Optimum preparation for the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for research and technical development is essential to survive the critical stages of elimination. Paul Drath of Singleimage Ltd, Cambridge, UK, gives guidance on how to get it right first time.

Each year, more than 7,000 proposals for collaborative research projects are submitted to the EU for funding under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). Five out of six fail. The best proposers achieve a success rate of one in two.

The European Commission (EC) publishes new or revised Work Programmes for each research area (or theme) that describes the research topics it will fund. If you do not address one topic squarely, you fail. If you ask proposers if they study the Work Programme, they all say ‘yes’. But ask the evaluators and they say ‘no’. Two years ago, I was invited to run a focus group of about 30 evaluators, to discuss their experiences evaluating FP7 proposals. They said that, all too often, proposers had either not read the Work Programme, or had read it but failed to understand it, or understood it but chose to ignore it.

For the EC, objectives are what will be achieved by the end of the project. They are not some distant future, long after the project is finished, in which the results have been adapted and applied for use. Many proposals kick off with a vivid picture of the long-term scenario while avoiding clear description of where they will be when project funding runs out. But the investment of European taxpayer's money is in the project, so it will be judged on what the project itself plans to deliver.

Some funding bodies merely require just a good idea and an impressive CV. But collaborative research needs detailed plans too, to show how each consortium member contributes to the project objective and how all elements of the work fit together. The plan also shows how the work fits the skills and objectives – business as well as research – of consortium members, giving the evaluators assurance that the consortium is committed.

Choosing consortium members

Occasionally, there is need to build a critical mass of expertise to tackle a major problem. So, choosing consortium members with similar skills to your own is adequate, but usually the Work Programme topics require multidisciplinary and multisectoral teams. Here duplicated skills simply mean extra cost, and they can also lead to management headaches.

Some research is less (or more) successful than expected. Occasionally, consortium members decide to leave halfway through the project. Sometimes work is late, is of poor quality, or both. Any of these can prejudice the results of the project. Each consortium member carries responsibility for all results – something the lawyers call joint and several responsibility. So rules and procedures for handling problems are necessary. There are well-established methods for managing multinational, multiorganisational research projects. The consortium needs to include people with these skills and experience.

Dealing with stakeholders

Collaborative research in FP7 aims to achieve economic or social impacts. The proposal shoud describe the steps needed – within and beyond the project – to achieve these. Industry involvement is important, both at the research stage and post project to transfer results into use. Thirty per cent of participants in these projects are from industry.

But other stakeholders are important, too. Potential end users of the results, regulatory authorities, even policymakers are sometimes important in the transfer into use. All these should somehow be addressed in the project. Some might be consortium members, others could be in user groups advising on real world needs, and others might be identified as targets for dissemination activities.

FP7 in brief

The FP7 is the European Union’s research funding programme and has a budget of 53.3 billion euros over the period 2007-2013. Two thirds of this is for collaborative research between large and small companies, universities, government laboratories, not-for-profit institutes and for-profit research organisations – basically anyone who undertakes research. The work has to be undertaken by a consortium. The average consortium has 11 members, but they range from as few as three or four to as many as 20 and more.

The programme is divided into 10 major themes, including one which addresses nanotechnologies, materials and production technologies. Each theme regularly publishes a Work Programme, describing the research which the EU wishes to support.

Full proposals are 60-80 pages in length, with a set of administrative forms. Grants are awarded on average 3.5 million, or more than 300,000 euros for each consortium member.

Calls for proposals are published with fixed deadlines, after which the proposals are assessed by independent evaluators. They use three criteria – scientific or technological merit, implementation, and impact. The three criteria are usually of equal importance.

Further information

FP7 calls and how to apply: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/home_en.html