Opportunity to attend ICT2010

Golden opportunity for ICT SMEs looking for European funding

Assistance is available for ICT SMEs from the West Midlands region who want to explore European funding opportunities to support R&D - in particular to meet with lead partners from other countries planning to develop proposals under the latest ICT Call (FP7).

Critical to having a chance of success to gain EU funding is identifying proposers (lead partners), with relevant project ideas, who are developing proposals that have a “match” with your own area of expertise. In reality, many projects are very keen to identify SMEs to join their partnerships as this is seen as a priority by the Commission, but they often struggle to locate the most appropriate smaller companies.

The big event in the year for identifying these opportunities is the Commission’s own ICT conference & brokerage event. For this reason the Bridging the Opportunity Gap (BtOG) project are supporting participation at this year’s event – ICT 2010, 27-29 September, Brussels – for a small number of ICT SMEs from the West Midlands region that have R&D capacity and who we believe could directly benefit from participation.

In addition to meeting project proposers, discussing latest technical developments & applications and gaining a far better understanding of EU priorities within the call of relevance to them, participating companies will also have access to key Commission officials.

If this is of potential interest to you and you’d like to find out more contact:

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , BtOG Project Manager or
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , BtOG European Adviser.

NOTE: The BtOG project is providing financial support for the SMES involved. The project team is also planning some additional initiatives in order to optimise benefits of participation for members of our West Midlands group. These include:

Hosting an ICT 2010 West Midlands reception on the evening of 28 September. This will be at our Brussels-based West Midlands in Europe (WMiE) office. In addition to inviting representatives from other European regions with potential project ideas - with whom dialogue is already on-going – each participating SME will have a limited number of invitations to issue to contacts made at the event who offer potential for future project collaborations.
Producing fliers & visual presentation materials on our participating SMEs to help get them noticed and maximise potential opportunities. The BtOG project will be joining WMiE on the ERRIN exhibition stand at ICT 2010. As well as using this for promotional purposes on the companies’ behalf it can also be a meeting point for them to follow-up with potentially interested contacts.
Providing funding and support for a follow-up visit from a lead partner from another region if they wish to continue dialogue with a West Midlands SME about their potential role within a project partnership. [Wherever feasible this will be scheduled to coincide with our own ICT conference on 25 November].
Offering a preparatory session during the week prior to the Brussels event during which we’ll take those SME representatives joining the BtOG group through some of the key facts, jargon & acronyms they will need to understand in order for them to get the best possible returns from their time at ICT 2010. Participants will also meet with the UK National Contact Point for ICT FP7 who will provide his own words of wisdom & practical perspectives.
The BtOG team’s on-going support pre-, post- and during ICT 2010 to help companies gain the most from their participation.