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In this
issue
Events
Open Calls
New profiles
Tips & tricks to take
part in FP7
Success Stories
Project
coordinator is
FFG-Austrian Research Promotion Agency
European and International Programmes.
SMEs go Health is an SSA co-funded by the European Commission under FP6, grouping 29 expert organisations in Europe to support successful SMEs' participation in FP7.
www.smesgohealth.org |
UPCOMING EVENTS
A calendar of events is available on our website www.smesgohealth.org
February 2008
 2/2 : IGBF 4 Conference and exhibition (Greece).
An international Greek biotechnology forum.
March 2008
8/3 : RARE DISEASES: CHANNELS AND TRANSPORTERS (Spain).
The conference is devoted to channels and transporters involved in rare inherited
diseases.
10/3 : SMEs go Health - Information and Training Workshop on
7th EU Framework Programme (Germany).
Free training by experts on How to successfully participate in FP7 research projects.
10/3 : World Health Care Congress Europe 2008 (Germany).
An international forum where over 600 health leaders share best practices and
successful initiatives for improved delivery and outcomes in Europe.
12/3 : BioSquare 2008 (Switzerland).
A biotech partnering conference.
April 2008
4/4 : Fifth International Congress on FMF and Systemic
Autoinflammatory Diseases (Italy).
The conference will review the current knowledge on the mechanisms of innate
immunity and their relevance to the pathogenesis of autoinflammatory and other
chronic diseases.
May 2008
18/5 : Sleeping beauties Workshop (Italy).
The workshop will present some of the final findings of this FP6 NEST project which is learning
from nature in order to develop novel concepts for cell preservation based on mechanisms by
which model organisms tolerate desiccation and/or remain metabolically inactive for long periods.
Learn from the experienced! SMEs go Health trans-national Information and Training Workshop in Berlin 10/03/08
 Trans-regional events, like the "International Information and Training Workshop" in Riga, Latvia, on 13th of September 2007 (see article below), provided comprehensive information on research areas and actual themes in Health and Biotechnology. The next training workshop will take place on 10th of March in Berlin, Germany, with a main focus on financial aspects and calculation examples for cost planning. As for all training workshops, this event is free of charge, registration is however mandatory before the 22nd of February 2008.
The workshop, organized by "SMEs go Health", will take place at the International World Health Care Congress in Berlin. Comprehensive information about FP7 will be provided with focus on the research areas in “Health” and on IMI, the Innovative Medicines Initiative technology platform. Success stories from coordinators as well
as experiences from an evaluator will give a closer insight into the advantages and challenges of EU-projects. A special focus is given on financial aspects: tips and
tricks for cost planning including a calculation example!
A detailed agenda will be available at the beginning of February. Participants of the SMEs go Health Information and Training Workshop may attend the World Health Care Congress Europe 2008 at a special 25% discount rate. Please find further information and promotional code for registration here.
Take the advantage of this comprehensive training in 1 day – free of charge!
Registration can be done by e-mail to: jutta.deppe@dlr.de, or here.
OPEN CALLS & PARTNER SEARCHES
Status of the 2nd Call for proposals of the FP7 HEALTH theme
 The European Commission has concluded the evaluation of the project proposals that were submitted under the first call for the Health priority of the 7th Framework Programme for RTD (deadline 19 April 2007). The Commission received a total of 914 proposals, out of which 893, involving some 8,000 participants, were considered eligible. Following evaluation, 152 proposals were recommended for funding.
SME participation was quite satisfactory as 120 projects (out of the 152) included at least 1 SME participant (79%). Furthermore, out of the 1540 participants in the 152 projects, 299 were SMEs (19%) as were 20 of the 152 coordinators (13%).
In financial terms, more than EUR 100 million of the EUR 652 million requested contribution should go to SMEs (15%).
The evaluation procedure for the 2nd call for proposals (18 September 2007) is still ongoing whereas the third call is expected to
be published in the second half of 2008, probably by the end of July, with a budget
of about EUR 600 million (subject to confirmation).
Albania to participate in FP7 on equal footing
 Albania has signed a Memorandum of Understanding allowing it to participate in the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) on an equal footing with all EU Member States. The agreement was signed on 17 December. The new "Associated status" allows Albania to participate in all calls for proposals as of 1 January 2008. The agreement is regarded as an important step in the application process for EU membership as it allows scientists, universities and companies to forge links with their counterparts across Europe.
The Commission expects that this will enable Albania to build up its scientific expertise, including in the scientific fields crucial to implementing some of the EU's legislation.
"I strongly believe that the countries of the Western Balkans have much to gain from participating in FP7 as part of their membership perspective," said the EU's Science and Research Commissioner, Janez Potocnik. "I applaud Albania for the decision
which they are taking today to work with us and their regional partners".
The agreement was signed by Mr Potocnik and Genc Pollo, Albania's Education and Science Minister, in Brussels.
Source: CORDIS News
NEW PROFILES
Year 2007 a successful start for SMEs go Health web-activities
 The SMEs go Health website www.smesgohealth.org has established its position as an important source of information and partner searches for organisations active in Health related research willing to participate in the EU FP7 programme.
In 2007 the website has attracted a record-breaking number of 68059 visitors who view in average 659 pages per day and continued to expand its comprehensive list of profiles and partner searches of registered SMEs and research organisations.
Especially the Virtual Brokerage Event organized by SMEs go Health network in all participating countries on 25th – 29th June 2007 in the course of the 2nd Call raised the number of daily visits to more than 650 visitors and up to 5000 page views per day in this period. This reflects the particularly active partner search and match-making that took place in June in order to form consortia to participate in FP7.
The new match making tool that was introduced as a new service on the website in July 2007 has also already proved its successfulness: within two months, 86 contacts between expertise profiles and partner searches were initiated through this automatic tool.
SMEs go Health invites you to take advantage of these free services even more actively in 2008 and proposes you to update your own profile or partner search
among the 1540 profiles and 166 partner searches currently available in the
SMEs go Health database!
TIPS & TRICKS TO TAKE PART IN FP7
Innovation Financing in the European Medical Device Sector
 Innovation Financing in the European Medical Device Sector is prepared as part of the InJection network, a European Commission/DG Enterprise & Industry Europe INNOVA program, funded by the 6th Framework Programme. The European market for medical devices is the world’s second largest market for these devices, valued at more than EUR 41bn. The medical device sector is one of Europe’s strategic industries based on the number of leading medical device firms situated in Europe that have a long history of research, development and innovation. The sector includes more than 7000 firms and institutions, of which more than 70% are SMEs.
Lack of access to capital for innovation and R&D acts as a barrier to innovation in the European medical device sector and has had a negative influence on European growth. The aim of the report is to identify innovation-financing sources for the European medical device sector and to provide a comprehensive overview of the direct, indirect and alternative innovation financing sources for this sector in order to analyse missing links in the financing of innovation in Europe.
More info available at: www.livinglabs-europe.com/injection.asp
Trans-regional Information and Training Workshop on the 7th EU-Framework Programme (FP7) in Riga
 On September 13th, 2007 the first trans-regional Information and Training Workshop took place in Riga, Latvia – at the international Baltic Dynamics’07 conference.
The event was organised by two European initiatives, SMEs go Health and Match2BioSMEs, whose networks consist of experienced partners from more than 27 European countries. Small and medium-sized enterprises, research institutes, universities, industry and associations, representatives of bio-clusters or bio-incubators, working in the field of Health and Biotechnology and interested in EU funding for research & technology development were attracted to attend the workshop. More than 60 participants from various countries registered for this one day and free of charge event.
To summarize, the workshop was not only a full success, but also a perfect opening
for the Baltic Dynamics’07 conference which followed on September 14th-15th. This international conference attracted more than 400 participants from 35 countries.
Success stories / quotes from clients...
Interview with an FP7 evaluator
The Greek SMEs go Health partner (National Documentation Center/NHRF) was given the difficult mission of shedding the light on what is going on between an FP7 Proposal submission and its acceptation or rejection. They interviewed an evaluator of FP7 proposals mandated by the EC to select and rank eligible FP proposals.
For ethical issues and following his request, the real name of the FP7-HEALTH
evaluator will not be mentioned but during the whole interview will be addressed
as Dr John Smith.
Dr John Smith has background in Chemical Engineering and
Economics and extensive research experience in Pharmaceutical, Chemical and
Energy industries in the United States. He shared with us his experience as an
FP7-HEALTH evaluator, providing his personal insight in the FP evaluation
procedure and valuable tips on how to submit a good FP7 proposal.
Newsletter by EuroTop. |
Newsletter Volume 2, No 4 - February 2008
