FP7

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FP7

• Rules of the game

Presentation based on the Commission proposal on
the RP, on the results of an informal trialogue
26 October 2006 - with a view to a first reading
agreement and on the draft of the documents
derived by the RP
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The full legislative package
FP7 RTD
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The EC legislative package
Framework Programme (EC)
Rules for Participation (EC)



4 Specific Programmes
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Approval Process (EC Treaty) FP RP
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Where do RP come from
State Aid Framework for RDI
Financial Regulations
FP7 Rules for Participation
FP7 Needs
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Rules for Participation

• The Rules for Participation cover
• Partner eligibility
• Proposal submission, evaluation and negotiation
• Legal financial rules
• Community financial contribution
• Maximum funding rates
• Implementation and grant agreements
• Cost Reporting
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Procedures for appointment of external experts
• RP do not apply to article 169 171

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Terminology changes
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Derived Documents (1)
Rules for Participation (EC)
Grant Agreement Forms checklists Guides rules
for Proposals Evaluation Financial
Reporting
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DG RTD internal workgroups

• FP7 funding schemes
• from Negotiation to Contract
• from Proposal Submission to ranking
• Information Technology
• Legal and financial issues
• Reporting
• Risk Management
• Unique Registration Facility
• Work programmes
• Human resources and recruitment
• Internal and external communication

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Derived Documents (2)

• Guide for Applicants, including the proposal
  submission forms (several versions generic,
  Marie Curie, Infrastructure actions, SME actions,
  ERC)
• Rules for Proposals submission, Evaluation,
  Selection and Award procedures (standard and ERC)
• Grand agreements (special Annexes SMEs, NoEs,
  Infrastructure, Eranet, lump sum version) three
  sets of documents (standard, ERC, Marie Curie)
• Rules of verification of legal status and
  financial viability
• Modalities for lump sums for IPCP
• Negotiation guidelines notes, including grand
  agreement preparation forms (special Annexes
  SMEs, NoEs, Infrastructure, Eranet)
• FP7 financial guidelines
• Check list for consortium agreement
• IPR guidelines
• Reporting guidelines
• Implementation modalities of guarantee fund

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Guiding principles

• Continuity
• Simplification
• Improvement
• Gradual introduction
• The challenge right balance between
• Protection of Communitys financial interests
• Simplifying the participation

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Whats new

• Increased funding rates
• Flexible funding schemes
• Rationalisation of Audit Certificates
• The Unique Registration Facility
• The Joint Guarantee Fund
• The Risk Sharing Financial Facility
• Logistics and administrative tasks -gt external
  structures
• Work Programmes Call for Proposals adopted at
  the same time each year
• Frontier research, JTIs ERANET

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Who can participate?

• Type of participants
• Undertakings
• Universities
• Research Centres
• International Organisations
• Any Other legal entity
• Natural Persons

• Place of Establishment
• Member States
• Associated Countries
• Third Countries

Additional Conditions may be included in the Work
Programme
Normally, non IPCP third countries are not
eligible for funding
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Minimum conditions for participation

• General rule
• 3 independent participants from 3 different MS or
  AC (Associated Countries)
• Specific International Cooperation actions
• 2 participants MS or AC and 2 participants ICPC
  (International Cooperation Partner Countries)
• Coordination and support actions, Training of
  Researchers, Frontier research projects
• 1 participant

? Sole participants composed of members that meet
the criteria above can participate ? Work
Programme or Specific Programme can add
conditions on number or type of participant,
place of establishment, etc
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Funding Schemes

• Collaborative projects (small to medium / large /
  targeted to specific groups)
• Networks of Excellence
• Co-ordination support actions
• Frontier research actions
• Marie Curie actions
• Joint Technology Initiatives
• Joint implementation of national research
  programmes (Article 169)

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Maximum funding rates

• Research activities 50 of eligible costs,
  except for
• SMEs 75
• Non-profit public bodies 75
• Secondary and higher education establishments
  75
• Research organisations (non-profit) 75
• Demonstration activities 50 of eligible costs
• Frontier research actions 100
• Coordination and support actions 100
• Training and career development of researchers
  actions 100
• Other activities (management, training, etc)
  100
• Receipts to be taken into account

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Forms of Grants

• Three forms of grants
• reimbursement of eligible costs (vast majority)
• lump sums financing (eg NoEs)
• flat-rate financing, including scale of unit
  costs (eg. indirect costs, Marie Curie).
• Different forms of grants may be used in
  combination.
• Lump sums and flat rates will not require
  justification of eligible costs
• Gradual introduction of lump sums and flat rates
• ? FR fundamental principle a grant cannot
  generate a profit

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Cost Reporting Modes

• Cost reporting models (FC, AC, etc) have been
  eliminated
• Participants charge direct (and indirect) costs
• For indirect costs, a flat rate is an option
• Average personnel costs may be used if they do
  not differ significantly from actual costs
• Audit certificates continued, but rationalised
• Now called Certificate on the financial
  statements
• No Certificate required for participants
  receiving lt 375,000
• For projects of 2 years, if required, maximum one
  Certificate per partner at the end of the project

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Indirect costs

• Eligible costs direct costs indirect costs
• Preferred solution real indirect costs.
• Flat rate always an option. 20
• For non-profit public-bodies, universities,
  research centres and SMEs. Grant awarded
• before 1st January 2010 ? 60
• after 1st January 2010 ? tbd but gt 40
• Coordination Support Actions ? 7

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Lump sums - NoEs

• A special lump sum for NoEs
• Calculated according to the number of researchers
• 23,500 / year / researcher
• Max number of participants and researchers
  established in Work Programme
• Payments will be based on assessment of progress

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Guarantee fund mechanism (1)

• Replaces FP6 concept of Collective financial
  responsibility
• Participants contribute a small fraction of their
  EC grant to the fund to insure against losses of
  a defaulting partner
• Does not apply to
• public bodies, secondary and higher education and
  entities guaranteed by MS or AC
• participants in certain types of funding schemes
  (training, frontier research, actions for benefit
  of specific groups except SMEs)

Consequence -gt Ex-ante financial viability check
only for coordinators and participants receiving
more than 500,000
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Guarantee fund mechanism (2)

• Commission will establish operate the
  participant guarantee fund
• Max 5 of Commission contribution from
  pre-financing
• To be returned at the end of the action
• Interest generated by the fund will be used to
  cover sums due to the Community
• If not sufficient, Commission may deduct from
  amount to be returned to participant max 1 of
  Community contribution to it.

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The Project Life Cycle
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Proposals

• Call for proposals
• Evaluation criteria established in RP and WP.
• 1 Specific Programme ? 1 Annual Work Programme ?
  1 publication date of the calls.
• Work Programme will specify
• Topics with associated Type of funding scheme
  (Collaborative projects, Networks of Excellence,
  Coordination and support actions)
• Indicative budgets
• Type of evaluation procedure (one / two stage /
  hearings)
• Particular requirements (criteria, minimum
  conditions, etc)
• Toward Electronic Submission Only
• Toward a new Unique Registration Facility

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Evaluation. General Principles

• Same principles than in FP6,
• Quality, Transparency, Impartiality, Equal
  treatment
• peer review - independent experts hearings
• but
• More use of two-stage submission procedure
• More use of remote evaluation
• New set of evaluation criteria

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Evaluation Process

• Process
• Eligibility checks (time of receipt,
  completeness, partnership)
• Individual reading and marking (3-5 experts)
• Consensus discussion and final marking
• Evaluation Summary Report
• Commission decision on ranking (Selected,
  Reserve, Rejected)
• Start of negotiation for the selected proposals

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Evaluation Criteria

• General principles in RP
• Details of evaluation criteria in Annex 2 of Work
  Programme in Guide for Applicants
• Interpretation of evaluation criteria is tailored
  to each funding scheme
• For Ideas only one evaluation criteria
• ST Excellence

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Life of the project - Simplifications

• No 18 months detailed implementation plan
• Fewer audit certificates to be submitted
• Negotiable number of reviews
• Reporting rationalised, with significant
  reduction in number. (tbc deviation reports)
• IPR provisions clarified and simplified
• Changes in consortium membership possible
• Sub-contracting no change from FP6

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Payment modalities

• Pre-Financing (PF)
• Interim payments (IP) EC contribution in
  reporting period
• Final payment
• Condition
• (PF ? IP ) lt 90 Total EC Contribution

Part of Pre-financing will be used to contribute
to the guarantee fund
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Consortium Agreement

• Compulsory, unless explicitly excluded in the
  text of the call.
• Commission will publish Guidelines on the
  Consortium Agreement
• Consortium Agreement must cover
• Internal organisation of the consortium
• The distribution of EC financial contribution
• Specific rules of dissemination and IPR
• Rules for settlements of dispute
• Liability, indemnification and confidentiality
  arrangements

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Management

• Increased FP budget No increase in Commission
  staff
• Need new structures to manage the increase
• Externalise part of the FP management to
  executive agencies for the first time

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Management

• Commission, Executive Agencies Special
  Structures
• Executive agencies for
• Frontier research projects
• Most Human Potential and SME-specific actions
• Space and Security research
• Some Transport and Energy research
• Some Logistical and administrative tasks

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Management special structures

• Ad-hoc special structures to manage
• Joint Technology Initiatives
• New infrastructure initiatives
• Joint projects with Member States (Art.169)
• Co-funding of national Human Potential schemes

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The RSFF approach Loans for RD
Technological development Prototyping IPR
Basic Research
Applied Research
Commercialisation
Time
Own funds Equity Loans
Own funds Grants Loans
Own funds Equity Grants Loans
Own funds Grants
Framework Programme
RSFF loans by EIB and its partner banks
Many RD projects, which are currently undertaken
thanks to subsidies, or abandoned for lack of
them, have a financial profile that could give
them access to loans
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RSFF The leverage effect
Risk coverage
Loans representing on average one third of total
cost of financed research projects
Provisioning and capital allocation representing
15 to 25 (average 20) of volume of
individual loan
FP7 Contribution up to 1 billion
Additional private investments in research 24
to 36 billions
EIB loans and guarantees 8 to 12 billions
X 2
X 4 to 6
X 3
EIB Contribution up to 1 billion
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Cooperation with local banks
For loans of EUR 7.5 million or more -
direct involvement of the EIB
EIB
Borrower
For all loans where borrowers wish to work with
their own banks, in particular those of less
than EUR 7.5 million - sharing of RSFF
benefits with intermediaries (e.g. through
guarantees)
EIB
Intermediary
guarantee
Borrower
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Eligible projects Some remarks

• RSFF is a demand-driven instrument and will
  provide finance on a first come, first served
  basis (no call for proposals)
• Actions and research infrastructures supported by
  an FP 7 grant (JTIs, Collaborative Projects, NoE,
  Research for the benefit of SMEs)
• Research infrastructures needed by the European
  Research Community (at least three Member States
  or Associated Countries)
• All other RTD European actions (whether
  trans-national or not) and falling within the
  scope of the contributing FP 7 themes
• All other RD and Innovation projects including
  commercial innovation (only with EIBs own
  contribution for risk coverage)

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Personal advise to applicants

• READ MORE
• WRITE LESS

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Information

• EU research http//ec.europa.eu/research
• Seventh Framework Programme http//ec.europa.eu/r
  esearch/fp7
• Information on research programmesand projects
  http//www.cordis.lu/
• RTD info magazine http//ec.europa.eu/research/rt
  dinfo/
• Information requests http//ec.europa.eu/researc
  h/enquiries/

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Thank you for your attention!

• Name Stefano Puppin
• E-mail stefano.puppin_at_ec.europa.eu
• Phone [phone]