What is the Technological Implementation Plan (TIP)?
Purpose
Activities linked with dissemination and use of RTD results are essential parts associated with the life cycle of Community RTD projects. Therefore, proper documentation of the RTD results is in your and your partners' interest. Also it will benefit European industry and society in general. The datasheets provided here have been designed to support this documentation and dissemination process and assist you in fulfilling your contractual obligations.
Completed forms are requested by the Specific Programmes as a standard tool for describing and detailing the activities planned for the use of the results achieved during RTD projects and ensuring the link with the objectives on which the project was selected. They cater for results from basic research, social actions or upstream RTD projects as well as applied, near-market or demonstration projects.
How can it assist the dissemination and use planning process?
The TIP should cover the intentions of all partners related to the potential knowledge generated under the project. As mentioned in the EC Model Contract , such a Technological Implementation Plan should be submitted at, or before, the end of the project. It is suggested that, throughout the project duration and especially at mid-term, a draft version of the TIP be regularly used and updated. This practice is particularly useful when results are achieved before the contractual end of the project and/or when the consortium detects the need for additional partners.
The questions raised in the Technological Implementation Plan are also ideally suited to assist the drawing up of a co-operation agreement. They include:
- What are the results (knowledge including information) of your project?
- What needs do they address? What are the potential applications?
- What stage have you reached in the development of the results and what resources do you need for further (market, environment or policy-related) development?
- Are the results usable - either commercially, socially or scientifically?
- What are your dissemination and use intentions and potential routes?
- What part does each of your partners take in the dissemination and use process (manufacturing, sales and marketing, further R&D, licensing, standards, etc.)?
- Do you envisage dissemination and use and/or support from outside the project team?
- What information is useful for attracting potential collaborators?
Extent of information
If you do not intend to use or disseminate all of the results yourself (or not exclusively) or if you are looking for additional partners for further dissemination and use, it is in your interest - and in the interest of the European Union - to provide third parties with adequate information. This of course excludes information which must not be disclosed to safeguard intellectual or industrial property, confidentiality or legitimate commercial interests.
In addition, the information gathered in the Technological Implementation Plan can be used to attract funding for further R&D or market development - be it from venture capitalists or banks, or under national or community programmes. This may apply to results where
- your consortium requires additional resources and expertise to use or disseminate your results fully;
- part of the results might be transferred to other applications outside the consortium's main markets (generic technologies).
Examples for the extent of information to be provided
- For basic research, you should indicate how the project output(s) could lead to applied research.
- If your result offers potential for further economic, environmental or 'quality of life' benefits, this result should be detailed in view of benefitting other social projects.
- If you have a laboratory prototype, you should give detailed information on the financial and human resources necessary for producing an industrial prototype, and the possible risks involved in further development (for example, scaling up).
- If you are at the pre-series stage, you may discuss the risks involved in scaling up the production.
- If you have a generic technology available, you should concentrate on possible additional applications outside the existing ones without forgetting to assess the real needs and risks involved.
Be further aware that
The Community has a number of activities to assist the transfer of your results and their further dissemination and use. The CORDIS RTD Results database and Technology Marketplace Web Service, Programme-specific tools and the Innovation Relay Centres publicise RTD results for technology transfer and assist in finding partners for external dissemination and use. The information required for publication will be extracted by these services directly from the publishable parts of the Technological Implementation Plan (i.e. the overall project description and the specific results descriptions). This cuts down on the amount of form-filling required for projects.
On the Technology Marketplace Web Service we showcase some of the latest and best of the results we receive. It contains technology offers that could be taken up by other companies or organisations. So, if you want to exploit your results through licensing, consultancy, or other agreements you should make every effort to present the information in your TIP so that it maximises the chance of being selected for Technology Marketplace. This means describing the exploitation potential and explaining as much as you can about the applications that are possible.