Related initiatives
The “Transnational Cooperation of the European Network of SME NCPs” project (www.ncp-sme.net) is funded by the EC under the “Coordination and Support Actions” scheme of the “Research for the benefit of SMEs” Activity of the “Capacities” Programme of FP7. TransCoSME is aimed at the support of the European network of National Contact Points (NCPs) for SMEs in performing their duty to promote and support the participation of SMEs in proposals of FP7. This project sat up several electronic tools and supporting material with the aim of encouraging SMEs to participate in projects funded under the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development of European Union (FP7).
- The Partner Search Facility of the SME NCP Network is focused on the calls for proposals of the “Research for the Benefit of SMEs” Activity of the FP7 “Capacities” Programme.
- The Model Proposals are intended to help proposers prepare their own individual submissions to the “Research for the Benefit of SMEs” calls.
- The SME Test is a web based tool enabling organizations to intuitively enter their data and get feedback on their SME status.
The
“SME Qualifying for Research” - webtool is a simple on-line self-assessment in which any SME can test its own research capacities in order to preliminary identify suitable EU research funding opportunities.
The European IPR Helpdesk is a service initiative of the European Commission managed by the European Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI). The initiative offers information, direct advice and training in the fields of “Intellectual Property” (IP) and “Intellectual Property Rights” (IPR) to current and potential participants of EU funded research and innovation projects – primarily academia and SMEs. Furthermore, European SMEs being involved in transnational partnership agreements or technology transfer activities have access to the services of the initiative.
The service range of the European IPR Helpdesk comprises in detail the following services – all of them are offered free of charge:
- Website (www.iprhelpdesk.eu)
- Helpline
- Email news service
- Newsletter “Bulletin”
- Awareness raising events
- Training activities
Whether you need personal assistance on a specific IPR issue, want to be informed about the latest developments in the world of IP and R&D in Europe, or are interested in a training session on IPR – the European IPR Helpdesk is the right partner to turn to.
Funded by the European Commission, the BIO-NET project combines the efforts of National Contact Points for the FP7 "Knowledge Based Bio-Economy" (KBBE) theme in all European countries. By joint collaboration in activities that have a high impact when performed on an international level, BIO-NET aims to provide high quality support for the successful participation of research centers, universities and innovative SMEs in EU-funded FP7 KBBE research projects.
HEALTH-NCP-NET is the network of all officially appointed Health National Contact Points (NCPs) and Contact Points in third countries. It provides information, guidance and technical assistance on European funds for health research projects.
The clients are researchers and research institutions willing to participate and be successful in FP7. Since most of the NCP host institutions are funded by national governments, their services are offered free of charge.
HealthCompetence is a pan-European Research Information System within Health Science that facilitates collaboration and partnerships
between academia and industry.
HealthCompetence, a EU-funded support action, presents all the 3.800 projects funded by the European Commission since 2004 related to Life Science and Health and offers a broad vision of international and multidisciplinary cooperation in Europe.
For each project, the website displays general information but even its results in terms of technology offers, patents and publications. By structuring this information thematically, HealthCompetence.eu allows searching for activities and players in certain research or disease areas and hence facilitates the identification of suitable collaboration partners and the dissemination of public funded research results.
Beyond this, the website ensures a continuously reliable data quality.
KAPPA-Health is a project financed by the European Commission in the health sector.
The objective of the project is to contribute to the creation of the most favourable support environment to SMEs in the Health sector by identifying and analysing how they can take advantage from a participation in a research project financed by the EC Framework Programme and what are the key-factors that make them successful.
The identified success factors will be used as criteria to develop a methodology for the assessment and valorisation of research project outcomes for SMEs. The aim is to help SMEs to benefit from the participation in R&D projects, commercialise the results and advise them in better access to capital (EU-and other external funding). KAPPA-Health will offer information and organise trainings to SMEs and intermediaries on capital acquisition possibilities.
The Kappa-Health project involves seven partners and is coordinated by the Brussels-based company Euro Top.
The EECAlink project (www.eecalink.eu) is a coordination & support action under the Health priority theme.
The main priorities of the project are:
- Encouragement and promotion of the international collaboration in the Health sector through systematic support to create new research consortia,
- Stimulation of the further development of research consortia for FP7 calls and their support in proposal preparation,
- Identification of joint research interests of the EECA and the EU Member States and effective communication to relevant policy makers
- Strengthening and broadening of existing research collaboration among participating universities/academia partners,
- Building up and strengthening the capacities of participating EECA countries for effective collaboration within FP7 projects and in their administration,
- Promotion of FP7 among wider research audience targeted by the work programme – SMEs, universities and other research institutes existing beyond the project consortium and
- Stimulation of mutual exchange of experience and dissemination of good-practice among the project partners.
The project is coordinated by the First Faculty of Medicine of the Charles University in Prague with 17 partners from 12 different countries (4 EU-member states and 8 EECA countries).
USEandDIFFUSE is a project that is co-financed by the European Commission, under FP7, and aims to support the dissemination and exploitation of results resulting from research projects involving small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
The USEandDIFFUSE initiative gathered information on and analyzed current practices in terms of the use of RTD results in projects involving SMEs in order to draw upon best practice and guidelines that can be carried forward and disseminated to benefit existing and future R+D effort involving industry. A central Project component is the creation of a practical, public accessible Best Practice Manual or Guide entitled “Make European Research Work For Your Company”.
This practical and complete Guide will provide SMEs (and indeed Research Performers as well) with a step by step approach to ensuring that they get the most out of the results of research and development projects and that they put all the right pieces in place in order to be well prepared to uptake and manage the resulting IP.
Readers of the Guide will benefit from a close look at success stories and case studies, methods and approaches for creating an effective strategy for the dissemination and exploitation of RTD results, as well as advice on how to realistically tap into the real market potential of research results.
More information about the guide and the project can be found under www.useanddiffuse.eu