European Commission - Specific RTD programme in the field of Information Technologies
"Supporting the growth and the spread of the Information Society"
February 1997
This guide is intended to aid organisations which are planning to submit a proposal for High Performance Computing and Networking (HPCN) Preparatory, Support and Transfer (PST) Activities under the Specific Programme for Research and Technological Development (RTD) in the field of Information Technologies under the Fourth Framework Programme.
HPCN PST Activities are identified in the 1997 Work Programme of the Information Technologies Programme, in Domain 6: High Performance Computing and Networking, in Tasks 6.21 to 6.25. They are in line with, and further extend, activities already undertaken in the HPCN part of the Information Technologies Programme, such as the European Porting Projects and the Parallel Computing Initiative.
The Guide forms one part of the Information Technologies Programme Information Package. It must be used with two other documents:
Proposers who are new to Esprit are advised to refer first to the Introduction for Proposers and the Work Programme of Esprit.
All documents are available on request at the Esprit Information Desk:
Tel: +32 2 296.85.96 Fax: +32 2 296.83.88 E-mail: Esprit@dg3.cec.be
or at the Webpage
/esprit/home.html
The objective of the domain is to help all sectors of industry exploit the opportunities offered by advanced computing and networking systems to add higher levels of intelligence, reach larger throughputs or ensure shorter response times in their products, processes or services.
In order to improve the ability of industry to decide on and deliver appropriate solutions, work is needed to develop applications and to foster and accelerate their take-up.
All activities must be driven by user requirements and oriented towards development of concrete applications and later marketing of added-value in products or services. This applies to all levels of development - from the applications themselves, through systems and sub-systems, to architectures and platforms.
An integral part of the work is the dovetailing of high performance computing and networking into traditional technologies and the transparent integration of new applications within existing infrastructures, working practices and mindsets of potential adopters.
All aspects of industrial activity, in both the goods and services sectors, are concerned; however, new types of applications and the involvement of non-traditional and emerging markets are encouraged. A priority is to establish the necessary vertical relationships in the value-added chain between user and supplier.
The domain addresses "HPCN at large". Applications may exploit parallel systems and distributed and heterogeneous infrastructures, including high performance workstation or PC clusters and heterogeneous architectures with multiple processors. The use of standard, "off-the-shelf" building blocks enables application builders to concentrate their efforts on delivering added-value to the user.
Advanced networking services have become an integral part of these systems and infrastructures, enabling not only applications which allow sharing and provide interactive use of remote resources, but also applications which support interaction between concurrent activities in geographically dispersed locations.
The Work Programme of the HPCN domain contains five R&D; Areas and three PST Activities. PST activities horizontally cover all applications of the vertical R&D; areas.
General objectives of HPCN Preparatory, Support and Transfer Activities in the Work Programme read as follows:
Preparatory, Support and Transfer Activities are expected to concurrently complement R&D; Themes to employ several parallel measures from user requirements definition and analysis, through solution and implementation, to transfer, installation, demonstration and training in an operational environment. Actions may tackle one or more of these phases; they may target one or more application areas, including multi-site application experiments and assessments of the impact on new working practices; and they may pursue one or more of the following objectives:
The target is to bring HPCN to new application domains, to new industrial and commercial sectors, and to new users, in particular SMEs.
The HPCN applications and technology that will form the baseline of proposals may have resulted from earlier R&D; projects or actions in Community Programmes or from any other source.
The objectives will be achieved by supporting collaboration in the use of HPCN in a wide range of industrial environments. Activities will cover a broad range of user organisations, both in terms of industrial sector and in terms of company type. The organisations that will benefit directly from these activities are the users who have an interest in using new approaches to enhance and improve their business or industrial processes. It is anticipated that SMEs will make a significant contribution to the actions.
The full impact of the initiative will be felt through the operation of a multiplier effect achieved through dissemination of increased knowledge and awareness of HPCN, the value of which has been proven by supported activities under these actions.
The objectives of these activities imply that actions will be conducted simultaneously on two fronts: one concerned with computing practices and the other concerned with advanced networking practices (1Mbit/s and above). Activities addressing both concerns are also considered.
A PST Activity is an action that does not normally involve R&D; work as such, but which supports the objectives of the programme and enhances the effects of the R&D; work under the programme. In particular, each PST Activity shall bear relevance to one or several of the application domains identified in the R&D; Areas.
Preparatory & First Users Actions target increased use of HPCN and comprise stand-alone assessments and awareness creation campaigns including assessments. These assessments could be the establishment of user requirements, feasibility studies or early prototyping.
Demonstration & Best Practice Actions focus primarily on promoting new functionality and increased efficiency from the use of HPCN. These actions comprise demonstrations and best practice actions. Demonstrations could be porting activities or field tests, and best practice actions could be to re-engineer an HPCN application, and to transfer and ensure take-up in new user environments.
Technology Transfer Nodes shall stimulate technology transfer and disseminate results within and across the actions. The Technology Transfer Nodes are networked to facilitate achievement of their objectives.
Entry points into the Actions are determined by the current level of HPCN awareness and adoption in the user organisation:
| Adoption by transfer of HPCN application/technology from one environment to another | >>>>> | Best Practice |
| Adoption by transition from traditional HPCN technology | >>>>> | Demonstrations |
| General Awareness of HPCN technology, but specific applicability and potential unknown | >>>>> | Stand-alone assessments |
| No or limited awareness of HPCN technology | >>>>> | Awareness creation campaigns and assessments |
The needs of the users should be the prevailing factor in the choice of applications and technology, i.e. actions are user-driven. As a matter of efficiency, individual actions will typically be executed by a team involving industrial users, technology providers (i.e. providers of applications, computing and/or networking technology or services) and possibly experts or centres (i.e. application domain and/or HPCN technology experts or centres). Organisations such as industrial sector associations or chambers of commerce may also play their part in ensuring the success of the actions.
Users are usually the driving force in an HPCN PST project. The role of the users will be to experiment with HPCN technology and/or advanced networking services to solve real industrial problems, to assess their impact in order to demonstrate improvements in industrial and business processes and practices compared to the current ones, and to give feedback to the technology providers on suitability and viability of HPCN based solutions. A successful outcome would be the commitment of the end user to the further adoption of those improved processes and practices into operational solutions. Industrial sector associations or chambers of commerce could help catalyse these user activities and ensure successful results.
The role of the technology providers will be to collaborate with the users to assess HPCN suitability and viability for the application, to migrate existing applications or to set up new prototypes within the overall enterprise infrastructure as required. They will assess the potential market as indicated by the users and a successful outcome would be an operational prototype, or a commitment to take the improved application or prototype to the market as a new product.
The role of the HPCN experts would be to provide expertise in HPCN technology and/or advanced networking services. This could involve parallelisation of existing applications, or their migration into a multi-site environment based on wide area networks. It could also involve provision of expertise in the workings of prototypes. The HPCN expert should transfer this know-how to the technology provider, and possibly also to the user, through assisting in the actual assessment or conversion process. A successful outcome would be that the technology provider can take over the role of technical assistant and trainer.
The role of the Technology Transfer Nodes is to act as intermediaries between users, technology providers, and HPCN experts of different actions. They are expected to initiate new links with and within industry, and to maintain collaboration, stimulate technology transfer and disseminate across existing links. The Technology Transfer Nodes are networked to facilitate the execution of these tasks and to assure the multiplier effect across Europe.
Preparatory, Support and Transfer Activities are organised as clusters. A cluster is an application specific or industry sector specific set of actions where each action may be carried out on a regional, national or European level.
Clusters are co-ordinated by Technology Transfer Nodes which are established for various regions, application areas and/or industrial sectors. The Technology Transfer Nodes are networked to facilitate technology transfer, exchange of experience and expertise, and dissemination of results across Europe.
The tasks of each PST Activity are as follows:
Tasks 6.21 and 6.22 are further elaborated in section 1.3, Tasks 6.23 and 6.24 are further elaborated in section 1.4, and Task 6.25 is further elaborated in section 1.5.
The geographical distribution of participating organisations should be chosen for efficient realisation of the objectives of the user or users. They need not necessarily contain organisations from more than one EU Member State. The European dimension will be ensured by the guarantee to be given by the organisations that their experiences will be transferable to organisations throughout the Union.
As actions can only reach a limited proportion of European industry directly, the full impact on industry (user and supplier, alike) will be achieved by a multiplier effect, realised through non-local technology transfer and dissemination across borders and sectors. The execution of a plan to broadly effect technology transfer and dissemination of results, in collaboration and under the guidance of a TTN, is mandatory for each individual action. It is also advisable that the participants in individual actions make clear their intentions regarding the further use of the experience gained either in their organisation as a whole or in the specific application area of the action itself.
At the time of print of this document (February 1997), a network of 20 Technology Transfer Nodes (Task 6.25) orchestrated by two network co-ordinators has been established.
Several batches of PST activities have already been selected and clustered around the TTNs. It is planned to group future selected activities (Task 6.21-6.24) to the TTNs.
Proposers (Task 6.21-6.24) are invited to indicate possible TTNs to which their activities could be associated.
For further information and regular updates on the HPCN Network of TTNs, please refer to the web page indicated in the introduction of this document.
All HPCN PST actions are based on the shared cost model.
Objectives of Preparatory & First Users Actions in the Work Programme read as follows:
To assess the potential gains of use of HPCN technology and advanced networking services for candidate users to give them a baseline for their eventual take-up of HPCN. Assessments can be coordination of user requirements, feasibility studies or early prototyping.
To broadly promote success stories and hereby increase awareness of the benefits of using HPCN technologies and relevant know-how to enhance industrial competitiveness.
To facilitate access to HPCN expertise and technology for candidate users.
The goal of these actions is to stimulate more industrial enterprises to incorporate HPCN technology into their processes or products, thereby eventually increasing their competitiveness.
The actions are targeted at industrial enterprises that have processes or products that can be made more competitive by the incorporation of HPCN technology, or by the exploitation of the potential offered by the use of advanced networking services.
Tasks 6.21 and 6.22 in the Work Programme read as follows:
6.21. Stand-alone assessments. These should be carried out by industrial users acting in collaboration with experts and/or technology providers. Actions are expected to be of short duration and limited volume.
6.22. Awareness creation campaigns including assessments. Campaigns should be based on success stories to promote the potential gains of the use of HPCN technology, and followed up by a set of assessments with potential industrial users, of short duration and limited volume. Actions are expected to be carried out by individual companies or industrial sector associations acting in collaboration with HPCN experts.
The mechanism used to transfer the technology know-how to the user is operated by supporting two types of actions:
Assessments could, for a given user or application, include
It is expected that some users would already be identified as partners. Others must be, at least, well profiled.
The duration of an awareness creation campaign followed by a set of assessments would normally not exceed one year with roughly three to six person-months of effort for the campaign and up to six person-months per assessment. The duration of a stand-alone assessment would normally not exceed six months with roughly six person-months of effort.
Objectives of Demonstration & Best Practice Actions in the Work Programme read as follows:
To demonstrate the use of HPCN technology and advanced networking services. The target is to bridge the gap between suppliers and potential users and to lower the risk of early adopters.
To promote and transfer best practice in the use of HPCN to achieve measurable improvements in business processes, operation and working modalities in industry.
To disseminate the results (e.g. the lessons learned and the user benefits obtained) across national borders and across industrial sectors.
Demonstration & Best Practice Actions will focus particularly on the use of HPCN applications, or technology, with the aim of promoting new functionality and increasing efficiency of their use. Such applications, or technology, may still be in the prototype stage (i.e. feasibility has been demonstrated on limited test cases but commitment from a technology provider to productise the results still needs to be made) or may only recently have become commercially available.
Some companies need HPCN technology and/or advanced networking services to change their industrial processes or to make new applications feasible. Such technology and/or services are possibly not fully stabilised, so that users may need additional (IT) services to obtain maximum benefit from their processes or applications. Demonstration Actions are intended to stimulate the take-up of such emerging HPCN technology.
HPCN applications which are state-of-the-art, and which therefore offer the largest potential advantage, are often relatively complex and difficult to use. Their use normally implies some changes in current practices, and training may be required. Furthermore, potential users need to be convinced that the benefits from such best practice outweigh the costs in capital outlay and in training. Best Practice Actions are intended to help new users experiment with and establish such HPCN applications in their operational environments.
Task 6.23 in the Work Programme reads as follows:
6.23. Demonstrations of the use of HPCN technologies and services. This possibly includes porting, setting up of facilities and field tests. Actions are expected to tackle real requirements from industrial users.
Demonstration Actions are directed at showing how existing applications would significantly change business by the use of HPCN technology (e.g. through porting, or migration in a wide area network based environment) and at showing the viability of new prototypes to be converted into operational prototypes or new products (e.g. through field tests). The work shall target improvements in user processes and shall support the exploitation of the installed base. This will be achieved by experimental application of existing applications, or prototypes, to solve real industrial problems.
When such a new application, or prototype, is brought to the market by the technology provider, it could then form the basis for subsequent proposals for Best Practice Actions with new users, thus further disseminating the operational prototype or product and best practice.
Task 6.24 in the Work Programme reads as follows:
6.24. Best Practice. Actions to adopt, transfer and ensure take-up of mature and proven HPCN applications and practices in new environments under real working conditions. This could include re-engineering, installation, acceptance testing, operations, maintenance and training. Actions are expected to bring industrial users together with the necessary technology providers and experts. In particular, technology transfer from large enterprises to SMEs is addressed.
The task addresses technology acquisition and take-up. Best Practice Actions are concerned with helping to off-set the risk of adopting, or experimenting with, a reasonably mature approach to the deployment of some aspect of HPCN.
Actions are expected to adopt, transfer and ensure take-up of mature and proven HPCN applications and practices in new environments under real working conditions. The target is to improve the practice of the use of HPCN by gaining experience with existing operational or commercial state-of-the-art HPCN applications in real industrial environments.
The increment of efficiency introduced through the use of HPCN applications and/or advanced networking services should be measurable in several dimensions - technological, business, organisational, etc. The actions should identify and evaluate these benefits and they should result in two feedback loops: one which is internal to the user, resulting in increase of productivity, and one which is related to the technology provider and to other users, resulting in more effective and appropriate HPCN applications. Both feedback loops form the basis for more general dissemination across Europe.
As the transferability of experience is a cornerstone of all these actions, Best Practice Actions are also required to address the potential for replication of the resultant experience and outcome by other companies.
A Demonstration Action or a Best Practice Action is expected to range from three to eighteen months with roughly six person-months to four person-years of effort, depending on the application and technology.
Objectives of Technology Transfer Nodes in the Work Programme read as follows
To extend the European network of Technology Transfer Nodes (TTNs). Each TTN is a service node for a number of Preparatory and First User Actions or Demonstration and Best Practice Actions.
To provide services to participants in a cluster so that the activities contribute to the achievement of the global goals of the specific cluster and so that cross TTN cooperation is initiated and maintained.
To stimulate further participation of industry by promoting success stories and transferring expertise within clusters and across the network of TTNs.
The general objectives of the HPCN PST Actions is achieved by organising a European-wide network of groups, which are interested in applying HPCN and/or which are keen to optimise their use of HPCN. In order to make the operation of the actions as effective as possible, a number of roles, such as stimulation of technology transfer and dissemination of results, is entrusted to these Technology Transfer Nodes.
A specific objective of the technology transfer and dissemination activities is to ensure that companies on a European-wide basis are aware of the experiences of the participants in the actions and of the opportunities more generally available to assist them in improving their industrial processes or products.
Task 6.25 in the Work Programme reads as follows:
6.25. Technology Transfer Nodes. Establishment of a TTN for the provision of services which are of common interest and use to participants in a cluster. Only services that can better and more cost-effectively be procured centrally shall be proposed. This includes coordination, exploitation of synergy, and dissemination of results within clusters and across the network of TTNs.
Technology Transfer Nodes have been established for various regions, application areas and/or industrial sectors. They have been networked to facilitate technology transfer, exchange of experience and expertise, and dissemination of results. See Web page indicated in the introduction of this document.
The task of a Technology Transfer Node is to act as an intermediary between users, technology providers, and (HPCN) experts of different actions.
The work of a Technology Transfer Node involves facilitating access to the actions by newcomers, attracting complementary funding, and facilitating the exchange of experience and expertise between participants in the actions and between Technology Transfer Nodes at a European level. Technology Transfer Nodes shall also co-ordinate and execute the dissemination of results within clusters and across the network of Technology Transfer Nodes. Finally, Technology Transfer Nodes may also provide services of common interest and use for participants in actions.
The network of Technology Transfer Nodes and the associated actions develop dynamically. It is part of the task of a Technology Transfer Node to stimulate these dynamics, e.g. by initiating follow-on actions (Tasks 6.21-6.24).
A Technology Transfer Node can be a single organisation or a team of organisations with complementary skills. It is expected that HPCN expertise is available, directly or indirectly, at each Technology Transfer Node.
A Technology Transfer Node is expected to be supported in a period from one to two years. The work is expected to cover an effort, normally not exceeding one person-year (per year), to carry out work of common interest to all actions, and a variable effort depending on the attached number and type of actions.
The programme is open to all legal entities - i.e. people and organisations - established and carrying out RTD activities in the Member States of the European Union (industrial firms both large and small enterprises aimed at bringing products and services to the market - universities, higher education institutes, research organisations, etc.), and to the Joint Research Centre of the EC.
Normally ESPRIT proposals contain at least two non-affiliated participants from different member states or from one member state and one state associated and financially contributing to the Programme. HPCN PST proposals need not necessarily contain organisations from more than one EU Member State, if the European added value of the proposal is demonstrated beyond doubt. In particular, the European dimension of HPCN PST activities will be ensured by the guarantee to be given by the organisations that their experiences will be transferable to organisations throughout the Union.
Participation in this programme, with financial contribution from the EU, is open to any legal entity established or carrying out RTD activities in a third country associated with and contributing financially to the implementation of this Programme.
These are currently: Iceland, Israel, Liechtenstein and Norway.
Legal entities established and carrying out RTD activities in other European countries or in countries who have concluded an S&T; agreement with the EU (not financially contributing as described above) may participate in the programme on condition that:
the participation is in the interest of EU policies
the minimum stipulated number of legal entities from the EU and associated and financially contributing states are involved
These states are at printing date: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldavia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine, for which financial support by the EU, would in the case of acceptance of the proposal, normally be provided from funds other than the Esprit budget (an explicit request for such funding has to accompany the proposal).
Swiss, Australian and Canadian organisations may participate under the above conditions, but without funding from the EC. It is expected that agreement with South Africa will be reached in early 1997, so that organisations from South Africa may from then on also participate under the above conditions without EC funding.
Legal entities established in states other than above listed, may participate on condition that:
the participation contributes effectively to the implementation of the Programme and provides mutual benefit to the interests of the EU and the state concerned
the minimum stipulated number of legal entities from the EU or associated and financially contributing states are involved
Organisations from Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan and the USA are not eligible for funding from the EU.
For organisations from other countries, financial support by the EU may be provided from funds other than the Esprit budget. An explicit request for such funding has to accompany the proposal.
International Organisations may participate on condition that:
the participation contributes effectively to the implementation of the Programme
the minimum stipulated number of legal entities from the EU or associated and financially contributing states are involved
Financial support from the Esprit Programme may be provided to international organisations situated in Europe on a case by case basis. An explicit request for such funding has to accompany the proposal.
If your proposal (Task 6.21-6.24) is successful in the evaluation and is selected for further negotiation, the Commission services will contact you to discuss which Technology Transfer Node your activity will be best associated to, according to the preference indicated in the proposal.
The TTN will provide you with the necessary documentation for finalisation of the associated contract. Contractual arrangements for activities (Task 6.21-6.24) will normally be implemented as associated contracts between the proposers and the preferred TTN.
The ESPRIT programme has procedures for both one and two step proposal submission and evaluation.
The submission and evaluation of the proposals as described in this information package will be done in a single step. Proposers must submit a full proposal before any evaluation takes place.
All proposals are evaluated by a panel of specially selected experts who are all bound by a confidentiality agreement and a code of conduct to avoid conflicts of interest. The evaluation will be exclusively based on the criteria set out in this section and will include assessment of the conformity of the work with the objectives and topics as stated in sections 1.1 and 1.3 of this Specific Information Document. The evaluation will be carried out under the responsibility and co-ordination of the Commission who will also interact with associate Programmes, e.g. Telematics Applications, ACTS, IMT.
When making a proposal, proposers should ask themselves the following questions:
The industrial relevance concerns the industrial context the proposal refers to, including market situation, needs and opportunities, technical state-of-the-art, and outstanding problems.
The objectives set the specific business and technical targets to be achieved by the proposers, whereas results define the concrete outcomes of the project. They should be innovative within their specific industrial context and provide benefits to a wider community than solely the proposers themselves.
The proposers include both individual proposers with their profiles and skills and their collaboration, where synergism among partners roles should appear. The soundness of the proposing group is not limited to the technical ability to perform the work, but includes aspects such as whether the work is in-line with the core business of proposers and whether business co-operation among participants is possible, credible and potentially successful.
Exploitation planning addresses the ways to achieve business objectives and provide the expected benefits during and after the project, whereas the work planning mainly concerns the identification of activities needed to achieve technical objectives and how they are co-ordinated with the business aspects.
Duration and resources concerns the staffing and time scale of activities identified in the work plan, whereas Project management focuses on how all the components above are managed to achieve success.
You should keep the above basic questions in mind while fulfilling the criteria detailed below. These criteria address the different aspects of a proposal in detail, and will be used by the expert evaluators to assess how it answers the basic questions above, while conforming with the scope and objectives of the Programme and showing the necessary European-level added value.
The criteria are designed to provide a fair, practical and consistent way of establishing to what extent proposals meet the goals of Esprit.
In this section we will specify the recommended structure of, and the evaluation criteria which need to be satisfied by proposals.
You may submit proposals in any official language of the EC. However, it is appreciated to supply at least the summary in English as this will assist the speedy evaluation of proposals.
The description of the proposal structure given below, includes the criteria which have to be addressed in each of the sections. Certain criteria might be addressed in several sections. In such cases it is advised to refer in the relevant section to other places in the proposal which should be taken into account for assessment.
To complete Part 1 of the proposal you need to complete all the forms as given in Annex 1. You can obtain an electronic version of these forms on a diskette or download it from the Esprit Web pages. You are strongly recommended to use this method of data preparation and send the prepared diskette along with the proposal.
If you use the diskette or Web software to prepare a diskette, it will make it easier to fill in the data correctly. You can also make clear print-outs and it will help Commission services to enter your data quickly in their database. Of course, you may complete the paper forms, or the forms as they are provided by other programmes for RTD Project proposals, as these contain the same questions. In either case, please follow carefully the detailed instructions.
A complete Part 1 comprises :
Part 2 (your project description) should follow the recommended structural outline given below and provides all the information requested in not more than 30 pages. It should contain the following sections:
The description of these sections as well as the criteria used for assessment are given below. Evaluators will be asked to use these evaluation criteria to assess your proposal.
It goes without saying that evaluators are best helped in conducting their task if the information provided is concise and follows the recommended structure. Any irrelevant information should be avoided.
This section should be one page and should capture the essence of the proposal. It should summarise :
Note: This may be a copy of the 1000 character summary given in Part 1 (form 1a).
The rationale for the project should be clarified. In particular:
Criteria to be addressed in this section are:
Industrial relevance and impact on society
Important aspects are:
Criteria to be addressed in this section are:
Describe concisely concisely the work planned to achieve the objectives of the project and include the following elements :
Criteria to be addressed in this section are:
Outline the consortium's strategy for the dissemination and exploitation of the foreseen project results. It should include the dissemination and exploitation plans of each of the partners in terms of :
Criteria to be addressed in this section are:
Present the rationale for the specific consortium and include:
Criteria to be addressed in this section are:
The duration should be rationalised in relation to the objectives to be achieved. Estimates and justification of the resources (effort, equipment, etc.) should be presented for each partner for each work package and summarised at the project level.
Criteria to be addressed in this section are:
Each proposal must have a co-ordinating proposer, shortly co-ordinator, and this section of the information package is primarily directed to him. Normally, the co-ordinator will become the project co-ordinator, if the proposal is ultimately successful
Proposals should be submitted by you, co-ordinator, and you will be responsible for the liaison with the Commission.
You should submit one full original of each proposal plus 6 copies. This includes the forms and any useful information you choose to include, as long as it is relevant and limited in length.
It is your responsibility to assemble the proposal and you should submit it in one parcel.
It is also your responsibility to ensure that the proposal is delivered at the appropriate address before expiration of the deadline.
Your proposal should be sent by courier or postal services or delivered by hand to:
IT Programme OfficeYou must clearly mark on the parcel:
'Confidential: Proposal for the programme for RTD in Information Technologies (Esprit)'
Do not send proposals by fax or E-mail. Do not announce by fax or telephone that the proposals are in the mail. Faxes and telephone calls of this nature hinder the operation of the Commission in handling proposals, and will not be acknowledged. Until two weeks have elapsed, do not telephone or fax to enquire whether your proposal has been received.
Do not send or deliver your proposal to Esprit Commission Offices. This would create considerable delays. The only correct address is the one mentioned above.
The deadline for submission of the proposal is normally three months after the date of the Call for Proposals. The precise information is given in each call and should be carefully checked and adhered to. Proposals which are received after the deadline are not eligible.
In the case that an RTD proposal results from a SME Exploratory Award and the share in the proposed project costs of the SME proposers which received the award will be more than half of the total proposed cost, the RTD proposal can be submitted continuously, at any time.
You should include – in the parcel in which the proposal is delivered - a separate envelope containing the official 'Acknowledgement of Receipt' form as given in the Annex. On this you – the co-ordinator - must put your organisation's name and address and the title of the proposed project. This will ensure that the acknowledgement is returned to you correctly addressed.
Before it is returned, however, the Commission's reception staff will record the date of receipt and a unique reference number on the form. This reference number must be used in all subsequent correspondence relating to the proposal.
You should ensure that all proposers are given the proposal reference number and use it in all contacts with the Commission.
If you do not receive an 'Acknowledgement of receipt' within two weeks after the closing date of the Call, or the date of submission in case of a continuous Call, you should send a fax to the IT Programme office (Fax: + 32 2 6637200), indicating the acronym, title, domain, type of action and name of co-ordinator. You will receive an answer by fax within one week. You are strongly advised to retain proof of dispatch if the proposal is mailed or send by courier.
You are advised to submit proposalsonly once and not to send proposals which are essentially the same to different domains of the Esprit Programme or different programmes.
If the proposal is related to other Esprit domains or to other Community programmes you are advised to indicate this in the proposal itself or in an attached covering letter.
In any case you should give details of similar proposals on form 1a and sign the declaration.
The IT programme will take your comments in account and when appropriate involve the other domains or other programmes in the evaluation.
The IT programme reserves the right to redirect proposals to another domain than that indicated by the proposers or to another programme if EC staff or evaluators indicate that that would be more appropriate.
If there are further questions on the content of this Specific Information Document or if there is a need for further clarification in matters relating to the call, please contact:
| Esprit Information Desk European Commission DGIII/F N105 8/94 Rue de la Loi 200 B1049 Bruxelles, Belgium. |
telephone: +32.2.296.85.96 fax: +32.2.296.83.88 email: Esprit@dg3.cec.be |
In the first instance it is recommended that you contact a relevant TTN for advice and information. Contact details are available at:
/esprit/home.html
Should you have any specific questions on the HPCN PST actions, please address them to:
Max Lemke or Tom Bo Clausen
Fax: +32 2 2961692 (att.: DGIII-F/5-HPCN PST)
e-mail: max.lemke@dg3.cec.be
with a reference to the task number(s) addressed.
| FORM 1a : PROPOSAL ADMINISTRATIVE SUMMARY | |||||||
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Programme Name: Esprit |
Acronym:(max 10 chars) | ||||||
| Proposal Title: | |||||||
| Contact Person during the Proposal Evaluation | |||||||
| First Name: | Family Name: | ||||||
| Organisation Name: | |||||||
| Department Name: | |||||||
| Street Name: | Street No: | ||||||
| Post Code | City | Country: | |||||
| Telephone: | Fax: | ||||||
| E-mail: | |||||||
| Project synopsis (maximum 1000 characters) | |||||||
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| Please sign your answer to the following question | |||||||
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To the best of your knowledge, has this proposal, or a proposal that is similar in content, with your involvement or with the involvement of any of the partners in your consortium, been submitted to any other domain of Esprit or EU research programme? Yes / No If your answer is Yes, please give details (title of proposal, coordinator, name of programme, when submitted). Signature of Contact Person............................................................................................ | |||||||
| FORM 1B : PROPOSAL ADMINISTRATIVE SUMMARY (continued) | |||||||
| Proposal resources breakdown | |||||||
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Programme Name: Esprit |
Action Type: PS | Acronym (max 10 char): | |||||
| Proposal Title (max 160 char): | |||||||
| Work Programme Tasks (c): | |||||||
| 1st Choice: |
2nd Choice: | 3rd Choice: | Duration (in months) | ||||
| List of participants | |||||||
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No |
Organisation Names (d) |
Country (b) |
Admin.Role (b) (C/P/A) |
Org. Type (b) |
Funding Regime (e) (S/A) |
Global Costs in ECU (f) |
Effort in Person Years (g) |
| Total Costs: | Total Funding: | Total Person Years: | |||||
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Please copy this form if more space is needed to list the participants. The participation in the Proposal of all the Partners and Associated Partners, and at the levels indicated above, must be formally sanctioned by representatives of the said organisations in letters accompanying the proposal. | |||||||
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(b) A list of codes is supplied in this Annex. (c) See Work programme. (d) Short name for participants that use such a name in Form 2, and legal name if such a short name does not exist. (e) S for shared costs funded at 50% and A for Research Institutes or Universities with funding at 100% of additional costs. Research Institutes or Universities might be obliged to be funded at 100% of additional costs if they cannot demonstrate that an analytical budget accountancy system is used which can appropriately support the cost reporting required. (f) If funding regime A is chosen, the figure should only cover additional costs. Costs per partner are not required for short proposals. (g) In case of funding regime A, the figure should cover the whole effort (and not only the additional one). | |||||||
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| |||||||
| FORM 2 : INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPANT PROFILE | |||||||
| Programme Name: Esprit | Acronym: | ||||||
| Proposal Title: | |||||||
| Legal identification of the Participating Organisation | |||||||
| Short name (h): | Legal Status (i): | Organisation Type(l): | |||||
| Company Registration No: | VAT No: | ||||||
| Legal Name (j): | |||||||
| Department Name (if applicable): | |||||||
| Legal address of the Participating Organisation | |||||||
| Street Name: | Street Number: | ||||||
| Post Code: | City: | Country : | |||||
| Telephone No: | Fax No: | ||||||
| Organisation's role in the proposal | |||||||
| Administrative role (l) (C/P/A): | Functional role(l) (S/U): | Relevant industrial sector (l): | |||||
| Organisation details (if applicable) | |||||||
| Number of employees: | Is the participant an SME (Y/N)? (k) | ||||||
| Is your organisation affiliated to any other participant(s) in the proposal (Y/N)? (k): | |||||||
| If the answer is Y, please indicate the participant(s) name(s): | |||||||
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(h) A Short name should be included only if it is in common use outside the organisation (max. 20 char.). (i) e.g. SA, Ltd, GmbH, AG, EEIG, etc. (j) The legal name is the one used in contracts. (k) For definition see glossary. (l) A list of codes is supplied in this Annex. | |||||||
| 1. Action Types | |||||
| PS | HPCN Preparatory, Support and Transfer Activities | ||||
| 2. COUNTRY | |||||
| Code | Name | Code | Name | Code | Name |
| A | Austria | FL | Liechtenstein | N | Norway |
| B | Belgium | GR | Greece | NL | Netherlands |
| CH | Switzerland | ISR | Israel | P | Portugal |
| D | Germany | I | Italy | S | Sweden |
| DK | Denmark | IRL | Ireland | SF | Finland |
| E | Spain | ISL | Iceland | UK | United Kingdom |
| F | France | L | Luxembourg | ||
| Other according to standard ISO list | |||||
| 3. ADMINISTRATIVE ROLE | |||||
| C | Coordinator | A | Associate Partner | P | Partner |
| 4. ORGANISATION TYPE | |||||
| U | University | A | Public Administration | R | Research Institute |
| I | Industry | O | Other | ||
| 5. FUNCTIONAL ROLE | |||||
| S | Supplier | U | User | ||
| Please note that this relates to the specific role that your organisation has in this proposal with respect to its expected results. If both apply please choose the one most relevant in this project. | |||||
| 6. INDUSTRIAL SECTORS | |||||
| Identify the relevant industrial sector of the organisation in the proposal and include the corresponding code in the appropriate space on Form 2 | |||||
| Code | |||||
| Business | |||||
| Finance and Insurance | FI | ||||
| Business, legal and management consultancy; holdings | BC | ||||
| Publishing, printing and reproduction of recorded media | PP | ||||
| Real estate activities | RE | ||||
| Renting and leasing | RL | ||||
| Lodging and restaurants | LR | ||||
| Technical testing and analysis | TA | ||||
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of goods | WR | ||||
| Community activities | |||||
| Community service activities | CS | ||||
| Education | ED | ||||
| Energy production and distribution; gas and water supply | EN | ||||
| Health and social work | HS | ||||
| Recreational, cultural and sporting activities | RC | ||||
| Recycling | CY | ||||
| Post and telecommunications | PT | ||||
| Transportation services | TS | ||||
| Engineering (other than software engineering) | |||||
| Electrical engineering and related technical consultancy | EE | ||||
| Mechanical engineering and related technical consultancy | ME | ||||
| IT activities | |||||
| Audiovisual consumer electronics | IA | ||||
| Electronic components | IC | ||||
| Electronic engineering and related technical consultancy | IE | ||||
| Industrial process control systems | IP | ||||
| Office machinery and computers | IM | ||||
| Software consultancy and supply, data processing and related Services | IS | ||||
| Manufacturing | |||||
| Aircraft and spacecraft | AS | ||||
| Metals and alloys | MA | ||||
| Chemical products | CP | ||||
| Fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment | FM | ||||
| Food products and beverages | FB | ||||
| Furniture | FV | ||||
| Leather and leather products | LL | ||||
| Machinery, electrical and electrical instruments | EQ | ||||
| Medical, precision and optical instruments | IN | ||||
| Non-metallic mineral products | MP | ||||
| Pharmaceuticals, medicinal chemicals and botanical products | PH | ||||
| Pulp, paper and paper products | PA | ||||
| Rubber and plastic products | RU | ||||
| Textile and textile products | TE | ||||
| Vehicles for land transportation | VL | ||||
| Vehicles for sea transportation | VS | ||||
| Wood and wood products | WW | ||||
| Other activites | |||||
| Agriculture and forestry | AF | ||||
| Construction and building | CB | ||||
| Fishing | FS | ||||
| Mining and quarrying | MQ | ||||
| Telecom products | IT | ||||
| Activity code not provided above | NN | ||||
European Commission
Directorate General III: Industry
RTD: Information Technologies
|
Please write the name and address to |
|
|
VERY IMPORTANT We may ask the representatives of proposers to attend meetings and/or provide further information at any time after the closing date and especially in the first two months after this date. In your own interest please ensure that representatives are available at short notice during this period. | |
|
To be completed by Coordinating Partner | |
|
Reference : | |
|
Proposal Title : | |
|
Acronym : | |
|
Domain : | |
|
To be completed by Esprit Evaluation Coordinator | |
|
We are pleased to acknowledge receipt of your proposal above on :..................................................................
Yours sincerely, | |
| Affiliated Organisation | Two organisations are affiliated if either one directly or indirectly controls the other or if both are directly or indirectly controlled by the same parent organisation. Organisation A is considered as controlling B if:
|
| CORDIS | Community Research and Development Information Service (see Section 5 in Introductory Booklet) |
| EC | European Commission |
| EU | European Union |
| EEA | European Economic Area, includes the EU, Iceland and Norway. The EEA agreement is not in force for Liechtenstein at the time of printing this document |
| EEIG | European Economic Interest Grouping. A legal entity consisting of several European organisations which could participate as such in a project under an EU programme. A guide to the role of EEIGs in RTD can be obtained from the IT Programme Information Desk (see section 5 in Introductory Booklet) and more detailed documentation is also available from Directorate General XV (Financial Institutions and Company Law) |
| EFTA | European Free Trade Association, includes Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland |
| ESSI | European Software Systems Initiative, a best practice activity in ST |
| HPCN | High Performance Computing and Networking: one of the four focused clusters in the IT work programme |
| ICT | Information and Communication Technologies |
| IiM | Integration in manufacturing: one of the four focused clusters in the IT programme |
| IT | Information technology |
| IPR | Intellectual property rights |
| JRC | Joint Research Centre of the EC |
| LTR | Long term research: one of the domains in the IT work programme |
| MS | Multimedia systems: one of the three domains of underpinning technologies in the IT work programme |
| OMI | Open microprocessor systems initiative: one of the four focused clusters in the IT work programme |
| RTD | Research and technological development, including demonstration |
| SME | Small/medium sized enterprise. For SME Exploratory Awards, enterprises will be eligible if they satisfy simultaneously the following three criteria:
|
| ST | Software technologies: one of the three domains of underpinning technologies in the IT work programme |
| TBP | Technologies for business processes: one of the four focused clusters in the IT work programme |
| TCS | Technologies for components and subsystems: one of the three domains of underpinning technologies in the IT work programme |
National Contact Points will help if you have any questions about the Programme and the preparation of proposals.
A list of National Contact Points is available for consultation.
| Download a version of this document | ||
| Word 6 (399.9 Kb) | Zipped Word 6 (74.6 Kb) | Electronic version of the administrative forms |
The URL of this document is /esprit/src/hpcn-tt.htm
It was last updated on 24 March 1997 and is maintained by Susan Panter