EU News

Opportunity to attend ICT2010

2010-08-11T08:59:08Z

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:

[email protected]">Hugo Russell, BtOG Project Manager or
[email protected]">Carolyn Hall, 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.

Latest Calls for proposals under FP7

2009-07-31T11:05:55Z

A series of 53 calls for proposals have been launched by the European Commission in late July. Of particular interest to the ICT community are: ICT Call 5, the ICT elements of the 3 new PPPs (Publice Private Partnerships) and Research for the benefit of SMEs.

If you are considering submitting a proposal under one of these initiatives or you are looking to join an existing project consortium please let us know. We may be able to help directly or, alternatively, can put you in touch with someone else who can assist. In either case please let us know what your are planning – [email protected]">[email protected]

For the full listing of open Calls visit the latest published calls listing on the CORDIS site.

Opportunity to contribute to the next workprogramme (2011-2013) of Networked Media

2009-10-01T00:00:00Z

D.G. Information Society and Media of the European Commission are starting the consultation process to prepare the next WorkProgramme 2011-13 of Networked Media under FP7. Four activities will be carried out in the next 4 months: a web consultation (already open and to close on 30 September 2009); one focal workshop on networked immersive media experiences (on 24 September); one focal workshop on Broadcast driven media in the Future Internet (on 25 September); and the final consultation workshop on 22 October where the contributors to the web consultation may be invited to make a presentation of their ideas for the next WorkProgramme.

You can contribute to this consultation exercise mainly through the web consultation that is opened to any topic related to the Networked Media research domain. DEADLINE for contributions: 30 September 2009. If this is relevant to you - please contribute!

If you are interested in research aspects at the crossroad of broadcast and the Future Media Internet, you can attend the workshop on "Broadcast driven Media in the Future Internet" on 25 September. Details of the agenda and the registration form.

If you are interested in the research area at the crossroad of networks and immersive Media, you can register for the workshop on "The Future of Networked Immersive Media" on 24 September. Details and the registration form.

Report on the public consultation on European e-Inclusion Policy

2009-07-13T08:29:33Z

A public consultation was launched on 4 March 2009 through the European Commission’s interactive Internet platform “Your voice”. It closed on 6 April 2009 and its main objective was to gather views on the role of e-Inclusion in the future European strategy on the information society that will succeed the "i2010" initiative. The survey was also aimed at gathering opinions on European programmes and activities supporting e-Inclusion and cooperation modalities between European Commission services and relevant stakeholders regarding e-Inclusion activities.

Overall, 103 responses were received. They represent various stakeholder groups, including public authorities (26,2%), non-for-profit academic or research organisations (26,2%), individual academics or researchers (19,4%), commercial operators or industry associations(11,7%), users organisations (5,8%), private individuals (4,9%). Some stakeholders also sent position papers (please see below).

Among those who responded to this consultation, there was a general understanding that European policy on e-inclusion is useful and should be continued and enhanced in post 'i2010' initiative. There was an overwhelming consensus that in a context of financial and economic crisis greater e-Inclusion also generates systemic innovation, new business models and new modalities for service delivery. Respondents provided valuable inputs defining the future possible e-inclusion policies and dissemination activities.

Links to the report and related deocumentation.

Modernising ICT Standardisation in the EU - The Way Forward

2009-07-13T08:16:19Z

The Commission White Paper on Modernising ICT Standardisation in the EU describes some of the dramatic changes which have taken place in the ICT standardisation landscape over the last decade or so and invites comments from all interested parties on the possible actions which could be taken to adapt to these changes.

The questions are split into two sections below:

Identification
Specific questions

The specific questions are optional and respondents may therefore reply to all, none or a selection of the latter group of questions Respondents are however strongly encouraged to respond to as many questions as possible to help ensure the best possible results from the public consultation.

Unless otherwise specified, only one answer per question is possible. You have 90 minutes to fill in the on-line questionnaire. After this delay your responses will be lost. Please use the pdf version provided for preparation. Once you are ready to answer the questions, it is important that you complete the on-line version of the questionnaire, not the print version.

Please also note that there are additional questions for respondents who represent an organisation. Only one questionnaire per organisation should be submitted.

For questions, please use the email address provided below.

The consultation closes on 15 September 2009.

On-line questionnaire: http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=ICTstandardisation

Commission White Paper (57 Kb)
Privacy statement (17 Kb)
Questionnaire for printing purposes only (171 Kb)

European support via this web site

2009-06-12T07:29:45Z

The ICT Cluster is committed to helping the regional ICT community optimise benefits from transnational collaborations funded by the European Commission – whether for R&D, innovation, training or exchanges & visits. The European section of this web site is intended to reinforce this, acting as a portal to relevant EU information – including programme calls, events, support services, contacts and opportunities. This part of the site will be evolving further over the coming weeks so please revisit us regularly.

If you have information that you'd like to see added to the site, or comments on how the site could be improved from your perspective, then email us at: [email protected]">[email protected]