Final Report Summary - HEALTH-NCP-NET (Coordination action for reinforcing the health national contact points' network)
Executive summary:
HEALTH-NCP-NET is a coordination action for the reinforcement of the national contact points' (NCP) network for the 'Health' Theme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and receives funding from the European Commission (EC) from 2008 until 2013. The project it coordinated by Instituto de Salud Carlos III and has 19 beneficiaries.
HEALTH-NCP-NET offers to NCPs capacity building through comprehensive training, twinning and staff exchange programmes, networking with other health-related NCP networks, support on ethics in health research and access to valuable information.
HEALTH-NCP-NET offers to FP7 Health applicants full assistance of a well-established official network in project proposal preparation, support on ethics, a partner search and brokerage events for consortia building.
Through an active transnational network and by facilitating European Union (EU) wide integration of research, HEALTH-NCP-NET contributes significantly to the implementation of FP7 Health and the realisation of the European Research Area (ERA).
Project context and objectives:
HEALTH-NCP-NET is a European network of Health NCPs for the FP7. The key objectives of HEALTH-NCP-NET are to increase the quality of submitted proposals in the Health priority of the FP7 for Research and Technological Development (RTD) and to promote equal opportunities to FP7 Health applicants worldwide.
The overall objective of this project is to improve the Health NCP services under FP7 across Europe by providing a more consistent NCP support that will finally result in a higher quality of submitted proposals from applicants, including also the ones from international cooperation partner countries (ICPCs) and other third countries.
Four strategic objectives contributing to the overall goal are continuously targeted by the consortium and extended to the HEALTH-NCP-NET. These are:
(1) NCP support services more consistent across Europe;
(2) lower entry barriers for newcomers: facilitate and support the development of NCP;
in new Member States, based in the knowledge and experience from 'senior' NCP;
(3) simplify access to FP7 calls and other important information from the EC;
(4) dissemination of results.
HEALTH-NCP-NET ensures continuous equal access to all NCPs for FP7 Health to specialised training courses, staff exchanges and twinning programmes, networking and brokerage events, tools and information; it actively promotes the integration and reinforcement of newly appointed NCPs and the consolidation of the network.
The results generated through this project render the services of NCPs for FP7 more consistent across Europe, ICPCs and other countries worldwide, delivering a positive impact on the average quality of FP7 Health proposals. This is the first initiative since the NCP systems were established under the FP5.
HEALTH-NCP-NET has designed a series of activities to achieve these objectives. The core activity is networking. Health NCPs meet at least once a year for discussions around common NCP issues, sharing of experiences and presentation of research potential in the different countries. Health NCPs interact with other NCP networks from health-related FP7 themes, e.g. BIO CIRCLE - for the 'Food, agriculture, fisheries and biotechnology' Theme - in order to promote the understanding of the Health Theme and to identify common interests in research and in carrying out networking actions. Interaction with the international networks established under the 'Capacities' programme, international cooperation (INCO) networks, is of particular importance. In those countries where there is not an officially appointed Health contact point (CP), INCO CPs aid us in the identification of research groups and research potential in other regions, as well as to create awareness about the benefits of nominating a Health CP in such countries. Cooperation is established with the following INCO networks: Eastern European and Central Asian countries (EECA-INCO-NET); coordination and advancement of sub-Saharan Africa - EU science and technology cooperation (CAAST-NET); Western Balkan countries (WBC-INCO-NET); Mediterranean Innovation and Research Coordination Action (MIRA); EU and South East Asia (SEA-EU-NET).
HEALTH-NCP-NET has designed a capacity building programme based on the results of a study of the strengths and weaknesses of the existing Health NCP systems. It offers two training courses per year, one targeted to ensure a smooth introduction of newly appointed NCPs and ICPC CPs into the job and a more advanced course focused on a specific and relevant area to the NCP. A twinning programme offers less experienced NCPs the possibility to be twinned to an experienced one who acts as a coach in their daily tasks. A staff exchange programme offers a full immersion, on-site experience at another colleague's office - benefiting the NCP as well as the staff working at the host office.
These activities are reinforced and enhanced by providing access to the entire NCP network to a repository on HEALTH-NCP-NET website, (see http://www.healthncpnet.eu online), where all training materials are stored for consultation and self-learning. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) for Health NCPs have been collected and will become guidelines in the form of a Handbook.
The rationale of the project is to profit from the existing knowledge and know-how of the experienced NCPs, transferring it to the less experienced NCPs and sharing the expertise through the network. Through the abovementioned activities and tools, the NCP position to reach the research community is enhanced. Furthermore, HEALTH-NCP-NET ensures that the research community worldwide is aware of the existence of Health NCPs who are part of a supportive network for FP7 project applicants and multipliers of FP7 information coming from the EC. This is assured by the presence of a network representative at national and international health conferences in Europe and beyond. HEALTH-NCP-NET also promotes and assists FP7 Health applicants in the creation of transnational consortia namely by organising brokerage events and by providing a virtual partner search tool. HEALTH-NCP-NET is collaborating with FIT FOR HEALTH, a project funded under the FP7, which offers has a high quality and efficient partner search facility to the health research community at large (research centres, universities, civil society organisations). HEALTH-NCP-NET and FIT FOR HEALTH also co-organise brokerage events with the objective of bringing research groups together and facilitating their collaboration for participating in FP7 Health calls.
HEALTH-NCP-NET brings closer ICPC CPs to the European NCPs and increasing their participation in the calls.
HEALTH-NCP-NET also aims at raising awareness and building capacity on ethical issues both within the network and the wider research community. An ethics advisory work group, composed of three multidisciplinary experts who serve as ethics reviewers to the EC in the ethical panels of the Health theme, collaborates closely with the HEALTH-NCP-NET to help researchers worldwide successfully accomplish the ethics in their projects. Support and user friendly guidelines for completing the ethics section of a proposal and showing how to tackle specific issues in health research can be found on the website.
Through an active transnational network and by facilitating EU wide integration of research, the HEALTH-NCP-NET contributes significantly to the implementation of FP7 Health and the realisation of the ERA.
Project results:
Work package (WP)2: Benchmarking and capacity building
Main tasks under this WP are:
- T2.1: Mapping NCP profiles
- T2.2: Training programme
- T2.3: Health NCPs best practices for benchmarking
- T2.4: NCP Handbook
- T2.5: Cartographical mapping of research excellence.
WP2 is the core WP devoted to improve the capability and expertise of the Health NCPs and ICPC CPs through training courses, a virtual training facility, twinning and staff exchange programmes with expert NCPs and exchange of best practices.
WP2 is an extremely important and successful component of HEALTH-NCP-NET. There has been real interaction and transfer of knowledge from more to less experienced NCPs particularly outstanding at the training courses.
The workload carried out has been coordinated by APRE as WP leader in close cooperation with the co-leader ENSTI (EG) and the project coordinator ISCIII (ES). In the second reporting period Agentschap NL took over the leadership of the Virtual Training Facility, logistical supported by Archimedes Foundation (EE) and technical support of DLR (DE). For WP2 and APRE (IT) became task leader of T2.4 NCP handbook. Both reallocations of responsibilities were necessary due to the grant agreement termination of beneficiary 4 BIONOVA (GR). The activities of WP2 started immediately after the kick-off meeting and have been very intense since. From the second reporting period most of the personnel resources were devoted to capacity building activities such as the training programme (T2.2) and the NCP handbook (T2.4).
In particular, the initial mapping of the NCPs profiles played a crucial role in the definition of the needs and the capabilities of the network. On the basis of the outcomes of the mapping activity, the consortium has assessed at its best the definition of the training courses and the networking activities to be organised. BIONOVA as task leader made the most out of this deliverable and collected information from 42 Health NCPs and ICPC CPs, covering 36 countries through a dedicated questionnaire.
A training programme was designed by the consortium partners on the basis of the outcome of the mapping provided by WP co-leader. In total, nein training courses were organised during the lifetime of HEALTH-NCP-NET:
- Health theme in FP7, 22 - 23 July 2008, Brussels
- Ethics in FP7 Health theme, 21 - 22 October 2008, Brussels
- Preparation of proposals, 28 - 30, September 2009, Mahon
- Legal and financial aspects, 4 - 5 May 2010, Rome
- Health work programme, 15 - 17 September 2010, Paris
- How to coordinate a project, 13 - 14 April 2011, The Hague
- Legal and financial aspects, 23 - 24 November 2011, Bucharest
- Optimise participation in the last FP7 Health call, 23 - 24 February 2012, Lisbon
- Communication, dissemination and exploitation of project results, 21 - 22 November 2012, Brussels.
The training courses were organised by APRE and ISCIII in cooperation with other partners such as FFG, Agentschap NL, INSERM, GPPQ-FCT (PT) or ANCS (RO). EC officers and external experts were invited as lecturers but the greatest part of the talks and practical exercises were carried out by Health NCPs who were chosen based on their experience (Austria, the Netherlands, France, Egypt, Italy, Germany, and South Africa). APRE, in its role of WP leader ('Benchmarking and capacity building'), defined the content of the agenda for the different trainings supporting the local organisers in the organisation. APRE consequently supported in the identification and contact the most suitable speakers and organise their stay. APRE has prepared a feedback questionnaire for all the trainings delivered, collected them at the end of each session.
The training course was evaluated using a feedback questionnaire filled by all the participants at the end of the course: the outcomes of the feedback questionnaires were evaluated by partner LCS in close cooperation with APRE. It should be mentioned that all courses were well attended and the number of participants is continuously increasing. We would like to underline the success of these activities also by mentioning that it attracts Health NCPs from Old and New European Member States, from associated countries and from ICPC providing a perfect opportunity for networking and exchanging knowledge and experiences amongst NCPs.
All the material regarding the trainings is always uploaded to the HEALTH-NCP-NET portal on the training for NCP's section http://www.healthncpnet.eu/jahia/Jahia/pid/8. The twinning programme is a complementary voluntary capacity building activity of HEALTH-NCP-NET. It was launched in December 2008 and aims at direct matching of more experienced with less experienced NCPs / ICPC CPs. More than 20 twins groups and triplets were created on the basis of the questionnaires evaluated under Task 2.1. Less experienced and newly appointed NCPs decide on how much assistance they need and can contact their coaches whenever needed. Newly appointed Health NCPs and ICPC CPs can specially benefit from this activity thus the allocation of 'twins' needs to be updated regularly. In order to facilitate the twinning activity a 'code of conduct' and a 'presentation letter' have been developed by APRE and disseminated among all participants to appropriately start the programme. APRE in collaboration with ENSTI have elaborated the list of twins, which has been disseminated to all Health NCPs latest in March 2012 and is available on the HEALTH-NCP-NET portal: http://www.healthncpnet.eu/jahia/Jahia/pid/11. The staff exchange programme was launched by APRE and ISCIII in 2009, but the interest of Health NCPs to participate in this program was rather low at the beginning. In the first reporting period no application for this programme was received, whereas in the following periods an important number of Health NCPs participated in the programme.
From the third reporting, it is also worth mentioning that, the staff exchange program added the new concept of being multiple, it featured an opportunity to allow intersections between different networks, such as BIO-NET (KBBE). The multiple staff exchange (MSE) programme also provides to Health NCPs and other thematic NCPs networks the opportunity to exchange experiences and learn from each other by spending time together, adding not only a deeper knowledge of how the host organisation is working, but also a knowledge of the other colleagues who are participating to the staff exchange.
These planned days of staff exchange aimed at 'getting to know daily operation of each organisation' (presentations about how it works, meeting other thematic NCPs, discussing main obstacles and challenges, etc.) All these projects have been accompanied by either 'Train the Trainer' course, a course only aimed at persons having to train others and wanting to design their training in a more innovative and more didactically valuable manner, or by public lectures, through participating in public events or info days.
In general, analysing the feedback questionnaires from the participants, the programme was very successful in terms of exchanging experience and best practices, networking and sharing views and visions for improving the NCPs' different mechanisms, creating awareness and training events. Each programme has a pre-defined agenda and it was a very practical and hands-on exchange.
ENSTI in collaboration with APRE have created a staff exchange marketplace to help mapping of NCPs expertise to match needs and allocating space on project website to describe the programme and provide more detailed specification about the concept of staff exchange. The marketplace of NCPs' expertise has been professionally classified by particular expertise that includes proposal writing, consortium building, proposal preparation, proposal submission, contract negotiation, Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) and participant portal, general theme advice, legal and financial issues, reporting, analysis of previous calls, organisation of events and marketing strategies. It has been classified also by countries and by events.
The NCP handbook was another important task where the consortium has dedicated a great effort during the first and second reporting periods. It was edited by APRE in close cooperation with several project partners. The handbook collects contributions from Health NCPs from Greece, Austria, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Malta, France, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain. It provides practical guidelines for NCPs / ICPC CPs on how to carry out their job while establishing standard operational guidelines and common rules of good practice, towards a more standardised and aligned NCP service amongst countries. The handbook collects the information resulted from the mapping of the NCP profiles and from the best practices identified and carefully chosen by MCST for the benchmarking report (Task 2.3). Validation of procedures was carried out by a group of professional Health NCPs. APRE was assigned the role of task leader after the withdrawal of partner BIONOVA, responsible for this deliverable since the start of the project. Towards the end of the second reporting period the draft deliverable was approved by QAP. The handbook is final and there are not more updates.
The Virtual Training Facility is one of the tools supporting capacity building activities of HEALTH-NCP-NET. It is an additional tool beyond the training courses that aims to maximise the impact of standard training courses. There is a section on the project website with a repository of all presentations provided at the training sessions and some questionnaires for self-assessment. HEALTH-NCP-NET project officer recommended recording the presentations given during the training sessions to support a virtual knowledge transfer.
During the third reporting period the capacity building programme has been complemented with online trainings provided on the tool Webinar, thanks to DLR who kindly makes it available and provide technical assistance at no cost. All the presentations have been uploaded on the HEALTH-NCP-NET website (see http://www.healthncpnet.eu/jahia/Jahia/pid/1 online).
Cartographical mapping
The idea was to map data of European research centres in order to provide potential applicants in FP7, especially those from ICPC, with some help as to where they could look for partners. It was agreed by the project steering committee to use the information on centres that have participated in FP7 calls to create this cartographical mapping. The database permits looking for research centres according to geographical and thematic criteria. The first version of the database contains about 1000 institutions, beneficiaries from the first FP7 Health call. However, since other projects, namely LIFECOMPETENCE and HEALTHCOMPETENCE, provide a very good platform to find FP6 and FP7 Health projects and beneficiaries, it was decided to promote those platforms and not to duplicate work by updating the HEALTH-NCP-NET database.
WP3: Networking and brokerage
Main tasks under this WP are:
- T3.1: Networking
- T3.2: Brokerage events
- T3.3: Exploitation of the use of the existing partner search tools and proof of concept for a future development of a single web-based partner search tool.
Leaders of this WP are ISERD (IL) and MCST (MT). The objectives of WP3, to grant NCPs opportunities to get together and discuss issues of importance to all Health NCPs and other related themes in FP7, by meeting other NCPs and share experiences and knowledge, have been accomplished in the first three reporting periods. Through these events, health NCPs have broadened their knowledge and shared best practices and experiences.
WP3 is an extremely important component of the HEALTH-NCP-NET project both on knowledge level for individual NCPs and for enhancing and promoting participation of researchers and the scientific community in the FP.
Health NCPs meet at least once a year for discussions on common NCP issues, sharing of experiences and presentation of research potential in the different countries. Health NCPs interact with NCPs from other health-related FP7 themes in order to promote the understanding of the Health Theme and to identify common interests in research.
Interaction with the INCO networks has been and will continue to be of particular importance. In those countries where there is no Health CP, INCO CPs are our links to identify research groups and research potential in other regions, as well as to create awareness about the benefits of nominating a Health CP in these countries. Cooperation has been established with the following INCO networks and Health NCPs have attended meetings organised by them: EECA-INCO-NET, CAAST-NET, WBC-INCO-NET, MIRA, and SEA-EU-NET.
Networking is the core activity of WP3 networking activities are divided into 3 types, namely:
(1) networking days of Health NCPs within the network;
(2) networking meetings of Health NCPs initiatives related to the Health area;
and (3) networking of NCPs at existing events.
Hereafter we report the major networking activities.
(1) Networking days of Health NCPs and ICPC CPs
HEALTH-NCP-NET organised eight such activities, partly in cooperation with the EC. Each of the networking days had different objectives and goals, so the format was developed accordingly. The following networking days were organised:
- 18 June 2008, Krakow, Poland
This meeting was organised in conjunction with a brokerage event. Participating Health NCPs were introduced to the activities of HEALTH-NCP-NET, discussed the forthcoming 3rd Health call, and presented Health research potential in several countries (Austria, Italy, South Africa, Spain).
- 16 June 2009, Brussels, Belgium
This event was organised back to back to an EC Health NCP meeting, some NCPs presented best practices of their work, research potentials in their countries (Georgia, Belarus, Moldova) and opportunities for participation in other HEALTH-NCP-NET activities (41 NCPs attended, new to the network NCPs from: Belarus, Brazil, Belgium, Chile, Cyprus, Finland, Georgia, Moldavia).
- 16 November 2009, Brussels, Belgium
This information and networking event was organised by the EC, Directorate-General (DG) for RTD and HEALTH-NCP-NET with the support of COLIPA, the European Cosmetics Association. It informed on the content of the call and the co-funding by COLIPA. (58 registered participants, 15 attending Health NCPs.) This event was held back to back to the second IMI call on 17 November 2009 in Brussels to which all Health NCPs were invited.
- 9 June 2010, Brussels, Belgium
Exchange of experience from programme committee (PC) delegates to NCPs and discussion regarding relations and cooperation between PC delegates and Health NCPs were the main content of this networking event. The meeting was organised back-to-back with open info day and brokerage event (45 participants, NCPs new to the network from Russia, Island, Uzbekistan and Turkey).
- 25 November 2010, Brussels, Belgium
The core issue raised in this networking event was staff exchanges. An activity worked on creating both staff exchange opportunities as well as twinning opportunities. The meeting also presented a mapping of expertise amongst the Health NCPs. This event focused more on interaction with ICPC CPs. ICPC participants in this event came from Uganda, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Albania, Tunisia, Georgia, Japan, Egypt and Jamaica.
- 8 March 2011, Brussels, Belgium
The networking event was jointly organised with the PATIENT PARTNER project and the European Patient Forum. The day emphasised the understanding of possible cooperation to be held with these organisations and their role in the Health Theme. A representative from the EC presented issues relating to communication of health result.
- 22 February 2012 in Lisbon, Portugal
Cooperation and interaction between NCPs and ICPC PCs was in the heart of this networking event which was adjoined with a training that followed. The day was very interactive and allowed the 40 participants to exchange best practices and know-how. Marketing, countries' research capacity and better communication were also addressed.
- 26 February 2013, Brussels, Belgium
The key subject of this meeting was the upcoming programme HORIZON 2020 and strategies to adapt to new components. A specific case was presented by one country to exchange opinions on preparations for the Horizon 2020. The second part focused on cooperation with FIT FOR HEALTH, COMMHERE and the HEALTH2MARKET projects.
All networking days, especially those organised back to back to the EC meeting or open information day were very successful. Sometimes NCPs, who have not actively participated in the network before attended and met several other Health NCPs on these occasions, thus reinforcing the network of Health NCPs through this networking and personal interactions. Several networking days touched a topic which was new to many NCPs; this was, for example, the case with patient organisations. These new topics were of great interest and importance as it opened new opportunities for cooperation and created a new bridge between various groups.
The organisation of networking days for Health NCPs and ICPC CPs back-to-back to information days organised by the EC proved to be a good practice for several reasons: it promotes the cooperation with the Commission, creates synergies within the network and is cost efficient, allowing shared coverage of travel cost for NCPs from Europe and third countries.
Over the five-year project duration, the EC Health directorate has regularly informed the Health-NCP-NET project of its plans and to which events it will participate by providing us with a calendar and/or through email. Whenever the project recognises an event that is suitable for its objectives, we have sought to join forces with the Health directorate for the benefits already aforementioned. Participation in these events by project partners is on a voluntary basis, open and transparent. These events allow for joint work in both type 2 and type 3 networking events as they are both external health events and allow for the exchange of knowledge with other networks (list of networking activities type 2 and 3 is in the .pdf version of the report).
(2) Networking of Health NCPs and ICPC CPs at existing events
Since the beginning of the project about 50 events have been attended by various partners of the project. This number represents an average of 10 events per year. As the description of work asked for 8 events per year, we have exceeded the number of events we were requested to visit, thus improving the exposure of HEALTH-NCP-NET to the research community. This extensive exposure means more proposals submitted to each call and an improvement of their quality. Since the project only has limited funds to participate in such events, it was useful that many of our attendances were of a local nature thus requiring a small amount of funding and allowing for more presence to be seen. The involvement of ICPC countries in this activity has been twofold, on one hand ICPC PCs have participated in such events on a personal basis such as the Uzbek representative who participated in the EC organised conference on Diabesity. On the other hand, Member State / associated countries' NCPs have participated in events in ICPC countries such as the Global Ministerial Forum on Health Research, Bamako, Mali. Since this type of networking activities mainly aims to disseminate FP7 and awareness raising on the support services provided by Health NCPs, we have listed the events in a separate table of the .pdf attachment.
Brokerage events are an excellent opportunity for researchers and companies to develop new connections with their peers in the research community, fine-tune existing project ideas and find partners for an upcoming topic.
In the five years of HEALTH-NCP-NET, five brokerage events were organised by the network. Since 2009, these events were organised in cooperation with and partly co-sponsored by the SMES GO-HEALTH / FIT-FOR-HEALTH projects. The events included a session of pre-arranged bilateral meetings, in which participants had the opportunity to discuss possibilities for future collaboration as well as more informative presentations and short pitch presentations by groups seeking partners. The following brokerage events were organised:
- 17 June 2008, Krakow, Poland
The first brokerage / partnering event of the HEALTH-NCP-NET project was held on. This event was co-sponsored by two FP projects: SMES GO HEALTH and HEALTH-NCP-NET. Around 70 delegates attended the meeting in Krakow.
- 4 June 2009, Prague, Czech Republic
The brokerage event was organised mainly by IPPT, FFG, MSCT and ISCIII. In total 105 potential applicants of PF7 Health projects have attended the event.
- 8 June 2010, Brussels, Belgium
The brokerage event was organised mainly by IPPT, and ISCIII. This was strategically organised to match with the first information open day ever organised by the EC for an upcoming Health call.
- 10 June 2011, Brussels, Belgium
The fourth brokerage event was once again organised in cooperation with the EC, adjoined with the Health open information day. This meant that registration had to close early as the allocated places were filled out well before the deadline. In addition to the EC we have cooperated with the KAPPA Health project. 240 participants attended the event of which 133 took part in 297 bilateral meetings.
- 30 May 2012, Brussels, Belgium
This partnering event was very successful and reached the maximum number of participants in a short time. In total, 247 persons from over 40 countries registered and 211 of them participated in 512 pre-organised bilateral meetings.
All brokerage / partnering events contribute significantly to the aim of increasing the quality of FP7 proposals and to improve partner interaction for consortia building. The constantly increasing number of participants, also from new member states and third countries is another indicator of the success of our brokerage events.
Exploitation of the use of the existing partner search tools and proof of concept for a future development of a single web-based partner search tool. This task aims to simplify the partner search process, to make it more accessible.
FFG provided a first version of partner search form in November 2008, which was slightly improved in 2009 and widely used until 2010. However, in the course of the project the cooperation with SMES-GO HEALTH increased and the consortium decided to substitute the partner search by email by using the online partner search tool. In the report on assessment and recommendations for a possible single partner search tool for FP7 Health (M18, M24) it was recommended to establish the SMEs GO HEALTH partner search tool as joint facility for all Health NCPs. A cooperation agreement between Health-NCP-NET and SMEs GO HEALTH / FIT FOR HEALTH assured the maintenance of the SMEs GO HEALTH and later the FIT-FOR-HEALTH database and matchmaking tool for all the last health calls of FP7. Since the beginning of cooperation between the projects over 800 new expertise profiles were entered into the database. 16 new Health NCPs joined the SMES GO HEALTH partner search database in the active role of validating incoming partner searches and profiles (including ICPCs, i.e. Mexico, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Egypt, Taiwan). All NCPs new to the tool were trained by on-line Skype trainings. The features of the joint partner search facility, including the quality criteria and quality assurance mechanisms for published partner searches and expertise profiles were introduced to the entire HEALTH-NCP-NETWORK by emails and by a presentation during the NCP networking day in June 2010.
HEALTH-NCP-NET also contributes to the further development of the CORDIS partner search tool and participates regularly in the respective meetings of the working group. In the first and second reporting period the following meetings were attended by our network representatives:
- 10 March 2009, Luxembourg
- 18 June 2009, Luxembourg
- 1 July 2010, Luxembourg
The CORDIS partner search working group, in which HEALTH-NCP-NET is represented, convened three times so far, defining technical features and quality criteria for the revamped partner search service. HEALTH-NCP-NET closely follows and supports the development of the joint partner search facility on CORDIS.
All reporting periods were characterised by extensive work on behalf of the project partners. This resulted in exceeding the expected participation and organisation of events. The three key activities of WP3 - networking, brokerage events and the partner search tool - all lead to our key mission of improving proposals and the consortia that write them.
The participation in numerous events during the course of the project has exposed thousands of members of the research community to our work and services as well as to FP7 opportunities. The fact that there are funds available to participate in events and to produce marketing material was important to further extend the geographical representation and visibility of the project and to communicate our services and other FP7 issues. Our constant presence in numerous events as well as the increasing attendance in our events show we brought the exposure to our services to a very high level. In addition to the inter-relations within the HEALTH-NCP-NET project, facilitated among others by our internal networking events, we have also cooperated with other Health related projects. This cooperation significantly increases the match-making potential and prevents double work from our clients. We believe that the work performed under this task was very important to the work of HNN.
A lesson learned from the implementation of WP3 activities is the importance of time and place selection for the brokerage activities. In 2008 and 2009, we aimed at increased participation from New Member States and consequently organised the events in Krakow and Prague, but the registration and participation rates show clearly an increased output, if the events are organised back-to-back with the open information days in Brussels.
A great success story of HEALTH-NCP-NET is the close cooperation with the EC on organising open information days and the brokerage events on two consecutive days, first the information day and second, the partnering event. This strategy turned out to significantly increase the impact of this activity as can be seen by the fact that, since 2010, the event registration was closed ahead of time.
All of the above mentioned work was also characterised by constant changes in the NCPs of different countries. However the training and support within the network prevented their negative influence on their respective communities and allowed for smooth transitions within the consortium.
WP4: ICPC agenda
Main tasks under this WP are:
- T4.1: ICPC benchmarking
- T4.2: ICPC capacity building
- T4.3: ICPC networking and brokerage events
- T4.4: Awareness rising of the HEALTH-NCP-NET amongst ICPC
- T4.5 ICPC Geographical mapping of research excellence.
The main objectives of this WP have been achieved to a large extend. The Health NCP community is enlarging beyond Europe in a considerable expansion. Several new CPs were nominated in countries with significant health research potential. New nominations were done by governmental representatives in all regions: South America, Asia, Africa, as well as in EECA. HEALTH-NCP-NET is cooperating with all INCO networks and other EU projects to promote and facilitate the nomination of Health NCPs in third countries.
By the end of our first reporting period the total number of Health CPs in ICPC amounted to 13 (2 in Russia and 2 in Korea) and we assessed the participation of ICPC CPs in project activities as satisfactory. By the end of the second reporting period the number of Health CP in third countries (including those not being ICPC) amounted to 48 individuals from the 31 countries. By the end of the third reporting period the number of individuals amounts to 62 from 37 countries.
In five years, various activities conducted under WP4 targeted the participation of ICPC CPs in events organised by HEALTH-NCP-NET. Synergies with WP2 and WP3 were used and the cooperation between the leaders of WP4 was continuously encouraged by the coordinator, e.g. in tasks T2.1 and T4.1 as well as T2.2 and T4.2. The ICPC needs and concerns have always been present when defining agendas for project activities.
ICPC Benchmarking was the first task of the ICPC agenda. Task 4.1 and its deliverable D4.1 Mapping of ICPC CP offices / assessment needs based on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis, conducted by ICGEB, provided essential information on the needs and capacities of ICPC CPs which has been used to define agendas for capacity building and networking activities.
The main findings of this activity were that:
(i) 80 % of ICPC CPs do have other tasks;
(ii) 84 % ICPC CPs are fairly new (since FP6);
(iii) lack of experience;
(iv) very little government support (30 % of countries);
(v) 70 %, if ICPC CPs do not have a SOP booklet;
(vi) very little follow-up (success of applications, etc.);
(vii) not involved / little experience in policy matters;
(viii) very little experience in financial and ethical matters;
(ix) good interest in training courses but poor attendance.
Given the evidence shown above, ICPC capacity building (Task 4.2) has been a key activity in trying to overcome these weaknesses, which differ much from the European NCPs. Besides the participation of ICPC CPs in the general and specific training sessions, special training was organised for Health CPs from ICPC and other new nominated NCPs. For two trainings HEALTH-NCP-NET invited also NCP coordinators from countries not having and Health NCP. The following trainings aimed particularly at newcomers to the network:
- 20 October 2008 at the South African mission in Brussels
The training aimed at general introduction to FP7 and increased participation in the 3rd call. The 5 participants were Health CPs from third countries and one newly nominated Health NCP representing: Egypt, Faroe Island, Slovenia, South Africa and Uruguay.
- 28 September 2009, Mahon, Spain
The training addressed particularly priority setting in health research and aimed at increased participation of ICPC in the 4th call.
19 participants: 6 NCPs, 7 Health CPs from ICPC, 4 NCPs from Europe, 2 assistants from SA, 1 participant from CPN AFRICA project).
- 16 September 2010, Paris, France, training session on FP7
This training addressed particularly identification of research priorities by the EC for work programmes, staff exchange, creating awareness of ICPC research capacities and aimed at increased participation of ICPC in the 5th call.
19 participants from Armenia, Belarus, Bolivia, Croatia, Egypt, Finland, Georgia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, FYROM, Moldavia, South Africa, Thailand, Tunisia, Uganda, Uzbekistan.
- 22 November 2011, Bucharest, Romania, training session on FP7 funding rules
This training session was held the day before a two day general NCP training session and focused on FP funding rules, budget preparation, times sheets and records, and budget reporting.
28 participants from Belarus, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lesotho, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Romania, Spain, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda, Uzbekistan attended the workshop of whom 12 were from ICPC.
- 23 - 24 February, 2012, Lisbon, Portugal
There was no specific ICPC session, but the workshop was open to ICPC NCPs. One of the agenda points focused on ICPCs in FP7 - 'How & Where?' (Geography and cooperation). The training was preceded by a networking day attended by 42 participants (including trainers and organisers) of whom 8 were from ICPC.
Due to the very low attendance in the first training session, corrective actions were taken. For the following trainings, invitations were sent very much in advance, the project manager did a close follow-up on encouraging attendance and supporting visa applications.
Occasionally also NCP coordinators from countries not having a Health NCP were invited to the training sessions and HEALTH-NCP-NET covered their travel expenses.
During the first reporting period only 13 ICPC CPs were registered and completed the survey conducted in 2008. Presently 32 ICPC CPs are registered and 24 participated in the survey. The results basically confirmed the conclusions derived from the feedback after the first survey. Respondents expressed an interest in future training in the following topics (in order of highest interest):
- Project Management: 67 %
- Proposal preparation: 64 %
- Consortium building / searching for partners: 63 %
- Preparing input for work programmes: 60 %
- Proposal submission: 50 %
- Marketing and promoting FP7: 48 %
- Dissemination activities and exploitation plan: 47 %
- Decision-making process of the Commission: 47 %
- SMEs' participation to the FP7: 47 %
- Ethical aspects: 40 %
- Legal issues: 40 %
- Financial issues: 37 %
The MSE and 'Twinning' programme has proved to be an attractive and useful instrument for the integration of ICPC CPs into the network. This report focuses only on the ICPC staff exchanges, which included:
- Chile, Italy, January 2010
The Chilean and Italian Health NCPs have been taking advantage of the chance offered by the HEALTH-NCP-NET project with its staff exchange programme. A joint agenda was prepared by the 2 NCPs, Caterina Buonocore and Marisol Navarrete, on the basis of the needs expressed by the CONICYT ICPC CPs' and the Chilean researchers' environment. The success of the staff exchange was guaranteed by the professionalism of all involved characters; Marisol Navarrete, as main organiser, her CONICYT colleagues with whom the respective working methodologies were discussed, and the managers of the research offices of the 3 universities were visited. The staff exchange created a double opportunity for both CONICYT staff and Chilean researchers. The researchers received some information on the characteristics of the Health Theme, its being opened to the participation and funding of ICPCs and some tips on how to match with European Scientists for next Health calls.
- South Africa, JAMAICA, 22 - 24 June 2010
Iqbal Parker was invited by Linette Peters, the ICPC CP for Jamaica to participate in the staff exchange programme. The staff exchange was organised into four formal sessions at which Professor Parker Visiting ICPC CP delivered presentations on the EU FP covering the history of research in the EU, South Africa's experience with the FP and Understanding Health calls and introduction to financial aspects and partner search and the Health NCP, gave an overview of the HEALTH-NCP-NET. For one of the sessions where the NCPs were in attendance the agenda was modified and the national coordinator Dr Barnett gave an overview of the FP and Jamaica in which she highlighted some of the challenges and announced the employment of a staff member dedicated to promoting the FP. The first session was held at the Ministry of Health of Jamaica with some 15 participants from the Northern Caribbean University, Caribbean Research Council, and Ministry of Health staff from several disciplines.
Taiwan, Spain, 10 - 15 May 2010
Marta Barrionuevo attended several events in Taipei, the week of 10 - 15 May 2010:
- Days 1 and 2: visits to laboratories, meetings and presentations given by researchers and professors based in National Taiwan University, National Taiwan University of Science & Technology, National Science Council, Industrial Technology Research Institute.
- Days 3 and 4: Symposium on EU Taiwan Research Cooperation in FP7. Marta Barrionuevo gave a presentation which covered tools for looking for European partners, advices on how to benefit from the HEALTH-NCP-NET and key features of the Health work programme 2011. The symposium was very well attended by the Taiwanese research community and the various FP7 NCPs.
- Day 5: meeting with Health NCPs and visit of their offices, located at Taipei Medical University Hospital.
MSE, Vienna, May 2011
This MSE was attended by several NCPs, including ICPC participants from South Africa and Egypt.
- MSE, Lisbon, February 2012
Based on the successful and economically viable MSE held in Vienna in 2011, a second MSE was organised in Lisbon back to back with the Training and networking event. ICPC Participants were Luanda Mapaseka Seheri (Assistant Health NCP, South Africa), Pau Ann Sivutha (Health NCP Cambodia) and Annie Chih-Wei YEH (Health NCP Taiwan).
Twinning programme : 16 formal pairs of twins have been formed with 28 NCPs participating of whom 3 are ICPC-NCPs. In addition, there is also extensive informal contact between ICPC NCPs and Member State / associated countries' NCPs.
In terms of networking and brokerage events (Task 4.3) a very successful brokerage focused to the 4th call in Africa has to be reported. ICGEB and DLR organised a workshop on EU FP7 funding opportunities attached to the Conference on Infectious Diseases: From Basic to Translational Research, funded by the European Science Foundation on 8 - 9 April 2009 in Cape Town. The aim was to raise awareness of the existence of FP7 funding for European and African research collaboration, as well as offering the support of the HEALTH-NCP-NET.
As mentioned in WP3, the networking activities of HEALTH-NCP-NET are going beyond the expectations of the Technical Annex and Awareness raising amongst ICPC is present at all possible events, whether or not organised in the framework of the project.
HNN enabled and funded participation of ICPC-NCPs in several Brokerage events organised by the network and FIT-FOR-HEALTH. In June 2011, for example, those attending were: Leah Nawegulo Tabo (Uganda), Rabab Tayyem (Jordan), Nodira Zakhidova (Uzbekistan), Maia Okujava (Georgia), Ximena Luengo-Charath (Chile) and Angela Paraschiv (Moldova).
Awareness rising of HEALTH-NCP-NET amongst ICPC CPs (Task 4.4) was done by consortium members on several occasions. Especially the WP leader, the co-leader and the coordinator attended a number of FP7 information days in South Africa, Mexico, Egypt, India, and Thailand where they took the opportunity to raise awareness of HEALTH-NCP-NET and promote it. Specifically through its related Task 4.4 also ERA Health NCPs are attending events organised by ICPC and transmitting the need for an ICPC CP to mirror the role of their NCP counterpart and encourage research cooperation amongst researchers in ICPC and Europe. ERA Health NCPs have also encouraged actively the organisation of regional events in ICPC. A list of meetings attended by Health NCPs over the past five years Health NCPs are included in the .pdf attachment to this report.
The collaboration with the INCO networks has been reinforced by e.g. attending Health consultation sessions. In the second reporting period further capacity building and networking activities were conducted by several project partners, partly in cooperation with other projects. Awareness rising on the support provided by NCP networks was also done on two events organised by the EC and aiming at the two regions: Africa and Latin America.
- Africa call info day, 18 September 2009
HEALTH-NCP-NET together with BIONET and ENV-NCP was presented to a wide international audience at the info day for the Africa call. Katharina Kuss initiated the cooperation of NCP networks and Almudena Gonzalez presented to the participants how NCP networks can support applicants from ICPC.
- EU-LAC info day, 29 September 2010
HEALTH-NCP-NET had promotional material at the EU-LAC information day, which was attended by FP7 contacts from ICPC, embassies, liaison offices of research organisations for raising visibility of Latin America and the Caribbean in Europe.
It should also be mentioned that HEALTH-NCP-NET also promoted the involvement of researchers form ICPC countries at this occasion:
- HEALTH NCP Meeting, 7 June 2010
At the meeting for Health NCPs organised by Directorate F, DG Research, all INCO Nets and their activities were presented to the participants. This as well as the presentation on EDCTP was initiated and organises by the coordination team of HEALTH-NCP-NET.
Potential impact:
The impact of HEALTH-NCP-NET can be grouped around 4 major aspects, the third one subdivided to gain more detailed aspects:
(1) expansion of the HEALTH-NCP-NET and fluctuation of staff;
(2) reach of the national / local Health NCP services in figures;
(3) health NCP services and benefits of acting as a network:
(a) consortium building assistance;
(b) structured cooperation with the PC;
(c) channelled communication with the EC;
(d) capacity building and networking for Health NCPs;
(e) integration and strengthened collaboration with Third Countries;
(4) scope and reach of HEALTH-NCP-NET project activities in figures.
(1) Expansion of the HEALTH-NCP-NET and fluctuation of staff
In the past years the number of nominated Health NCP grew constantly. The number of multipliers increased from 60 individuals in 2006 to over 180 in 2012, which is an increase by 3 times.
The geographic extension of the HEALTH-NCP-NET, including NCP coordinators for those countries where there are no thematic NCPs is substantial. While in 2006 there were no Health NCPs outside Europe, the network nowadays disseminates information on European health research into 97 countries.
Exchange of knowledge, know-how and resources: countries with less experienced NCPs or few resources can profit from NCPs in countries with a broader experience and more resources.
Personnel fluctuation in the network: The high fluctuation of staff in the NCP host institutions is a risk factor for the transfer of knowledge, therefore continuous capacity building and exchange of experiences for newly appointed NCPs is a must. In the past 6 years, 110 individuals from 27 Member States were nominated Health NCPs.
Against the background of a high fluctuation of NCPs, knowledge is maintained thanks to the network activities.
(2) Reach of the national / local Health NCP Services in figures
The coordination team of HEALTH-NCP-NET has conducted a survey to measure the scope and reach of the services Health NCPs offer in Europe, FP7 associated countries and third countries.
For the sake of simplification, services have been classified in two categories, information and consulting activities. The staff dedicated to health-related issues at the NCP host institutions has also been accounted for although no significant conclusions could be made out of it.
The survey was sent to a total of 154 Health NCPs, out of which 92 are EU Member State and associated countries' Health NCPs and 62 are Health NCPs in third countries. 35 people completed the survey, all of them Member State / associated countries and one from TC.
Information and dissemination reach by Health NCPs
Most of the Health NCPs inform their clients by the following means: information events, as well as newsletters and websites. The dissemination methods and the scope are illustrated below:
(1) Information events
This category gathers all types of information events, including workshops, seminars, info days and training courses at national, regional and local level, physical or virtual, organised by NCP host institutions.
Information events are organised in all countries by Health NCPs. Most of the events are organised by the NCP office in Italy (60 in 2011) followed by Germany (48 in 2011). The average number of information events organised by Health NCPs in 2011 is about 17.
In 2011 there were 428 information events organised by 25 Health NCPs host institutions. The total number of participants attending information events organised by 22 Health NCP in 2011 amounts to 13 610. This number is even higher if counting the attendance to information events organised by all Health NCPs (including those not participating in the survey).
The total number of participants in these events is not always clear and the 'reach' is much greater, since also disseminators / multipliers take part in these events, who in turn relay the information to other scientists. There is therefore no reliable data here on the number of scientists that are actually reached, but it is presumably much higher.
newsletters are the major communication tool used by Health NCPs to reach their target group directly. Most of the NCPs send their newsletter on a monthly or bi-monthly basis, and fewer NCPs with an increased frequency. The number of recipients is constantly grooving and amounts in 2012 to a total of 77 568 in only 17 European countries.
It should be taken into account that newsletters are sent not only to individual (potential) applicants, but also to disseminators, multipliers and service providers. A great number of the recipients of NCP newsletters fall within this category. Again, the absolute number of individuals that receive the information through newsletters can only be guessed and will be much higher than the number given in the questionnaire.
(2) Consulting activities by Health NCPs
This section gathers all types of consulting activities by means of meetings, telephone calls and emails. Consulting activities are very diverse and going into a deeper differentiation was difficult. It should be known that some clients receive multiple consultations, while others only one or a few, depending on their individual demand. Therefore, the numbers provided may not give a real impression of the benefit that clients have nor of the number of clients that received consultations or coaching.
When asked for the number of consulting activities by means of meetings, telephone calls and emails from clients, 23 Health NCPs estimate to have about 10,000 consulting contacts per year, with an increasing tendency. The German Health NCP office, for example, counts more than 1 000 consulting activities in 2010 and 2011.
(3) Health NCP services and benefits of acting as a Network
(a) Consortium-building assistance by Health NCPs
Health NCPs assist high-potential applicants in finding complementary partners by several means: referring them to latest publications or conferences and also by providing platforms to find new collaboration partners. The virtual partner search platform developed by FIT FOR HEALTH is a high-quality tool as there is validation and quality check of Health NCPs.
There is a cooperation agreement between SMEs go Health and HEALTH-NCP-NET by which NCP organisations who are not beneficiaries in Fit for Health may access the tool as 'validators'.
19 Health NCPs from 12 NCP organisations received access to the system (as validators). Around 800 new expertise profiles were entered into the database since beginning of the cooperation, of which around 130 profiles stem from 'new' countries (with new validators).
(b) Structured cooperation with the PC
A large number of NCPs (60 %) are also nominated delegates or experts to the PC, e.g. in Austria, there is 1 Health NCP who is also PC expert, so it is 100 %. In Spain, there are 2 Health NCPs and one of them is also expert to the PC, so it is 50 %. A total of 60 % of all Health NCPs in Member States are PC delegates.
(c) Channelled communication with the EC
The network of Health NCPs acts as a platform which facilitates the collection of needs, feedback and information from the NCPs, multipliers and applicant community to the EC and manages the communication in a structures and channelled way.
Relevant issues have been raised in the following fields:
(i) scientific issues, proposal of new topics via the PC;
(ii) ethical issues and ethics screening by ethics advisory work group;
(iii) legal and financial issues raised by NCPs, e.g. for the simplification process;
(iv) technical issues for the use of online tools (ECAS, FORCE, SESAM, EPSS).
(d) Capacity building and networking for Health NCPs
Main benefits are:
(i) trained multipliers who can provide quick and valuable services to clients;
(ii) better personal contacts established at training or networking events enhances collaboration and fosters the organisation of joint activities across borders;
(iii) strengthened collaboration with Health NCPs of countries with lower participation and experience in FP7 Health through mentoring and coaching activities results in an increased number of more proposals.
(e) Integration and strengthened collaboration with third countries
HEALTH-NCP-NET creates awareness of the benefits of having an appointed Health NCP to increase participation in Health collaborative research projects. It follows closely new appointments in TC and provides deeper support by twinning programme, which is about mutual learning and mentoring. It supports the different INCO-Nets by collaborating with them. It brings together weaker and stronger countries and focuses on creating a real exchange of practices.
(4) Scope and reach of HEALTH-NCP-NET project activities in figures
This section compiles all activities carried up to date since the project start in May 2008. The capacity building activities include training courses, twinning, staff exchanges and virtual seminars. There are also networking and brokerage events.
Training courses
Training courses: 8
Participants: 294
Staff exchanges: bilateral staff exchanges and MSE
There were 7 bilateral staff exchanges in which 14 Health NCPs participated. The concept of MSE turned out to be more efficient: 27 Health NCPs participated in this type of exchange hosted by the NCP offices in Austria, Portugal, Germany and Italy.
MSE: 4
Participants: 29
Bilateral staff exchanges: 7
Participants: 14
Twinning
Number of twins: 48
Webinars
Number of webinars: 10
Average participant per event: 7 - 8
Networking events
Networking events with Health NCPs: 7
Participants 267, average per event: 38
Networking of Health NCPs at existing events and with other networks
The presence of HEALTH-NCP-NET in major health events is essential to make the services of Health NCPs known within the applicant community as well as for networking purposes. Since the start of the project, Health NCPs have attended around 15 meetings / conferences per year to promote the network, including collaboration with all existing INCO NETs and other NCP related networks.
These figures are only a very small part of the awareness raising and visibility increasing activities. Health NCPs may attend events to promote themselves and offer their services independently from the network.
Brokerage events
A major achievement of HEALTH-NCP-NET was to coordinate the open information day and the brokerage event with the EC. Synergies have been created by organising both events back to back, so the participants of the open information day could also attend the BE and vice versa. The interest in FP7 funding for health research is also reflected in the high attendance to the open information day organised by the EC and promoted by Health NCPs in their countries. The open information day was organised in 2010 for the first time and the number of participants reached was 400, which eventually increased to almost 600 participants in 2011 and 2012, as this graph shows, thanks to the excellent collaboration with the Fit for Health project in the co-organisation.
Brokerage events are easier to arrange and have an increased response when organised through the NCP networks.
Acknowledgements: the HEALTH-NCP-NET coordination team wants to thank all NCPs who participated at the survey, the German NCP office for providing some valuable thoughts for the analysis of the data, and the EC for starting and supporting this initiative.
List of websites: http://www.healthncpnet.eu
Relevant contact details:
- Hoebertz Astrid, +43-577-554104, astrid.hoebertz@ffg.at AT
Vivot Mathilde, +32-242-20040, mvi@abe.irisnet.be BE
Kinkorova Judita, +42-023-4006108, kinkorova@tc.cz CZ
Siffrin Rene, +49-228-38211688, rene.siffrin@dlr.de DE
Steiner-Langes abine, +49-228-38211690, sabine.steiner-lange@dlr.de DE
Soon Argo, +372-7300372, argo.soon@archimedes.ee EE
RIESE Juan, +34-918-222181, jriese@isciii.es ES
Carrasco Carolina, +34-902-347434, carolina.carrasco@cdti.es ES
Boubenna Nacer, 33-144-236190, nacer.boubenna@inserm.fr FR
Fishelson Uri, +97-235-118171, uri@iserd.org.il IL
Buonocore Caterina, +39-064-8939993, buonocore@apre.it IT
Mourenza Bruno, +39-064-8939993 mourenza@apre.it IT
Berkis Uldis, +37-167-409242, Uldis.Berkis@rsu.lv LV
Spiteri Diana, +35-621-660340, diana.a.spiteri@gov.mt MT
Verhoeven Esther, +31-886-025250, kp7.health@agentschapnl.nl NL
Pytko Anna, +48-228-287483, anna.pytko@kpk.gov.pl PL
Szkiladz Ewa, +48-228-287483, ewa.szkiladz@kpk.gov.pl PL
Camilo Joana, +35-121-3917642, joana.camilo@fct.pt PT
Fernandes Maria Joao, +35-121-4469341, mariajoao.fernandes@fct.pt PT
Ispas Ioana Rodica, +40-212-127791, ioana.ispas@ancs.ro RO
Parker Iqbal, +27-214-066259, iqbal.parker@uct.ac.za ZA
Mohamed Zaki el Sadr Zeinab, +20-279-57253, zs@sti.sci.eg EG
HEALTH-NCP-NET is a coordination action for the reinforcement of the national contact points' (NCP) network for the 'Health' Theme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and receives funding from the European Commission (EC) from 2008 until 2013. The project it coordinated by Instituto de Salud Carlos III and has 19 beneficiaries.
HEALTH-NCP-NET offers to NCPs capacity building through comprehensive training, twinning and staff exchange programmes, networking with other health-related NCP networks, support on ethics in health research and access to valuable information.
HEALTH-NCP-NET offers to FP7 Health applicants full assistance of a well-established official network in project proposal preparation, support on ethics, a partner search and brokerage events for consortia building.
Through an active transnational network and by facilitating European Union (EU) wide integration of research, HEALTH-NCP-NET contributes significantly to the implementation of FP7 Health and the realisation of the European Research Area (ERA).
Project context and objectives:
HEALTH-NCP-NET is a European network of Health NCPs for the FP7. The key objectives of HEALTH-NCP-NET are to increase the quality of submitted proposals in the Health priority of the FP7 for Research and Technological Development (RTD) and to promote equal opportunities to FP7 Health applicants worldwide.
The overall objective of this project is to improve the Health NCP services under FP7 across Europe by providing a more consistent NCP support that will finally result in a higher quality of submitted proposals from applicants, including also the ones from international cooperation partner countries (ICPCs) and other third countries.
Four strategic objectives contributing to the overall goal are continuously targeted by the consortium and extended to the HEALTH-NCP-NET. These are:
(1) NCP support services more consistent across Europe;
(2) lower entry barriers for newcomers: facilitate and support the development of NCP;
in new Member States, based in the knowledge and experience from 'senior' NCP;
(3) simplify access to FP7 calls and other important information from the EC;
(4) dissemination of results.
HEALTH-NCP-NET ensures continuous equal access to all NCPs for FP7 Health to specialised training courses, staff exchanges and twinning programmes, networking and brokerage events, tools and information; it actively promotes the integration and reinforcement of newly appointed NCPs and the consolidation of the network.
The results generated through this project render the services of NCPs for FP7 more consistent across Europe, ICPCs and other countries worldwide, delivering a positive impact on the average quality of FP7 Health proposals. This is the first initiative since the NCP systems were established under the FP5.
HEALTH-NCP-NET has designed a series of activities to achieve these objectives. The core activity is networking. Health NCPs meet at least once a year for discussions around common NCP issues, sharing of experiences and presentation of research potential in the different countries. Health NCPs interact with other NCP networks from health-related FP7 themes, e.g. BIO CIRCLE - for the 'Food, agriculture, fisheries and biotechnology' Theme - in order to promote the understanding of the Health Theme and to identify common interests in research and in carrying out networking actions. Interaction with the international networks established under the 'Capacities' programme, international cooperation (INCO) networks, is of particular importance. In those countries where there is not an officially appointed Health contact point (CP), INCO CPs aid us in the identification of research groups and research potential in other regions, as well as to create awareness about the benefits of nominating a Health CP in such countries. Cooperation is established with the following INCO networks: Eastern European and Central Asian countries (EECA-INCO-NET); coordination and advancement of sub-Saharan Africa - EU science and technology cooperation (CAAST-NET); Western Balkan countries (WBC-INCO-NET); Mediterranean Innovation and Research Coordination Action (MIRA); EU and South East Asia (SEA-EU-NET).
HEALTH-NCP-NET has designed a capacity building programme based on the results of a study of the strengths and weaknesses of the existing Health NCP systems. It offers two training courses per year, one targeted to ensure a smooth introduction of newly appointed NCPs and ICPC CPs into the job and a more advanced course focused on a specific and relevant area to the NCP. A twinning programme offers less experienced NCPs the possibility to be twinned to an experienced one who acts as a coach in their daily tasks. A staff exchange programme offers a full immersion, on-site experience at another colleague's office - benefiting the NCP as well as the staff working at the host office.
These activities are reinforced and enhanced by providing access to the entire NCP network to a repository on HEALTH-NCP-NET website, (see http://www.healthncpnet.eu online), where all training materials are stored for consultation and self-learning. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) for Health NCPs have been collected and will become guidelines in the form of a Handbook.
The rationale of the project is to profit from the existing knowledge and know-how of the experienced NCPs, transferring it to the less experienced NCPs and sharing the expertise through the network. Through the abovementioned activities and tools, the NCP position to reach the research community is enhanced. Furthermore, HEALTH-NCP-NET ensures that the research community worldwide is aware of the existence of Health NCPs who are part of a supportive network for FP7 project applicants and multipliers of FP7 information coming from the EC. This is assured by the presence of a network representative at national and international health conferences in Europe and beyond. HEALTH-NCP-NET also promotes and assists FP7 Health applicants in the creation of transnational consortia namely by organising brokerage events and by providing a virtual partner search tool. HEALTH-NCP-NET is collaborating with FIT FOR HEALTH, a project funded under the FP7, which offers has a high quality and efficient partner search facility to the health research community at large (research centres, universities, civil society organisations). HEALTH-NCP-NET and FIT FOR HEALTH also co-organise brokerage events with the objective of bringing research groups together and facilitating their collaboration for participating in FP7 Health calls.
HEALTH-NCP-NET brings closer ICPC CPs to the European NCPs and increasing their participation in the calls.
HEALTH-NCP-NET also aims at raising awareness and building capacity on ethical issues both within the network and the wider research community. An ethics advisory work group, composed of three multidisciplinary experts who serve as ethics reviewers to the EC in the ethical panels of the Health theme, collaborates closely with the HEALTH-NCP-NET to help researchers worldwide successfully accomplish the ethics in their projects. Support and user friendly guidelines for completing the ethics section of a proposal and showing how to tackle specific issues in health research can be found on the website.
Through an active transnational network and by facilitating EU wide integration of research, the HEALTH-NCP-NET contributes significantly to the implementation of FP7 Health and the realisation of the ERA.
Project results:
Work package (WP)2: Benchmarking and capacity building
Main tasks under this WP are:
- T2.1: Mapping NCP profiles
- T2.2: Training programme
- T2.3: Health NCPs best practices for benchmarking
- T2.4: NCP Handbook
- T2.5: Cartographical mapping of research excellence.
WP2 is the core WP devoted to improve the capability and expertise of the Health NCPs and ICPC CPs through training courses, a virtual training facility, twinning and staff exchange programmes with expert NCPs and exchange of best practices.
WP2 is an extremely important and successful component of HEALTH-NCP-NET. There has been real interaction and transfer of knowledge from more to less experienced NCPs particularly outstanding at the training courses.
The workload carried out has been coordinated by APRE as WP leader in close cooperation with the co-leader ENSTI (EG) and the project coordinator ISCIII (ES). In the second reporting period Agentschap NL took over the leadership of the Virtual Training Facility, logistical supported by Archimedes Foundation (EE) and technical support of DLR (DE). For WP2 and APRE (IT) became task leader of T2.4 NCP handbook. Both reallocations of responsibilities were necessary due to the grant agreement termination of beneficiary 4 BIONOVA (GR). The activities of WP2 started immediately after the kick-off meeting and have been very intense since. From the second reporting period most of the personnel resources were devoted to capacity building activities such as the training programme (T2.2) and the NCP handbook (T2.4).
In particular, the initial mapping of the NCPs profiles played a crucial role in the definition of the needs and the capabilities of the network. On the basis of the outcomes of the mapping activity, the consortium has assessed at its best the definition of the training courses and the networking activities to be organised. BIONOVA as task leader made the most out of this deliverable and collected information from 42 Health NCPs and ICPC CPs, covering 36 countries through a dedicated questionnaire.
A training programme was designed by the consortium partners on the basis of the outcome of the mapping provided by WP co-leader. In total, nein training courses were organised during the lifetime of HEALTH-NCP-NET:
- Health theme in FP7, 22 - 23 July 2008, Brussels
- Ethics in FP7 Health theme, 21 - 22 October 2008, Brussels
- Preparation of proposals, 28 - 30, September 2009, Mahon
- Legal and financial aspects, 4 - 5 May 2010, Rome
- Health work programme, 15 - 17 September 2010, Paris
- How to coordinate a project, 13 - 14 April 2011, The Hague
- Legal and financial aspects, 23 - 24 November 2011, Bucharest
- Optimise participation in the last FP7 Health call, 23 - 24 February 2012, Lisbon
- Communication, dissemination and exploitation of project results, 21 - 22 November 2012, Brussels.
The training courses were organised by APRE and ISCIII in cooperation with other partners such as FFG, Agentschap NL, INSERM, GPPQ-FCT (PT) or ANCS (RO). EC officers and external experts were invited as lecturers but the greatest part of the talks and practical exercises were carried out by Health NCPs who were chosen based on their experience (Austria, the Netherlands, France, Egypt, Italy, Germany, and South Africa). APRE, in its role of WP leader ('Benchmarking and capacity building'), defined the content of the agenda for the different trainings supporting the local organisers in the organisation. APRE consequently supported in the identification and contact the most suitable speakers and organise their stay. APRE has prepared a feedback questionnaire for all the trainings delivered, collected them at the end of each session.
The training course was evaluated using a feedback questionnaire filled by all the participants at the end of the course: the outcomes of the feedback questionnaires were evaluated by partner LCS in close cooperation with APRE. It should be mentioned that all courses were well attended and the number of participants is continuously increasing. We would like to underline the success of these activities also by mentioning that it attracts Health NCPs from Old and New European Member States, from associated countries and from ICPC providing a perfect opportunity for networking and exchanging knowledge and experiences amongst NCPs.
All the material regarding the trainings is always uploaded to the HEALTH-NCP-NET portal on the training for NCP's section http://www.healthncpnet.eu/jahia/Jahia/pid/8. The twinning programme is a complementary voluntary capacity building activity of HEALTH-NCP-NET. It was launched in December 2008 and aims at direct matching of more experienced with less experienced NCPs / ICPC CPs. More than 20 twins groups and triplets were created on the basis of the questionnaires evaluated under Task 2.1. Less experienced and newly appointed NCPs decide on how much assistance they need and can contact their coaches whenever needed. Newly appointed Health NCPs and ICPC CPs can specially benefit from this activity thus the allocation of 'twins' needs to be updated regularly. In order to facilitate the twinning activity a 'code of conduct' and a 'presentation letter' have been developed by APRE and disseminated among all participants to appropriately start the programme. APRE in collaboration with ENSTI have elaborated the list of twins, which has been disseminated to all Health NCPs latest in March 2012 and is available on the HEALTH-NCP-NET portal: http://www.healthncpnet.eu/jahia/Jahia/pid/11. The staff exchange programme was launched by APRE and ISCIII in 2009, but the interest of Health NCPs to participate in this program was rather low at the beginning. In the first reporting period no application for this programme was received, whereas in the following periods an important number of Health NCPs participated in the programme.
From the third reporting, it is also worth mentioning that, the staff exchange program added the new concept of being multiple, it featured an opportunity to allow intersections between different networks, such as BIO-NET (KBBE). The multiple staff exchange (MSE) programme also provides to Health NCPs and other thematic NCPs networks the opportunity to exchange experiences and learn from each other by spending time together, adding not only a deeper knowledge of how the host organisation is working, but also a knowledge of the other colleagues who are participating to the staff exchange.
These planned days of staff exchange aimed at 'getting to know daily operation of each organisation' (presentations about how it works, meeting other thematic NCPs, discussing main obstacles and challenges, etc.) All these projects have been accompanied by either 'Train the Trainer' course, a course only aimed at persons having to train others and wanting to design their training in a more innovative and more didactically valuable manner, or by public lectures, through participating in public events or info days.
In general, analysing the feedback questionnaires from the participants, the programme was very successful in terms of exchanging experience and best practices, networking and sharing views and visions for improving the NCPs' different mechanisms, creating awareness and training events. Each programme has a pre-defined agenda and it was a very practical and hands-on exchange.
ENSTI in collaboration with APRE have created a staff exchange marketplace to help mapping of NCPs expertise to match needs and allocating space on project website to describe the programme and provide more detailed specification about the concept of staff exchange. The marketplace of NCPs' expertise has been professionally classified by particular expertise that includes proposal writing, consortium building, proposal preparation, proposal submission, contract negotiation, Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) and participant portal, general theme advice, legal and financial issues, reporting, analysis of previous calls, organisation of events and marketing strategies. It has been classified also by countries and by events.
The NCP handbook was another important task where the consortium has dedicated a great effort during the first and second reporting periods. It was edited by APRE in close cooperation with several project partners. The handbook collects contributions from Health NCPs from Greece, Austria, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Malta, France, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain. It provides practical guidelines for NCPs / ICPC CPs on how to carry out their job while establishing standard operational guidelines and common rules of good practice, towards a more standardised and aligned NCP service amongst countries. The handbook collects the information resulted from the mapping of the NCP profiles and from the best practices identified and carefully chosen by MCST for the benchmarking report (Task 2.3). Validation of procedures was carried out by a group of professional Health NCPs. APRE was assigned the role of task leader after the withdrawal of partner BIONOVA, responsible for this deliverable since the start of the project. Towards the end of the second reporting period the draft deliverable was approved by QAP. The handbook is final and there are not more updates.
The Virtual Training Facility is one of the tools supporting capacity building activities of HEALTH-NCP-NET. It is an additional tool beyond the training courses that aims to maximise the impact of standard training courses. There is a section on the project website with a repository of all presentations provided at the training sessions and some questionnaires for self-assessment. HEALTH-NCP-NET project officer recommended recording the presentations given during the training sessions to support a virtual knowledge transfer.
During the third reporting period the capacity building programme has been complemented with online trainings provided on the tool Webinar, thanks to DLR who kindly makes it available and provide technical assistance at no cost. All the presentations have been uploaded on the HEALTH-NCP-NET website (see http://www.healthncpnet.eu/jahia/Jahia/pid/1 online).
Cartographical mapping
The idea was to map data of European research centres in order to provide potential applicants in FP7, especially those from ICPC, with some help as to where they could look for partners. It was agreed by the project steering committee to use the information on centres that have participated in FP7 calls to create this cartographical mapping. The database permits looking for research centres according to geographical and thematic criteria. The first version of the database contains about 1000 institutions, beneficiaries from the first FP7 Health call. However, since other projects, namely LIFECOMPETENCE and HEALTHCOMPETENCE, provide a very good platform to find FP6 and FP7 Health projects and beneficiaries, it was decided to promote those platforms and not to duplicate work by updating the HEALTH-NCP-NET database.
WP3: Networking and brokerage
Main tasks under this WP are:
- T3.1: Networking
- T3.2: Brokerage events
- T3.3: Exploitation of the use of the existing partner search tools and proof of concept for a future development of a single web-based partner search tool.
Leaders of this WP are ISERD (IL) and MCST (MT). The objectives of WP3, to grant NCPs opportunities to get together and discuss issues of importance to all Health NCPs and other related themes in FP7, by meeting other NCPs and share experiences and knowledge, have been accomplished in the first three reporting periods. Through these events, health NCPs have broadened their knowledge and shared best practices and experiences.
WP3 is an extremely important component of the HEALTH-NCP-NET project both on knowledge level for individual NCPs and for enhancing and promoting participation of researchers and the scientific community in the FP.
Health NCPs meet at least once a year for discussions on common NCP issues, sharing of experiences and presentation of research potential in the different countries. Health NCPs interact with NCPs from other health-related FP7 themes in order to promote the understanding of the Health Theme and to identify common interests in research.
Interaction with the INCO networks has been and will continue to be of particular importance. In those countries where there is no Health CP, INCO CPs are our links to identify research groups and research potential in other regions, as well as to create awareness about the benefits of nominating a Health CP in these countries. Cooperation has been established with the following INCO networks and Health NCPs have attended meetings organised by them: EECA-INCO-NET, CAAST-NET, WBC-INCO-NET, MIRA, and SEA-EU-NET.
Networking is the core activity of WP3 networking activities are divided into 3 types, namely:
(1) networking days of Health NCPs within the network;
(2) networking meetings of Health NCPs initiatives related to the Health area;
and (3) networking of NCPs at existing events.
Hereafter we report the major networking activities.
(1) Networking days of Health NCPs and ICPC CPs
HEALTH-NCP-NET organised eight such activities, partly in cooperation with the EC. Each of the networking days had different objectives and goals, so the format was developed accordingly. The following networking days were organised:
- 18 June 2008, Krakow, Poland
This meeting was organised in conjunction with a brokerage event. Participating Health NCPs were introduced to the activities of HEALTH-NCP-NET, discussed the forthcoming 3rd Health call, and presented Health research potential in several countries (Austria, Italy, South Africa, Spain).
- 16 June 2009, Brussels, Belgium
This event was organised back to back to an EC Health NCP meeting, some NCPs presented best practices of their work, research potentials in their countries (Georgia, Belarus, Moldova) and opportunities for participation in other HEALTH-NCP-NET activities (41 NCPs attended, new to the network NCPs from: Belarus, Brazil, Belgium, Chile, Cyprus, Finland, Georgia, Moldavia).
- 16 November 2009, Brussels, Belgium
This information and networking event was organised by the EC, Directorate-General (DG) for RTD and HEALTH-NCP-NET with the support of COLIPA, the European Cosmetics Association. It informed on the content of the call and the co-funding by COLIPA. (58 registered participants, 15 attending Health NCPs.) This event was held back to back to the second IMI call on 17 November 2009 in Brussels to which all Health NCPs were invited.
- 9 June 2010, Brussels, Belgium
Exchange of experience from programme committee (PC) delegates to NCPs and discussion regarding relations and cooperation between PC delegates and Health NCPs were the main content of this networking event. The meeting was organised back-to-back with open info day and brokerage event (45 participants, NCPs new to the network from Russia, Island, Uzbekistan and Turkey).
- 25 November 2010, Brussels, Belgium
The core issue raised in this networking event was staff exchanges. An activity worked on creating both staff exchange opportunities as well as twinning opportunities. The meeting also presented a mapping of expertise amongst the Health NCPs. This event focused more on interaction with ICPC CPs. ICPC participants in this event came from Uganda, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Albania, Tunisia, Georgia, Japan, Egypt and Jamaica.
- 8 March 2011, Brussels, Belgium
The networking event was jointly organised with the PATIENT PARTNER project and the European Patient Forum. The day emphasised the understanding of possible cooperation to be held with these organisations and their role in the Health Theme. A representative from the EC presented issues relating to communication of health result.
- 22 February 2012 in Lisbon, Portugal
Cooperation and interaction between NCPs and ICPC PCs was in the heart of this networking event which was adjoined with a training that followed. The day was very interactive and allowed the 40 participants to exchange best practices and know-how. Marketing, countries' research capacity and better communication were also addressed.
- 26 February 2013, Brussels, Belgium
The key subject of this meeting was the upcoming programme HORIZON 2020 and strategies to adapt to new components. A specific case was presented by one country to exchange opinions on preparations for the Horizon 2020. The second part focused on cooperation with FIT FOR HEALTH, COMMHERE and the HEALTH2MARKET projects.
All networking days, especially those organised back to back to the EC meeting or open information day were very successful. Sometimes NCPs, who have not actively participated in the network before attended and met several other Health NCPs on these occasions, thus reinforcing the network of Health NCPs through this networking and personal interactions. Several networking days touched a topic which was new to many NCPs; this was, for example, the case with patient organisations. These new topics were of great interest and importance as it opened new opportunities for cooperation and created a new bridge between various groups.
The organisation of networking days for Health NCPs and ICPC CPs back-to-back to information days organised by the EC proved to be a good practice for several reasons: it promotes the cooperation with the Commission, creates synergies within the network and is cost efficient, allowing shared coverage of travel cost for NCPs from Europe and third countries.
Over the five-year project duration, the EC Health directorate has regularly informed the Health-NCP-NET project of its plans and to which events it will participate by providing us with a calendar and/or through email. Whenever the project recognises an event that is suitable for its objectives, we have sought to join forces with the Health directorate for the benefits already aforementioned. Participation in these events by project partners is on a voluntary basis, open and transparent. These events allow for joint work in both type 2 and type 3 networking events as they are both external health events and allow for the exchange of knowledge with other networks (list of networking activities type 2 and 3 is in the .pdf version of the report).
(2) Networking of Health NCPs and ICPC CPs at existing events
Since the beginning of the project about 50 events have been attended by various partners of the project. This number represents an average of 10 events per year. As the description of work asked for 8 events per year, we have exceeded the number of events we were requested to visit, thus improving the exposure of HEALTH-NCP-NET to the research community. This extensive exposure means more proposals submitted to each call and an improvement of their quality. Since the project only has limited funds to participate in such events, it was useful that many of our attendances were of a local nature thus requiring a small amount of funding and allowing for more presence to be seen. The involvement of ICPC countries in this activity has been twofold, on one hand ICPC PCs have participated in such events on a personal basis such as the Uzbek representative who participated in the EC organised conference on Diabesity. On the other hand, Member State / associated countries' NCPs have participated in events in ICPC countries such as the Global Ministerial Forum on Health Research, Bamako, Mali. Since this type of networking activities mainly aims to disseminate FP7 and awareness raising on the support services provided by Health NCPs, we have listed the events in a separate table of the .pdf attachment.
Brokerage events are an excellent opportunity for researchers and companies to develop new connections with their peers in the research community, fine-tune existing project ideas and find partners for an upcoming topic.
In the five years of HEALTH-NCP-NET, five brokerage events were organised by the network. Since 2009, these events were organised in cooperation with and partly co-sponsored by the SMES GO-HEALTH / FIT-FOR-HEALTH projects. The events included a session of pre-arranged bilateral meetings, in which participants had the opportunity to discuss possibilities for future collaboration as well as more informative presentations and short pitch presentations by groups seeking partners. The following brokerage events were organised:
- 17 June 2008, Krakow, Poland
The first brokerage / partnering event of the HEALTH-NCP-NET project was held on. This event was co-sponsored by two FP projects: SMES GO HEALTH and HEALTH-NCP-NET. Around 70 delegates attended the meeting in Krakow.
- 4 June 2009, Prague, Czech Republic
The brokerage event was organised mainly by IPPT, FFG, MSCT and ISCIII. In total 105 potential applicants of PF7 Health projects have attended the event.
- 8 June 2010, Brussels, Belgium
The brokerage event was organised mainly by IPPT, and ISCIII. This was strategically organised to match with the first information open day ever organised by the EC for an upcoming Health call.
- 10 June 2011, Brussels, Belgium
The fourth brokerage event was once again organised in cooperation with the EC, adjoined with the Health open information day. This meant that registration had to close early as the allocated places were filled out well before the deadline. In addition to the EC we have cooperated with the KAPPA Health project. 240 participants attended the event of which 133 took part in 297 bilateral meetings.
- 30 May 2012, Brussels, Belgium
This partnering event was very successful and reached the maximum number of participants in a short time. In total, 247 persons from over 40 countries registered and 211 of them participated in 512 pre-organised bilateral meetings.
All brokerage / partnering events contribute significantly to the aim of increasing the quality of FP7 proposals and to improve partner interaction for consortia building. The constantly increasing number of participants, also from new member states and third countries is another indicator of the success of our brokerage events.
Exploitation of the use of the existing partner search tools and proof of concept for a future development of a single web-based partner search tool. This task aims to simplify the partner search process, to make it more accessible.
FFG provided a first version of partner search form in November 2008, which was slightly improved in 2009 and widely used until 2010. However, in the course of the project the cooperation with SMES-GO HEALTH increased and the consortium decided to substitute the partner search by email by using the online partner search tool. In the report on assessment and recommendations for a possible single partner search tool for FP7 Health (M18, M24) it was recommended to establish the SMEs GO HEALTH partner search tool as joint facility for all Health NCPs. A cooperation agreement between Health-NCP-NET and SMEs GO HEALTH / FIT FOR HEALTH assured the maintenance of the SMEs GO HEALTH and later the FIT-FOR-HEALTH database and matchmaking tool for all the last health calls of FP7. Since the beginning of cooperation between the projects over 800 new expertise profiles were entered into the database. 16 new Health NCPs joined the SMES GO HEALTH partner search database in the active role of validating incoming partner searches and profiles (including ICPCs, i.e. Mexico, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Egypt, Taiwan). All NCPs new to the tool were trained by on-line Skype trainings. The features of the joint partner search facility, including the quality criteria and quality assurance mechanisms for published partner searches and expertise profiles were introduced to the entire HEALTH-NCP-NETWORK by emails and by a presentation during the NCP networking day in June 2010.
HEALTH-NCP-NET also contributes to the further development of the CORDIS partner search tool and participates regularly in the respective meetings of the working group. In the first and second reporting period the following meetings were attended by our network representatives:
- 10 March 2009, Luxembourg
- 18 June 2009, Luxembourg
- 1 July 2010, Luxembourg
The CORDIS partner search working group, in which HEALTH-NCP-NET is represented, convened three times so far, defining technical features and quality criteria for the revamped partner search service. HEALTH-NCP-NET closely follows and supports the development of the joint partner search facility on CORDIS.
All reporting periods were characterised by extensive work on behalf of the project partners. This resulted in exceeding the expected participation and organisation of events. The three key activities of WP3 - networking, brokerage events and the partner search tool - all lead to our key mission of improving proposals and the consortia that write them.
The participation in numerous events during the course of the project has exposed thousands of members of the research community to our work and services as well as to FP7 opportunities. The fact that there are funds available to participate in events and to produce marketing material was important to further extend the geographical representation and visibility of the project and to communicate our services and other FP7 issues. Our constant presence in numerous events as well as the increasing attendance in our events show we brought the exposure to our services to a very high level. In addition to the inter-relations within the HEALTH-NCP-NET project, facilitated among others by our internal networking events, we have also cooperated with other Health related projects. This cooperation significantly increases the match-making potential and prevents double work from our clients. We believe that the work performed under this task was very important to the work of HNN.
A lesson learned from the implementation of WP3 activities is the importance of time and place selection for the brokerage activities. In 2008 and 2009, we aimed at increased participation from New Member States and consequently organised the events in Krakow and Prague, but the registration and participation rates show clearly an increased output, if the events are organised back-to-back with the open information days in Brussels.
A great success story of HEALTH-NCP-NET is the close cooperation with the EC on organising open information days and the brokerage events on two consecutive days, first the information day and second, the partnering event. This strategy turned out to significantly increase the impact of this activity as can be seen by the fact that, since 2010, the event registration was closed ahead of time.
All of the above mentioned work was also characterised by constant changes in the NCPs of different countries. However the training and support within the network prevented their negative influence on their respective communities and allowed for smooth transitions within the consortium.
WP4: ICPC agenda
Main tasks under this WP are:
- T4.1: ICPC benchmarking
- T4.2: ICPC capacity building
- T4.3: ICPC networking and brokerage events
- T4.4: Awareness rising of the HEALTH-NCP-NET amongst ICPC
- T4.5 ICPC Geographical mapping of research excellence.
The main objectives of this WP have been achieved to a large extend. The Health NCP community is enlarging beyond Europe in a considerable expansion. Several new CPs were nominated in countries with significant health research potential. New nominations were done by governmental representatives in all regions: South America, Asia, Africa, as well as in EECA. HEALTH-NCP-NET is cooperating with all INCO networks and other EU projects to promote and facilitate the nomination of Health NCPs in third countries.
By the end of our first reporting period the total number of Health CPs in ICPC amounted to 13 (2 in Russia and 2 in Korea) and we assessed the participation of ICPC CPs in project activities as satisfactory. By the end of the second reporting period the number of Health CP in third countries (including those not being ICPC) amounted to 48 individuals from the 31 countries. By the end of the third reporting period the number of individuals amounts to 62 from 37 countries.
In five years, various activities conducted under WP4 targeted the participation of ICPC CPs in events organised by HEALTH-NCP-NET. Synergies with WP2 and WP3 were used and the cooperation between the leaders of WP4 was continuously encouraged by the coordinator, e.g. in tasks T2.1 and T4.1 as well as T2.2 and T4.2. The ICPC needs and concerns have always been present when defining agendas for project activities.
ICPC Benchmarking was the first task of the ICPC agenda. Task 4.1 and its deliverable D4.1 Mapping of ICPC CP offices / assessment needs based on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis, conducted by ICGEB, provided essential information on the needs and capacities of ICPC CPs which has been used to define agendas for capacity building and networking activities.
The main findings of this activity were that:
(i) 80 % of ICPC CPs do have other tasks;
(ii) 84 % ICPC CPs are fairly new (since FP6);
(iii) lack of experience;
(iv) very little government support (30 % of countries);
(v) 70 %, if ICPC CPs do not have a SOP booklet;
(vi) very little follow-up (success of applications, etc.);
(vii) not involved / little experience in policy matters;
(viii) very little experience in financial and ethical matters;
(ix) good interest in training courses but poor attendance.
Given the evidence shown above, ICPC capacity building (Task 4.2) has been a key activity in trying to overcome these weaknesses, which differ much from the European NCPs. Besides the participation of ICPC CPs in the general and specific training sessions, special training was organised for Health CPs from ICPC and other new nominated NCPs. For two trainings HEALTH-NCP-NET invited also NCP coordinators from countries not having and Health NCP. The following trainings aimed particularly at newcomers to the network:
- 20 October 2008 at the South African mission in Brussels
The training aimed at general introduction to FP7 and increased participation in the 3rd call. The 5 participants were Health CPs from third countries and one newly nominated Health NCP representing: Egypt, Faroe Island, Slovenia, South Africa and Uruguay.
- 28 September 2009, Mahon, Spain
The training addressed particularly priority setting in health research and aimed at increased participation of ICPC in the 4th call.
19 participants: 6 NCPs, 7 Health CPs from ICPC, 4 NCPs from Europe, 2 assistants from SA, 1 participant from CPN AFRICA project).
- 16 September 2010, Paris, France, training session on FP7
This training addressed particularly identification of research priorities by the EC for work programmes, staff exchange, creating awareness of ICPC research capacities and aimed at increased participation of ICPC in the 5th call.
19 participants from Armenia, Belarus, Bolivia, Croatia, Egypt, Finland, Georgia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, FYROM, Moldavia, South Africa, Thailand, Tunisia, Uganda, Uzbekistan.
- 22 November 2011, Bucharest, Romania, training session on FP7 funding rules
This training session was held the day before a two day general NCP training session and focused on FP funding rules, budget preparation, times sheets and records, and budget reporting.
28 participants from Belarus, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lesotho, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Romania, Spain, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda, Uzbekistan attended the workshop of whom 12 were from ICPC.
- 23 - 24 February, 2012, Lisbon, Portugal
There was no specific ICPC session, but the workshop was open to ICPC NCPs. One of the agenda points focused on ICPCs in FP7 - 'How & Where?' (Geography and cooperation). The training was preceded by a networking day attended by 42 participants (including trainers and organisers) of whom 8 were from ICPC.
Due to the very low attendance in the first training session, corrective actions were taken. For the following trainings, invitations were sent very much in advance, the project manager did a close follow-up on encouraging attendance and supporting visa applications.
Occasionally also NCP coordinators from countries not having a Health NCP were invited to the training sessions and HEALTH-NCP-NET covered their travel expenses.
During the first reporting period only 13 ICPC CPs were registered and completed the survey conducted in 2008. Presently 32 ICPC CPs are registered and 24 participated in the survey. The results basically confirmed the conclusions derived from the feedback after the first survey. Respondents expressed an interest in future training in the following topics (in order of highest interest):
- Project Management: 67 %
- Proposal preparation: 64 %
- Consortium building / searching for partners: 63 %
- Preparing input for work programmes: 60 %
- Proposal submission: 50 %
- Marketing and promoting FP7: 48 %
- Dissemination activities and exploitation plan: 47 %
- Decision-making process of the Commission: 47 %
- SMEs' participation to the FP7: 47 %
- Ethical aspects: 40 %
- Legal issues: 40 %
- Financial issues: 37 %
The MSE and 'Twinning' programme has proved to be an attractive and useful instrument for the integration of ICPC CPs into the network. This report focuses only on the ICPC staff exchanges, which included:
- Chile, Italy, January 2010
The Chilean and Italian Health NCPs have been taking advantage of the chance offered by the HEALTH-NCP-NET project with its staff exchange programme. A joint agenda was prepared by the 2 NCPs, Caterina Buonocore and Marisol Navarrete, on the basis of the needs expressed by the CONICYT ICPC CPs' and the Chilean researchers' environment. The success of the staff exchange was guaranteed by the professionalism of all involved characters; Marisol Navarrete, as main organiser, her CONICYT colleagues with whom the respective working methodologies were discussed, and the managers of the research offices of the 3 universities were visited. The staff exchange created a double opportunity for both CONICYT staff and Chilean researchers. The researchers received some information on the characteristics of the Health Theme, its being opened to the participation and funding of ICPCs and some tips on how to match with European Scientists for next Health calls.
- South Africa, JAMAICA, 22 - 24 June 2010
Iqbal Parker was invited by Linette Peters, the ICPC CP for Jamaica to participate in the staff exchange programme. The staff exchange was organised into four formal sessions at which Professor Parker Visiting ICPC CP delivered presentations on the EU FP covering the history of research in the EU, South Africa's experience with the FP and Understanding Health calls and introduction to financial aspects and partner search and the Health NCP, gave an overview of the HEALTH-NCP-NET. For one of the sessions where the NCPs were in attendance the agenda was modified and the national coordinator Dr Barnett gave an overview of the FP and Jamaica in which she highlighted some of the challenges and announced the employment of a staff member dedicated to promoting the FP. The first session was held at the Ministry of Health of Jamaica with some 15 participants from the Northern Caribbean University, Caribbean Research Council, and Ministry of Health staff from several disciplines.
Taiwan, Spain, 10 - 15 May 2010
Marta Barrionuevo attended several events in Taipei, the week of 10 - 15 May 2010:
- Days 1 and 2: visits to laboratories, meetings and presentations given by researchers and professors based in National Taiwan University, National Taiwan University of Science & Technology, National Science Council, Industrial Technology Research Institute.
- Days 3 and 4: Symposium on EU Taiwan Research Cooperation in FP7. Marta Barrionuevo gave a presentation which covered tools for looking for European partners, advices on how to benefit from the HEALTH-NCP-NET and key features of the Health work programme 2011. The symposium was very well attended by the Taiwanese research community and the various FP7 NCPs.
- Day 5: meeting with Health NCPs and visit of their offices, located at Taipei Medical University Hospital.
MSE, Vienna, May 2011
This MSE was attended by several NCPs, including ICPC participants from South Africa and Egypt.
- MSE, Lisbon, February 2012
Based on the successful and economically viable MSE held in Vienna in 2011, a second MSE was organised in Lisbon back to back with the Training and networking event. ICPC Participants were Luanda Mapaseka Seheri (Assistant Health NCP, South Africa), Pau Ann Sivutha (Health NCP Cambodia) and Annie Chih-Wei YEH (Health NCP Taiwan).
Twinning programme : 16 formal pairs of twins have been formed with 28 NCPs participating of whom 3 are ICPC-NCPs. In addition, there is also extensive informal contact between ICPC NCPs and Member State / associated countries' NCPs.
In terms of networking and brokerage events (Task 4.3) a very successful brokerage focused to the 4th call in Africa has to be reported. ICGEB and DLR organised a workshop on EU FP7 funding opportunities attached to the Conference on Infectious Diseases: From Basic to Translational Research, funded by the European Science Foundation on 8 - 9 April 2009 in Cape Town. The aim was to raise awareness of the existence of FP7 funding for European and African research collaboration, as well as offering the support of the HEALTH-NCP-NET.
As mentioned in WP3, the networking activities of HEALTH-NCP-NET are going beyond the expectations of the Technical Annex and Awareness raising amongst ICPC is present at all possible events, whether or not organised in the framework of the project.
HNN enabled and funded participation of ICPC-NCPs in several Brokerage events organised by the network and FIT-FOR-HEALTH. In June 2011, for example, those attending were: Leah Nawegulo Tabo (Uganda), Rabab Tayyem (Jordan), Nodira Zakhidova (Uzbekistan), Maia Okujava (Georgia), Ximena Luengo-Charath (Chile) and Angela Paraschiv (Moldova).
Awareness rising of HEALTH-NCP-NET amongst ICPC CPs (Task 4.4) was done by consortium members on several occasions. Especially the WP leader, the co-leader and the coordinator attended a number of FP7 information days in South Africa, Mexico, Egypt, India, and Thailand where they took the opportunity to raise awareness of HEALTH-NCP-NET and promote it. Specifically through its related Task 4.4 also ERA Health NCPs are attending events organised by ICPC and transmitting the need for an ICPC CP to mirror the role of their NCP counterpart and encourage research cooperation amongst researchers in ICPC and Europe. ERA Health NCPs have also encouraged actively the organisation of regional events in ICPC. A list of meetings attended by Health NCPs over the past five years Health NCPs are included in the .pdf attachment to this report.
The collaboration with the INCO networks has been reinforced by e.g. attending Health consultation sessions. In the second reporting period further capacity building and networking activities were conducted by several project partners, partly in cooperation with other projects. Awareness rising on the support provided by NCP networks was also done on two events organised by the EC and aiming at the two regions: Africa and Latin America.
- Africa call info day, 18 September 2009
HEALTH-NCP-NET together with BIONET and ENV-NCP was presented to a wide international audience at the info day for the Africa call. Katharina Kuss initiated the cooperation of NCP networks and Almudena Gonzalez presented to the participants how NCP networks can support applicants from ICPC.
- EU-LAC info day, 29 September 2010
HEALTH-NCP-NET had promotional material at the EU-LAC information day, which was attended by FP7 contacts from ICPC, embassies, liaison offices of research organisations for raising visibility of Latin America and the Caribbean in Europe.
It should also be mentioned that HEALTH-NCP-NET also promoted the involvement of researchers form ICPC countries at this occasion:
- HEALTH NCP Meeting, 7 June 2010
At the meeting for Health NCPs organised by Directorate F, DG Research, all INCO Nets and their activities were presented to the participants. This as well as the presentation on EDCTP was initiated and organises by the coordination team of HEALTH-NCP-NET.
Potential impact:
The impact of HEALTH-NCP-NET can be grouped around 4 major aspects, the third one subdivided to gain more detailed aspects:
(1) expansion of the HEALTH-NCP-NET and fluctuation of staff;
(2) reach of the national / local Health NCP services in figures;
(3) health NCP services and benefits of acting as a network:
(a) consortium building assistance;
(b) structured cooperation with the PC;
(c) channelled communication with the EC;
(d) capacity building and networking for Health NCPs;
(e) integration and strengthened collaboration with Third Countries;
(4) scope and reach of HEALTH-NCP-NET project activities in figures.
(1) Expansion of the HEALTH-NCP-NET and fluctuation of staff
In the past years the number of nominated Health NCP grew constantly. The number of multipliers increased from 60 individuals in 2006 to over 180 in 2012, which is an increase by 3 times.
The geographic extension of the HEALTH-NCP-NET, including NCP coordinators for those countries where there are no thematic NCPs is substantial. While in 2006 there were no Health NCPs outside Europe, the network nowadays disseminates information on European health research into 97 countries.
Exchange of knowledge, know-how and resources: countries with less experienced NCPs or few resources can profit from NCPs in countries with a broader experience and more resources.
Personnel fluctuation in the network: The high fluctuation of staff in the NCP host institutions is a risk factor for the transfer of knowledge, therefore continuous capacity building and exchange of experiences for newly appointed NCPs is a must. In the past 6 years, 110 individuals from 27 Member States were nominated Health NCPs.
Against the background of a high fluctuation of NCPs, knowledge is maintained thanks to the network activities.
(2) Reach of the national / local Health NCP Services in figures
The coordination team of HEALTH-NCP-NET has conducted a survey to measure the scope and reach of the services Health NCPs offer in Europe, FP7 associated countries and third countries.
For the sake of simplification, services have been classified in two categories, information and consulting activities. The staff dedicated to health-related issues at the NCP host institutions has also been accounted for although no significant conclusions could be made out of it.
The survey was sent to a total of 154 Health NCPs, out of which 92 are EU Member State and associated countries' Health NCPs and 62 are Health NCPs in third countries. 35 people completed the survey, all of them Member State / associated countries and one from TC.
Information and dissemination reach by Health NCPs
Most of the Health NCPs inform their clients by the following means: information events, as well as newsletters and websites. The dissemination methods and the scope are illustrated below:
(1) Information events
This category gathers all types of information events, including workshops, seminars, info days and training courses at national, regional and local level, physical or virtual, organised by NCP host institutions.
Information events are organised in all countries by Health NCPs. Most of the events are organised by the NCP office in Italy (60 in 2011) followed by Germany (48 in 2011). The average number of information events organised by Health NCPs in 2011 is about 17.
In 2011 there were 428 information events organised by 25 Health NCPs host institutions. The total number of participants attending information events organised by 22 Health NCP in 2011 amounts to 13 610. This number is even higher if counting the attendance to information events organised by all Health NCPs (including those not participating in the survey).
The total number of participants in these events is not always clear and the 'reach' is much greater, since also disseminators / multipliers take part in these events, who in turn relay the information to other scientists. There is therefore no reliable data here on the number of scientists that are actually reached, but it is presumably much higher.
newsletters are the major communication tool used by Health NCPs to reach their target group directly. Most of the NCPs send their newsletter on a monthly or bi-monthly basis, and fewer NCPs with an increased frequency. The number of recipients is constantly grooving and amounts in 2012 to a total of 77 568 in only 17 European countries.
It should be taken into account that newsletters are sent not only to individual (potential) applicants, but also to disseminators, multipliers and service providers. A great number of the recipients of NCP newsletters fall within this category. Again, the absolute number of individuals that receive the information through newsletters can only be guessed and will be much higher than the number given in the questionnaire.
(2) Consulting activities by Health NCPs
This section gathers all types of consulting activities by means of meetings, telephone calls and emails. Consulting activities are very diverse and going into a deeper differentiation was difficult. It should be known that some clients receive multiple consultations, while others only one or a few, depending on their individual demand. Therefore, the numbers provided may not give a real impression of the benefit that clients have nor of the number of clients that received consultations or coaching.
When asked for the number of consulting activities by means of meetings, telephone calls and emails from clients, 23 Health NCPs estimate to have about 10,000 consulting contacts per year, with an increasing tendency. The German Health NCP office, for example, counts more than 1 000 consulting activities in 2010 and 2011.
(3) Health NCP services and benefits of acting as a Network
(a) Consortium-building assistance by Health NCPs
Health NCPs assist high-potential applicants in finding complementary partners by several means: referring them to latest publications or conferences and also by providing platforms to find new collaboration partners. The virtual partner search platform developed by FIT FOR HEALTH is a high-quality tool as there is validation and quality check of Health NCPs.
There is a cooperation agreement between SMEs go Health and HEALTH-NCP-NET by which NCP organisations who are not beneficiaries in Fit for Health may access the tool as 'validators'.
19 Health NCPs from 12 NCP organisations received access to the system (as validators). Around 800 new expertise profiles were entered into the database since beginning of the cooperation, of which around 130 profiles stem from 'new' countries (with new validators).
(b) Structured cooperation with the PC
A large number of NCPs (60 %) are also nominated delegates or experts to the PC, e.g. in Austria, there is 1 Health NCP who is also PC expert, so it is 100 %. In Spain, there are 2 Health NCPs and one of them is also expert to the PC, so it is 50 %. A total of 60 % of all Health NCPs in Member States are PC delegates.
(c) Channelled communication with the EC
The network of Health NCPs acts as a platform which facilitates the collection of needs, feedback and information from the NCPs, multipliers and applicant community to the EC and manages the communication in a structures and channelled way.
Relevant issues have been raised in the following fields:
(i) scientific issues, proposal of new topics via the PC;
(ii) ethical issues and ethics screening by ethics advisory work group;
(iii) legal and financial issues raised by NCPs, e.g. for the simplification process;
(iv) technical issues for the use of online tools (ECAS, FORCE, SESAM, EPSS).
(d) Capacity building and networking for Health NCPs
Main benefits are:
(i) trained multipliers who can provide quick and valuable services to clients;
(ii) better personal contacts established at training or networking events enhances collaboration and fosters the organisation of joint activities across borders;
(iii) strengthened collaboration with Health NCPs of countries with lower participation and experience in FP7 Health through mentoring and coaching activities results in an increased number of more proposals.
(e) Integration and strengthened collaboration with third countries
HEALTH-NCP-NET creates awareness of the benefits of having an appointed Health NCP to increase participation in Health collaborative research projects. It follows closely new appointments in TC and provides deeper support by twinning programme, which is about mutual learning and mentoring. It supports the different INCO-Nets by collaborating with them. It brings together weaker and stronger countries and focuses on creating a real exchange of practices.
(4) Scope and reach of HEALTH-NCP-NET project activities in figures
This section compiles all activities carried up to date since the project start in May 2008. The capacity building activities include training courses, twinning, staff exchanges and virtual seminars. There are also networking and brokerage events.
Training courses
Training courses: 8
Participants: 294
Staff exchanges: bilateral staff exchanges and MSE
There were 7 bilateral staff exchanges in which 14 Health NCPs participated. The concept of MSE turned out to be more efficient: 27 Health NCPs participated in this type of exchange hosted by the NCP offices in Austria, Portugal, Germany and Italy.
MSE: 4
Participants: 29
Bilateral staff exchanges: 7
Participants: 14
Twinning
Number of twins: 48
Webinars
Number of webinars: 10
Average participant per event: 7 - 8
Networking events
Networking events with Health NCPs: 7
Participants 267, average per event: 38
Networking of Health NCPs at existing events and with other networks
The presence of HEALTH-NCP-NET in major health events is essential to make the services of Health NCPs known within the applicant community as well as for networking purposes. Since the start of the project, Health NCPs have attended around 15 meetings / conferences per year to promote the network, including collaboration with all existing INCO NETs and other NCP related networks.
These figures are only a very small part of the awareness raising and visibility increasing activities. Health NCPs may attend events to promote themselves and offer their services independently from the network.
Brokerage events
A major achievement of HEALTH-NCP-NET was to coordinate the open information day and the brokerage event with the EC. Synergies have been created by organising both events back to back, so the participants of the open information day could also attend the BE and vice versa. The interest in FP7 funding for health research is also reflected in the high attendance to the open information day organised by the EC and promoted by Health NCPs in their countries. The open information day was organised in 2010 for the first time and the number of participants reached was 400, which eventually increased to almost 600 participants in 2011 and 2012, as this graph shows, thanks to the excellent collaboration with the Fit for Health project in the co-organisation.
Brokerage events are easier to arrange and have an increased response when organised through the NCP networks.
Acknowledgements: the HEALTH-NCP-NET coordination team wants to thank all NCPs who participated at the survey, the German NCP office for providing some valuable thoughts for the analysis of the data, and the EC for starting and supporting this initiative.
List of websites: http://www.healthncpnet.eu
Relevant contact details:
- Hoebertz Astrid, +43-577-554104, astrid.hoebertz@ffg.at AT
Vivot Mathilde, +32-242-20040, mvi@abe.irisnet.be BE
Kinkorova Judita, +42-023-4006108, kinkorova@tc.cz CZ
Siffrin Rene, +49-228-38211688, rene.siffrin@dlr.de DE
Steiner-Langes abine, +49-228-38211690, sabine.steiner-lange@dlr.de DE
Soon Argo, +372-7300372, argo.soon@archimedes.ee EE
RIESE Juan, +34-918-222181, jriese@isciii.es ES
Carrasco Carolina, +34-902-347434, carolina.carrasco@cdti.es ES
Boubenna Nacer, 33-144-236190, nacer.boubenna@inserm.fr FR
Fishelson Uri, +97-235-118171, uri@iserd.org.il IL
Buonocore Caterina, +39-064-8939993, buonocore@apre.it IT
Mourenza Bruno, +39-064-8939993 mourenza@apre.it IT
Berkis Uldis, +37-167-409242, Uldis.Berkis@rsu.lv LV
Spiteri Diana, +35-621-660340, diana.a.spiteri@gov.mt MT
Verhoeven Esther, +31-886-025250, kp7.health@agentschapnl.nl NL
Pytko Anna, +48-228-287483, anna.pytko@kpk.gov.pl PL
Szkiladz Ewa, +48-228-287483, ewa.szkiladz@kpk.gov.pl PL
Camilo Joana, +35-121-3917642, joana.camilo@fct.pt PT
Fernandes Maria Joao, +35-121-4469341, mariajoao.fernandes@fct.pt PT
Ispas Ioana Rodica, +40-212-127791, ioana.ispas@ancs.ro RO
Parker Iqbal, +27-214-066259, iqbal.parker@uct.ac.za ZA
Mohamed Zaki el Sadr Zeinab, +20-279-57253, zs@sti.sci.eg EG