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SMEs
go Health Newsletter |
Newsletter Volume 2, No 11 - October 2009|
In this
issue
part in FP7 and IMI
Project
coordinator is |
UPCOMING EVENTS
5th SMEs go Health Information and Training Workshop
on the Health theme in the 7th EU-Framework Programme (FP7)
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For you working in the field of health and biotechnology, we invite you to a half-day workshop on Health in FP7 at the occasion of the BioTech Forum, the Scandinavian partnering event.
FEED-BACK on SME-Week: contributions from Austria, Estonia, the Netherlands and Slovenia
The first European SME Week, which took place from 6 to 14 May 2009, was a campaign to promote entrepreneurship across Europe and to inform entrepreneurs about support available for them at European, national and local level. It allowed SMEs to discover an array of information, advice, support and ideas to help them develop their activities.
You can find the activities from some of the SMEs go Health partners, demonstrating the success of the SME Week. Do not miss it next time!
 Read the complete article |
EU RESEARCH FUNDING Initiatives: Open Calls & Partner Searches
New FP7 Health calls for proposals are published
On 30 July 2009, six Calls for Proposals have been published under the Health theme: Health-2010 has a total indicative budget of EUR 620.5 million.
The objective of health research under FP7 is to improve the health of European citizens and boost the competitiveness of health-related industries and businesses, as well as address global health issues.
For the 2010 WP there are several calls often with different deadlines and different procedures (Single stage, Two-stage,..).
The six calls are:
- FP7-HEALTH-2010-two-stage: indicative budget: EUR 205 million, deadline: 29 October 2009 (for stage 1 proposals)
- FP7-INFLUENZA-2010: indicative budget: EUR 12 million, deadline: 29 October 2009 - FP7-HEALTH-2010-single-stage: indicative budget: EUR 333.5 million, deadline: 19 November 2009
- FP7-ERANET-2010-RTD: indicative budget: EUR 6 million, deadline: 19 January 2010
- FP7-AFRICA-2010: indicative budget: EUR 39 million, deadline: 14 January 2010
- FP7-HEALTH-2010-Alternative Testing: indicative budget: EUR 25 million, deadline: 3 February 2010
All related documents, such as the Health Work Programme 2010 or an overview of the Health-2010 topics and contact points, can be found on: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/health
For more information, contact your local SMEs go Health contact point: http://www.smesgohealth.org/common/partners.asp
A new Focus on Africa Call
FP7-AFRICA-2010, the so called “Africa call”, is a coordinated call of the themes Health, Food and Environment, to address objectives from the ‘Africa-EU Strategic Partnership’. The call was launched on 30 July, 2010. The emphasis is put on "Water and Food Security and "Better Health for Africa".
The call has a multi-disciplinary approach involving various scientific and technological research fields, such as food, agriculture, health, land and water resources, including their interaction with climate change. Due consideration should also be given to the various geographical, sectoral and cultural differences which exist within Africa.
The total budget is 63 million euro, with 39 million euro coming from the Health theme. There are altogether 6 topics related to Health, dealing with infectious diseases, cancer and Africa health care problems. Depending on the funding scheme, at least 2 or 3 partners from different member states or accession countries have to participate in the project, together with 2 or 3 partners from African ACP and Mediterranean Partner Countries.
The applicants have to follow the single-stage submission procedure. The call deadline is 14 January 2010 at 17:00 (Brussels local time).
Alternative Testing Strategies
The Call on "Alternative Testing Strategies" addresses the replacement of animal tests in repeated dose systemic toxicity testing, through the topic HEALTH.2010.4.2-9 "Towards the replacement of repeated dose systemic toxicity testing in human safety assessment", of the Health Programme. The European Cosmetic Industry has decided to match the research funds by the European Commission. More information about additional funding possibilities may be obtained from the COLIPA's website www.colipa.eu . It is important to note that the funding modalities differ from the standard FP7 funding schemes.
Innovative Medicines Initiative: putting Europe at the forefront of biopharmaceutical innovation
On 14 September 2009, the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), the public-private partnership between the European Commission and the European pharmaceutical industry, represented by EFPIA, announced the topics of research of its second call for proposals.
This announcement is to inform the scientific community already in advance about the topics that will be the subject of the IMI JU 2nd Call. The actual launch of the IMI JU 2nd Call is foreseen for 30 October 2009 with a deadline expected to be in January 2010.
With these topics, IMI aims to accelerate the discovery and development of new medicines in the field of cancer and inflammatory and infectious diseases. The funding available for the 2nd call will be €156.3 million, with €76.8 million provided by the European Commission and €79.5 million expected to be provided in kind from EFPIA member companies.
| Read the complete article |
New research funding scheme: Joint Programming
A new initiative in research, called “Joint Programming”, is approaching its finalization. A first pilot action in the field of Alzheimer has already been set-up and by the end of the year, the first themes should be identified.
The Joint Programming Initiative (not to be confused with the Joint Technology Initiatives) is not a new instrument from the European Community, but consists of pooling national research efforts.
Currently, 85% of European public research funding is invested in programmes conceived, developed and implemented nationally without any transnational coordination or competition. Only 15% is invested through intergovernmental organisations (such as CERN) or programmes such as EUREKA, or programmed jointly in the Community's Research Framework Programme. This situation leads both to unwanted duplications and to opportunities lost to achieve a critical mass of research efforts.
This is why the 2008 Spring European Summit called on the Commission and Member States to explore the potential of Joint Programming, asking for joint activities to be launched in 2010. The new approach is proposed to more effectively tackle common European challenges in a few key areas.
| Read the complete article |
NEW PROFILES / SPOTLIGHT ON RESEARCH PROFILES
Health research excellence in the spotlight: Improvements in the Health Domain of Romania
The healthcare sector has always been a continuous challenge for many countries in Europe and it still is a complex and sensitive topic to be addressed in any part of the world. During the past two decades, Romania has gone through a period of rapid and major changes in every sector, including health.
The health indicators in Romania showed a constant improvement in the last decade and they continue to do so. However, Romania is still behind the most developed countries in Europe when it comes to the organization of the health system across the country.
This is why Romania currently develops and implements projects in order to reinforce key elements of a long-term health sector development strategy and why it implements a reform program. The objectives are to improve efficiency and equity in the planning and regulation of the health service delivery system, reduce preventable deaths among emergency medical cases, improve access and equality in primary health care in poor and remote areas and help the Romanian health sector to better focus on priority public health problems.
In order to demonstrate the elements mentioned above, some successful institutions and companies that contributed and still contribute to the development of the health sector in Romania are presented.
TIPS & TRICKS TO TAKE PART IN FP7 AND IMI
Gender in FP7 research projects - free training sessions
The 7th Framework Programme strives to promote gender equality in scientific research, by facilitating the participation of women scientists and integrating the gender dimension into research content in all research areas. To further promote gender equality in research, DG Research is developing a gender toolkit and training activities.
The toolkit and training packages give the research community practical tools to integrate gender aspects into FP7 research, including equal opportunities for women and men AND the gender dimension of research, thereby contributing to excellence in research.
The one-day training sessions consist of a general introduction to gender in research in the morning, while in the afternoon two specific research fields are addressed with practical exercises in parallel sessions. The method combines cognitive (knowledge-based) and inductive (experience-based) elements. The programme is constructed as much as possible as an interactive workshop, where all participants have the opportunity to contribute to the session.
The training activities started in September 2009, and continue till September-October 2010. Participation in a training session is free. Please check the project's website for the calendar, which will be updated regularly with the training session’s dates and location as they are set up, and for registration.
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IMI Partnering Platform
The German National Contact Point Life Sciences has set up a Partnering Platform dedicated to IMI, which provides networking opportunities to prepare for the 2nd IMI Call 2009. The Platform will allow potential IMI applicants to identify suitable cooperation partners for the upcoming Call of the Innovative Medicines Initiative.
The IMI Partnering Platform will not only facilitate the quick and targeted search for possible partners, but will also display European-wide cooperation offers specific to IMI. Registered Users have the opportunity to be informed via e-mail alerts about new participants interested in the same (potential) topic(s). A Matchmaking function has been integrated in the partner search tool to show how well the own profile fits the profiles of potential cooperation partners.
Networking via the Platform is open to all IMI applicants on European level. Currently, the database contains already more than 160 profiles from 26 different countries.
The partnering platform is accessible at the following link:
http://www.imi-partnering.eu/
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SUCCESS STORIES / QUOTES FROM CLIENTS
Success Story from the Netherlands
Every issue, a successful FP7-project including SMEs is highlighted. This issue, we focus on the ZF-Cancer project.
The ZF-Cancer project aims to develop clinically relevant high-throughput bioassays for cancer progression in zebrafish that will be applicable in preclinical validation pipelines, and to use these bioassays to screen for novel chemical and genetic cancer targets.
The project consortium is lead by Leiden University (Institute of Biology Leiden – IBL) and includes three SMEs. One of them is ZF-screens, a young Dutch spin-out company based on several patents with two main applications: pharmaceutical applications and aquaculture applications.
Prof. Dr. Herman Spaink, one of the co-founders of ZF-screens, highlights for us the advantages of participating in a FP7 project:
“For a starting SME like ZF-screens it is important to join a project that is in line with existing plans. The ZF-CANCER project provides continuation and is an impulse for further developments: it enables us to obtain patents which are crucial for the competitive phase to come after the project ending. The project also facilitates business collaborations within and outside the consortium.”
The full success story will soon be available on the SMEs go Health website. Check the section “Success Stories”.
Newsletter by Euro Top.
