Promotion of SME participation in FP7
Development agencies, technology institutes and clusters hire us regularly to hold workshops for the SMEs in their region or sector to stimulate their participation in the 7th Framework Programme – the EC instrument to finance international R&D cooperation.
Despite the excellent financing conditions that allow SMEs to have up to 75% of their costs covered, often SMEs find it difficult to participate. With our workshops we provide concrete guidance to SMEs to overcome the barriers and get involved in European collaboration.
Based on 20 years of experience
We created our workshop concept from our experience with European R&D collaboration and the EC framework programmes. For 20 years we have been defining and managing a vast range of co-funded, collaborative projects, and we have also acted as expert evaluators of EC proposals. In addition to working for big corporations like Acciona, BASF, Daimler, Siemens, Umicore and Volkswagen, we work regularly with SMEs from all over Europe. We understand the concerns of smaller companies at the moment of entering into FP7, as well as the needs of specific sectors. This experience allows us to adapt each workshop for the specific audience. Since the first workshop five years ago, we have executed them in several regions in Spain and the Netherlands, and the concept continuously evolves.
The key for the success of these workshops
- Experience: our long experience of defining and managing European projects
- Sector specific focus: we prefer to set up the workshop around a specific theme such as ICT, automotive, energy etc.
- Guidance: we follow the participants from their initial idea to its realization
- Motivation: in the workshops we invite inspiring examples – companies that already have had success in European collaboration
- Reality-based: we remain realistic when assessing the possibilities that specific companies have for success, and support them in identifying the appropriate instrument to realize their ideas.
Methodology:
The workshops consist of 3 sessions that combine training with individual guidance.
