w) WIT West Campus, Carriganore
Co. Waterford, Ireland
www.tssg.org/people/miguelpdl
Slides 11, 13, 19, 38, 39, 40 provided by Robert TSSG (Dublin)
Mullins Digital Depot, Roe Lane
The Digital Hub
Dublin 8, Ireland
A recording of this presentation can be found at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/
468412401
Photo Credit Slide 4: kevindooley on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/
2810314243/
Photo Credit Slide 6: Batikart on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/batiks/2910222348/
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