Final Report Summary - IPERA (Integrating the Institute for Physical Research of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia into ERA)
Executive Summary:
The overall aim of the IPERA project was to integrate the Institute for Physical Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (IPR-NAS), one of the leading research centers of Armenia, into the European Research Area (ERA), by developing cooperation capacities and scientific expertise through strategic collaboration with European research and innovation organizations in Quantum Information, Atomic and Matter Wave Physics, and Scintillating Materials, which are relevant to the FP7 ICT and NMP work programmes.
The cooperation capacity building involved:
• Twinning activities with European research centres in order to exchange scientific information, identify partners, and set up joint theoretical studies and experiments.
Overall 36 scientific peer-reviewed papers containing IPERA acknowledgment have been published in highly ranked journals as a result of twinning activities. 4 articles have been submitted and will be published shortly.
• Increasing the visibility of IPR-NAS in Europe.
75 oral and poster presentations have been reported at international conferences and workshops. IPERA has been recognized as project of the month on June 2013 at IncrEAST web site. The QuantArm 2014 International Conference and Workshop has been successfully organized, attended by 76 participants from 15 countries. The project website has over 3000 page views.
• Setting up and implementation of trainings to build IPR-NAS competency in identified FP7 thematic priorities, and knowledge and technology transfer.
Overall 57 training modules have been developed and delivered on IPERA scientific topics, as well as on FP7 and H2020 research priorities and knowledge / technology transfer. Joint international co-supervision of 5 PhD students has been implemented along with conventional training schemes.
• Preparation and submission during the lifetime of the project of at least three project proposals for the future FP7 Calls for Proposals in appropriate topics of FP7 ICT and NMP Work Programmes in partnership with identified partner institutions.
Project proposals have been initiated, prepared and submitted during the period 2011-2014 aimed to facilitate the participation of IPR-NAS in FP7 and H2020 programmes. Overall 8 FP7/H2020 proposals have been submitted, 6 of them were successful, and 2 have not been funded.
• Evaluating and developing an IPR-NAS strategy to enhance its research excellence, increase its regional coverage, and improve their response to national socio-economic needs.
The IPR-NAS evaluation has been carried out by IPERA consortium members in collaboration with IncoNet EECA experts team. The evaluation was followed by strategy development for IPR-NAS, comprising three-level set of documents:
- Mission Statement, which guides the actions and decision-making of IPR-NAS, spells out and makes visible to the world its overall goal. It provides the framework within which the IPR-NAS' strategy is formulated.
- Conceptual Strategic Statements, which figure out the major problems of IPR-NAS and outline the ways of their solving in order to: i) increase the R&D excellence of IPR-NAS; ii) contribute to further sustainable socio-economic development; iii) contribute further in ERA - for a range of future scenarios.
- Strategic Plan for 2014-2020, an action plan which is destined to specify practical measures for implementation of Conceptual Strategic Statements.
Project Context and Objectives:
Summary of project objectives
The overall aim of the IPERA project is to integrate the Institute for Physical Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (IPR-NAS), one of the leading research centers of Armenia, into the European Research Area (ERA), by developing cooperation capacities with European research and innovation organisations in Quantum Information, Atomic and Matter Wave Physics, and Scintillating Materials, which are relevant to the FP7 work programmes ICT and NMP.
IPERA promotes IPR-NAS capacities and scientific expertise through strategic collaboration with the following three excellent European research and innovation organisations: (1) Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Carnot de Bourgogne, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS-1); (2) Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie des Materiaux Luminescents (presently- L'Institut Lumière Matière), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS-2), and (3) Intelligentsia Consultants Ltd (Presently- Intelligentsia Sàrl), and with 3 subcontracted experts from Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, University of Latvia, and CERN.
The cooperation capacity involves (i) twinning activities with European research centres in order to exchange scientific information, identify partners and set up joint experiments; (ii) increasing the visibility of IPR-NAS in Europe; (iii) setting up and implementation of trainings to build IPR-NAS competency in identified FP7 thematic priorities, and knowledge and technology transfer, as well as preparation and submission during the lifetime of the project of at least three project proposals for the future FP7 Calls for Proposals in appropriate topics of FP7 ICT and NMP Work Programmes in partnership with identified partner institutions; and (iv) evaluating and developing an IPR-NAS strategy to enhance its research excellence, increase its regional coverage, and improve their response to national socio-economic needs.
The work performed and the main results achieved
Work Package 1 – Project Management
The consortium management was governed by the Consortium Agreement. Particular regulations have been set up by the Management and Quality Plan, including organizational issues; records – control of deliverables; project communications; work planning, monitoring and control.
Consortium management included: - management and implementation of a quality assurance procedure on deliverables; - continuous project progress monitoring and supervision (tasks, milestones, budget); - management of semester progress reports by beneficiaries (internal reporting); - evaluation of the expected impact of problems that might affect the project, suggestions for fall-back solutions; - monitoring of the overall budget status of partners and the entire project; - collection of administrative documents and cost statements; - day-to-day administrative management and preparation of documents connected with the project; - management on preparation of Mid-term and Final Report; etc.
Seven project meetings have been organized during the project lifetime, including Kick-off Meeting (1-2 March 2012, Yerevan, Armenia), Project Consortium Meeting (7-8 December 2012, Luxembourg), Mid-Term Project Meeting (17 July 2013, Lyon, France), Project Review and Steering Committee Meeting (9-10 January 2014, Dijon, France) and Final Project Meeting (26 September 2014, Tsaghkadzor, Armenia), as well as two informal project meetings (11-12 June 2012 and 2 April 2013, Dijon, France).
Planning of the project activities was done in accordance with annual Work Planning tables, where particular actions per Work Package (including submission of deliverables) are indicated in the action list elaborated in Annex I to D1.1 – Management and Quality Plan, mentioning responsible partners, deadline, and comments. The work planning for the 1st Year has been finalized during the IPERA Kick-off Meeting on 1-2/03/2012. The work planning for the 2nd Year has been finalized during the IPERA Consortium Meeting on 7-8/12/2012. The work planning for the 3rd Year has been pre-approved on 17/07/2013 during the Mid-term Project Meeting, and amended on 10/01/2014 during the Project Review and Steering Committee Meeting.
Cooperation with other FP7 projects and programs (IncoNet EECA, ZSI, SiS.net INARMERA-ICT, ECOARM2ERA, FASTQUAST, SECURE-R2I, NANOMAT-EPC, COSMA, IRMAS LIA) has been established to meet Project goals and increase its impact.
Work Package 2 – Twinning
Twinning of IPR-NAS and CNRS-1 was developed in the fields of Quantum Information (Research Topic A, including (i) optical control of quantum information processes, and (ii) coherence, state-selectivity and propagation of light in medium interacting with strong laser fields), Atomic and Matter Wave Physics (Research topic B, including (i) optical and magneto-optical processes in nanometric atomic cells, and (ii) coherent control of ultra-cold atom-molecular Bose-Einstein condensates). Twinning of IPR-NAS and CNRS-2 was developed in the field of Scintillating Materials (Research Topic C, including (i) materials preparation, and (ii) physical characterization). This twinning implied transfer of knowledge, coordination of research activities and setting up joint experimental and theoretical studies, and was realized through reciprocal visits (in total 60 visits with twinning missions), joint supervision of PhD students, remote electronic communication. Over 30 major twinning activities have been initiated and/or developed during the project lifetime.
• The most significant result of these twinning activities is good publication and presentation record: 36 articles containing IPERA acknowledgement have been published in peer reviewed journals, 4 more to be published shortly; 75 scientific presentations with IPERA reference or logo have been reported at international conferences, among them 20 presented at the Conference and Workshop QuantArm 2014 organized within IPERA project; 3 defended co-supervised French/Armenian PhD theses with IPERA acknowledgment in the theses report (+2 in the course).
Networking of IPR-NAS with other research centres with respect to FP7 ICT, NMP and Research for SMEs research priorities was led by Intelligentsia. The following major twinning activities on this networking have been developed and/or initiated during the project lifetime. (i) Preparation of four FP7 and one H2020 proposals with participation of IPR-NAS, assisted by Intelligentsia. Two FP7 proposals were successful (currently running), two other FP7 proposals were above the threshold but were not funded, H2020 proposal was successful and will start shortly. (ii) Three more FP7 projects with IPR-NAS participation started during IPERA lifetime. The success of these projects essentially supports networking of IPR-NAS with other European research centres. (iii) Participation at info-days, organization of brokerage events, which promoted initiation of proposals with participation of IPR-NAS. (iv) Joint participation of IPR-NAS and CNRS-2 at the annual meeting and steering committee meeting of Crystal Clear Collaboration hosted by CERN. (v) Links of IPR-NAS researchers with several European centers outside IPERA consortium. (vi) Cooperation with seven Armenian SMEs working in the field of ICT and NMP aimed at strengthening the IPR-NAS’ capability in innovation, technology transfer and commercialization of research results. (vii) Involvement of young researchers and students of IPR-NAS in European research networking.
• The most significant result of these twinning activities is successful preparation of FP7 and H2020 project proposals in the frame of IPERA: 327134-GAPHOT (above threshold, not funded), 609534-SECURE-R2I (started 01/10/2013), 608906-NANOMAT-EPC (started 01/11/2013), 624198-SCOOX-IIF (above threshold, not funded), 644260-INTELUM-MSCA RISE (will start 01/03/2015); success of other FP7 project with participation of IPR-NAS: 295264-COSMA (started 01/04/2012), 310750-TheBarCode (started 01/01/2013), 612600-LIMACONA (started 01/10/2013).
Work Package 3 – Dissemination and Promotion
The following work was done on dissemination and promotion: (i) Development, design, implementation, operation and maintenance of the IPERA web portal with almost 3000 visitors. (ii) Preparation of public materials for publicity and promotion, including: - project leaflet (2 pages, A4 size); - powerpoint presentation providing overview of the project; - project poster; - promotion guide about IPR-NAS; - three project newsletters; - preparation and maintenance of the IPERA Facebook page, - preparation and maintenance of QuantArm 2014 webpage with almost 5000 pageviews from 47 countries. (iii) Uploading significant journal publications and conference presentations, as well as other dissemination materials in the Research Participant Portal under “Publications” and “Dissemination Activities”. (iv) Joint attendance of participants from IPR-NAS, CNRS-1, and CNRS-2 at 27 international conferences and meetings outside the IPERA venues for presenting the obtained results. (v) Popularization of quantum information and atomic physics in Armenian society (2 articles published in Armenian public journal). (vi) Increasing visibility and impact of IPERA (IPERA profile at incrEAST web site as a Project of the month - June 2013). (vii) Successful organization of QuantArm 2014 - International Conference and Workshop “Quanta and Matter: Through Physics to Future Emerging Technologies”.
• The most significant result is organization of the QuantArm 2014 Conference and Workshop attended by 76 participants including leading scientists and young researchers representing the EU Member States and the Eastern Partnership Countries. Among the attendees of the Conference there were 21 students and young researchers. Another tangible result is announcement of IPERA as a Project of the Month in incrEAST (June 2013).
Work Package 4 – Training Development
Reciprocal training of young researchers and students, as well as experienced researchers relevant to IPERA research topics was developed in the fields of Quantum Information (Research Topic A – IPR-NAS and CNRS-1); Atomic and Matter Wave Physics (Research topic B – IPR-NAS and CNRS-1); and Scintillating Materials (Research Topic C – IPR-NAS and CNRS-2). Training was aimed at complementary knowledge and expertise needed for successful research work and collaboration. 57 training modules were developed and delivered during the project lifetime. Besides conventional training format, also alternative ways of training delivery, such as doctoral dissertations under international joint supervision, coaching via video calls, emails and written documents, have been implemented. There were overall 53 visits with training missions.
• The most significant result of training activities is joint co-supervision of five PhD students by researchers from IPR-NAS and CNRS-1 (one on Research Topics A – thesis defended, and four on Research Topic B – two theses defended, and two ongoing). Joint supervision of PhD students (French and Armenian PhD diploma issued upon single defense) is proved to be extremely efficient way of training, with a big impact to twinning in research. Collaboration within IPERA has also lead to admission of 3 Armenian students to the International Master II of Physics in the Université de Bourgogne (September 2014, all granted by UB or by the French Embassy).
Training development for IPR-NAS relevant to FP7 and H2020 research priorities, as well as knowledge and technology transfer, was led by Intelligentsia. Hands-on support to IPR-NAS’ Technology Transfer Office (TTO) resulted in increased expertise, competence and awareness of IPR-NAS’ TTO; 9 prepared and delivered training modules are proven to be efficient for preparation of successful FP7 and H2020 proposals.
Work Package 5 – Strategy Development
Comprehensive assessment of IPR-NAS was done to evaluate the institute performance against all the key criteria of functioning (both research and management), and to develop recommendations for increasing IPR-NAS’ R&D excellence, further contribution to sustainable socio-economic development, and further contribution in ERA. First, the most appropriate assessment methodology was defined. Second, a quantitative questionnaire developed by the evaluators’ team was filled in by the IPR-NAS management team. Finally, the evaluation report with practical recommendations was produced by external experts and adjusted with IPERA and IPR-NAS management teams. The evaluation was combined with assessment activity in the frame of FP7 IncoNet EECA (benchmarking exercise was carried out in several institutes working in the field of nano-technology in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Bulgaria) with involvement of external evaluators. All the findings and recommendations resulting from the assessment by external (IncoNet EECA) and internal (IPERA) experts were discussed and adjusted with the IPR-NAS management team, which shall initiate practical steps towards implementation of these recommendations.
• The most significant result is comprehensive assessment of IPR-NAS by the team of IPERA and external experts. The evaluation of the IPR-NAS’ performance was done against all the following key functioning criteria: - mission; - strategy and planning; - staff management; - buildings and facilities; - communication (including - publications, - conferences, - website, - mass media, - international scientific committees, - links with industry); - health and safety; - intellectual property; - funding and funding opportunities; - overall SWOT analysis. Practical recommendations are developed for increasing IPR-NAS’ excellence in R&D, its further contribution to sustainable socio-economic development, and further contribution in ERA. The follow up action implies internal discussion and development of road map for implementation of these recommendations by IPR-NAS management team.
Strategy development for IPR‐NAS has been carried out on the basis of findings and recommendations of IPERA Evaluation Report. The overall goal of the Strategy is to boost performance of IPR‐NAS against key output parameters, to increase its sustainability and socio‐economic impact, and to promote its further integration into ERA. The developed Strategy Concept comprises 3-level set of documents: the “Mission Statement”, the “Conceptual Strategic Statements”, which reveals problems on the 16 particular aspects of the Institute’s activity and outlines the ways of solution, and the “Strategic Plan for 2014‐2020”, an action plan destined to specify practical measures for implementation of Conceptual Strategic Statements.
Specific action plans have been developed for: - Research Priorities; - Structure of the Institute; - Funding; - Staff Management; - Research Support; - Information and Communication Service; - Publications; - Seminars, Conference Organization and Participation; - Participation in International Scientific Committees; - Links with Higher Education; - International Collaboration; - Equipment, Facilities and Infrastructure; - Intellectual Property; - Innovation, Links with Industry; - Website; - Mass and Social Media; - Social Issues and Labour Safety. For each of these 16 aspects, the action plan specifies: - The Target; - Current State / The Challenge; - Tactics of Solving the Problem / The Measures; - Expected Results; - Key Performance Indicators (KPI); - Action Timetable (including Title of the Measure; Objective / Result; Executor; Term); - Periodic Progress Evaluation / Performance Reporting; - Linked Targets.
Besides, the 5-year progress (2010-2014) of IPR-NAS against Evaluation Performance Indicators outlined in the IPERA DoW has been evaluated. The category of these indicators comprises: - market orientation and (inter)national relevance to industry; - international position; - scientific/academic position; - education; - governance, organisation, finance and efficiency. The presentation of quantitative data on each category was followed by analysis of the results and proposed actions.
• The most significant outcome is development of IPR-NAS’ Strategy Concept comprising 3-level set of documents: the “Mission Statement”, the “Conceptual Strategic Statements”, which reveals problems on the 16 particular aspects of the Institute’s activity and outlines the ways of solution, and the “Strategic Plan for 2014‐2020”, an action plan destined to specify practical measures for implementation of Conceptual Strategic Statements.
Final results and their potential impact and use
Successful implementation of IPERA has contributed to RTD capacity building and management in Armenia, promoted enhanced participation of the country in the FP7 and H2020 Programmes, increased visibility and scope of IPR-NAS with enhanced linkage with economic and social environment, stimulated its twinning with other research centres in EU Member States and Associated Countries, and increased job opportunities in Armenia, in particular for young scientists.
Project Results:
• Project objectives
The overall aim of the IPERA project is to integrate the Institute for Physical Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (IPR-NAS), one of the leading research centers of Armenia, into the European Research Area (ERA), by developing cooperation capacities with European research and innovation organizations in Quantum Information, Atomic and Matter Wave Physics, and Scintillating Materials, which are relevant to the FP7 work programmes ICT and NMP.
IPERA promotes IPR-NAS’ capacities and scientific expertise through strategic collaboration with the following three excellent European research and innovation organisations: (1) Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Carnot de Bourgogne, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; (2) Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie des Materiaux Luminescents (presently Institut Lumière Matière), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, and (3) Intelligentsia Consultants Ltd (Presently Intelligentsia Consultants Sàrl), and with 3 subcontracted experts from Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, University of Latvia, and CERN.
The cooperation capacity involves (i) twinning activities with European research centres in order to exchange scientific information, identify partners and set up joint experiments; (ii) increasing the visibility of IPR-NAS in Europe; (iii) setting up and implementation of trainings to build IPR-NAS competency in identified FP7 thematic priorities, and knowledge and technology transfer, as well as preparation and submission during the lifetime of the project of at least three project proposals for the future FP7 Calls for Proposals in appropriate topics of FP7 ICT and NMP Work Programmes in partnership with identified partner institutions; and (iv) evaluating and developing an IPR-NAS strategy to enhance its research excellence, increase its regional coverage, and improve their response to national socio-economic needs.
The project is implemented through five work packages having the following particular objectives.
WP1 – Project Management
Objective 1.1: Overall coordination of the project
Objective 1.2: Organization of project meetings
Objective 1.3: Produce progress and final project reports
Objective 1.4: Coordinate with relevant EU-funded projects
WP2 – Twinning
Objective 2.1: Twin with CNRS-1 with respect to Research Topic A: Quantum Information;
Objective 2.2: Twin with CNRS-1 with respect to Research Topic B: Atomic and Matter Wave Physics;
Objective 2.3: Twin with CNRS-2 with respect to Research Topic C: Scintillating Materials;
Objective 2.4: Network with other research centres with respect to FP7 ICT, NMP and Research for SMEs research priorities.
WP3 – Dissemination and Promotion
Objective 3.1: Design and implement a project web-portal
Objective 3.2: Support the web-portal operation and maintenance
Objective 3.3: Produce promotion material for project’s events
Objective 3.4: Organization of scientific conference
WP4 – Training Development
Objective 4.1: Develop training modules relevant to Research Topic A: Quantum Information;
Objective 4.2: Develop training modules relevant to Research Topic B: Atomic and Matter Wave Physics;
Objective 4.3: Develop training modules relevant to Research Topic C: Scintillating Materials;
Objective 4.4: Develop training modules relevant to FP7 ICT, NMP and Research for SMEs research priorities;
Objective 4.5: Develop training modules to facilitate knowledge and technology transfer with electronics and IT industry.
WP5 – Strategy Development
Objective 5.1: Conduct a comprehensive evaluation of IPR-NAS
Objective 5.2: Develop a strategy for IPR-NAS with defined goals for the next 5+ years
Objective 5.3: Monitor IPR-NAS’ performance and progress toward its strategy goals
• The main results and achievements
We provide below the progress of the work on each work package (WP1 – WP5) in line with the structure of Annex I to the Grant Agreement, also taking into consideration the findings of the IPERA Steering Committee.
- WP1 – Project Management
The following four objectives have been defined in IPERA Description of Work for the WP1:
Objective 1.1: Overall coordination of the project;
Objective 1.2: Organization of project meetings;
Objective 1.3: Produce progress and final project reports;
Objective 1.4: Coordinate with relevant EU-funded projects.
The three tasks linked with these objectives are:
Task 1.1: Coordination (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All partners);
Task 1.2: Project meetings (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All partners);
Task 1.3: Progress/final reports (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All partners).
We summarize below the major activities in consortium management.
Consortium management tasks and achievements
The consortium management was governed by the Consortium Agreement, as well as by the Management and Quality Plan (Deliverable D1.1). The following regulations have been set:
• Organizational Issues (management structure; roles and responsibilities; key members of the IPERA team);
• Records – Control of Deliverables;
• Project Communications (internal and external);
• Work Planning, Monitoring and Control (work planning; project meetings; progress monitoring; reports to the EC; risks management.
Particular documents have been developed to facilitate implementation of the project management:
• Work Planning, including an analytical list of deliverables;
• Semester progress reports template (to be filled per partner);
• Monitoring expenses template (to be filled per partner);
• Dissemination activities template;
• IPERA Deliverables template.
Consortium management included: - management and implementation of a quality assurance procedure on deliverables; - continuous project progress monitoring and supervision (tasks, milestones, budget); - management of semester progress reports by beneficiaries (internal reporting); - evaluation of the expected impact of problems that might affect the project, suggestions for fall-back solutions; - monitoring of the overall budget status of partners and the entire project; - collection of administrative documents and cost statements; - day-to-day administrative management and preparation of documents connected with the project; - management on preparation of the Mid-term and Final Report; etc.
Changes in the consortium
Accession of a new beneficiary (No.4) to the Grant Agreement has been done related to partial transfer of rights and obligations: Intelligentsia Consultants Sàrl established in 1 rue de Mamer, L-8081 Bertrange, Luxembourg, represented by Giles Brandon, Managing Director, for the purposes of this grant agreement has taken over the rights and obligations of Intelligentsia Consultants Ltd, as of 22 August 2012.
Amendment No.1 to the Grant Agreement No.295025 has been signed by the Commission on 29 March 2013 following the Amendment Request and filled in and signed Form B. The GPF and DoW have been amended accordingly.
List of project meetings, dates and venues
Regular meetings of the project partners assisted the fruitful collaboration, especially in detailed planning of project activities, preparation of major deliverables, progress assessment and taking decisions of strategic nature, and discussion of technical matters. The project meetings also helped to maximize the project’s impact. Apart from 5 planned project meetings, also 2 informal meetings have been organized, which were combined with activities on other work packages of IPERA. The Project subcontracted experts participated in two project meetings.
The following project meetings have been held:
1) IPERA Project Kick-off Meeting, 01-02/03/2012, Yerevan, Armenia (IPR-NAS) [Detailed project planning and work allocation]
2) IPERA informal project meeting, 11-12/06/2012, Dijon, France (CNRS-1) [Informal meeting. Focus on dissemination materials and preparation of new FP7 proposals]
3) IPERA Project Consortium Meeting, 07-08/12/2012, Bertrange, Luxembourg (Intelligentsia) [Project Review 1. Work planning; focus on preparation of new FP7 proposals]
4) IPERA informal project meeting, 02/04/2013, Dijon, France (CNRS-1) [Informal meeting. Focus on training and evaluation activities; links with IRMAS LIA]
5) IPERA Mid-term Project Meeting, 17/07/2013, Lyon, France (CNRS-2) [Project Review 2. Work planning for the second half of the project]
6) IPERA Project Review and Steering Committee Meeting, 09-10/01/2014, Dijon, France (CNRS-1) [Project Review 3. Finalization of work planning, in particular for the IPERA conference and workshop. Project Review - presentation of the obtained results in front of Project experts; evaluation of the achievements. General discussion on integration of Armenia in ERA]
7) IPERA Final Project Meeting, 26/09/2014, Tsaghkadzor, Armenia (IPR-NAS) [Project Review 4. Focus on preparation of the last deliverables and Final Report. Discussions on future collaboration]
28 particular visits in total have been made with project management mission.
Project planning
Planning of the project activities was done in accordance with annual Work Planning tables, where particular actions per Work Package (including submission of deliverables) are indicated in the action list, mentioning responsible partners, deadline, and comments. The work planning for the 1st Year has been finalized during the IPERA Kick-off Meeting 1-2 March 2012, appearing as Annex I to D1.1 – Management and Quality Plan. The work planning for the 2nd Year has been finalized during the IPERA Consortium Meeting on 7-8 December 2012. The planning for the second half of the project has been approved on 17/07/2013 during the IPERA Mid-term Project Meeting in Lyon (CNRS-2), and was amended for the 3rd Year on 10/01/2014 during the IPERA Project Review and Steering Committee Meeting in Dijon (CNRS-1).
Information on coordination activities
The following co-operation with other FP7 projects and programs has been established during the project lifetime:
• Co-operation with IncoNet EECA - International Cooperation Network for Central Asian and South Caucasus countries (FP7-212226) and ZSI - Centre for Social Innovation (Vienna) in benchmarking exercise of organizations working in the field of nano-technology in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Bulgaria (assessment and evaluation of IPR-NAS in the frame of IncoNet EECA WP9- Pilot Evaluation Exercises).
• Co-operation with SiS.net - Network of Science in Society National Contact Points (FP7-289064) on joint organization of “FP7 IPERA and SiSNet Projects Joint Training Seminar on FP7 Evolution and Horizon 2020 Bridging” (11/06/2013, Yerevan, Armenia).
• Operational communication with 2 other FP7-INCO-ERA-WIDE-2011 projects coordinated by Armenian organizations: FP7-294943-INARMERA-ICT and FP7-294924-ECOARM2ERA.
• Linkage on Research Topic A with FP7-214962-FASTQUAST project.
• Cooperation with United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and ZSI - Centre for Social Innovation (Vienna) on preparation of Innovation Performance Review of Armenia, including on-site visits to IPR-NAS, documents exchange, discussions. The Review has been presented at the UN House in Yerevan in November 2014; it contains information about achievements of IPR-NAS in innovation management.
• Cooperation with the FP7-609528-IncoNet EaP on advertisement of the IPERA QuantArm 2014 Conference and Workshop (info posted at incrEAST site).
• Linkage on Research Topic A with FP7- 609534-SECURE R2I project.
• Research linkage with French-Armenian International Associated Laboratory (CNRS-France & SCS-Armenia LIA) IRMAS.
- WP2 – Twinning
Summary of progress towards objectives and details for each task
The following four objectives have been defined in IPERA Description of Work for the WP2:
Objective 2.1: Twin with CNRS-1 with respect to Research Topic A: Quantum Information;
Objective 2.2: Twin with CNRS-1 with respect to Research Topic B: Atomic and Matter Wave Physics;
Objective 2.3: Twin with CNRS-2 with respect to Research Topic C: Scintillating Materials;
Objective 2.4: Network with other research centres with respect to FP7 ICT, NMP and Research for SMEs research priorities.
The four tasks linked with these objectives are:
Task 2.1: Twinning relevant to Research Topic A: Quantum Information (Task leader: CNRS-1; Support: IPR-NAS);
Task 2.2: Twinning relevant to Research Topic B: Atomic and Matter Wave Physics (Task leader: CNRS-1; Support: IPR-NAS);
Task 2.3: Twinning relevant to Research Topic C: Scintillating Materials (Task leader: CNRS-2; Support: IPR-NAS);
Task 2.4: Networking with other research centres with respect to FP7 ICT, NMP and Research for SMEs research priorities (Task leader: Intelligentsia; Support: IPR-NAS).
Progress reports on these tasks for the two reporting periods of IPERA are presented in Deliverables D2.1 – D2.8. Summary on project proposals submitted for FP7 and H2020 calls is presented in Deliverable D2.9.
In the frame of Tasks 2.1 – 2.3 it was planned that IPR-NAS’ researchers will make extended bi-annual visits to CNRS-1 (2.1 2.2) and CNRS-2 (2.3) in order to exchange scientific knowledge and set up joint theoretical studies (2.1 2.2) and experiments (2.2 2.3) with their researchers. CNRS-1’s (2.1 2.2) and CNRS-2’s (2.3) researchers will make reciprocal annual visits to IPR-NAS.
The twinning implied transfer of knowledge, coordination of research activities and setting up joint experimental and theoretical studies, and were realized through reciprocal visits (in total 60 visits with twinning missions), joint supervision of PhD students, remote electronic communication.
Task 2.1 Twinning relevant to Research Topic A: Quantum Information (Task leader: CNRS-1; Support: IPR-NAS)
Detailed presentations of progress on this task attained during the first and second 18 month-periods of the project are presented in Deliverables D2.1 and D2.2.
The following major twinning activities on transfer of knowledge and setting up joint theoretical studies have been developed and/or initiated during the project lifetime.
Topic A1: Optical control of quantum information processes
- Deterministic production of N-photon states from a single atom-cavity system.
- Coherent propagation of a single photon in a lossless medium: storage and retrieval in multiple temporal modes.
- Study of radiofrequency radiation by means of optical effect of electromagnetically induced transparency.
- Heralded source of time-bin entangled single photons that are highly demanded for long distance quantum communication. In the suggested scheme the tunable narrowband single photons are entangled in well-separated multiple temporal modes (time bins) with controllable amplitudes.
- Demonstration of single photon pulse propagation without energy loss and its consistent transformation into a zero-area pulse when single photon is shorter than any relaxation time in a medium.
Topic A2: Coherence, state-selectivity and propagation of light in medium interacting with strong laser fields
- Control of propagation of light in resonant media.
- Entanglement and coherent interaction in resonance media.
- All optical reversible logic gates by application of adiabatic population transfer.
- The cyclic adiabatic population transfer methods for five-level diagrams in order to construct a four-bit universal reversible all-optical logic gate were studied. As suitable resonant media for experimental realizations one can employ thin crystalline films with rare-earth-ion-doped crystal matrices.
- A relatively simple technique of analytic calculation based on the method of quasienergies is proposed, which allows all necessary conditions for lossless short pulse propagation in a multilevel atomic medium to be revealed.
- Calculations of entanglement and thermodynamic properties within the framework of Dicke model in dispersion limit in case of large number of atoms in cavity, quantitative analysis of the gain of entanglement and finding optimal regimes.
Task 2.2: Twinning relevant to Research Topic B: Atomic and Matter Wave Physics (Task leader: CNRS-1; Support: IPR-NAS)
Detailed presentations of progress on this task attained during the first and second 18 month-periods of the project are presented in Deliverables D2.3 and D2.4.
The following major twinning activities on transfer of knowledge and setting up joint experiments and theoretical studies have been developed and/or initiated during the project lifetime.
Topic B1: Optical and magneto-optical processes in nanometric atomic cells
- Study of N-type and EIT-resonances formation in micrometric thin atomic vapor columns.
- Study of hyperfine Paschen-Back regime with the help of nanocells.
- Study of “forbidden” atomic transitions with the help of nanocells and new method for selective addressing of VSOP resonance amplification.
- The sub-natural-width N-type resonance in Λ-system, on the D2 line of Cs atoms is studied for the first time in the presence of a buffer gas (neon) and the radiations of two continuous narrow band diode lasers. 1 cm long cell is used to investigate N-type process.
- Simple and efficient λ-method and λ/2-method based on nanometric-thickness cell filled with are implemented to study the splitting of hyperfine transitions of 85Rb and 87Rb D1 line in an external magnetic field in the range of B = 0.5 - 0.7 T.
- Initiation of new joint research on molecular spectroscopy in high-temperature alkali vapor cells.
Topic B2: Coherent control of ultra-cold atom-molecular Bose-Einstein condensates
- Adiabatic and non-adiabatic transitions in nonlinear quantum systems.
- A technique of robust and efficient adiabatic passage for a driven nonlinear quantum system, describing the transfer to a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate from an atomic one by external fields.
- Initiation of new joint research on molecular spectroscopy in high-temperature alkali vapor cells.
Task 2.3: Twinning relevant to Research Topic C: Scintillating Materials (Task leader: CNRS-2; Support: IPR-NAS)
Detailed presentations of progress on this task attained during the first and second 18 month-periods of the project are presented in Deliverables D2.5 and D2.6.
The following major twinning activities on transfer of knowledge and setting up joint experiments have been developed and/or initiated during the project lifetime.
Topics C1: Materials preparation, and C2: Physical characterization
- Studies on radiation hardness of Lu-based garnets.
- Synthesis using PLAL technique and analysis of garnet nanocrystals.
- Optical and structural properties of Ce3+ and Pr3+ containing oxide scintillators.
- Studies of: (a) mechanisms of radiation induced damage in LuAG:Ce, (b) performance of bulk crystals grown by the vertical Bridgman method and fiber-shaped crystals grown by the micro-pulling down technique, (c) comparison with crystals of else composition and type, (d) means to improve the performance.
- Growth of GGAG garnets by the Czochralski method and of solid solution crystals in the LuAG-YAG:Ce system by the Bridgman method was implemented at IPR-NAS; the produced samples were analyzed by optical and x-ray methods. Scintillation and spectroscopic properties were studied by advanced methods at CNRS-2 and Ioffe Institute. The measured light yield of grown GGAG:Ce crystals is about 45000 ph/MeV, which is close to the best figures reported so far in the literature. The results suggest that medium level production of these crystals can be organized at IPR-NAS.
- An experimental setup was constructed for synthesis of scintillating nano-scale particles using pulsed laser ablation in liquids (PLAL) method developed at CNRS-2. Samples prepared by solid state reactions were used as targets. The targets (LuAG:Ce) were placed in the bottom of a quartz beaker which, in turn, was placed on a rotating pedestal (0.5 rps).
Task 2.4: Networking with other research centres with respect to FP7 ICT, NMP and Research for SMEs research priorities (Task leader: Intelligentsia; Support: IPR-NAS)
Detailed presentations of progress on this task attained during the first and second 18 month-periods of the project are presented in Deliverables D2.7 and D2.8.
The following major twinning activities on networking with other research centers with respect to FP7 ICT, NMP and research for SMEs research priorities have been developed and/or initiated during the project lifetime.
Preparation of FP7 & H2020 project proposals
Four FP7 proposals (GAPHOT, NANOMAT-EPC, SECURE-R2I, SCOOX) and one H2020 proposal (INTELUM) with participation of IPR-NAS have been submitted during the IPERA lifetime, assisted by Intelligentsia. It is worth noting that two FP7 proposals (NANOMAT-EPC and SECURE-R2I), as well as H2020 INTELUM proposal were successful.
Besides the proposals prepared and submitted in the frame of IPERA with support of Intelligentsia listed above, three other FP7 proposals with participation of IPR-NAS (COSMA, TheBarCode, and LIMACONA) have been submitted or started during the project. We find it relevant to mention these proposals in the present report, since these programs essentially support networking of IPR-NAS with other research centres with respect to FP7 research priorities. Moreover, the success of these proposals was partly caused by knowledge and expertise in FP7 acquired by IPR-NAS staff in the course of IPERA implementation.
The list below combines general information on FP7 and H2020 Calls proposals submitted with the participation of IPR-NAS in the period of 2011-2014.
1) 295025 – IPERA “Integrating the Institute for Physical Research of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia into ERA”, FP7-INCO-2011-6.1 ICT NMP (CAPACITIES, ERA-WIDE), started 2011 (36 months), completed.
2) 295264 – COSMA “Coherent Optics Sensors for Medical Applications”, FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IRSES (PEOPLE, MC), started 2012 (48 months), running.
3) 310750 – TheBarCode “Development of multifunctional Thermal Barrier Coatings and modeling tools for high temperature power generation with improved efficiency”, FP7-NMP-2012-SMALL-6 (COOPERATION, CP), started 2013 (36 months), running.
4) 327134 – GAPHOT “Application of novel approaches and crystal technologies to garnets for next generation photonic detectors”, FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IIF (PEOPLE, MC), (36 months), Not funded / Above threshold.
5) 608906 – NANOMAT-EPC “Deployment of Societally Beneficial Nano- and Material Technologies in European Partnership Countries”, FP7-NMP-2013-CSA-7 (COOPERATION), started 2013 (24 months), running.
6) 609534 – SECURE-R2I “Reinforcing cooperation with Eastern Partnership countries on bridging the gap between research and innovation for inclusive and secure societies”, FP7-INCO-2013-9.1 (CAPACITIES), started 2013 (36 months), running.
7) 612600 – LIMACONA “Light-Matter Coupling in composite Nano-Structures”, FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IRSES (PEOPLE, MC), started 2013 (36 months), running.
8) 624198 – SCOOX “Fibre and nanoscale shaped complex oxide scintillators for modern applications”, FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IIF (PEOPLE, MC), (36 months), Not funded / Above threshold.
9) 644260 – INTELUM “International and intersectoral mobility to develop advanced scintillating fibres and Cerenkov fibres for new hadron and jet calorimeters for future colliders”, H2020-MSCA-RISE-2014, 2015 (48 months), Approved/negotiation
Participation at EC organized info-days and brokerage events
Intelligentsia attended the Infoday on the new FP7 NMP calls held on 26 April 2012 at the University of Lorraine, Metz, France. During the Infoday, Intelligentsia learnt about the call “NMP.2013.4.0-5 Deployment of societally beneficial nano- and/or materials technologies in ICP countries”. Intelligentsia made IPR-NAS aware of NMP call and helped them to define a collaborative pilot project with the Laser Zentrum Hannover (LZH) called “Deployment of magnetic nanoparticles for medical applications” for inclusion in the FP7 proposal NANOMAT-EPC, which was submitted on 4 December 2012. The proposal was successfully evaluated (12.7/15) and the project is currently running.
Intelligentsia attended the Infoday on the new FP7 INCO Calls held on 11 July 2012 in Brussels with the express purpose of networking and preparing for the call "Reinforcing cooperation with European Neighbourhood Policy countries on bridging the gap between research and innovation" (FP7-INCO-2013-9, R2I-ENP). Intelligentsia made IPR-NAS and Redinet (Armenian telecoms SME) aware of the R2I-ENP call and helped them to define a collaborative pilot project “Towards secure quantum communication technologies” for inclusion in the FP7 proposal SECURE-R2I, which was submitted on 18 December 2012. The proposal was successfully evaluated (13/15) and the project is currently running.
In addition, Intelligentsia has regularly disseminated information on relevant FP7 NMP, ICT and Research for SMEs calls that matched IPR-NAS' R&D activities. In particular, Intelligentsia has encouraged IPR-NAS/CNRS to consider preparing a proposal about nanocells to FET Open Xtrack. Unfortunately, resource and timing constraints meant it was not possible to submit a proposal to the call deadline in January 2013.
IPR-NAS attended Horizon-2020 InfoDay held on 11th June, 2014 at the National Academy of Sciences, Yerevan, Armenia, organized by IncoNet EaP and FP7-609532-ener2i project. It was dedicated to Horizon 2020 EU framework programme for research and innovation, focusing on Energy, Climate and Environment, Health. The Plenary sessions included General overview of the Horizon 2020 programme and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, followed by two parallel sessions on “Health” and “Climate and Energy”.
Two work meetings (brokerage events) have been held during QuantArm 2014 International Conference and Workshop (22-26 September, Tsaghkadzor, Armenia) aiming at discussion of possible proposals and forming possible consortiums for Horizon 2020 open and forthcoming calls. There were 76 participants from 15 countries, leading scientists in the area were invited and therefore it was a great opportunity for brokerage events. The open calls of potential interest, the eligibility criteria, as well as funding schemes have been presented and discussed during the first meeting. 87 calls have been chosen as a first selection. As a result of discussions during the first meeting, a “shortlist” selection of 23 open and forthcoming H2020 calls was formed and distributed among the QuantArm 2014 participants in advance, which was discussed in detail during the second meeting. Ideas on new consortiums have been formed, and some calls, notably “FET Open – Novel ideas for radically new technologies”, “Marie Skłodowska‐Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE)” have been chosen to be considered for writing joint proposals.
Crystal Clear Collaboration
This activity relates to Research Topic C. The Crystal Clear Collaboration, or "CCC". It was created in 1990 and approved by the CERN Detector Research and Development Committee as RD18 in April 1991, with the objective of developing new inorganic scintillators suitable for crystal electromagnetic calorimeters of LHC experiments. Armenia is among 20 participating institutions of CCC.
Prof. A. Petrosyan (IPR-NAS) and Prof. C. Dujardin (CNRS-2) participated at the Crystal Clear Collaboration 56th General Meeting (19 April 2012) and Steering Committee Meeting (20 April 2012) held at University Milano Biccoca (Italy), as well as at the 58th General Meeting (28 November 2013). The main discussions were on current status and perspectives of LuAG:Ce(Pr)-based scintillators for applications in high energy physics and medical imaging fields. The Steering Committee Meeting was focused on current activity of the collaboration on new materials and imaging systems; next steps on joint studies by the CERN, CNRS-2 and IPR-NAS groups on scintillator development; analyses of the recent scintillation measurements performed by CERN and CNRS-2 groups on LuAG:Pr,Sc and LuAG:Ce,Sc; and definition of the general strategy and next compositions for studies.
Participation at key European conferences on IPERA Research topics
Prof. D. Sarkisyan (IPR-NAS) has been selected as a member of International Advisory Committee of the 17th International School on Quantum Electronics “Laser physics and applications”, held on 24-28 September 2012 in Nessebar, Bulgaria. His attendance and active participation at the event resulted in signing a Cooperation Agreement between IPR-NAS and Institute of Electronics of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Sofia) on 7 November 2012, as well as deepening and extending collaboration with the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London (UK); Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, UMR 7538 du CNRS, Université Paris13 - Sorbonne Paris Cité (France); Dipartimento di Fisica Universita di Siena (Italy); St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies Mechanics and Optics (Russia); and other centres.
Participation of IPR-NAS’ and consortium’s researchers and students at conferences on IPERA Research Topics A, B, C for the period of M19-M36 is presented in detail in Deliverables D2.1 – D2.6 and listed in the Section 2.2.2 below.
Links of IPR-NAS researchers with European centers outside IPERA consortium
The linkage of IPR-NAS with the European and other foreign research centers on Research Topics of IPERA project was mainly realized via scientific visits of the IPR-NAS’ researchers and students to these centres, as well as reciprocal visits in the frames of FP7 and other programmes. The main activities involved (linked with over 4-week stay):
- Collaboration with Prof. I.A. Walmsley's group, Clarendon Lab, Oxford University, Oxford, UK on compact continuous-variable entanglement distillation protocol in presence of losses (Research Topic A); IPR-NAS visitor: PhD student L. Chakhmakhchyan (funding from European ITN Marie Curie program FASTQUAST FP7-PEOPLE-214962);
- Collaboration with Prof. Dmitri Budker's group, Berkeley University, CA, USA on non-linear magneto optical effects in pulsed probe field regime in hollow-core crystal fibers (Research Topic A); IPR-NAS visitor: Dr. A. Gogyan (funding by National Foundation of Science and Advanced Technologies, Armenia);
- Collaboration with the groups of Prof. A. Wilson-Gordon, Bar-Ilan University Prof. R. Folman, Ben-Gurion University, Israel, on N-type narrow resonance formation in double lambda-system and narrowband R-type resonance formation in a -system, on the D1 line of Rb atomic vapor using two continuous diode lasers with = 795 nm (Research Topic B); IPR-NAS visitor: Dr. D. Sarkisyan (funding by European IRSES Marie Curie program COSMA FP7-PEOPLE-295264);
- Collaboration with the Lab. of Prof. S. Cartaleva, Institute of Electronics, BAS, Sofia, Bulgaria, and Prof. E. Mariotti, Universita di Siena, Italy on N-type narrow resonance formation in Cs atomic vapor and its splitting in magnetic field (Research Topic B); IPR-NAS visitor: Dr. A. Sargsyan; visits of European researchers to IPR-NAS: Prof. S. Cartaleva, A. Krasteva, Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Dr. E. Mariotti Universita di Siena, Italy (funding from European IRSES Marie Curie program COSMA FP7-PEOPLE-295264).
- Collaboration with Prof. Stefano Ruffo's group, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Florence, Italy on the study of kinetic and statistical properties of long-range interacting systems on spatially embedded random networks; IPR-NAS visitor: PhD student L. Chakhmakhchyan (funding from University of Florence);
- Collaboration with Prof. W. Gawlik, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Kraków, Poland, on use of micrometric- thin cells for application of saturated absorption for quantitative studies of frequency splitting and shifts of the Rb atomic transitions in a wide range of external magnetic fields, from 0.2 up to 6 kG (Research Topic B); IPR-NAS visitor: Dr. R. Mirzoyan (funding from European IRSES Marie Curie program COSMA FP7-PEOPLE-295264);
Networking with Armenian ICT & NMP SMEs
Aiming at strengthening the IPR-NAS’ capability in innovation, technology transfer and commercialization of research results, as well as to facilitate linkage of IPR-NAS with European SMEs, the Institute management team and researchers had numerous meetings and discussions with management staff and technologists of key Armenian companies (SMEs) working in the field of ICT and NMP. Particular ways of collaboration of mutual interest have been outlined. We list below the summary of accords, arrangements and expectations achieved with Armenian companies.
• Spectralus CJSC. Company profile: laser technologies. Links with IPR-NAS: Two IPR-NAS’ researchers employed part time at the Company. A student of the Company makes his PhD thesis supervised by IPR-NAS researcher (2012 -). Some research activities of the Company are performed at IPR-NAS on contractual basis. Green lasers produced by the Company sold to IPR-NAS with discounts. Expectations: Mutually beneficial collaboration: part of R&D work for the Company will be done at IPR-NAS; IPR-NAS will have an access to production, testing and characterization facilities of the Company.
• Redinet CJSC. Company profile: information and communication technologies. Links with IPR-NAS: Initiation of cooperation and coordination of efforts to meet challenges of quantum information and communication technologies. Joint FP7 proposal Secure-R2I (twinning via R2I pilot project). Expectations: Implementation of IPR-NAS’ developments in new generation information technologies (quantum communication, data encryption, etc.); dissemination and implantation of quantum communication technologies developed at IPR-NAS in Armenia ensuring the standardization and security of communication equipment.
• LT-Pyrkal CJSC. Company profile: laser technologies. Links with IPR-NAS: Offer of the Company to present IPR-NAS’ products in the area rented by the Company at the annual CLEO®/Europe-IQEC international exhibitions in Munich. Coordination of Armenian R&D and industrial sectors via jointly operated structures (Armenian Territorial Committee for Optics, Armenian Laser Association). Advertising Armenian hi-tech companies and attraction of students and recent graduates in industrial sector via jointly organized international conferences and summer schools. Expectations: Promotion of IPR-NAS’ R&D developments to the market by the Company.
• National Instruments Armenia Corporation Company. Company profile: scientific and technological instrumentation. Links with IPR-NAS: Two IPR-NAS’ researchers employed part time at the Company. Offer of the Company to use its devices free of charge for the research at IPR-NAS. Free training of two IPR-NAS’ young researchers on hardware and software solutions, aiming at implementation of acquired knowledge for their studies at the IPR-NAS (optical imaging systems, heating control, etc.). The Company has paid IPR-NAS’ optical imaging prototype device stand at DIGITEC-2012 exhibition in Yerevan. Expectations: Mutually beneficial cooperation: the IPR-NAS uses for free the Company’s products for its research, exploiting new R&D applications that can be further brought to the market by the Company; identification and exploitation of new market niches; elaboration of hardware & software solutions and technologies for scientific and educational applications that can be implemented at IPR-NAS and NI.
• Precision Sensors & Instrumentation Ltd. Company profile: seismic sensors. Links with IPR-NAS: Three IPR-NAS’ researchers employed part time at the Company. Readiness to organize elaboration of technology resulting from IPR-NAS’ research and its licensing via the Company based on bilateral agreement. Expectations: Marketing support and bypassing legal difficulties in creation of spin-offs; joint development of new medical sensor technologies.
• Bagdasarov Crystals Group. Company profile: production of single crystals. Links with IPR-NAS: IPR-NAS’ researcher employed part time at the Company. Contractual use of IPR-NAS’ coating and other facilities by the Company. Crystal processing for IPR-NAS’ research. Expectations: Contractual two-way collaboration.
• ARD-Optics LLC. Company profile: optical technologies. Links with IPR-NAS: Identifying international market demand for hi-tech optical components via jointly organized workshops. Expectations: Sub-contracting IPR-NAS in crystal growth for particular orders received by the Company from European organizations and industrial companies.
Cooperation with industrial partners included also joint research for industry (e.g. with Spectralus CJSC), contractual service work (e.g. with ARD-Optics LLC), joint organization of conferences and exhibitions (with LT-Pyrkal CJSC), etc. Direct and diverse daily work with industrial companies helps acquiring knowledge, experience and skills for market-oriented activity.
Survey of European research centres, universities and international organizations
- A list of relevant European organizations and individual scientists was formed aiming at their involvement in international conference and workshop QuantArm 2014 to be organized within IPERA project, mainly oriented to widen and deepen European collaboration of IPR-NAS.
- The general meeting of Armenian Territorial Committee for Optics held on 29 April 2014 with the participation of all branches of Armenian optics: research, education, and industry. There were 40 participants from 15 companies, institutes and universities. Armenian TCO is a platform allowing merging capacities, expertise, and capabilities of all the Armenian optics entities through coordination of activities from education through research to industry, which strengthens international collaboration potential.
- International professional organizations (ICO, ICTP, SPIE, OSA) have been involved in organization of the 2nd International Symposium on Optics and its Applications- “OPTICS-2014” (ICTP activity smr 2633) held in Yerevan and Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) on 1-5 September 2014. This increased IPR-NAS’ participation and visibility in international professional societies and organizations, which cover thematically IPERA research topics.
Involvement of young researchers and students in European research networking
The following activities were achieved / developed during the project lifetime:
- IPR-NAS – CNRS-1 jointly co-supervised PhD students Hrant Hakhumyan, Rafayel Mirzoyan, and Levon Chakhmakhchyan have obtained their Armenian and French PhD diploma (Research Topics A and B);
- IPR-NAS – CNRS-1 jointly co-supervised PhD students Mariam Gevorgyan and Ara Tonoyan started their PhD studies at IPR-NAS and CNRS-1 (Research Topic B);
- PhD student Varsenik Nersesyan started her jointly co-supervised PhD studies at IPR-NAS and Gent University, Belgium.
- Three students from different Armenian research organizations (IPR-NAS [member of LIA IRMAS], YSU, and SPUA) have been accepted to do their master studies at the Université de Bourgogne (CNRS-1), at the newly opened International Master: Physics, Photonics, Nanotechnology in Dijon, France, granted by UB or French Embassy.
Significant results
The most significant results of twinning activities achieved during the project implementation are:
• Good publication and presentation record: 36 journal articles, which contain IPERA acknowledgement, 4 to be published shortly; 75 conference materials, which contain IPERA reference or logo; 3 defended co-supervised French/Armenian PhD theses on Research Topics A and B with IPERA acknowledgment in the thesis report. The full list of published and reported materials is presented in Section 2.2.2.
• Twinning on Research Topics A and B through co-supervision of five PhD students by researchers from IPR-NAS and CNRS-1; twinning in the frame of International Associated Laboratory IRMAS covering IPERA Research Topics and involving IPR-NAS, CNRS-1 and CNRS-2 teams.
• Successful preparation of FP7 and H2020 proposal; wide involvement of IPR-NAS in the EU FP7 Programme (see the list above).
• Strengthening of links of IPR-NAS researchers with European centres outside IPERA consortium; supporting and encouraging of Armenian graduate and undergraduate students to conduct research/education in Europe.
- WP3 – Dissemination and Promotion
The following four objectives have been defined in IPERA Description of Work for the WP3:
Objective 3.1: Design and implement a project web-portal
Objective 3.2: Support the web-portal operation and maintenance
Objective 3.3: Produce promotion material for project’s events
Objective 3.4: Organization of scientific conference
The four tasks linked with these objectives are:
Task 3.1: Portal design, development and implementation (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All partners);
Task 3.2: Portal operation & maintenance (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: Intelligentsia);
Task 3.3: Promotion material (Task leader: Intelligentsia; Support: All partners);
Task 3.4: Conference (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All partners).
Progress reports on these tasks are presented in submitted Deliverables D3.1 – D3.6.
Task 3.1: Portal design, development and implementation (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All partners)
The IPERA web portal has been designed, developed and implemented by June 2012 (M7), according to accepted timeline (Deliverable D3.1). This work was done by the Consortium staff (IPR-NAS & Intelligentsia, supported by CNRS-1 and CNRS-2), without involvement (sub-contracting) of external experts/companies. The link to IPERA web portal is http://www.ip-era.eu/. The web portal includes the following sections:
- Home;
- Project details (sub-sections: Overview; Objectives; Topics; Impacts);
- Partners (sub-sections: Coordinator; Partners);
- Events and news (sub-sections: List of events; News);
- Publications (sub-sections: Promotional; Scientific; Conference);
- Contact;
- Log in (intranet).
During the reporting period there were over 3000 visits to IPERA portal.
Task 3.2: Portal operation & maintenance (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: Intelligentsia)
Operation and maintenance of the web portal, including regular updates and improvements, as well as uploads of documents is carried out by IPR-NAS (responsible person: A. Gogyan) & Intelligentsia (responsible person: D. Bezdan).
Task 3.3: Promotion material (Task leader: Intelligentsia; Support: All partners)
Materials for publicity and promotion have been organized, designed and produced under this task, namely:
• Project leaflet (2 pages, A4 size); Powerpoint presentation providing overview of the project; as well as project poster.
• Promotion guide about IPR-NAS (Deliverable D3.2).
• Three Project newsletters (Deliverables D3.3 D3.4 D3.5).
• Preparation and maintenance of the IPERA Facebook page.
• Preparation and maintenance of the QuantArm 2014 Conference and Workshop page.
• Publication of significant results from joint theoretical and experimental studies in peer reviewed journals and presentation of obtained results at international conferences and workshops.
Published journal articles and conference materials
All the materials published or presented during the project lifetime (uploaded in the Research Participant Portal under “Publications” and “Dissemination Activities”):
• 36 scientific articles in reviewed journals, + 4 submitted/accepted
• 75 oral and poster presentations at 34 international conferences and workshops
All the articles contain acknowledgement of IPERA Project, as is provided for in the Annex II of the IPERA Grant Agreement: “The work leading to this invention has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 295025- IPERA”.
Other dissemination materials include 2 articles published in Armenian scientific-popular journal “Gitutyan Ashkharhum” (“In the World of Science”) for popularization of quantum information and atomic / matter wave physics in Armenia; 2 presentations of IPERA and IPR-NAS achievements at the EU-organized conferences; announcement of IPERA as a Project of Month – June 2013 by incrEAST.
Participants from IPR-NAS, CNRS-1, and CNRS-2 have jointly attended 27 international conferences and meetings outside the IPERA venues for presenting the obtained results.
Task 3.4: Conference (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All partners)
The QuantArm 2014 opening was held at the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Yerevan, on September 22nd, afterwards the participants have been transferred to the main venue of the Conference/Workshop in Tsaghkadzor, Armenia, approximately 55 km north of Yerevan. The QuantArm 2014 was attended by 76 participants including leading scientists and young researchers representing the EU Member States (29 participants: from Denmark (1), France (12), Germany (10), Hungary (1), Italy (2), United Kingdom (3)), the Associated Countries (4 participants: from Israel (1), Switzerland (3)), the Eastern Partnership Countries (37 participants: from Armenia (34), Belarus (2), Ukraine (1)), as well as from Australia (1), Japan (1), Russia (3), and USA (3). Among the presenters and attendees of the Conference were 21 students and young researchers.
The Conference included talks by keynote speakers, regular talks, and poster presentations on research topics of FP7 IPERA project:
‐ Quantum information,
‐ Atomic and matter wave physics,
‐ Scintillating materials,
‐ Applied photonics and materials,
as well as related subjects, which cover thematic priorities of the Horizon 2020 programme relevant to the research directions of the Institute for Physical Research, in particular:
‐ Advanced photonics for security, information and communication technologies,
‐ Advanced materials and nanotechnologies.
Overall 62 Conference presentations were reported:
‐ 12 talks at plenary sessions (40 min + 5 min for questions),
‐ 35 regular talks at parallel sessions (25 min + 5 min for questions),
‐ 15 poster presentations.
The Workshop comprised:
‐ 2 brokerage events on Horizon 2020 open calls,
‐ Summer School (seminars/lectures by key scientists on advanced areas of physics),
‐ Training on proposal writing,
‐ IPERA 4th Project Review Meeting (restricted participation),
‐ Exhibition of IPR‐NAS’ products.
A meeting with representatives of French Embassy has been held in Tsaghkadzor too with the participation of LIA‐IRMAS (French‐Armenian International Associated Laboratory) members and other participants from France. All the relevant information on Conference and Workshop is publicly available, posted at the QuantArm 2014 website, including the Abstract Book, as well as photo gallery.
The QuantArm 2014 provided a good occasion to summarize the achievements of scientific collaboration of IPR‐NAS with European research centers attained during the IPERA Project. It has proved high collaborative potential and international competitiveness of research carried out at the IPR‐NAS. Also, the event was surely successful in expansion and deepening the existing links and establishment of new international (notably European) collaboration, and active involvement of IPR-NAS in the EU Horizon 2020 projects.
Significant results
The most significant results of dissemination and promotion activities achieved during the project lifetime are:
• Appearance of IPERA as a Project of the month (June 2013) at IncrEAST web site.
• Good publication and presentation record: 36 journal articles (+ 4 in press), which contain IPERA acknowledgement, and 75 conference materials, which contain IPERA reference or logo; 3 defended co-supervised French/Armenian PhD theses with IPERA acknowledgment in the theses report.
• Successful organization of QuantArm 2014 Conference and Workshop with the attendance of 76 participants from 15 countries.
• Promotion of IPERA and European integration of Armenian R&D organizations at European-Eastern Partnership policy stakeholders’ conferences in Vilnius and Riga.
- WP4 – Training Development
Summary of progress towards objectives and details for each task
The following five objectives have been defined in IPERA Description of Work for the WP4:
Objective 4.1: Develop training modules relevant to Research Topic A: Quantum Information;
Objective 4.2: Develop training modules relevant to Research Topic B: Atomic and Matter Wave Physics;
Objective 4.3: Develop training modules relevant to Research Topic C: Scintillating Materials;
Objective 4.4: Develop training modules relevant to FP7 ICT, NMP and Research for SMEs research priorities;
Objective 4.5: Develop training modules to facilitate knowledge and technology transfer with electronics and IT industry.
The five tasks linked with these objectives are:
Task 4.1: Training development relevant to Research Topic A: Quantum Information (Task leader: CNRS-1; Support: IPR-NAS);
Task 4.2: Training development relevant to Research Topic B: Atomic and Matter Wave Physics (Task leader: CNRS-1; Support: IPR-NAS);
Task 4.3: Training development relevant to Research Topic C: Scintillating Materials (Task leader: CNRS-2; Support: IPR-NAS);
Task 4.4: Training development relevant to FP7 research priorities (Task leader: Intelligentsia; Support: IPR-NAS);
Task 4.5: Training development relevant to knowledge and technology transfer (Task leader: Intelligentsia; Support: IPR-NAS).
Progress reports on these tasks for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years of the project are presented in Deliverables D4.1 D4.2 and D4.3.
In the frame of Tasks 2.1 – 2.3 it was planned that IPR-NAS’s researchers will make extended bi-annual visits to CNRS-1 (4.1 4.2) and CNRS-2 (4.3) in order to organise training modules and deliver workshops for experienced researchers and summer schools for young researchers. CNRS-1’s (4.1 4.2) and CNRS-2’s (4.3) researchers will make reciprocal annual visits to IPR-NAS to provide training. For training courses held at IPR-NAS, interested scientists and engineers from other Armenian research organizations and private companies – and other EECA countries will be invited to attend.
In the frame of Tasks 4.4 and 4.5 it was planned that Intelligentsia will make annual visits to IPR-NAS to provide research proposal preparation training tailored to specific calls of FP7, e.g. ICT, NMP and Research for SMEs, and other international programmes, e.g. ISTC and CRDF (4.4) and training development to facilitate knowledge and technology transfer between IPR-NAS and the national electronics and IT industry (4.5). The training courses for Task 4.4 to be held with relevant structures of NAS-RA (International S&T Programmes Department & NCPs) and interested scientists and engineers from other Armenian research organizations and private companies – and other EECA countries. An effort will be made to attract young scientists/engineers to attend the training events. Also for training on Task 4.5 held at IPR-NAS, interested scientists and engineers from other Armenian research organizations and private companies – and other EECA countries- to be invited.
There were 53 visits with training missions during the project lifetime, omitting the regular mutual visits of IPR-NAS & CNRS-1 jointly co-supervised students funded by the French Embassy in Yerevan.
57 training modules have been developed and delivered during the project lifetime. Besides conventional training format, also alternative ways of training delivery, such as doctoral dissertations under international joint supervision, coaching via skype calls, emails and written documents, have been implemented.
The training modules are prepared in the following format: - Title; - Author(s); - Way of delivery; - Date and place; - Motivation and aim; - Recipient; - Essence; - Outcome; - Additional information (e.g. presentation file, list of participants, etc.). We present below concise descriptions of training modules sorted by tasks.
Task 4.1: Training development relevant to Research Topic A: Quantum Information (Task leader: CNRS-1; Support: IPR-NAS)
A1: optical control of quantum information processes & A2: coherence, state-selectivity and propagation of light in medium interacting with strong laser fields:
4.1.1 4.1.4 4.1.8 - Control of propagation of light in resonant media (Entanglement and coherent interaction in resonance media) - C. Leroy, S. Guerin (CNRS-1), G. Grigoryan (IPR-NAS) - Doctoral dissertation under international joint-supervision - 01/12/2011-21/072014, Dijon (CNRS-1) and Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - Levon Chakhmakhchyan, 1st/2nd/3rd year PhD student - Armenian and French PhD diploma issued.
4.1.2 - Numerical calculations and modelling of quantum phenomena using Matlab and FORTRAN codes - C. Leroy, Y. Pashayan-Leroy (CNRS-1) - Individual training (lecture & practical) - 01/03, 17/05, 08/10/2012, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - 5-7 students and young researchers of IPR-NAS.
4.1.3 - Current status of single-photon optics in coherent media - Yu. Malakyan (IPR-NAS) - Seminar presentation, individual discussions with PhD students - 14-25/10/2012, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 15 students and professors of CNRS-1.
4.1.5 - (i) Methods of efficient solution of Bloch-Maxwell combined equations using Matlab; (ii) Decoherence effects and their calculation during atomic ensemble - light interactions - Y. Pashayan-Leroy (CNRS-1) - Individual training - 01-11/06/2013, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - 3 PhD students from IPR-NAS.
4.1.6 - An atom in a cavity and photon generation - A. Gogyan (IPR-NAS) - Seminar presentation - 12/12/2012, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 15 students and professors of CNRS-1
4.1.7 - Quantum frequency conversion and generation of entanglement of two single-photon pulses by their spatiotemporal distribution - Sh. Petrosyan, A. Gogyan (IPR-NAS) - Seminar presentation - 22-29/06/2013, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 10 students and professors of CNRS-1.
4.1.9 - Mathematical modelling of multi-qubit entangled states - C. Leroy (CNRS-1) - Individual training - 22-30/09/2014, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - Levon Chakhmakhchyan (IPR-NAS).
4.1.10 - Basics of quantum information: qubits, logic gates, entanglement - A. Gogyan (IPR-NAS) - Lecture presentation - 13-15/01/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 10 bachelor students of CNRS-1.
4.1.11 - Deterministic source of time-bin entangled narrowband photons with controlled waveform - A. Gogyan (IPR-NAS) - Seminar presentation - 24-30/05/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 10 bachelor students of CNRS-1.
4.1.12 - Towards quantum cryptography, quantum key distribution - A. Gogyan (IPR-NAS) - Seminar presentation - 16/10/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 15 international master students and PhD students of CNRS-1.
4.1.13 - Towards Protocols for generating entanglement by means of light fields in systems of mutually coupled qubits - L. Chakhmakhchyan (IPR-NAS) - Seminar presentation - 06-22/11/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 20 students and professors of CNRS-1.
4.1.14 - Towards Quantum Cryptography and Quantum Key Distribution - A. Gogyan (IPR-NAS) - Seminar training - 02/07/2014, Lancaster University, UK - About 20 students and professors from Lancaster University, UK and Redinet Ltd. Yerevan, Armenia.
4.1.15 - Semiconductors for the implementation of quantum information processes - Yu. Malakyan (IPR-NAS), P. Yannakopoulos (TEIP), Piraeus, Greece - Seminar presentation; on-site demonstra-tion of SI-GaAs semiconductors - 14-22/10/2014, TEIP, Greece - Anahit Gogyan (IPR-NAS); TEIP Computer Systems Engineering Department staff.
Task 4.2: Training development relevant to Research Topic B: Atomic and Matter Wave Physics (Task leader: CNRS-1; Support: IPR-NAS)
B1: optical and magneto-optical processes in nanometric-thin cells:
4.2.1 - Study of optical and magneto-optical processes in Rb atomic vapour layer of nanometric thickness - C. Leroy, Y. Pashayan-Leroy (CNRS-1), D. Sarkisyan (IPR-NAS) - Doctoral dissertation under international joint-supervision - 01/12/2011-31/05/2012, Dijon (CNRS-1) and Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - Hrant (Grant) Hakhumyan, 3rd year PhD student - Armenian and French PhD diploma issued
4.2.2 4.2.5 - Study of the coherent effects in rubidium atomic vapor under bi-chromatic laser radiation - C. Leroy, Y. Pashayan-Leroy (CNRS-1), D. Sarkisyan, A. Papoyan (IPR-NAS) - Doctoral dissertation under international joint-supervision - 01/12/2011-31/05/2013, Dijon (CNRS-1) and Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - Rafayel Mirzoyan, 2nd/3rd year PhD student - Armenian and French diploma issued.
4.2.3 - Selective reflection of light as a spectroscopic tool - A. Papoyan (IPR-NAS) - Presentation talk followed by discussion - 13/06/2012, Dijon (CNRS-1) - 15 master and PhD students, researchers, and professors of CNRS-1.
4.2.6 4.2.9 - Study of the coherent effects in rubidium atomic vapor under bi-chromatic laser radiation - C. Leroy (CNRS-1), D. Sarkisyan (IPR-NAS) - Doctoral dissertation under international joint-supervision - 01/11/2013-30/11/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) and Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - Ara Tonoyan, 1st – 2nd year PhD student.
4.2.7 - (i) Some aspects of electromagnetically induced transparency: coherent processes, storage and retrieval of light in the medium; (ii) EIT in nanocells: influence of atom-atom and atom-wall collisions - Claude Leroy (CNRS-1) - Individual training - 01-11/06/2013, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - 5 master and PhD students of IPR-NAS.
4.2.10 - Theoretical treatment of coherent processes in nanocells filled with alkali atoms in the presence of strong magnetic field - C. Leroy, Y. Pashayan-Leroy (CNRS-1) - Individual training - 21/09-03/10/ 2014, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS), Tsaghkadzor - 2 master and 1 PhD students of IPR-NAS.
4.2.11 - Atomic spectroscopy with nanocells - A. Papoyan (IPR-NAS) - Lecture presentation; questions & answers - 13-15/01/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 10 bachelor students of CNRS-1.
B2: coherent control of ultra-cold atom-molecular Bose-Einstein condensates:
4.2.4 4.2.8 4.2.12 - Molecular Bose-Einstein condensate formation (Phase transitions in non-linear quantum systems) - H.R. Jauslin (CNRS-1), A. Ishkhanyan (IPR-NAS) - Doctoral dissertation under international joint-supervision - 25/10/2012-30/11/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) and Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - Mariam Gevorgyan, 1st /2nd year PhD student.
4.2.13 - Applications of the Heun class of functions in contemporary physics and mathematics research - A. Ishkhanyan (IPR-NAS) - Series of seminar presentations - 09-25/07/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 10 students and professors of CNRS-1.
4.2.14 - Influence of irreversible losses in stimulated Raman transitions from atomic to molecular Bose-Einstein condensates - A. Ishkhanyan (IPR-NAS) - Seminar presentation - 09-25/07/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 10 students and professors of CNRS-1.
Task 4.3: Training development relevant to Research Topic C: Scintillating Materials (Task leader: CNRS-2; Support: IPR-NAS)
C1: materials preparation & C2: physical characterization:
4.3.1 - Development of a new class of ultra-fast photon detectors to be used in PET (positron emission tomography) and high energy physics - Ch. Dujardin (CNRS-2), A. Petrosyan (IPR-NAS) - Training combined with The PicoSEC Network (org. by CERN and FiberCryst) - 12-14/09/2012, Lyon (CNRS-2) - Recent graduates and international experts (from France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain).
4.3.2 - Pulsed laser ablation in liquid - D. Amans, Ch. Dujardin (CNRS-2) - Participation to nanoparticle synthesis for dissemination at IPR-NAS - 14/09/2012, Lyon (CNRS-2) - A. Petrosyan, R. Sargsyan, other members of IPR-NAS Topic C team.
4.3.3 - Solid state chemistry and crystal growth (Growth of scintillator crystals using melt techniques) - A. Petrosyan (IPR-NAS) - Lecture followed by discussion - 13/09/2012, Lyon (CNRS-2) - 14 researchers supervisors involved also in the PICOSEC MC-NET Project.
4.3.4 - Scintillating Materials; Luminescent Nanoparticles - Ch. Dujardin (CNRS-2) - Training seminar - 19-20/06/2013, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - About 25 researchers of the IPR-NAS.
4.3.5 - Techniques for growth of fiber crystals - Kh. Lebbou (CNRS-2) - Training seminar - 04/07/2013, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - 15 researchers of the IPR-NAS.
4.3.6 - Nanoparticle preparation by laser ablation in liquids using target materials prepared at IPR-NAS by solid-state reactions - D. Amans, Ch. Dujardin (CNRS-2) - Participation to nanoparticle synthesis for dissemination at IPR-NAS - 18/01-07/02/2013, Lyon (CNRS-2) - R. Sargsyan, other members of IPR-NAS Topic C team.
4.3.7 - Radiation hardness of garnet scintillators - A. Petrosyan (IPR-NAS) - Personal training - 16-18/07/2013, Lyon (CNRS-2) - 4 researchers from CNRS-2.
4.3.8 - (i) New conceptions to improve the radiation hardness of LuAG:Ce and experimental results; (ii) Development of perovskite materials exhibiting weak emission in the visible - A. Petrosyan (IPR-NAS) - Personal training - 27/11-06/12/2013, Lyon (CNRS-2) - 5 researchers from CNRS-2.
4.3.9 - Expertise in micro-pulling-down (μ-PD) method for growth of single-crystalline fibers - Kh. Lebbou (CNRS-2) - Individual training; on-site demonstration of experimental techniques - 23/06-16/07/2014, Lyon (CNRS-2) - R. Sargsyan (IPR-NAS).
4.3.10 - Pulsed laser ablation in liquids (PLAL) method for synthesis of nanoscale particles - D. Amans (CNRS-2) - Individual training; on-site demonstration of experimental techniques - 23/06-16/07/2014, Lyon (CNRS-2) - R. Sargsyan (IPR-NAS).
4.3.11 - Substrates for scintillating thin films - A. Petrosyan, R. Sargsyan (IPR-NAS) - Individual training; on-site demonstration of experimental techniques - 11-25/05/2014, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - F. Riva (ESRF, Grenoble; CNRS-2).
4.3.12 - GdGaAG:Ce crystal series with Ce concentration in the range 0.3-1 at% - A. Petrosyan (IPR-NAS) - Individual training - 08-17/10/2014, Lyon (CNRS-1) - M.F. Joubert, Ch. Dujardin, G. Patton, F. Moretti, Kh. Lebbou.
Task 4.4: Training development relevant to FP7 research priorities (Task leader: Intelligentsia; Support: IPR-NAS)
Training relevant to FP7 ICT & NMP; Research for SMEs:
4.4.1 - Introduction to Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship (FP7 People) - G. Brandon (Intelligentsia) – Lecture - 01/03/2012, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - About 12-15 IPR-NAS’ young researchers.
4.4.2 - Preparation of the Marie Curie IIF application “Application of novel approaches and crystal technologies to garnets for next generation photonic/scintillation detectors (GAPHOT)” - F. Massi, G. Brandon (Intelligentsia) - Coaching via skype calls, emails and written documents - 07/06-16/08/2012, Armenia and Luxembourg - R. Sargsyan (IPR-NAS).
4.4.3 - How to prepare an application for international grant program - A. Papoyan (IPR-NAS) - Lecture at ISTC Training Course “Commercialization of Scientific Developments” - 10/07/2012, Tsakhkadzor, Armenia - 25 students and young staff from Armenian research organizations (including IPR-NAS) and universities.
4.4.4 - Open calls of FP7 and Marie-Curie actions - A. Gogyan (IPR-NAS) – Presentation - 09/02/2012, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - 10 students and young researchers from IPR.
4.4.5 - Introduction to Marie-Curie Actions and Open Calls - D. Bezdan (Intelligentsia) – Presentation - 02/04/2012, Dijon (CNRS-1) - 15 students and young researchers from CNRS-1 (also from IPR-NAS).
4.4.6 - (i) Training on Marie Curie Incoming International Fellowship”, (ii) “Experience of FP7 Proposal Writing and Project Management - G. Brandon (Intelligentsia) - FP7 IPERA and SiSNet Projects Joint Training Seminar on FP7 Evolution and Horizon 2020 Bridging - 11/06/2013, Yerevan (IPR-NAS) - About 20 young researchers from NAS of Armenia.
4.4.7 - Preparation of the Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship application “Fibre and nanoscale shaped complex oxide scintillators for modern applications (SCOOX) - F. Massi, G. Brandon (Intelligentsia) - Coaching via skype calls, emails and written documents - 01/06-15/08/ 2013, Armenia and Luxembourg - R. Sargsyan (IPR-NAS)
4.4.8 - (i) Horizon 2020: Introduction and Future insights”; (ii) “FP7: How it Works?”; (iii) “European Project Proposal Evaluation” - T. Tuisk (Estonian Research Council) - FP7 IPERA and SiSNet Projects Joint Training Seminar on FP7 Evolution and Horizon 2020 Bridging - 11/06/2013, Yerevan (IPR-NAS) - About 20 NAS of Armenia young researchers.
4.4.9 - How to Write a Good Proposal - K. Bergmann (Dept. Phys. and OPTIMAS Res. Center, Techn. University Kaiserslautern, Germany) - Training lecture - 22-26/09/2014, Tsaghkadzor, Armenia - 75 participants of QuantArm 2014 conference and workshop (including CNRS-1, CNRS-2, and IPR-NAS’ researchers and students).
Task 4.5: Training development relevant to knowledge and technology transfer (Task leader: Intelligentsia; Support: IPR-NAS)
General technology transfer:
4.5.1 - Preparation of the FP7 NMP proposal “Deployment of Societally Beneficial Nano- and Material Technologies in European Partnership Countries (NANOMAT-EPC)” - G. Brandon (Intelligentsia) - Coaching via skype calls, emails and written documents - 11/09-04/12/ 2012, Armenia and Luxembourg - A. Papoyan, A. Manukyan (IPR-NAS).
4.5.2 - Technology transfer planning - G. Brandon, D. Bezdan (Intelligentsia) - Skype calls, emails and written documents - 01/09-30/11/2013, Luxembourg (Intelligentsia), Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - Technology Transfer Office (IPR-NAS).
4.5.3 - Commercialization of scientific innovations and technologies: (i) The role and importance of science, innovation and technologies for industrial development, (ii) The US experience on innovation, technology transfer, and commercialization, (iii) Researchers and engineers as entrepreneurs, (iv) From innovation to product: time span and procedures - Vardan Gevorgyan (IPR-NAS, Precision Sensors & Instrumentation) - Series of training seminars for physicists and engineers - 07-15/09/2013 Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - IPR-NAS researchers.
4.5.4 (4.5.9) - Training support for IPR-NAS’ Technology Transfer Office - G. Brandon, D. Bezdan (Intelligentsia) - Hands-on support to IPR-NAS’ TTO; day-to-day email communication; development of TT Procedures Manu-al for IPR-NAS - November 2013 – September 2014, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) & Luxembourg (Intelligentsia) - Technology Transfer Office of IPR-NAS.
4.5.5 (4.5.10) - The Technology Transfer Process and IP Search - D. Bezdan (Intelligentsia) - Training Seminar - 06/11/2014, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - About 25 researchers from IPR-NAS, other institutions of NAS, NCIE (Ministry of Economy).
4.5.6 (4.5.11) - Market Research, Valuation And Promotion - D. Bezdan (Intelligentsia) - Training Seminar - 06/11/2014, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - About 25 researchers from IPR-NAS, other institutions of NAS, NCIE (Ministry of Economy).
4.5.7 (4.5.12) - Licensing and Negotiations - D. Bezdan (Intelligentsia) - Training Seminar - 06/11/2014, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - About 25 researchers from IPR-NAS, other institutions of NAS, NCIE (Ministry of Economy).
Significant results
We consider as the most significant outcome of training according to the outlined tasks:
• Joint co-supervision of five PhD students by researchers from IPR-NAS and CNRS-1 (one on Research Topics A – thesis defended, and four on Research Topic B – two theses defended, and two ongoing). Joint supervision of PhD students (French and Armenian PhD diploma issued upon single defense) is proved to be extremely efficient way of training, with a big impact to twinning in research. Collaboration within IPERA has also lead to admission of 3 Armenian students to the International Master II of Physics in the Université de Bourgogne (September 2014, all granted by UB or by the French Embassy).
• Initiation of implementation of laser ablation in liquids technique for obtaining scintillating nanoparticles at IPR-NAS (as a result of training on Research Topic C delivered by CNRS-2).
• Preparation and submission of proposals to FP7-PEOPLE-2012,2013-IIF by young researcher of IPR-NAS as a result of training development relevant to FP7 research priorities coached by Intelligentsia.
• Preparation and submission of proposal to FP7-NMP-2013-CSA-7 with pilot project for deployment of magnetic nanoparticles developed for medical applications at IPR-NAS as a result of training development relevant to knowledge and technology transfer coached by Intelligentsia.
• Preparation and submission of proposal to FP7-INCO-2013-9.1 with pilot project with Armenian IT company on bridging the gap between research and innovation for inclusive and secure society as a result of training development relevant to knowledge and technology transfer coached by Intelligentsia.
• Hands-on support of Intelligentsia to IPR-NAS’ Technology Transfer Office.
- WP5 – Strategy Development
Summary of progress towards objectives and details for each task
The following three objectives have been defined in IPERA Description of Work for the WP5:
Objective 5.1: Conduct a comprehensive evaluation of IPR-NAS
Objective 5.2: Develop a strategy for IPR-NAS with defined goals for the next 5+ years
Objective 5.3: Monitor IPR-NAS’ performance and progress toward its strategy goals
The three tasks linked with these objectives are:
Task 5.1: Evaluation of IPR-NAS (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All);
Task 5.2: Strategy development for IPR-NAS (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All);
Task 5.3: Monitoring of IPR-NAS (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All).
The following progress in activities on these tasks has been recorded during the project lifetime.
Task 5.1: Evaluation of IPR-NAS (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All). The report on this task is presented in Deliverable D4.1.
The aim of the comprehensive assessment of IPR-NAS was to evaluate the IPR-NAS’ performance against all the key criteria of functioning (both research and management), and to develop recommendations for increasing IPR-NAS’ R&D excellence, further contribution to sustainable socio-economic development, and further contribution in ERA.
The evaluation work has been structured as follows. First, the most appropriate assessment methodology has been defined. Second, a quantitative questionnaire developed by the evaluators’ team has been filled in by the IPR-NAS management team. Finally, the evaluation report with practical recommendations has been produced by external experts and adjusted with IPERA and IPR-NAS management teams.
In accordance of IPERA Objective 1.4 the IPR-NAS evaluation has been combined with assessment activity in the frame of FP7 IncoNet EECA – 212226 Project (WP9- Pilot Evaluation Exercises), where benchmarking exercise was carried out in several institutes working in the field of nano-technology in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Bulgaria. This evaluation exercise has been led by the Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI), with involvement of external evaluators Erich Gornik (Austria) and Paul Tomlins (UK). The IncoNet EECA benchmarking exercise has been performed in the following sequence. 1) Kick-off meeting (Vienna, ZSI, 16-17 February 2012); 2) Site visit of appointed experts (Elke Dall – ZSI, Erich Gornik, Paul Tomlins) to IPR-NAS (17-18 April 2012); 3) Final Review Meeting (Athens, 18 June 2012). The report of benchmarking exercise showing comparative performance of different EECA institutions including IPR-NAS against various indicators, exhibiting their particular strengths and good practices has been presented as Deliverable D9.2 of IncoNet EECA.
The IPR-NAS evaluation report is based on RECORD assessment methodology and corresponding questionnaire adopted by IncoNet EECA experts team. The IncoNet EECA evaluators have assessed the IPR-NAS in general management, as well as in research restricted to nano-science and nano-technology. The IPERA experts represented by C. Leroy (CNRS-1), C. Dujardin (CNRS-2), G. Brandon (Intelligentsia), as well as subcontracted experts from TU Kaiserslautern (M. Fleischhauer), University of Latvia (M. Auzinsh) and CERN (P. Lecoq) have extended the assessment beyond nano-science and nano-technology- covering the whole range of IPR-NAS’ research interests including IPERA Research Topics: A (Quantum Information); B (Atomic and Matter Wave Physics); C (Scintillating Materials).
Evaluation of the IPR-NAS’ performance, as well as findings and consequent recommendations have been done against all the following key functioning criteria:
• Overview;
• Mission;
• Strategy and Planning;
• Staff and Staff Management;
• Buildings and Facilities;
• Communication (including: - Publications, book chapters and reviews; - Conference organization and participation; - Website; - Mass media and social media; - Active participation on international scientific committees, journals; - Links with industry);
• Health and Safety;
• Intellectual Property;
• Funding and Funding Opportunities;
• Overall SWOT Analysis.
All the findings (including SWOT analysis) and recommendations resulting from the assessment by external (IncoNet EECA) and internal (IPERA) experts have been discussed and adjusted with the IPR-NAS management team, which has initiated practical steps towards implementation of these recommendations.
Task 5.2: Strategy development for IPR-NAS (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All)
Strategy development for IPR-NAS has been carried out on the basis of findings and recommendations of IPERA Evaluation Report (Deliverable D5.1). The overall goal of the Strategy is to boost performance of IPR-NAS against key output parameters, to increase its sustainability and socio-economic impact, and to promote its further integration into ERA.
Because of 5 months delay with IPERA Evaluation Report caused by involvement of evaluation by IncoNet EECA, the strategy development for IPR-NAS (Deliverable D5.2) has been delayed by 6 months. The IPR-NAS’ Development Strategy was developed by the IPERA consortium experts from IPR-NAS, CNRS and Intelligentsia, subcontracted experts from TU Kaiserslautern (M. Fleischhauer), University of Latvia (M. Auzinsh) and CERN (P. Lecoq), and comprises three-level set of documents: (i) the Mission Statement; (ii) the Conceptual Strategic Statements, and (iii) the Strategic Plan for 2014-2020.
• Mission Statement, which guides the actions and decision-making of IPR-NAS, and spells out and makes visible to the world its overall goal. It provides the framework within which the IPR-NAS' strategy is formulated:
The Institute for Physical Research of National Academy of Sciences of Armenia is a public research organization working in the fields of laser physics, material science and related areas. Our primary goal is reaching and maintaining excellence in fundamental research, applied developments and innovation, aiming at wealth and prosperity of our beneficiaries: Armenian science, economy, and society, as well as the Institute staff. The priorities that we set up on this way are: building strong international collaboration, increasing involvement of students in research and innovation, linkage with industry, which will assure sustainable development of the institute, increase the visibility and prestige of Armenian science, and provide dissemination and promotion of our achievements thus yielding significant socio-economic impact. Our motto is “Through excellence in research to prosperity of society”.
• Conceptual Strategic Statements, which figure out the major problems of IPR-NAS and outline the ways of their solving in order to: i) increase the R&D excellence of IPR-NAS; ii) contribute to further sustainable socio-economic development; iii) contribute further in ERA - for a range of future scenarios. The Strategy Concept reveals the problems on each particular aspect of the Institute activity and outlines possible ways to solve them. The following 16 aspects of IPR-NAS activities have been addressed:
- Research Priorities;
- Structure of the Institute;
- Funding;
- Staff Management;
- Research Support, Information and Communication Service;
- Publications;
- Seminars, Conference Organization and Participation;
- Participation on International Scientific Committees;
- Links with Higher Education;
- International Collaboration;
- Equipment, Facilities and Infrastructure;
- Intellectual Property;
- Innovation, Links with Industry;
- Website;
- Mass and Social Media;
- Social Issues and Labour Safety.
The Strategy Concept presented in Deliverable D5.2 was prepared by the IPR-NAS IPERA team, and was discussed with IPERA consortium and subcontracted experts. It was also presented to the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia and State Committee of Science, MES of Armenia. Finally, it was discussed and accepted by the Scientific Council of IPR-NAS on 9 December 2013 (protocol No. 836). The Strategy Concept is followed by a Strategic Plan for 2014-2020, which defines detailed measures and timeline for each particular problem.
• Strategic Plan for 2014-2020, an action plan which is destined to specify practical measures for implementation of Conceptual Strategic Statements. It was prepared by the IPR-NAS IPERA team, and was discussed with IPERA consortium and subcontracted experts. Finally, the Strategic Plan for 2014-2020 has been discussed and accepted by the Scientific Council of IPR-NAS on 24 July 2014 (protocol No. 845).
The Strategic Plan for 2014-2020 consists of interconnected Targets linked with sixteen Conceptual Strategic Statements, which figured out the major problems of IPR-NAS and outlined the ways of their solving in order to: i) increase the R&D excellence of IPR-NAS; ii) contribute to further sustainable socio-economic development; iii) contribute further in ERA - for a range of future scenarios.
The plan is presented in Deliverable D5.3 separately for each of 16 aspects of the Institute’s activity defined by the “Development Strategy”.
The following scheme is elaborated and filled in:
• Target - Objective as outlined in Strategic Statements (e.g. modernization of equipment and infrastructure)
• Current state - Initial conditions and discussion/explanation for the needed action(s)
• Goal to be achieved - What is expected that will result in improved performance of the Institute? The goal can be formulated as a close-ended “milestone” (e.g. to develop and implement labour safety regulations) or as an open-ended “striving” (e.g. to widen and deepen international collaboration)
• Tactics/Measures - Practical and realistic ways to solve the problem: particular itemized action(s) to be undertaken in order to reach the defined goal
• Key Performance Indicators (KPI) - A set of measurable parameters used to characterize and evaluate the success of the undertaken actions (e.g. number of recently employed graduates, publication record, etc.)
• Action timetable (Title of the measure; Objective/result; Executor; Term)
Task 5.3: Monitoring of IPR-NAS (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All)
The work programme for Work Package 5 of IPERA has been amended for reasons presented and justified in the 1st Periodic Report (mainly caused by involvement of IncoNet EECA in evaluation of IPR-NAS), which caused an overall delay in strategy development. According to amended work plan, it was expected that the IPR-NAS’ performance monitoring will be performed based on key performance indicators set in Strategic Plan, which has been accepted only in M32 of IPERA.
For this reason the monitoring of IPR-NAS’ performance was mainly focussed on 5-year progress (2010-2014) reflected through Evaluation Performance Indicators, which were outlined in Task 5.1 of the IPERA Description of Work. The category of these indicators comprises:
• Scientific/academic position (- Overall publication record; - Articles in international peer-reviewed journals)
• International position (- Joint publications; - International conferences and events; - International projects)
• Education (- PhD students; - Bachelor and master students)
• Governance, organisation, finance and efficiency (- Governance and organization; - Funding streams; - Functioning efficiency; - Knowledge and technology transfer)
• Market orientation and (inter)national relevance to industry (- Industrial partners; - Contribution of industry to R&D budget; - Patents; - Researchers finding employment elsewhere in the field)
On each of listed directions, quantitative data have been presented (typically diagrams and tables) showing dynamics of annual progress, followed by qualitative analysis of the obtained results, and proposed actions for improvement of performance.
The monitoring demonstrates significant year-to-year progress of IPR-NAS, particularly on: - quality of published articles; - joint publications with foreign research groups; - percentage of self-earned funding; - technology transfer management.
Activities of subcontracted experts
Subcontracting in the frame of IPERA Project is regulated by Section B 2.3.1 – “Subcontracting” of the Description of Work: “Minor sub-contracting is envisaged for involvement of experts from subcontracting organizations in evaluation of IPR-NAS and further development of IPERA Strategy report. A team of independent international experts from TU Kaiserslautern (Michael Fleischhauer), University of Latvia (Marcis Auzinsh), and CERN (Paul Lecoq) will be involved in implementation of WP5 Strategy Development, in particular to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the current research quality and capability of IPR-NAS. They will also participate in IPR-NAS SWOT analysis, strategy development and monitoring. All the experts selected for subcontracting are worldwide-known specialists in the three topics of the project (M. Fleischhauer- Topic A, M. Auzinsh- Topic B, P. Lecoq- Topic B), who have adequate research, organization, and international cooperation skills, as well as long-term experience of collaboration with IPR-NAS.”
Contracts to provide an expert evaluation of IPR-NAS and further development of FP7 IPERA project strategy report have been signed with Michael Fleischhauer, Marcis Auzinsh, and Paul Lecoq on March 1st, 2012. According to contracts, the Experts undertake to support IPR-NAS in implementing the FP7 IPERA Work Package 5 – Strategy Development, in particular: Evaluation of IPR-NAS (Task 5.1) Strategy development for IPR-NAS (Task 5.2) and Monitoring of IPR-NAS (Task 5.3) in accordance with mission prescribed by the Annex I of IPERA Grant Agreement, and under the instructions of IPR-NAS. Each of 3 Experts had to present to IPR-NAS two concise reports on his activities, findings and recommendations, indicating the dates of the days worked for IPERA. According to signed contracts, the first reports have been presented within one month after submission of IPERA Deliverable D5.2 to the EC (January 2014), and the second reports have been prepared by the end of the IPERA project (November 2014).
All the subcontracted Experts had big contribution to evaluation of IPR-NAS (Deliverable D5.1) development of IPR-NAS’ strategy (Deliverables D5.2 D5.3) and evaluation performance indicators and progress towards IPERA Strategy goals (Deliverables D5.3 D5.4). Besides, the Experts significantly contributed to defining IPR-NAS’ perspective scientific directions and setting up new collaboration on Research Topics A, B, C.
Michael Fleischhauer, Marcis Auzinsh, and Paul Lecoq visited Dijon on 9-10 January 2014 to participate at the Steering Committee Meeting synchronized with Project Review Meeting (RV3) held at CNRS-1. Michael Fleischhauer and Paul Lecoq participated at the IPERA Conference and Workshop “QuantArm 2014” combined with IPERA Final Project Meeting held in Tsaghkadzor, Armenia on 22-26 September 2014, and Marcis Auzinsh visited Ashtarak, Armenia on 5-8 November 2014 to evaluate the course of strategy implementation at IPR-NAS.
Significant results
• Comprehensive assessment of IPR-NAS by the team of IPERA and external experts. The evaluation of the IPR-NAS’ performance was done against all the following key functioning criteria: - Mission; - Strategy and Planning; - Staff and Staff Management; - Buildings and Facilities; - Communication (including - Publications, book chapters and reviews; - Conference organization and participation; - Website; - Mass media and social media; - Active participation on international scientific committees, journals; - Links with industry); - Health and Safety; - Intellectual Property; - Funding and Funding Opportunities; - Overall SWOT Analysis. Practical recommendations are developed for increasing IPR-NAS’ excellence in R&D, its further contribution to sustainable socio-economic development, and further contribution in ERA. The follow up action implies internal discussion and development of road map for implementation of these recommendations by IPR-NAS management team.
• Development and implementation of IPR-NAS’ Development Strategy, assisted by European experts, as a 3-level document comprising (i) Mission Statement, (ii) Conceptual Strategic Statements, and (iii) Strategic Plan for 2014-2020. The Development Strategy is destined to: increase the R&D excellence of IPR-NAS; contribute to further sustainable socio-economic development; and contribute further in ERA - for a range of future scenarios.
• Setting up quantitative Key Performance Indicators, which will allow to continuously monitor performance of IPR-NAS on 16 aspects of its functioning, and to undertake corrective feedback actions when needed to improve the situation.
Potential Impact:
• Impact and added value
- Increased European collaboration capacity
Academic position
Collaboration capacity of R&D organizations requires good publication record, which indicates the level of recognition, competence and expertise, and makes it attractive for partnership. Following the IPR-NAS’ strategy developed in the frame of IPERA, practical actions have been developed and implemented concerning research priorities and quality, which resulted in drastic increase of the average impact factor of journals where scientific articles of IPR-NAS are published (from 0.65 to 1.50 for the period of 2011-2014).
The number of scientific articles published with international co-authorship is among the key parameters indicating the efficiency of international collaboration. The share of such articles for IPR-NAS has increased from 35% in 2011 to 65% in 2014. Obviously, this growth is mainly linked with increased involvement of IPR-NAS in international collaboration programmes. Similar dynamics is observed also for the number of joint reports at international conferences and workshops.
Collaboration strengthening
Increase of number of international (notably, European) projects running at IPR-NAS is among the most tangible outcomes of IPERA project. Five more FP7 projects started to run at IPR-NAS during IPERA lifetime and one H2020 project will start shortly. Perspectives for new projects are expected based on new links built in the course of the IPERA twinning implementation, as well as increased scientific expertise of the IPR-NAS’ research personnel and its awareness on European research collaboration instruments acquired in the course of IPERA training activities. The new international collaboration was also promoted by IPERA QuantArm 2014 Conference and Workshop and 6 other international conferences, symposia and workshops (co)organized by IPR-NAS in Armenia during IPERA lifetime.
On the other hand, IPR-NAS consistently increased its involvement in international professional societies by initiating creation of Armenian Territorial Committee for Optics associated to the International Commission for Optics, supporting Armenian student chapters of SPIE and OSA, Crystal Clear Collaboration at CERN, co-organizing conferences with ICTP, etc. The IPR-NAS’ funding through international projects in the last 5-year period has grown by a factor of 2.5.
- Increased sustainability
The IPR-NAS’ strategy sets up priority of diversification of funding streams, which is important for sustainable development of the Institute. Along with Armenian national (State) funding through ‘base’ and ‘thematic’ programs, the vital necessity of ‘self-earned’ funding has been prioritized, including funding through international programmes, innovation and commercialization of research products (both via technology licensing and self production), contractual service activities, involvement in paid higher education, etc.
Special attention is paid to market-oriented activities (technology development and commercialization of research results). In spite of significant potential and big share of ongoing applied research at IPR-NAS, this option remained practically unexploited. In order to boost market-oriented activities, as well as to free researchers from pushing their developments towards market themselves, the IPR-NAS has established a Technology Transfer Office (TTO), as well as Institute’s internal technology transfer regulations in 2013. The IPR-NAS’ innovation management and technology transfer activities have been addressed in the “Innovation Performance Review of Armenia”, an evaluation review document prepared by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in 2014.
Implementation of IPR-NAS’ strategic action plan dedicated to diversification of funding streams and exploiting new funding sources resulted in increase of ‘self-earned’ funding percentage from 25% in 2010-2011 to 40% in 2014.
- Building links with industry
Realizing importance of strengthening the IPR-NAS’ capability in market-oriented activities, which can yield a socio-economic impact, as well as to facilitate linkage of IPR-NAS with European SMEs, the Institute management team and researchers have established, extended and deepened linkage with 7 key Armenian companies (SMEs) working in the fields of ICT and NMP. Particular ways of collaboration of mutual interest have been outlined and partly implemented, including: research for industry and contractual services by IPR-NAS; joint development of market products; identification of new market niches; marketing support to IPR-NAS and bypassing legal difficulties in creation of spin-offs; joint organization and participation at conferences and exhibitions, etc. Direct and diverse daily work with industrial companies helps acquiring knowledge, experience and skills for market-oriented activity.
- Societal impact
Ageing of research staff and lowered attractiveness of science for young people are among the main challenges of scientific policy in Armenia. The IPR-NAS’ strategy developed in the frame of IPERA sets staff management, and notably rejuvenation of research staff as an utmost priority. The practical action plan in this direction includes wide involvement of students and young researchers in international collaboration projects, development of carrier promotion tools (trainings, questionnaire-based feedback actions, appraisal and senior staff management policy, etc.), support in organization of summer schools and young researchers workshops, organization of ‘open door’ events, popularization of ongoing research, etc.
Among the most efficient instruments, which attracts Armenian students is preparation of PhD thesis under joint international co-supervision, when the student spends equal shares of time in Armenia and in Europe, receiving complementary knowledge and training from both supervisors. 5 students benefited from this instrument during IPERA lifetime, bridging IPR-NAS and CNRS-1. 3 of them have successfully defended their theses and 2 more continue their studies. Besides obvious scientific advantage, joint PhD gives an opportunity to get acquainted with way of life and culture of Europe. This experience has been extended involving Gent University in Belgium. Collaboration within IPERA has also lead to admission of 3 Armenian students to the International Master II of Physics in the Université de Bourgogne (September 2014, all granted by UB or by the French Embassy).
All these measures helped to avoid brain drain from IPR-NAS while preserving international mobility of students and young researchers.
• Main dissemination activities
- Better visibility of IPR-NAS
Several promotion materials have been prepared and posted at internet during IPERA lifetime, including IPERA webpage, Project leaflet, Powerpoint presentation providing overview of the project, Project poster, Promotion guide about IPR-NAS, three Project newsletters, IPERA Facebook page. Thousands of pageviews recorded so far indicate an interest towards IPERA in general and IPR-NAS in particular. The IPR-NAS has already received several feedbacks from European research teams, which may trigger new collaboration.
The significant scientific results on joint theoretical and experimental studies on 3 Research Topics of IPERA: Quantum Information, Atomic and Matter Wave Physics, and Scintillating Materials obtained in the course of IPERA implementation have been published in peer reviewed journals (overall 36 published articles + 4 submitted/accepted). The results of joint studies with CNRS-1 and CNRS-2 teams have been also reported at 34 international conferences and workshops (overall 75 oral and poster presentations).
Besides, realizing importance of awareness and understanding of practical impact of ongoing research by society IPERA team members prepared two articles in Armenian scientific-popular journal “Gitutyan Ashkharhum” on recent achievements of the IPERA Research Topics A and B (quantum information and atomic physics in nanocells).
- QuantArm 2014 Conference and Workshop
Organization of IPERA scientific conference in Armenia in 2014 was planned according to IPERA DoW with primary goal of integration of IPR-NAS into ERA, in particular through:
- extention and deepening existing collaboration and setting up new links;
- active involvement in Horizon 2020 programme;
- promotion of innovative research and building research-industry linkage;
- involvement of students and young researchers in European collaboration.
In order to fully meet these objectives, it was decided at the IPERA Steering Committee Meeting in Dijon (January 2014) to combine scientific conference with a workshop. QuantArm has been held on 22-26 September 2014 in Tsaghkadzor, Armenia, attended by 34 participants from 5 Armenian organizations and 43 foreign guests from Australia, Belarus, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and USA.
Conference
The 12 plenary talks have been delivered by worldwide recognized scientists (listed in alphabetical order):
- Klaas Bergmann (Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany),
- Edith Bourret-Courchesne (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA),
- Martial Ducloy (University Paris-Nord, France),
- Michael Fleischhauer (Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany),
- Ron Folman (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel),
- Nicolas Gisin (University of Geneva, Switzerland),
- Philippe Grangier (Institut d’Optique, France),
- Ifan Hughes (Durham University, United Kingdom),
- Paul Lecoq (CERN, Geneva, Switzerland),
- Dieter Meschede (Institute of Applied Physics, University of Bonn, Germany),
- Eugene Polzik (Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark),
- Anna Vedda (University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy).
The 35 Regular oral talks have been presented in four parallel sections: “Quantum Information” (7 talks), “Atomic and Matter Wave Physics” (16 talks), “Scintillating Materials” (6 talks), and “Advanced Photonics” (6 talks). Among the foreign participants having oral talks were many prominent scientists: D. Budker (Germany), I. Novikova (USA), H. Nakamura (Japan), D. Bloch (France), E. Mariotti (Italy), V. Krainov (Russia), L. Pruvost (France), T. Vartanyan (Russia), T. Martin (France), G. Bizarri (USA), R. Young (UK), B. Kryzhanovsky (Russia), and others.
In total 15 posters (“Quantum Information”- 3, “Atomic and Matter Wave Physics”- 9, “Scintillating Materials”- 2) were set from the start of the Conference, allowing the participants to get acquainted with them during the whole week.
Workshop
Two work meetings have been held aiming at discussion of possible proposals and forming possible consortiums for Horizon 2020 open and forthcoming calls. The possible open calls, the eligibility criteria, as well as funding schemes have been presented and discussed during the first meeting. As a result of discussions, a “shortlist” selection of open and forthcoming H2020 calls was formed and distributed among the QuantArm 2014 participants in advance, which was discussed in detail during the second meeting. Ideas on new consortiums have been formed, and some calls, notably “FET Open – Novel ideas for radically new technologies”, “Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE)” have been chosen to be considered for writing joint proposals.
Training on proposal writing has been presented by Prof. Dr. Klaas Bergmann, from the Department of Physics and OPTIMAS Research Center, Technical University Kaiserslautern, Germany. The first part of the training was aimed at choosing appropriate calls, understanding mission of funding agency and evaluation criteria, showing tips for good proposal writing. In the second part of the training the EU-MSC-ITN proposals were specifically addressed.
Four summer school introductory lectures for students on hot topics of modern science have been delivered by K. Bergmann (Germany), D. Bloch (France), A. Vedda (Italy), and T. Vartanyan (Russia) at the Armenian-Russian University in Yerevan, on September 25th. Students from physics departments of Yerevan State University, State Engineering University of Armenia, Armenian-Russian University, and Armenian State Pedagogical University, as well as students participating at QuantArm 2014 were notified about the Summer School in advance. The lectures were attended by around 50 students.
A meeting of French-Armenian LIA-IRMAS members and other French participants with the two representatives of the French Embassy in Armenia during QuantArm 2014 was initiated by the Embassy. Mr. Jean-Michel Kasbarian, the Conseiller de Coopération et d’Action Culturelle, has discussed with participants the perspectives of scientific cooperation between Armenia and France. In particular, the problems concerning support of jointly supervised PhD theses (cotutelle) and international master programs, as well as facilitation of visa for scientists have been addressed.
The IPR-NAS used a Conference/Workshop occasion to advertise the Institute’s products (large variety of laser, photonic and luminescent single crystals developed and grown at the Institute; opto-mechanical components produced at the Institute’s mechanical workshop, etc.). There was an interest from QuantArm 2014 participants presenting experimental research laboratories in acquiring some of presented products for their studies.
• Exploitation of project results
- Exploitation of academic results
Though nearly 70% of IPR-NAS’ research work (mainly experimental) relates to applied science, technology development and commercialization of the results of research work are not yet exploited, because of the following two reasons. First, the IPR-NAS’ Technology Transfer Office has been established only in 2013, and thus it had not enough time to develop full-scale market-oriented activity: the main task of TTO so far was elaboration of the Institute’s IP portfolio in close collaboration with Institute’s laboratories. Second, the innovation policy and legislative basis for commercialization of scientific results in Armenia is not efficient, which makes it difficult to exploit the existing high potential. This issue has been addressed in the findings of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe reflected in 2014 in the evaluation report “Innovation Performance Review of Armenia”. We hope practical steps will be taken soon by Armenian authorities.
Anyway, ‘research for industry’ format is set as IPR-NAS’ strategic priority; the Institute has already established links with FNG Invest and other companies, and will do its best to get tangible results soon, beyond IPERA lifetime.
- Dissemination of Strategy Development experience in Armenian R&D organizations
IPR-NAS’ strategy development based on comprehensive evaluation of the Institute and comprising three-level set of documents: (i) the Mission Statement; (ii) the Conceptual Strategic Statements; (iii) the Strategic Plan for 2014-2020 is of high interest for other Armenian R&D organizations. The set of IPR-NAS’s strategy documents have been presented to the State Committee of Science of the Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia and to the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia.
It is planned that during 2015 the reprt on IPR-NAS’s strategy will be delivered at the Meeting of Presidium of National Academy of Sciences of Armenia for discussion and dissemination among other academic institutes and centres.
List of Websites:
Project website: http://www.ip-era.eu/
Project coordinator: Aram Papoyan
E-mail: aram.papoyan@gmail.com
IPR-NAS: The Institute for Physical Research of the
National Academy of Sciences of Armenia
Address: 2, Gitavan, Ashtarak, 0203 Armenia
Represented by: Prof. Aram Papoyan, Director
E-mail: ifi@ipr.sci.am
Phone: +374 10 288150
Fax: +347 232 31172
Website: http://www.ipr.sci.am
The overall aim of the IPERA project was to integrate the Institute for Physical Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (IPR-NAS), one of the leading research centers of Armenia, into the European Research Area (ERA), by developing cooperation capacities and scientific expertise through strategic collaboration with European research and innovation organizations in Quantum Information, Atomic and Matter Wave Physics, and Scintillating Materials, which are relevant to the FP7 ICT and NMP work programmes.
The cooperation capacity building involved:
• Twinning activities with European research centres in order to exchange scientific information, identify partners, and set up joint theoretical studies and experiments.
Overall 36 scientific peer-reviewed papers containing IPERA acknowledgment have been published in highly ranked journals as a result of twinning activities. 4 articles have been submitted and will be published shortly.
• Increasing the visibility of IPR-NAS in Europe.
75 oral and poster presentations have been reported at international conferences and workshops. IPERA has been recognized as project of the month on June 2013 at IncrEAST web site. The QuantArm 2014 International Conference and Workshop has been successfully organized, attended by 76 participants from 15 countries. The project website has over 3000 page views.
• Setting up and implementation of trainings to build IPR-NAS competency in identified FP7 thematic priorities, and knowledge and technology transfer.
Overall 57 training modules have been developed and delivered on IPERA scientific topics, as well as on FP7 and H2020 research priorities and knowledge / technology transfer. Joint international co-supervision of 5 PhD students has been implemented along with conventional training schemes.
• Preparation and submission during the lifetime of the project of at least three project proposals for the future FP7 Calls for Proposals in appropriate topics of FP7 ICT and NMP Work Programmes in partnership with identified partner institutions.
Project proposals have been initiated, prepared and submitted during the period 2011-2014 aimed to facilitate the participation of IPR-NAS in FP7 and H2020 programmes. Overall 8 FP7/H2020 proposals have been submitted, 6 of them were successful, and 2 have not been funded.
• Evaluating and developing an IPR-NAS strategy to enhance its research excellence, increase its regional coverage, and improve their response to national socio-economic needs.
The IPR-NAS evaluation has been carried out by IPERA consortium members in collaboration with IncoNet EECA experts team. The evaluation was followed by strategy development for IPR-NAS, comprising three-level set of documents:
- Mission Statement, which guides the actions and decision-making of IPR-NAS, spells out and makes visible to the world its overall goal. It provides the framework within which the IPR-NAS' strategy is formulated.
- Conceptual Strategic Statements, which figure out the major problems of IPR-NAS and outline the ways of their solving in order to: i) increase the R&D excellence of IPR-NAS; ii) contribute to further sustainable socio-economic development; iii) contribute further in ERA - for a range of future scenarios.
- Strategic Plan for 2014-2020, an action plan which is destined to specify practical measures for implementation of Conceptual Strategic Statements.
Project Context and Objectives:
Summary of project objectives
The overall aim of the IPERA project is to integrate the Institute for Physical Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (IPR-NAS), one of the leading research centers of Armenia, into the European Research Area (ERA), by developing cooperation capacities with European research and innovation organisations in Quantum Information, Atomic and Matter Wave Physics, and Scintillating Materials, which are relevant to the FP7 work programmes ICT and NMP.
IPERA promotes IPR-NAS capacities and scientific expertise through strategic collaboration with the following three excellent European research and innovation organisations: (1) Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Carnot de Bourgogne, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS-1); (2) Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie des Materiaux Luminescents (presently- L'Institut Lumière Matière), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS-2), and (3) Intelligentsia Consultants Ltd (Presently- Intelligentsia Sàrl), and with 3 subcontracted experts from Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, University of Latvia, and CERN.
The cooperation capacity involves (i) twinning activities with European research centres in order to exchange scientific information, identify partners and set up joint experiments; (ii) increasing the visibility of IPR-NAS in Europe; (iii) setting up and implementation of trainings to build IPR-NAS competency in identified FP7 thematic priorities, and knowledge and technology transfer, as well as preparation and submission during the lifetime of the project of at least three project proposals for the future FP7 Calls for Proposals in appropriate topics of FP7 ICT and NMP Work Programmes in partnership with identified partner institutions; and (iv) evaluating and developing an IPR-NAS strategy to enhance its research excellence, increase its regional coverage, and improve their response to national socio-economic needs.
The work performed and the main results achieved
Work Package 1 – Project Management
The consortium management was governed by the Consortium Agreement. Particular regulations have been set up by the Management and Quality Plan, including organizational issues; records – control of deliverables; project communications; work planning, monitoring and control.
Consortium management included: - management and implementation of a quality assurance procedure on deliverables; - continuous project progress monitoring and supervision (tasks, milestones, budget); - management of semester progress reports by beneficiaries (internal reporting); - evaluation of the expected impact of problems that might affect the project, suggestions for fall-back solutions; - monitoring of the overall budget status of partners and the entire project; - collection of administrative documents and cost statements; - day-to-day administrative management and preparation of documents connected with the project; - management on preparation of Mid-term and Final Report; etc.
Seven project meetings have been organized during the project lifetime, including Kick-off Meeting (1-2 March 2012, Yerevan, Armenia), Project Consortium Meeting (7-8 December 2012, Luxembourg), Mid-Term Project Meeting (17 July 2013, Lyon, France), Project Review and Steering Committee Meeting (9-10 January 2014, Dijon, France) and Final Project Meeting (26 September 2014, Tsaghkadzor, Armenia), as well as two informal project meetings (11-12 June 2012 and 2 April 2013, Dijon, France).
Planning of the project activities was done in accordance with annual Work Planning tables, where particular actions per Work Package (including submission of deliverables) are indicated in the action list elaborated in Annex I to D1.1 – Management and Quality Plan, mentioning responsible partners, deadline, and comments. The work planning for the 1st Year has been finalized during the IPERA Kick-off Meeting on 1-2/03/2012. The work planning for the 2nd Year has been finalized during the IPERA Consortium Meeting on 7-8/12/2012. The work planning for the 3rd Year has been pre-approved on 17/07/2013 during the Mid-term Project Meeting, and amended on 10/01/2014 during the Project Review and Steering Committee Meeting.
Cooperation with other FP7 projects and programs (IncoNet EECA, ZSI, SiS.net INARMERA-ICT, ECOARM2ERA, FASTQUAST, SECURE-R2I, NANOMAT-EPC, COSMA, IRMAS LIA) has been established to meet Project goals and increase its impact.
Work Package 2 – Twinning
Twinning of IPR-NAS and CNRS-1 was developed in the fields of Quantum Information (Research Topic A, including (i) optical control of quantum information processes, and (ii) coherence, state-selectivity and propagation of light in medium interacting with strong laser fields), Atomic and Matter Wave Physics (Research topic B, including (i) optical and magneto-optical processes in nanometric atomic cells, and (ii) coherent control of ultra-cold atom-molecular Bose-Einstein condensates). Twinning of IPR-NAS and CNRS-2 was developed in the field of Scintillating Materials (Research Topic C, including (i) materials preparation, and (ii) physical characterization). This twinning implied transfer of knowledge, coordination of research activities and setting up joint experimental and theoretical studies, and was realized through reciprocal visits (in total 60 visits with twinning missions), joint supervision of PhD students, remote electronic communication. Over 30 major twinning activities have been initiated and/or developed during the project lifetime.
• The most significant result of these twinning activities is good publication and presentation record: 36 articles containing IPERA acknowledgement have been published in peer reviewed journals, 4 more to be published shortly; 75 scientific presentations with IPERA reference or logo have been reported at international conferences, among them 20 presented at the Conference and Workshop QuantArm 2014 organized within IPERA project; 3 defended co-supervised French/Armenian PhD theses with IPERA acknowledgment in the theses report (+2 in the course).
Networking of IPR-NAS with other research centres with respect to FP7 ICT, NMP and Research for SMEs research priorities was led by Intelligentsia. The following major twinning activities on this networking have been developed and/or initiated during the project lifetime. (i) Preparation of four FP7 and one H2020 proposals with participation of IPR-NAS, assisted by Intelligentsia. Two FP7 proposals were successful (currently running), two other FP7 proposals were above the threshold but were not funded, H2020 proposal was successful and will start shortly. (ii) Three more FP7 projects with IPR-NAS participation started during IPERA lifetime. The success of these projects essentially supports networking of IPR-NAS with other European research centres. (iii) Participation at info-days, organization of brokerage events, which promoted initiation of proposals with participation of IPR-NAS. (iv) Joint participation of IPR-NAS and CNRS-2 at the annual meeting and steering committee meeting of Crystal Clear Collaboration hosted by CERN. (v) Links of IPR-NAS researchers with several European centers outside IPERA consortium. (vi) Cooperation with seven Armenian SMEs working in the field of ICT and NMP aimed at strengthening the IPR-NAS’ capability in innovation, technology transfer and commercialization of research results. (vii) Involvement of young researchers and students of IPR-NAS in European research networking.
• The most significant result of these twinning activities is successful preparation of FP7 and H2020 project proposals in the frame of IPERA: 327134-GAPHOT (above threshold, not funded), 609534-SECURE-R2I (started 01/10/2013), 608906-NANOMAT-EPC (started 01/11/2013), 624198-SCOOX-IIF (above threshold, not funded), 644260-INTELUM-MSCA RISE (will start 01/03/2015); success of other FP7 project with participation of IPR-NAS: 295264-COSMA (started 01/04/2012), 310750-TheBarCode (started 01/01/2013), 612600-LIMACONA (started 01/10/2013).
Work Package 3 – Dissemination and Promotion
The following work was done on dissemination and promotion: (i) Development, design, implementation, operation and maintenance of the IPERA web portal with almost 3000 visitors. (ii) Preparation of public materials for publicity and promotion, including: - project leaflet (2 pages, A4 size); - powerpoint presentation providing overview of the project; - project poster; - promotion guide about IPR-NAS; - three project newsletters; - preparation and maintenance of the IPERA Facebook page, - preparation and maintenance of QuantArm 2014 webpage with almost 5000 pageviews from 47 countries. (iii) Uploading significant journal publications and conference presentations, as well as other dissemination materials in the Research Participant Portal under “Publications” and “Dissemination Activities”. (iv) Joint attendance of participants from IPR-NAS, CNRS-1, and CNRS-2 at 27 international conferences and meetings outside the IPERA venues for presenting the obtained results. (v) Popularization of quantum information and atomic physics in Armenian society (2 articles published in Armenian public journal). (vi) Increasing visibility and impact of IPERA (IPERA profile at incrEAST web site as a Project of the month - June 2013). (vii) Successful organization of QuantArm 2014 - International Conference and Workshop “Quanta and Matter: Through Physics to Future Emerging Technologies”.
• The most significant result is organization of the QuantArm 2014 Conference and Workshop attended by 76 participants including leading scientists and young researchers representing the EU Member States and the Eastern Partnership Countries. Among the attendees of the Conference there were 21 students and young researchers. Another tangible result is announcement of IPERA as a Project of the Month in incrEAST (June 2013).
Work Package 4 – Training Development
Reciprocal training of young researchers and students, as well as experienced researchers relevant to IPERA research topics was developed in the fields of Quantum Information (Research Topic A – IPR-NAS and CNRS-1); Atomic and Matter Wave Physics (Research topic B – IPR-NAS and CNRS-1); and Scintillating Materials (Research Topic C – IPR-NAS and CNRS-2). Training was aimed at complementary knowledge and expertise needed for successful research work and collaboration. 57 training modules were developed and delivered during the project lifetime. Besides conventional training format, also alternative ways of training delivery, such as doctoral dissertations under international joint supervision, coaching via video calls, emails and written documents, have been implemented. There were overall 53 visits with training missions.
• The most significant result of training activities is joint co-supervision of five PhD students by researchers from IPR-NAS and CNRS-1 (one on Research Topics A – thesis defended, and four on Research Topic B – two theses defended, and two ongoing). Joint supervision of PhD students (French and Armenian PhD diploma issued upon single defense) is proved to be extremely efficient way of training, with a big impact to twinning in research. Collaboration within IPERA has also lead to admission of 3 Armenian students to the International Master II of Physics in the Université de Bourgogne (September 2014, all granted by UB or by the French Embassy).
Training development for IPR-NAS relevant to FP7 and H2020 research priorities, as well as knowledge and technology transfer, was led by Intelligentsia. Hands-on support to IPR-NAS’ Technology Transfer Office (TTO) resulted in increased expertise, competence and awareness of IPR-NAS’ TTO; 9 prepared and delivered training modules are proven to be efficient for preparation of successful FP7 and H2020 proposals.
Work Package 5 – Strategy Development
Comprehensive assessment of IPR-NAS was done to evaluate the institute performance against all the key criteria of functioning (both research and management), and to develop recommendations for increasing IPR-NAS’ R&D excellence, further contribution to sustainable socio-economic development, and further contribution in ERA. First, the most appropriate assessment methodology was defined. Second, a quantitative questionnaire developed by the evaluators’ team was filled in by the IPR-NAS management team. Finally, the evaluation report with practical recommendations was produced by external experts and adjusted with IPERA and IPR-NAS management teams. The evaluation was combined with assessment activity in the frame of FP7 IncoNet EECA (benchmarking exercise was carried out in several institutes working in the field of nano-technology in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Bulgaria) with involvement of external evaluators. All the findings and recommendations resulting from the assessment by external (IncoNet EECA) and internal (IPERA) experts were discussed and adjusted with the IPR-NAS management team, which shall initiate practical steps towards implementation of these recommendations.
• The most significant result is comprehensive assessment of IPR-NAS by the team of IPERA and external experts. The evaluation of the IPR-NAS’ performance was done against all the following key functioning criteria: - mission; - strategy and planning; - staff management; - buildings and facilities; - communication (including - publications, - conferences, - website, - mass media, - international scientific committees, - links with industry); - health and safety; - intellectual property; - funding and funding opportunities; - overall SWOT analysis. Practical recommendations are developed for increasing IPR-NAS’ excellence in R&D, its further contribution to sustainable socio-economic development, and further contribution in ERA. The follow up action implies internal discussion and development of road map for implementation of these recommendations by IPR-NAS management team.
Strategy development for IPR‐NAS has been carried out on the basis of findings and recommendations of IPERA Evaluation Report. The overall goal of the Strategy is to boost performance of IPR‐NAS against key output parameters, to increase its sustainability and socio‐economic impact, and to promote its further integration into ERA. The developed Strategy Concept comprises 3-level set of documents: the “Mission Statement”, the “Conceptual Strategic Statements”, which reveals problems on the 16 particular aspects of the Institute’s activity and outlines the ways of solution, and the “Strategic Plan for 2014‐2020”, an action plan destined to specify practical measures for implementation of Conceptual Strategic Statements.
Specific action plans have been developed for: - Research Priorities; - Structure of the Institute; - Funding; - Staff Management; - Research Support; - Information and Communication Service; - Publications; - Seminars, Conference Organization and Participation; - Participation in International Scientific Committees; - Links with Higher Education; - International Collaboration; - Equipment, Facilities and Infrastructure; - Intellectual Property; - Innovation, Links with Industry; - Website; - Mass and Social Media; - Social Issues and Labour Safety. For each of these 16 aspects, the action plan specifies: - The Target; - Current State / The Challenge; - Tactics of Solving the Problem / The Measures; - Expected Results; - Key Performance Indicators (KPI); - Action Timetable (including Title of the Measure; Objective / Result; Executor; Term); - Periodic Progress Evaluation / Performance Reporting; - Linked Targets.
Besides, the 5-year progress (2010-2014) of IPR-NAS against Evaluation Performance Indicators outlined in the IPERA DoW has been evaluated. The category of these indicators comprises: - market orientation and (inter)national relevance to industry; - international position; - scientific/academic position; - education; - governance, organisation, finance and efficiency. The presentation of quantitative data on each category was followed by analysis of the results and proposed actions.
• The most significant outcome is development of IPR-NAS’ Strategy Concept comprising 3-level set of documents: the “Mission Statement”, the “Conceptual Strategic Statements”, which reveals problems on the 16 particular aspects of the Institute’s activity and outlines the ways of solution, and the “Strategic Plan for 2014‐2020”, an action plan destined to specify practical measures for implementation of Conceptual Strategic Statements.
Final results and their potential impact and use
Successful implementation of IPERA has contributed to RTD capacity building and management in Armenia, promoted enhanced participation of the country in the FP7 and H2020 Programmes, increased visibility and scope of IPR-NAS with enhanced linkage with economic and social environment, stimulated its twinning with other research centres in EU Member States and Associated Countries, and increased job opportunities in Armenia, in particular for young scientists.
Project Results:
• Project objectives
The overall aim of the IPERA project is to integrate the Institute for Physical Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (IPR-NAS), one of the leading research centers of Armenia, into the European Research Area (ERA), by developing cooperation capacities with European research and innovation organizations in Quantum Information, Atomic and Matter Wave Physics, and Scintillating Materials, which are relevant to the FP7 work programmes ICT and NMP.
IPERA promotes IPR-NAS’ capacities and scientific expertise through strategic collaboration with the following three excellent European research and innovation organisations: (1) Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Carnot de Bourgogne, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; (2) Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie des Materiaux Luminescents (presently Institut Lumière Matière), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, and (3) Intelligentsia Consultants Ltd (Presently Intelligentsia Consultants Sàrl), and with 3 subcontracted experts from Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, University of Latvia, and CERN.
The cooperation capacity involves (i) twinning activities with European research centres in order to exchange scientific information, identify partners and set up joint experiments; (ii) increasing the visibility of IPR-NAS in Europe; (iii) setting up and implementation of trainings to build IPR-NAS competency in identified FP7 thematic priorities, and knowledge and technology transfer, as well as preparation and submission during the lifetime of the project of at least three project proposals for the future FP7 Calls for Proposals in appropriate topics of FP7 ICT and NMP Work Programmes in partnership with identified partner institutions; and (iv) evaluating and developing an IPR-NAS strategy to enhance its research excellence, increase its regional coverage, and improve their response to national socio-economic needs.
The project is implemented through five work packages having the following particular objectives.
WP1 – Project Management
Objective 1.1: Overall coordination of the project
Objective 1.2: Organization of project meetings
Objective 1.3: Produce progress and final project reports
Objective 1.4: Coordinate with relevant EU-funded projects
WP2 – Twinning
Objective 2.1: Twin with CNRS-1 with respect to Research Topic A: Quantum Information;
Objective 2.2: Twin with CNRS-1 with respect to Research Topic B: Atomic and Matter Wave Physics;
Objective 2.3: Twin with CNRS-2 with respect to Research Topic C: Scintillating Materials;
Objective 2.4: Network with other research centres with respect to FP7 ICT, NMP and Research for SMEs research priorities.
WP3 – Dissemination and Promotion
Objective 3.1: Design and implement a project web-portal
Objective 3.2: Support the web-portal operation and maintenance
Objective 3.3: Produce promotion material for project’s events
Objective 3.4: Organization of scientific conference
WP4 – Training Development
Objective 4.1: Develop training modules relevant to Research Topic A: Quantum Information;
Objective 4.2: Develop training modules relevant to Research Topic B: Atomic and Matter Wave Physics;
Objective 4.3: Develop training modules relevant to Research Topic C: Scintillating Materials;
Objective 4.4: Develop training modules relevant to FP7 ICT, NMP and Research for SMEs research priorities;
Objective 4.5: Develop training modules to facilitate knowledge and technology transfer with electronics and IT industry.
WP5 – Strategy Development
Objective 5.1: Conduct a comprehensive evaluation of IPR-NAS
Objective 5.2: Develop a strategy for IPR-NAS with defined goals for the next 5+ years
Objective 5.3: Monitor IPR-NAS’ performance and progress toward its strategy goals
• The main results and achievements
We provide below the progress of the work on each work package (WP1 – WP5) in line with the structure of Annex I to the Grant Agreement, also taking into consideration the findings of the IPERA Steering Committee.
- WP1 – Project Management
The following four objectives have been defined in IPERA Description of Work for the WP1:
Objective 1.1: Overall coordination of the project;
Objective 1.2: Organization of project meetings;
Objective 1.3: Produce progress and final project reports;
Objective 1.4: Coordinate with relevant EU-funded projects.
The three tasks linked with these objectives are:
Task 1.1: Coordination (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All partners);
Task 1.2: Project meetings (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All partners);
Task 1.3: Progress/final reports (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All partners).
We summarize below the major activities in consortium management.
Consortium management tasks and achievements
The consortium management was governed by the Consortium Agreement, as well as by the Management and Quality Plan (Deliverable D1.1). The following regulations have been set:
• Organizational Issues (management structure; roles and responsibilities; key members of the IPERA team);
• Records – Control of Deliverables;
• Project Communications (internal and external);
• Work Planning, Monitoring and Control (work planning; project meetings; progress monitoring; reports to the EC; risks management.
Particular documents have been developed to facilitate implementation of the project management:
• Work Planning, including an analytical list of deliverables;
• Semester progress reports template (to be filled per partner);
• Monitoring expenses template (to be filled per partner);
• Dissemination activities template;
• IPERA Deliverables template.
Consortium management included: - management and implementation of a quality assurance procedure on deliverables; - continuous project progress monitoring and supervision (tasks, milestones, budget); - management of semester progress reports by beneficiaries (internal reporting); - evaluation of the expected impact of problems that might affect the project, suggestions for fall-back solutions; - monitoring of the overall budget status of partners and the entire project; - collection of administrative documents and cost statements; - day-to-day administrative management and preparation of documents connected with the project; - management on preparation of the Mid-term and Final Report; etc.
Changes in the consortium
Accession of a new beneficiary (No.4) to the Grant Agreement has been done related to partial transfer of rights and obligations: Intelligentsia Consultants Sàrl established in 1 rue de Mamer, L-8081 Bertrange, Luxembourg, represented by Giles Brandon, Managing Director, for the purposes of this grant agreement has taken over the rights and obligations of Intelligentsia Consultants Ltd, as of 22 August 2012.
Amendment No.1 to the Grant Agreement No.295025 has been signed by the Commission on 29 March 2013 following the Amendment Request and filled in and signed Form B. The GPF and DoW have been amended accordingly.
List of project meetings, dates and venues
Regular meetings of the project partners assisted the fruitful collaboration, especially in detailed planning of project activities, preparation of major deliverables, progress assessment and taking decisions of strategic nature, and discussion of technical matters. The project meetings also helped to maximize the project’s impact. Apart from 5 planned project meetings, also 2 informal meetings have been organized, which were combined with activities on other work packages of IPERA. The Project subcontracted experts participated in two project meetings.
The following project meetings have been held:
1) IPERA Project Kick-off Meeting, 01-02/03/2012, Yerevan, Armenia (IPR-NAS) [Detailed project planning and work allocation]
2) IPERA informal project meeting, 11-12/06/2012, Dijon, France (CNRS-1) [Informal meeting. Focus on dissemination materials and preparation of new FP7 proposals]
3) IPERA Project Consortium Meeting, 07-08/12/2012, Bertrange, Luxembourg (Intelligentsia) [Project Review 1. Work planning; focus on preparation of new FP7 proposals]
4) IPERA informal project meeting, 02/04/2013, Dijon, France (CNRS-1) [Informal meeting. Focus on training and evaluation activities; links with IRMAS LIA]
5) IPERA Mid-term Project Meeting, 17/07/2013, Lyon, France (CNRS-2) [Project Review 2. Work planning for the second half of the project]
6) IPERA Project Review and Steering Committee Meeting, 09-10/01/2014, Dijon, France (CNRS-1) [Project Review 3. Finalization of work planning, in particular for the IPERA conference and workshop. Project Review - presentation of the obtained results in front of Project experts; evaluation of the achievements. General discussion on integration of Armenia in ERA]
7) IPERA Final Project Meeting, 26/09/2014, Tsaghkadzor, Armenia (IPR-NAS) [Project Review 4. Focus on preparation of the last deliverables and Final Report. Discussions on future collaboration]
28 particular visits in total have been made with project management mission.
Project planning
Planning of the project activities was done in accordance with annual Work Planning tables, where particular actions per Work Package (including submission of deliverables) are indicated in the action list, mentioning responsible partners, deadline, and comments. The work planning for the 1st Year has been finalized during the IPERA Kick-off Meeting 1-2 March 2012, appearing as Annex I to D1.1 – Management and Quality Plan. The work planning for the 2nd Year has been finalized during the IPERA Consortium Meeting on 7-8 December 2012. The planning for the second half of the project has been approved on 17/07/2013 during the IPERA Mid-term Project Meeting in Lyon (CNRS-2), and was amended for the 3rd Year on 10/01/2014 during the IPERA Project Review and Steering Committee Meeting in Dijon (CNRS-1).
Information on coordination activities
The following co-operation with other FP7 projects and programs has been established during the project lifetime:
• Co-operation with IncoNet EECA - International Cooperation Network for Central Asian and South Caucasus countries (FP7-212226) and ZSI - Centre for Social Innovation (Vienna) in benchmarking exercise of organizations working in the field of nano-technology in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Bulgaria (assessment and evaluation of IPR-NAS in the frame of IncoNet EECA WP9- Pilot Evaluation Exercises).
• Co-operation with SiS.net - Network of Science in Society National Contact Points (FP7-289064) on joint organization of “FP7 IPERA and SiSNet Projects Joint Training Seminar on FP7 Evolution and Horizon 2020 Bridging” (11/06/2013, Yerevan, Armenia).
• Operational communication with 2 other FP7-INCO-ERA-WIDE-2011 projects coordinated by Armenian organizations: FP7-294943-INARMERA-ICT and FP7-294924-ECOARM2ERA.
• Linkage on Research Topic A with FP7-214962-FASTQUAST project.
• Cooperation with United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and ZSI - Centre for Social Innovation (Vienna) on preparation of Innovation Performance Review of Armenia, including on-site visits to IPR-NAS, documents exchange, discussions. The Review has been presented at the UN House in Yerevan in November 2014; it contains information about achievements of IPR-NAS in innovation management.
• Cooperation with the FP7-609528-IncoNet EaP on advertisement of the IPERA QuantArm 2014 Conference and Workshop (info posted at incrEAST site).
• Linkage on Research Topic A with FP7- 609534-SECURE R2I project.
• Research linkage with French-Armenian International Associated Laboratory (CNRS-France & SCS-Armenia LIA) IRMAS.
- WP2 – Twinning
Summary of progress towards objectives and details for each task
The following four objectives have been defined in IPERA Description of Work for the WP2:
Objective 2.1: Twin with CNRS-1 with respect to Research Topic A: Quantum Information;
Objective 2.2: Twin with CNRS-1 with respect to Research Topic B: Atomic and Matter Wave Physics;
Objective 2.3: Twin with CNRS-2 with respect to Research Topic C: Scintillating Materials;
Objective 2.4: Network with other research centres with respect to FP7 ICT, NMP and Research for SMEs research priorities.
The four tasks linked with these objectives are:
Task 2.1: Twinning relevant to Research Topic A: Quantum Information (Task leader: CNRS-1; Support: IPR-NAS);
Task 2.2: Twinning relevant to Research Topic B: Atomic and Matter Wave Physics (Task leader: CNRS-1; Support: IPR-NAS);
Task 2.3: Twinning relevant to Research Topic C: Scintillating Materials (Task leader: CNRS-2; Support: IPR-NAS);
Task 2.4: Networking with other research centres with respect to FP7 ICT, NMP and Research for SMEs research priorities (Task leader: Intelligentsia; Support: IPR-NAS).
Progress reports on these tasks for the two reporting periods of IPERA are presented in Deliverables D2.1 – D2.8. Summary on project proposals submitted for FP7 and H2020 calls is presented in Deliverable D2.9.
In the frame of Tasks 2.1 – 2.3 it was planned that IPR-NAS’ researchers will make extended bi-annual visits to CNRS-1 (2.1 2.2) and CNRS-2 (2.3) in order to exchange scientific knowledge and set up joint theoretical studies (2.1 2.2) and experiments (2.2 2.3) with their researchers. CNRS-1’s (2.1 2.2) and CNRS-2’s (2.3) researchers will make reciprocal annual visits to IPR-NAS.
The twinning implied transfer of knowledge, coordination of research activities and setting up joint experimental and theoretical studies, and were realized through reciprocal visits (in total 60 visits with twinning missions), joint supervision of PhD students, remote electronic communication.
Task 2.1 Twinning relevant to Research Topic A: Quantum Information (Task leader: CNRS-1; Support: IPR-NAS)
Detailed presentations of progress on this task attained during the first and second 18 month-periods of the project are presented in Deliverables D2.1 and D2.2.
The following major twinning activities on transfer of knowledge and setting up joint theoretical studies have been developed and/or initiated during the project lifetime.
Topic A1: Optical control of quantum information processes
- Deterministic production of N-photon states from a single atom-cavity system.
- Coherent propagation of a single photon in a lossless medium: storage and retrieval in multiple temporal modes.
- Study of radiofrequency radiation by means of optical effect of electromagnetically induced transparency.
- Heralded source of time-bin entangled single photons that are highly demanded for long distance quantum communication. In the suggested scheme the tunable narrowband single photons are entangled in well-separated multiple temporal modes (time bins) with controllable amplitudes.
- Demonstration of single photon pulse propagation without energy loss and its consistent transformation into a zero-area pulse when single photon is shorter than any relaxation time in a medium.
Topic A2: Coherence, state-selectivity and propagation of light in medium interacting with strong laser fields
- Control of propagation of light in resonant media.
- Entanglement and coherent interaction in resonance media.
- All optical reversible logic gates by application of adiabatic population transfer.
- The cyclic adiabatic population transfer methods for five-level diagrams in order to construct a four-bit universal reversible all-optical logic gate were studied. As suitable resonant media for experimental realizations one can employ thin crystalline films with rare-earth-ion-doped crystal matrices.
- A relatively simple technique of analytic calculation based on the method of quasienergies is proposed, which allows all necessary conditions for lossless short pulse propagation in a multilevel atomic medium to be revealed.
- Calculations of entanglement and thermodynamic properties within the framework of Dicke model in dispersion limit in case of large number of atoms in cavity, quantitative analysis of the gain of entanglement and finding optimal regimes.
Task 2.2: Twinning relevant to Research Topic B: Atomic and Matter Wave Physics (Task leader: CNRS-1; Support: IPR-NAS)
Detailed presentations of progress on this task attained during the first and second 18 month-periods of the project are presented in Deliverables D2.3 and D2.4.
The following major twinning activities on transfer of knowledge and setting up joint experiments and theoretical studies have been developed and/or initiated during the project lifetime.
Topic B1: Optical and magneto-optical processes in nanometric atomic cells
- Study of N-type and EIT-resonances formation in micrometric thin atomic vapor columns.
- Study of hyperfine Paschen-Back regime with the help of nanocells.
- Study of “forbidden” atomic transitions with the help of nanocells and new method for selective addressing of VSOP resonance amplification.
- The sub-natural-width N-type resonance in Λ-system, on the D2 line of Cs atoms is studied for the first time in the presence of a buffer gas (neon) and the radiations of two continuous narrow band diode lasers. 1 cm long cell is used to investigate N-type process.
- Simple and efficient λ-method and λ/2-method based on nanometric-thickness cell filled with are implemented to study the splitting of hyperfine transitions of 85Rb and 87Rb D1 line in an external magnetic field in the range of B = 0.5 - 0.7 T.
- Initiation of new joint research on molecular spectroscopy in high-temperature alkali vapor cells.
Topic B2: Coherent control of ultra-cold atom-molecular Bose-Einstein condensates
- Adiabatic and non-adiabatic transitions in nonlinear quantum systems.
- A technique of robust and efficient adiabatic passage for a driven nonlinear quantum system, describing the transfer to a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate from an atomic one by external fields.
- Initiation of new joint research on molecular spectroscopy in high-temperature alkali vapor cells.
Task 2.3: Twinning relevant to Research Topic C: Scintillating Materials (Task leader: CNRS-2; Support: IPR-NAS)
Detailed presentations of progress on this task attained during the first and second 18 month-periods of the project are presented in Deliverables D2.5 and D2.6.
The following major twinning activities on transfer of knowledge and setting up joint experiments have been developed and/or initiated during the project lifetime.
Topics C1: Materials preparation, and C2: Physical characterization
- Studies on radiation hardness of Lu-based garnets.
- Synthesis using PLAL technique and analysis of garnet nanocrystals.
- Optical and structural properties of Ce3+ and Pr3+ containing oxide scintillators.
- Studies of: (a) mechanisms of radiation induced damage in LuAG:Ce, (b) performance of bulk crystals grown by the vertical Bridgman method and fiber-shaped crystals grown by the micro-pulling down technique, (c) comparison with crystals of else composition and type, (d) means to improve the performance.
- Growth of GGAG garnets by the Czochralski method and of solid solution crystals in the LuAG-YAG:Ce system by the Bridgman method was implemented at IPR-NAS; the produced samples were analyzed by optical and x-ray methods. Scintillation and spectroscopic properties were studied by advanced methods at CNRS-2 and Ioffe Institute. The measured light yield of grown GGAG:Ce crystals is about 45000 ph/MeV, which is close to the best figures reported so far in the literature. The results suggest that medium level production of these crystals can be organized at IPR-NAS.
- An experimental setup was constructed for synthesis of scintillating nano-scale particles using pulsed laser ablation in liquids (PLAL) method developed at CNRS-2. Samples prepared by solid state reactions were used as targets. The targets (LuAG:Ce) were placed in the bottom of a quartz beaker which, in turn, was placed on a rotating pedestal (0.5 rps).
Task 2.4: Networking with other research centres with respect to FP7 ICT, NMP and Research for SMEs research priorities (Task leader: Intelligentsia; Support: IPR-NAS)
Detailed presentations of progress on this task attained during the first and second 18 month-periods of the project are presented in Deliverables D2.7 and D2.8.
The following major twinning activities on networking with other research centers with respect to FP7 ICT, NMP and research for SMEs research priorities have been developed and/or initiated during the project lifetime.
Preparation of FP7 & H2020 project proposals
Four FP7 proposals (GAPHOT, NANOMAT-EPC, SECURE-R2I, SCOOX) and one H2020 proposal (INTELUM) with participation of IPR-NAS have been submitted during the IPERA lifetime, assisted by Intelligentsia. It is worth noting that two FP7 proposals (NANOMAT-EPC and SECURE-R2I), as well as H2020 INTELUM proposal were successful.
Besides the proposals prepared and submitted in the frame of IPERA with support of Intelligentsia listed above, three other FP7 proposals with participation of IPR-NAS (COSMA, TheBarCode, and LIMACONA) have been submitted or started during the project. We find it relevant to mention these proposals in the present report, since these programs essentially support networking of IPR-NAS with other research centres with respect to FP7 research priorities. Moreover, the success of these proposals was partly caused by knowledge and expertise in FP7 acquired by IPR-NAS staff in the course of IPERA implementation.
The list below combines general information on FP7 and H2020 Calls proposals submitted with the participation of IPR-NAS in the period of 2011-2014.
1) 295025 – IPERA “Integrating the Institute for Physical Research of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia into ERA”, FP7-INCO-2011-6.1 ICT NMP (CAPACITIES, ERA-WIDE), started 2011 (36 months), completed.
2) 295264 – COSMA “Coherent Optics Sensors for Medical Applications”, FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IRSES (PEOPLE, MC), started 2012 (48 months), running.
3) 310750 – TheBarCode “Development of multifunctional Thermal Barrier Coatings and modeling tools for high temperature power generation with improved efficiency”, FP7-NMP-2012-SMALL-6 (COOPERATION, CP), started 2013 (36 months), running.
4) 327134 – GAPHOT “Application of novel approaches and crystal technologies to garnets for next generation photonic detectors”, FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IIF (PEOPLE, MC), (36 months), Not funded / Above threshold.
5) 608906 – NANOMAT-EPC “Deployment of Societally Beneficial Nano- and Material Technologies in European Partnership Countries”, FP7-NMP-2013-CSA-7 (COOPERATION), started 2013 (24 months), running.
6) 609534 – SECURE-R2I “Reinforcing cooperation with Eastern Partnership countries on bridging the gap between research and innovation for inclusive and secure societies”, FP7-INCO-2013-9.1 (CAPACITIES), started 2013 (36 months), running.
7) 612600 – LIMACONA “Light-Matter Coupling in composite Nano-Structures”, FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IRSES (PEOPLE, MC), started 2013 (36 months), running.
8) 624198 – SCOOX “Fibre and nanoscale shaped complex oxide scintillators for modern applications”, FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IIF (PEOPLE, MC), (36 months), Not funded / Above threshold.
9) 644260 – INTELUM “International and intersectoral mobility to develop advanced scintillating fibres and Cerenkov fibres for new hadron and jet calorimeters for future colliders”, H2020-MSCA-RISE-2014, 2015 (48 months), Approved/negotiation
Participation at EC organized info-days and brokerage events
Intelligentsia attended the Infoday on the new FP7 NMP calls held on 26 April 2012 at the University of Lorraine, Metz, France. During the Infoday, Intelligentsia learnt about the call “NMP.2013.4.0-5 Deployment of societally beneficial nano- and/or materials technologies in ICP countries”. Intelligentsia made IPR-NAS aware of NMP call and helped them to define a collaborative pilot project with the Laser Zentrum Hannover (LZH) called “Deployment of magnetic nanoparticles for medical applications” for inclusion in the FP7 proposal NANOMAT-EPC, which was submitted on 4 December 2012. The proposal was successfully evaluated (12.7/15) and the project is currently running.
Intelligentsia attended the Infoday on the new FP7 INCO Calls held on 11 July 2012 in Brussels with the express purpose of networking and preparing for the call "Reinforcing cooperation with European Neighbourhood Policy countries on bridging the gap between research and innovation" (FP7-INCO-2013-9, R2I-ENP). Intelligentsia made IPR-NAS and Redinet (Armenian telecoms SME) aware of the R2I-ENP call and helped them to define a collaborative pilot project “Towards secure quantum communication technologies” for inclusion in the FP7 proposal SECURE-R2I, which was submitted on 18 December 2012. The proposal was successfully evaluated (13/15) and the project is currently running.
In addition, Intelligentsia has regularly disseminated information on relevant FP7 NMP, ICT and Research for SMEs calls that matched IPR-NAS' R&D activities. In particular, Intelligentsia has encouraged IPR-NAS/CNRS to consider preparing a proposal about nanocells to FET Open Xtrack. Unfortunately, resource and timing constraints meant it was not possible to submit a proposal to the call deadline in January 2013.
IPR-NAS attended Horizon-2020 InfoDay held on 11th June, 2014 at the National Academy of Sciences, Yerevan, Armenia, organized by IncoNet EaP and FP7-609532-ener2i project. It was dedicated to Horizon 2020 EU framework programme for research and innovation, focusing on Energy, Climate and Environment, Health. The Plenary sessions included General overview of the Horizon 2020 programme and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, followed by two parallel sessions on “Health” and “Climate and Energy”.
Two work meetings (brokerage events) have been held during QuantArm 2014 International Conference and Workshop (22-26 September, Tsaghkadzor, Armenia) aiming at discussion of possible proposals and forming possible consortiums for Horizon 2020 open and forthcoming calls. There were 76 participants from 15 countries, leading scientists in the area were invited and therefore it was a great opportunity for brokerage events. The open calls of potential interest, the eligibility criteria, as well as funding schemes have been presented and discussed during the first meeting. 87 calls have been chosen as a first selection. As a result of discussions during the first meeting, a “shortlist” selection of 23 open and forthcoming H2020 calls was formed and distributed among the QuantArm 2014 participants in advance, which was discussed in detail during the second meeting. Ideas on new consortiums have been formed, and some calls, notably “FET Open – Novel ideas for radically new technologies”, “Marie Skłodowska‐Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE)” have been chosen to be considered for writing joint proposals.
Crystal Clear Collaboration
This activity relates to Research Topic C. The Crystal Clear Collaboration, or "CCC". It was created in 1990 and approved by the CERN Detector Research and Development Committee as RD18 in April 1991, with the objective of developing new inorganic scintillators suitable for crystal electromagnetic calorimeters of LHC experiments. Armenia is among 20 participating institutions of CCC.
Prof. A. Petrosyan (IPR-NAS) and Prof. C. Dujardin (CNRS-2) participated at the Crystal Clear Collaboration 56th General Meeting (19 April 2012) and Steering Committee Meeting (20 April 2012) held at University Milano Biccoca (Italy), as well as at the 58th General Meeting (28 November 2013). The main discussions were on current status and perspectives of LuAG:Ce(Pr)-based scintillators for applications in high energy physics and medical imaging fields. The Steering Committee Meeting was focused on current activity of the collaboration on new materials and imaging systems; next steps on joint studies by the CERN, CNRS-2 and IPR-NAS groups on scintillator development; analyses of the recent scintillation measurements performed by CERN and CNRS-2 groups on LuAG:Pr,Sc and LuAG:Ce,Sc; and definition of the general strategy and next compositions for studies.
Participation at key European conferences on IPERA Research topics
Prof. D. Sarkisyan (IPR-NAS) has been selected as a member of International Advisory Committee of the 17th International School on Quantum Electronics “Laser physics and applications”, held on 24-28 September 2012 in Nessebar, Bulgaria. His attendance and active participation at the event resulted in signing a Cooperation Agreement between IPR-NAS and Institute of Electronics of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Sofia) on 7 November 2012, as well as deepening and extending collaboration with the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London (UK); Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, UMR 7538 du CNRS, Université Paris13 - Sorbonne Paris Cité (France); Dipartimento di Fisica Universita di Siena (Italy); St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies Mechanics and Optics (Russia); and other centres.
Participation of IPR-NAS’ and consortium’s researchers and students at conferences on IPERA Research Topics A, B, C for the period of M19-M36 is presented in detail in Deliverables D2.1 – D2.6 and listed in the Section 2.2.2 below.
Links of IPR-NAS researchers with European centers outside IPERA consortium
The linkage of IPR-NAS with the European and other foreign research centers on Research Topics of IPERA project was mainly realized via scientific visits of the IPR-NAS’ researchers and students to these centres, as well as reciprocal visits in the frames of FP7 and other programmes. The main activities involved (linked with over 4-week stay):
- Collaboration with Prof. I.A. Walmsley's group, Clarendon Lab, Oxford University, Oxford, UK on compact continuous-variable entanglement distillation protocol in presence of losses (Research Topic A); IPR-NAS visitor: PhD student L. Chakhmakhchyan (funding from European ITN Marie Curie program FASTQUAST FP7-PEOPLE-214962);
- Collaboration with Prof. Dmitri Budker's group, Berkeley University, CA, USA on non-linear magneto optical effects in pulsed probe field regime in hollow-core crystal fibers (Research Topic A); IPR-NAS visitor: Dr. A. Gogyan (funding by National Foundation of Science and Advanced Technologies, Armenia);
- Collaboration with the groups of Prof. A. Wilson-Gordon, Bar-Ilan University Prof. R. Folman, Ben-Gurion University, Israel, on N-type narrow resonance formation in double lambda-system and narrowband R-type resonance formation in a -system, on the D1 line of Rb atomic vapor using two continuous diode lasers with = 795 nm (Research Topic B); IPR-NAS visitor: Dr. D. Sarkisyan (funding by European IRSES Marie Curie program COSMA FP7-PEOPLE-295264);
- Collaboration with the Lab. of Prof. S. Cartaleva, Institute of Electronics, BAS, Sofia, Bulgaria, and Prof. E. Mariotti, Universita di Siena, Italy on N-type narrow resonance formation in Cs atomic vapor and its splitting in magnetic field (Research Topic B); IPR-NAS visitor: Dr. A. Sargsyan; visits of European researchers to IPR-NAS: Prof. S. Cartaleva, A. Krasteva, Institute of Electronics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Dr. E. Mariotti Universita di Siena, Italy (funding from European IRSES Marie Curie program COSMA FP7-PEOPLE-295264).
- Collaboration with Prof. Stefano Ruffo's group, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Florence, Italy on the study of kinetic and statistical properties of long-range interacting systems on spatially embedded random networks; IPR-NAS visitor: PhD student L. Chakhmakhchyan (funding from University of Florence);
- Collaboration with Prof. W. Gawlik, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Kraków, Poland, on use of micrometric- thin cells for application of saturated absorption for quantitative studies of frequency splitting and shifts of the Rb atomic transitions in a wide range of external magnetic fields, from 0.2 up to 6 kG (Research Topic B); IPR-NAS visitor: Dr. R. Mirzoyan (funding from European IRSES Marie Curie program COSMA FP7-PEOPLE-295264);
Networking with Armenian ICT & NMP SMEs
Aiming at strengthening the IPR-NAS’ capability in innovation, technology transfer and commercialization of research results, as well as to facilitate linkage of IPR-NAS with European SMEs, the Institute management team and researchers had numerous meetings and discussions with management staff and technologists of key Armenian companies (SMEs) working in the field of ICT and NMP. Particular ways of collaboration of mutual interest have been outlined. We list below the summary of accords, arrangements and expectations achieved with Armenian companies.
• Spectralus CJSC. Company profile: laser technologies. Links with IPR-NAS: Two IPR-NAS’ researchers employed part time at the Company. A student of the Company makes his PhD thesis supervised by IPR-NAS researcher (2012 -). Some research activities of the Company are performed at IPR-NAS on contractual basis. Green lasers produced by the Company sold to IPR-NAS with discounts. Expectations: Mutually beneficial collaboration: part of R&D work for the Company will be done at IPR-NAS; IPR-NAS will have an access to production, testing and characterization facilities of the Company.
• Redinet CJSC. Company profile: information and communication technologies. Links with IPR-NAS: Initiation of cooperation and coordination of efforts to meet challenges of quantum information and communication technologies. Joint FP7 proposal Secure-R2I (twinning via R2I pilot project). Expectations: Implementation of IPR-NAS’ developments in new generation information technologies (quantum communication, data encryption, etc.); dissemination and implantation of quantum communication technologies developed at IPR-NAS in Armenia ensuring the standardization and security of communication equipment.
• LT-Pyrkal CJSC. Company profile: laser technologies. Links with IPR-NAS: Offer of the Company to present IPR-NAS’ products in the area rented by the Company at the annual CLEO®/Europe-IQEC international exhibitions in Munich. Coordination of Armenian R&D and industrial sectors via jointly operated structures (Armenian Territorial Committee for Optics, Armenian Laser Association). Advertising Armenian hi-tech companies and attraction of students and recent graduates in industrial sector via jointly organized international conferences and summer schools. Expectations: Promotion of IPR-NAS’ R&D developments to the market by the Company.
• National Instruments Armenia Corporation Company. Company profile: scientific and technological instrumentation. Links with IPR-NAS: Two IPR-NAS’ researchers employed part time at the Company. Offer of the Company to use its devices free of charge for the research at IPR-NAS. Free training of two IPR-NAS’ young researchers on hardware and software solutions, aiming at implementation of acquired knowledge for their studies at the IPR-NAS (optical imaging systems, heating control, etc.). The Company has paid IPR-NAS’ optical imaging prototype device stand at DIGITEC-2012 exhibition in Yerevan. Expectations: Mutually beneficial cooperation: the IPR-NAS uses for free the Company’s products for its research, exploiting new R&D applications that can be further brought to the market by the Company; identification and exploitation of new market niches; elaboration of hardware & software solutions and technologies for scientific and educational applications that can be implemented at IPR-NAS and NI.
• Precision Sensors & Instrumentation Ltd. Company profile: seismic sensors. Links with IPR-NAS: Three IPR-NAS’ researchers employed part time at the Company. Readiness to organize elaboration of technology resulting from IPR-NAS’ research and its licensing via the Company based on bilateral agreement. Expectations: Marketing support and bypassing legal difficulties in creation of spin-offs; joint development of new medical sensor technologies.
• Bagdasarov Crystals Group. Company profile: production of single crystals. Links with IPR-NAS: IPR-NAS’ researcher employed part time at the Company. Contractual use of IPR-NAS’ coating and other facilities by the Company. Crystal processing for IPR-NAS’ research. Expectations: Contractual two-way collaboration.
• ARD-Optics LLC. Company profile: optical technologies. Links with IPR-NAS: Identifying international market demand for hi-tech optical components via jointly organized workshops. Expectations: Sub-contracting IPR-NAS in crystal growth for particular orders received by the Company from European organizations and industrial companies.
Cooperation with industrial partners included also joint research for industry (e.g. with Spectralus CJSC), contractual service work (e.g. with ARD-Optics LLC), joint organization of conferences and exhibitions (with LT-Pyrkal CJSC), etc. Direct and diverse daily work with industrial companies helps acquiring knowledge, experience and skills for market-oriented activity.
Survey of European research centres, universities and international organizations
- A list of relevant European organizations and individual scientists was formed aiming at their involvement in international conference and workshop QuantArm 2014 to be organized within IPERA project, mainly oriented to widen and deepen European collaboration of IPR-NAS.
- The general meeting of Armenian Territorial Committee for Optics held on 29 April 2014 with the participation of all branches of Armenian optics: research, education, and industry. There were 40 participants from 15 companies, institutes and universities. Armenian TCO is a platform allowing merging capacities, expertise, and capabilities of all the Armenian optics entities through coordination of activities from education through research to industry, which strengthens international collaboration potential.
- International professional organizations (ICO, ICTP, SPIE, OSA) have been involved in organization of the 2nd International Symposium on Optics and its Applications- “OPTICS-2014” (ICTP activity smr 2633) held in Yerevan and Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) on 1-5 September 2014. This increased IPR-NAS’ participation and visibility in international professional societies and organizations, which cover thematically IPERA research topics.
Involvement of young researchers and students in European research networking
The following activities were achieved / developed during the project lifetime:
- IPR-NAS – CNRS-1 jointly co-supervised PhD students Hrant Hakhumyan, Rafayel Mirzoyan, and Levon Chakhmakhchyan have obtained their Armenian and French PhD diploma (Research Topics A and B);
- IPR-NAS – CNRS-1 jointly co-supervised PhD students Mariam Gevorgyan and Ara Tonoyan started their PhD studies at IPR-NAS and CNRS-1 (Research Topic B);
- PhD student Varsenik Nersesyan started her jointly co-supervised PhD studies at IPR-NAS and Gent University, Belgium.
- Three students from different Armenian research organizations (IPR-NAS [member of LIA IRMAS], YSU, and SPUA) have been accepted to do their master studies at the Université de Bourgogne (CNRS-1), at the newly opened International Master: Physics, Photonics, Nanotechnology in Dijon, France, granted by UB or French Embassy.
Significant results
The most significant results of twinning activities achieved during the project implementation are:
• Good publication and presentation record: 36 journal articles, which contain IPERA acknowledgement, 4 to be published shortly; 75 conference materials, which contain IPERA reference or logo; 3 defended co-supervised French/Armenian PhD theses on Research Topics A and B with IPERA acknowledgment in the thesis report. The full list of published and reported materials is presented in Section 2.2.2.
• Twinning on Research Topics A and B through co-supervision of five PhD students by researchers from IPR-NAS and CNRS-1; twinning in the frame of International Associated Laboratory IRMAS covering IPERA Research Topics and involving IPR-NAS, CNRS-1 and CNRS-2 teams.
• Successful preparation of FP7 and H2020 proposal; wide involvement of IPR-NAS in the EU FP7 Programme (see the list above).
• Strengthening of links of IPR-NAS researchers with European centres outside IPERA consortium; supporting and encouraging of Armenian graduate and undergraduate students to conduct research/education in Europe.
- WP3 – Dissemination and Promotion
The following four objectives have been defined in IPERA Description of Work for the WP3:
Objective 3.1: Design and implement a project web-portal
Objective 3.2: Support the web-portal operation and maintenance
Objective 3.3: Produce promotion material for project’s events
Objective 3.4: Organization of scientific conference
The four tasks linked with these objectives are:
Task 3.1: Portal design, development and implementation (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All partners);
Task 3.2: Portal operation & maintenance (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: Intelligentsia);
Task 3.3: Promotion material (Task leader: Intelligentsia; Support: All partners);
Task 3.4: Conference (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All partners).
Progress reports on these tasks are presented in submitted Deliverables D3.1 – D3.6.
Task 3.1: Portal design, development and implementation (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All partners)
The IPERA web portal has been designed, developed and implemented by June 2012 (M7), according to accepted timeline (Deliverable D3.1). This work was done by the Consortium staff (IPR-NAS & Intelligentsia, supported by CNRS-1 and CNRS-2), without involvement (sub-contracting) of external experts/companies. The link to IPERA web portal is http://www.ip-era.eu/. The web portal includes the following sections:
- Home;
- Project details (sub-sections: Overview; Objectives; Topics; Impacts);
- Partners (sub-sections: Coordinator; Partners);
- Events and news (sub-sections: List of events; News);
- Publications (sub-sections: Promotional; Scientific; Conference);
- Contact;
- Log in (intranet).
During the reporting period there were over 3000 visits to IPERA portal.
Task 3.2: Portal operation & maintenance (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: Intelligentsia)
Operation and maintenance of the web portal, including regular updates and improvements, as well as uploads of documents is carried out by IPR-NAS (responsible person: A. Gogyan) & Intelligentsia (responsible person: D. Bezdan).
Task 3.3: Promotion material (Task leader: Intelligentsia; Support: All partners)
Materials for publicity and promotion have been organized, designed and produced under this task, namely:
• Project leaflet (2 pages, A4 size); Powerpoint presentation providing overview of the project; as well as project poster.
• Promotion guide about IPR-NAS (Deliverable D3.2).
• Three Project newsletters (Deliverables D3.3 D3.4 D3.5).
• Preparation and maintenance of the IPERA Facebook page.
• Preparation and maintenance of the QuantArm 2014 Conference and Workshop page.
• Publication of significant results from joint theoretical and experimental studies in peer reviewed journals and presentation of obtained results at international conferences and workshops.
Published journal articles and conference materials
All the materials published or presented during the project lifetime (uploaded in the Research Participant Portal under “Publications” and “Dissemination Activities”):
• 36 scientific articles in reviewed journals, + 4 submitted/accepted
• 75 oral and poster presentations at 34 international conferences and workshops
All the articles contain acknowledgement of IPERA Project, as is provided for in the Annex II of the IPERA Grant Agreement: “The work leading to this invention has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 295025- IPERA”.
Other dissemination materials include 2 articles published in Armenian scientific-popular journal “Gitutyan Ashkharhum” (“In the World of Science”) for popularization of quantum information and atomic / matter wave physics in Armenia; 2 presentations of IPERA and IPR-NAS achievements at the EU-organized conferences; announcement of IPERA as a Project of Month – June 2013 by incrEAST.
Participants from IPR-NAS, CNRS-1, and CNRS-2 have jointly attended 27 international conferences and meetings outside the IPERA venues for presenting the obtained results.
Task 3.4: Conference (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All partners)
The QuantArm 2014 opening was held at the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Yerevan, on September 22nd, afterwards the participants have been transferred to the main venue of the Conference/Workshop in Tsaghkadzor, Armenia, approximately 55 km north of Yerevan. The QuantArm 2014 was attended by 76 participants including leading scientists and young researchers representing the EU Member States (29 participants: from Denmark (1), France (12), Germany (10), Hungary (1), Italy (2), United Kingdom (3)), the Associated Countries (4 participants: from Israel (1), Switzerland (3)), the Eastern Partnership Countries (37 participants: from Armenia (34), Belarus (2), Ukraine (1)), as well as from Australia (1), Japan (1), Russia (3), and USA (3). Among the presenters and attendees of the Conference were 21 students and young researchers.
The Conference included talks by keynote speakers, regular talks, and poster presentations on research topics of FP7 IPERA project:
‐ Quantum information,
‐ Atomic and matter wave physics,
‐ Scintillating materials,
‐ Applied photonics and materials,
as well as related subjects, which cover thematic priorities of the Horizon 2020 programme relevant to the research directions of the Institute for Physical Research, in particular:
‐ Advanced photonics for security, information and communication technologies,
‐ Advanced materials and nanotechnologies.
Overall 62 Conference presentations were reported:
‐ 12 talks at plenary sessions (40 min + 5 min for questions),
‐ 35 regular talks at parallel sessions (25 min + 5 min for questions),
‐ 15 poster presentations.
The Workshop comprised:
‐ 2 brokerage events on Horizon 2020 open calls,
‐ Summer School (seminars/lectures by key scientists on advanced areas of physics),
‐ Training on proposal writing,
‐ IPERA 4th Project Review Meeting (restricted participation),
‐ Exhibition of IPR‐NAS’ products.
A meeting with representatives of French Embassy has been held in Tsaghkadzor too with the participation of LIA‐IRMAS (French‐Armenian International Associated Laboratory) members and other participants from France. All the relevant information on Conference and Workshop is publicly available, posted at the QuantArm 2014 website, including the Abstract Book, as well as photo gallery.
The QuantArm 2014 provided a good occasion to summarize the achievements of scientific collaboration of IPR‐NAS with European research centers attained during the IPERA Project. It has proved high collaborative potential and international competitiveness of research carried out at the IPR‐NAS. Also, the event was surely successful in expansion and deepening the existing links and establishment of new international (notably European) collaboration, and active involvement of IPR-NAS in the EU Horizon 2020 projects.
Significant results
The most significant results of dissemination and promotion activities achieved during the project lifetime are:
• Appearance of IPERA as a Project of the month (June 2013) at IncrEAST web site.
• Good publication and presentation record: 36 journal articles (+ 4 in press), which contain IPERA acknowledgement, and 75 conference materials, which contain IPERA reference or logo; 3 defended co-supervised French/Armenian PhD theses with IPERA acknowledgment in the theses report.
• Successful organization of QuantArm 2014 Conference and Workshop with the attendance of 76 participants from 15 countries.
• Promotion of IPERA and European integration of Armenian R&D organizations at European-Eastern Partnership policy stakeholders’ conferences in Vilnius and Riga.
- WP4 – Training Development
Summary of progress towards objectives and details for each task
The following five objectives have been defined in IPERA Description of Work for the WP4:
Objective 4.1: Develop training modules relevant to Research Topic A: Quantum Information;
Objective 4.2: Develop training modules relevant to Research Topic B: Atomic and Matter Wave Physics;
Objective 4.3: Develop training modules relevant to Research Topic C: Scintillating Materials;
Objective 4.4: Develop training modules relevant to FP7 ICT, NMP and Research for SMEs research priorities;
Objective 4.5: Develop training modules to facilitate knowledge and technology transfer with electronics and IT industry.
The five tasks linked with these objectives are:
Task 4.1: Training development relevant to Research Topic A: Quantum Information (Task leader: CNRS-1; Support: IPR-NAS);
Task 4.2: Training development relevant to Research Topic B: Atomic and Matter Wave Physics (Task leader: CNRS-1; Support: IPR-NAS);
Task 4.3: Training development relevant to Research Topic C: Scintillating Materials (Task leader: CNRS-2; Support: IPR-NAS);
Task 4.4: Training development relevant to FP7 research priorities (Task leader: Intelligentsia; Support: IPR-NAS);
Task 4.5: Training development relevant to knowledge and technology transfer (Task leader: Intelligentsia; Support: IPR-NAS).
Progress reports on these tasks for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years of the project are presented in Deliverables D4.1 D4.2 and D4.3.
In the frame of Tasks 2.1 – 2.3 it was planned that IPR-NAS’s researchers will make extended bi-annual visits to CNRS-1 (4.1 4.2) and CNRS-2 (4.3) in order to organise training modules and deliver workshops for experienced researchers and summer schools for young researchers. CNRS-1’s (4.1 4.2) and CNRS-2’s (4.3) researchers will make reciprocal annual visits to IPR-NAS to provide training. For training courses held at IPR-NAS, interested scientists and engineers from other Armenian research organizations and private companies – and other EECA countries will be invited to attend.
In the frame of Tasks 4.4 and 4.5 it was planned that Intelligentsia will make annual visits to IPR-NAS to provide research proposal preparation training tailored to specific calls of FP7, e.g. ICT, NMP and Research for SMEs, and other international programmes, e.g. ISTC and CRDF (4.4) and training development to facilitate knowledge and technology transfer between IPR-NAS and the national electronics and IT industry (4.5). The training courses for Task 4.4 to be held with relevant structures of NAS-RA (International S&T Programmes Department & NCPs) and interested scientists and engineers from other Armenian research organizations and private companies – and other EECA countries. An effort will be made to attract young scientists/engineers to attend the training events. Also for training on Task 4.5 held at IPR-NAS, interested scientists and engineers from other Armenian research organizations and private companies – and other EECA countries- to be invited.
There were 53 visits with training missions during the project lifetime, omitting the regular mutual visits of IPR-NAS & CNRS-1 jointly co-supervised students funded by the French Embassy in Yerevan.
57 training modules have been developed and delivered during the project lifetime. Besides conventional training format, also alternative ways of training delivery, such as doctoral dissertations under international joint supervision, coaching via skype calls, emails and written documents, have been implemented.
The training modules are prepared in the following format: - Title; - Author(s); - Way of delivery; - Date and place; - Motivation and aim; - Recipient; - Essence; - Outcome; - Additional information (e.g. presentation file, list of participants, etc.). We present below concise descriptions of training modules sorted by tasks.
Task 4.1: Training development relevant to Research Topic A: Quantum Information (Task leader: CNRS-1; Support: IPR-NAS)
A1: optical control of quantum information processes & A2: coherence, state-selectivity and propagation of light in medium interacting with strong laser fields:
4.1.1 4.1.4 4.1.8 - Control of propagation of light in resonant media (Entanglement and coherent interaction in resonance media) - C. Leroy, S. Guerin (CNRS-1), G. Grigoryan (IPR-NAS) - Doctoral dissertation under international joint-supervision - 01/12/2011-21/072014, Dijon (CNRS-1) and Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - Levon Chakhmakhchyan, 1st/2nd/3rd year PhD student - Armenian and French PhD diploma issued.
4.1.2 - Numerical calculations and modelling of quantum phenomena using Matlab and FORTRAN codes - C. Leroy, Y. Pashayan-Leroy (CNRS-1) - Individual training (lecture & practical) - 01/03, 17/05, 08/10/2012, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - 5-7 students and young researchers of IPR-NAS.
4.1.3 - Current status of single-photon optics in coherent media - Yu. Malakyan (IPR-NAS) - Seminar presentation, individual discussions with PhD students - 14-25/10/2012, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 15 students and professors of CNRS-1.
4.1.5 - (i) Methods of efficient solution of Bloch-Maxwell combined equations using Matlab; (ii) Decoherence effects and their calculation during atomic ensemble - light interactions - Y. Pashayan-Leroy (CNRS-1) - Individual training - 01-11/06/2013, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - 3 PhD students from IPR-NAS.
4.1.6 - An atom in a cavity and photon generation - A. Gogyan (IPR-NAS) - Seminar presentation - 12/12/2012, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 15 students and professors of CNRS-1
4.1.7 - Quantum frequency conversion and generation of entanglement of two single-photon pulses by their spatiotemporal distribution - Sh. Petrosyan, A. Gogyan (IPR-NAS) - Seminar presentation - 22-29/06/2013, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 10 students and professors of CNRS-1.
4.1.9 - Mathematical modelling of multi-qubit entangled states - C. Leroy (CNRS-1) - Individual training - 22-30/09/2014, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - Levon Chakhmakhchyan (IPR-NAS).
4.1.10 - Basics of quantum information: qubits, logic gates, entanglement - A. Gogyan (IPR-NAS) - Lecture presentation - 13-15/01/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 10 bachelor students of CNRS-1.
4.1.11 - Deterministic source of time-bin entangled narrowband photons with controlled waveform - A. Gogyan (IPR-NAS) - Seminar presentation - 24-30/05/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 10 bachelor students of CNRS-1.
4.1.12 - Towards quantum cryptography, quantum key distribution - A. Gogyan (IPR-NAS) - Seminar presentation - 16/10/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 15 international master students and PhD students of CNRS-1.
4.1.13 - Towards Protocols for generating entanglement by means of light fields in systems of mutually coupled qubits - L. Chakhmakhchyan (IPR-NAS) - Seminar presentation - 06-22/11/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 20 students and professors of CNRS-1.
4.1.14 - Towards Quantum Cryptography and Quantum Key Distribution - A. Gogyan (IPR-NAS) - Seminar training - 02/07/2014, Lancaster University, UK - About 20 students and professors from Lancaster University, UK and Redinet Ltd. Yerevan, Armenia.
4.1.15 - Semiconductors for the implementation of quantum information processes - Yu. Malakyan (IPR-NAS), P. Yannakopoulos (TEIP), Piraeus, Greece - Seminar presentation; on-site demonstra-tion of SI-GaAs semiconductors - 14-22/10/2014, TEIP, Greece - Anahit Gogyan (IPR-NAS); TEIP Computer Systems Engineering Department staff.
Task 4.2: Training development relevant to Research Topic B: Atomic and Matter Wave Physics (Task leader: CNRS-1; Support: IPR-NAS)
B1: optical and magneto-optical processes in nanometric-thin cells:
4.2.1 - Study of optical and magneto-optical processes in Rb atomic vapour layer of nanometric thickness - C. Leroy, Y. Pashayan-Leroy (CNRS-1), D. Sarkisyan (IPR-NAS) - Doctoral dissertation under international joint-supervision - 01/12/2011-31/05/2012, Dijon (CNRS-1) and Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - Hrant (Grant) Hakhumyan, 3rd year PhD student - Armenian and French PhD diploma issued
4.2.2 4.2.5 - Study of the coherent effects in rubidium atomic vapor under bi-chromatic laser radiation - C. Leroy, Y. Pashayan-Leroy (CNRS-1), D. Sarkisyan, A. Papoyan (IPR-NAS) - Doctoral dissertation under international joint-supervision - 01/12/2011-31/05/2013, Dijon (CNRS-1) and Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - Rafayel Mirzoyan, 2nd/3rd year PhD student - Armenian and French diploma issued.
4.2.3 - Selective reflection of light as a spectroscopic tool - A. Papoyan (IPR-NAS) - Presentation talk followed by discussion - 13/06/2012, Dijon (CNRS-1) - 15 master and PhD students, researchers, and professors of CNRS-1.
4.2.6 4.2.9 - Study of the coherent effects in rubidium atomic vapor under bi-chromatic laser radiation - C. Leroy (CNRS-1), D. Sarkisyan (IPR-NAS) - Doctoral dissertation under international joint-supervision - 01/11/2013-30/11/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) and Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - Ara Tonoyan, 1st – 2nd year PhD student.
4.2.7 - (i) Some aspects of electromagnetically induced transparency: coherent processes, storage and retrieval of light in the medium; (ii) EIT in nanocells: influence of atom-atom and atom-wall collisions - Claude Leroy (CNRS-1) - Individual training - 01-11/06/2013, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - 5 master and PhD students of IPR-NAS.
4.2.10 - Theoretical treatment of coherent processes in nanocells filled with alkali atoms in the presence of strong magnetic field - C. Leroy, Y. Pashayan-Leroy (CNRS-1) - Individual training - 21/09-03/10/ 2014, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS), Tsaghkadzor - 2 master and 1 PhD students of IPR-NAS.
4.2.11 - Atomic spectroscopy with nanocells - A. Papoyan (IPR-NAS) - Lecture presentation; questions & answers - 13-15/01/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 10 bachelor students of CNRS-1.
B2: coherent control of ultra-cold atom-molecular Bose-Einstein condensates:
4.2.4 4.2.8 4.2.12 - Molecular Bose-Einstein condensate formation (Phase transitions in non-linear quantum systems) - H.R. Jauslin (CNRS-1), A. Ishkhanyan (IPR-NAS) - Doctoral dissertation under international joint-supervision - 25/10/2012-30/11/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) and Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - Mariam Gevorgyan, 1st /2nd year PhD student.
4.2.13 - Applications of the Heun class of functions in contemporary physics and mathematics research - A. Ishkhanyan (IPR-NAS) - Series of seminar presentations - 09-25/07/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 10 students and professors of CNRS-1.
4.2.14 - Influence of irreversible losses in stimulated Raman transitions from atomic to molecular Bose-Einstein condensates - A. Ishkhanyan (IPR-NAS) - Seminar presentation - 09-25/07/2014, Dijon (CNRS-1) - About 10 students and professors of CNRS-1.
Task 4.3: Training development relevant to Research Topic C: Scintillating Materials (Task leader: CNRS-2; Support: IPR-NAS)
C1: materials preparation & C2: physical characterization:
4.3.1 - Development of a new class of ultra-fast photon detectors to be used in PET (positron emission tomography) and high energy physics - Ch. Dujardin (CNRS-2), A. Petrosyan (IPR-NAS) - Training combined with The PicoSEC Network (org. by CERN and FiberCryst) - 12-14/09/2012, Lyon (CNRS-2) - Recent graduates and international experts (from France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain).
4.3.2 - Pulsed laser ablation in liquid - D. Amans, Ch. Dujardin (CNRS-2) - Participation to nanoparticle synthesis for dissemination at IPR-NAS - 14/09/2012, Lyon (CNRS-2) - A. Petrosyan, R. Sargsyan, other members of IPR-NAS Topic C team.
4.3.3 - Solid state chemistry and crystal growth (Growth of scintillator crystals using melt techniques) - A. Petrosyan (IPR-NAS) - Lecture followed by discussion - 13/09/2012, Lyon (CNRS-2) - 14 researchers supervisors involved also in the PICOSEC MC-NET Project.
4.3.4 - Scintillating Materials; Luminescent Nanoparticles - Ch. Dujardin (CNRS-2) - Training seminar - 19-20/06/2013, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - About 25 researchers of the IPR-NAS.
4.3.5 - Techniques for growth of fiber crystals - Kh. Lebbou (CNRS-2) - Training seminar - 04/07/2013, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - 15 researchers of the IPR-NAS.
4.3.6 - Nanoparticle preparation by laser ablation in liquids using target materials prepared at IPR-NAS by solid-state reactions - D. Amans, Ch. Dujardin (CNRS-2) - Participation to nanoparticle synthesis for dissemination at IPR-NAS - 18/01-07/02/2013, Lyon (CNRS-2) - R. Sargsyan, other members of IPR-NAS Topic C team.
4.3.7 - Radiation hardness of garnet scintillators - A. Petrosyan (IPR-NAS) - Personal training - 16-18/07/2013, Lyon (CNRS-2) - 4 researchers from CNRS-2.
4.3.8 - (i) New conceptions to improve the radiation hardness of LuAG:Ce and experimental results; (ii) Development of perovskite materials exhibiting weak emission in the visible - A. Petrosyan (IPR-NAS) - Personal training - 27/11-06/12/2013, Lyon (CNRS-2) - 5 researchers from CNRS-2.
4.3.9 - Expertise in micro-pulling-down (μ-PD) method for growth of single-crystalline fibers - Kh. Lebbou (CNRS-2) - Individual training; on-site demonstration of experimental techniques - 23/06-16/07/2014, Lyon (CNRS-2) - R. Sargsyan (IPR-NAS).
4.3.10 - Pulsed laser ablation in liquids (PLAL) method for synthesis of nanoscale particles - D. Amans (CNRS-2) - Individual training; on-site demonstration of experimental techniques - 23/06-16/07/2014, Lyon (CNRS-2) - R. Sargsyan (IPR-NAS).
4.3.11 - Substrates for scintillating thin films - A. Petrosyan, R. Sargsyan (IPR-NAS) - Individual training; on-site demonstration of experimental techniques - 11-25/05/2014, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - F. Riva (ESRF, Grenoble; CNRS-2).
4.3.12 - GdGaAG:Ce crystal series with Ce concentration in the range 0.3-1 at% - A. Petrosyan (IPR-NAS) - Individual training - 08-17/10/2014, Lyon (CNRS-1) - M.F. Joubert, Ch. Dujardin, G. Patton, F. Moretti, Kh. Lebbou.
Task 4.4: Training development relevant to FP7 research priorities (Task leader: Intelligentsia; Support: IPR-NAS)
Training relevant to FP7 ICT & NMP; Research for SMEs:
4.4.1 - Introduction to Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship (FP7 People) - G. Brandon (Intelligentsia) – Lecture - 01/03/2012, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - About 12-15 IPR-NAS’ young researchers.
4.4.2 - Preparation of the Marie Curie IIF application “Application of novel approaches and crystal technologies to garnets for next generation photonic/scintillation detectors (GAPHOT)” - F. Massi, G. Brandon (Intelligentsia) - Coaching via skype calls, emails and written documents - 07/06-16/08/2012, Armenia and Luxembourg - R. Sargsyan (IPR-NAS).
4.4.3 - How to prepare an application for international grant program - A. Papoyan (IPR-NAS) - Lecture at ISTC Training Course “Commercialization of Scientific Developments” - 10/07/2012, Tsakhkadzor, Armenia - 25 students and young staff from Armenian research organizations (including IPR-NAS) and universities.
4.4.4 - Open calls of FP7 and Marie-Curie actions - A. Gogyan (IPR-NAS) – Presentation - 09/02/2012, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - 10 students and young researchers from IPR.
4.4.5 - Introduction to Marie-Curie Actions and Open Calls - D. Bezdan (Intelligentsia) – Presentation - 02/04/2012, Dijon (CNRS-1) - 15 students and young researchers from CNRS-1 (also from IPR-NAS).
4.4.6 - (i) Training on Marie Curie Incoming International Fellowship”, (ii) “Experience of FP7 Proposal Writing and Project Management - G. Brandon (Intelligentsia) - FP7 IPERA and SiSNet Projects Joint Training Seminar on FP7 Evolution and Horizon 2020 Bridging - 11/06/2013, Yerevan (IPR-NAS) - About 20 young researchers from NAS of Armenia.
4.4.7 - Preparation of the Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship application “Fibre and nanoscale shaped complex oxide scintillators for modern applications (SCOOX) - F. Massi, G. Brandon (Intelligentsia) - Coaching via skype calls, emails and written documents - 01/06-15/08/ 2013, Armenia and Luxembourg - R. Sargsyan (IPR-NAS)
4.4.8 - (i) Horizon 2020: Introduction and Future insights”; (ii) “FP7: How it Works?”; (iii) “European Project Proposal Evaluation” - T. Tuisk (Estonian Research Council) - FP7 IPERA and SiSNet Projects Joint Training Seminar on FP7 Evolution and Horizon 2020 Bridging - 11/06/2013, Yerevan (IPR-NAS) - About 20 NAS of Armenia young researchers.
4.4.9 - How to Write a Good Proposal - K. Bergmann (Dept. Phys. and OPTIMAS Res. Center, Techn. University Kaiserslautern, Germany) - Training lecture - 22-26/09/2014, Tsaghkadzor, Armenia - 75 participants of QuantArm 2014 conference and workshop (including CNRS-1, CNRS-2, and IPR-NAS’ researchers and students).
Task 4.5: Training development relevant to knowledge and technology transfer (Task leader: Intelligentsia; Support: IPR-NAS)
General technology transfer:
4.5.1 - Preparation of the FP7 NMP proposal “Deployment of Societally Beneficial Nano- and Material Technologies in European Partnership Countries (NANOMAT-EPC)” - G. Brandon (Intelligentsia) - Coaching via skype calls, emails and written documents - 11/09-04/12/ 2012, Armenia and Luxembourg - A. Papoyan, A. Manukyan (IPR-NAS).
4.5.2 - Technology transfer planning - G. Brandon, D. Bezdan (Intelligentsia) - Skype calls, emails and written documents - 01/09-30/11/2013, Luxembourg (Intelligentsia), Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - Technology Transfer Office (IPR-NAS).
4.5.3 - Commercialization of scientific innovations and technologies: (i) The role and importance of science, innovation and technologies for industrial development, (ii) The US experience on innovation, technology transfer, and commercialization, (iii) Researchers and engineers as entrepreneurs, (iv) From innovation to product: time span and procedures - Vardan Gevorgyan (IPR-NAS, Precision Sensors & Instrumentation) - Series of training seminars for physicists and engineers - 07-15/09/2013 Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - IPR-NAS researchers.
4.5.4 (4.5.9) - Training support for IPR-NAS’ Technology Transfer Office - G. Brandon, D. Bezdan (Intelligentsia) - Hands-on support to IPR-NAS’ TTO; day-to-day email communication; development of TT Procedures Manu-al for IPR-NAS - November 2013 – September 2014, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) & Luxembourg (Intelligentsia) - Technology Transfer Office of IPR-NAS.
4.5.5 (4.5.10) - The Technology Transfer Process and IP Search - D. Bezdan (Intelligentsia) - Training Seminar - 06/11/2014, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - About 25 researchers from IPR-NAS, other institutions of NAS, NCIE (Ministry of Economy).
4.5.6 (4.5.11) - Market Research, Valuation And Promotion - D. Bezdan (Intelligentsia) - Training Seminar - 06/11/2014, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - About 25 researchers from IPR-NAS, other institutions of NAS, NCIE (Ministry of Economy).
4.5.7 (4.5.12) - Licensing and Negotiations - D. Bezdan (Intelligentsia) - Training Seminar - 06/11/2014, Ashtarak (IPR-NAS) - About 25 researchers from IPR-NAS, other institutions of NAS, NCIE (Ministry of Economy).
Significant results
We consider as the most significant outcome of training according to the outlined tasks:
• Joint co-supervision of five PhD students by researchers from IPR-NAS and CNRS-1 (one on Research Topics A – thesis defended, and four on Research Topic B – two theses defended, and two ongoing). Joint supervision of PhD students (French and Armenian PhD diploma issued upon single defense) is proved to be extremely efficient way of training, with a big impact to twinning in research. Collaboration within IPERA has also lead to admission of 3 Armenian students to the International Master II of Physics in the Université de Bourgogne (September 2014, all granted by UB or by the French Embassy).
• Initiation of implementation of laser ablation in liquids technique for obtaining scintillating nanoparticles at IPR-NAS (as a result of training on Research Topic C delivered by CNRS-2).
• Preparation and submission of proposals to FP7-PEOPLE-2012,2013-IIF by young researcher of IPR-NAS as a result of training development relevant to FP7 research priorities coached by Intelligentsia.
• Preparation and submission of proposal to FP7-NMP-2013-CSA-7 with pilot project for deployment of magnetic nanoparticles developed for medical applications at IPR-NAS as a result of training development relevant to knowledge and technology transfer coached by Intelligentsia.
• Preparation and submission of proposal to FP7-INCO-2013-9.1 with pilot project with Armenian IT company on bridging the gap between research and innovation for inclusive and secure society as a result of training development relevant to knowledge and technology transfer coached by Intelligentsia.
• Hands-on support of Intelligentsia to IPR-NAS’ Technology Transfer Office.
- WP5 – Strategy Development
Summary of progress towards objectives and details for each task
The following three objectives have been defined in IPERA Description of Work for the WP5:
Objective 5.1: Conduct a comprehensive evaluation of IPR-NAS
Objective 5.2: Develop a strategy for IPR-NAS with defined goals for the next 5+ years
Objective 5.3: Monitor IPR-NAS’ performance and progress toward its strategy goals
The three tasks linked with these objectives are:
Task 5.1: Evaluation of IPR-NAS (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All);
Task 5.2: Strategy development for IPR-NAS (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All);
Task 5.3: Monitoring of IPR-NAS (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All).
The following progress in activities on these tasks has been recorded during the project lifetime.
Task 5.1: Evaluation of IPR-NAS (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All). The report on this task is presented in Deliverable D4.1.
The aim of the comprehensive assessment of IPR-NAS was to evaluate the IPR-NAS’ performance against all the key criteria of functioning (both research and management), and to develop recommendations for increasing IPR-NAS’ R&D excellence, further contribution to sustainable socio-economic development, and further contribution in ERA.
The evaluation work has been structured as follows. First, the most appropriate assessment methodology has been defined. Second, a quantitative questionnaire developed by the evaluators’ team has been filled in by the IPR-NAS management team. Finally, the evaluation report with practical recommendations has been produced by external experts and adjusted with IPERA and IPR-NAS management teams.
In accordance of IPERA Objective 1.4 the IPR-NAS evaluation has been combined with assessment activity in the frame of FP7 IncoNet EECA – 212226 Project (WP9- Pilot Evaluation Exercises), where benchmarking exercise was carried out in several institutes working in the field of nano-technology in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Bulgaria. This evaluation exercise has been led by the Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI), with involvement of external evaluators Erich Gornik (Austria) and Paul Tomlins (UK). The IncoNet EECA benchmarking exercise has been performed in the following sequence. 1) Kick-off meeting (Vienna, ZSI, 16-17 February 2012); 2) Site visit of appointed experts (Elke Dall – ZSI, Erich Gornik, Paul Tomlins) to IPR-NAS (17-18 April 2012); 3) Final Review Meeting (Athens, 18 June 2012). The report of benchmarking exercise showing comparative performance of different EECA institutions including IPR-NAS against various indicators, exhibiting their particular strengths and good practices has been presented as Deliverable D9.2 of IncoNet EECA.
The IPR-NAS evaluation report is based on RECORD assessment methodology and corresponding questionnaire adopted by IncoNet EECA experts team. The IncoNet EECA evaluators have assessed the IPR-NAS in general management, as well as in research restricted to nano-science and nano-technology. The IPERA experts represented by C. Leroy (CNRS-1), C. Dujardin (CNRS-2), G. Brandon (Intelligentsia), as well as subcontracted experts from TU Kaiserslautern (M. Fleischhauer), University of Latvia (M. Auzinsh) and CERN (P. Lecoq) have extended the assessment beyond nano-science and nano-technology- covering the whole range of IPR-NAS’ research interests including IPERA Research Topics: A (Quantum Information); B (Atomic and Matter Wave Physics); C (Scintillating Materials).
Evaluation of the IPR-NAS’ performance, as well as findings and consequent recommendations have been done against all the following key functioning criteria:
• Overview;
• Mission;
• Strategy and Planning;
• Staff and Staff Management;
• Buildings and Facilities;
• Communication (including: - Publications, book chapters and reviews; - Conference organization and participation; - Website; - Mass media and social media; - Active participation on international scientific committees, journals; - Links with industry);
• Health and Safety;
• Intellectual Property;
• Funding and Funding Opportunities;
• Overall SWOT Analysis.
All the findings (including SWOT analysis) and recommendations resulting from the assessment by external (IncoNet EECA) and internal (IPERA) experts have been discussed and adjusted with the IPR-NAS management team, which has initiated practical steps towards implementation of these recommendations.
Task 5.2: Strategy development for IPR-NAS (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All)
Strategy development for IPR-NAS has been carried out on the basis of findings and recommendations of IPERA Evaluation Report (Deliverable D5.1). The overall goal of the Strategy is to boost performance of IPR-NAS against key output parameters, to increase its sustainability and socio-economic impact, and to promote its further integration into ERA.
Because of 5 months delay with IPERA Evaluation Report caused by involvement of evaluation by IncoNet EECA, the strategy development for IPR-NAS (Deliverable D5.2) has been delayed by 6 months. The IPR-NAS’ Development Strategy was developed by the IPERA consortium experts from IPR-NAS, CNRS and Intelligentsia, subcontracted experts from TU Kaiserslautern (M. Fleischhauer), University of Latvia (M. Auzinsh) and CERN (P. Lecoq), and comprises three-level set of documents: (i) the Mission Statement; (ii) the Conceptual Strategic Statements, and (iii) the Strategic Plan for 2014-2020.
• Mission Statement, which guides the actions and decision-making of IPR-NAS, and spells out and makes visible to the world its overall goal. It provides the framework within which the IPR-NAS' strategy is formulated:
The Institute for Physical Research of National Academy of Sciences of Armenia is a public research organization working in the fields of laser physics, material science and related areas. Our primary goal is reaching and maintaining excellence in fundamental research, applied developments and innovation, aiming at wealth and prosperity of our beneficiaries: Armenian science, economy, and society, as well as the Institute staff. The priorities that we set up on this way are: building strong international collaboration, increasing involvement of students in research and innovation, linkage with industry, which will assure sustainable development of the institute, increase the visibility and prestige of Armenian science, and provide dissemination and promotion of our achievements thus yielding significant socio-economic impact. Our motto is “Through excellence in research to prosperity of society”.
• Conceptual Strategic Statements, which figure out the major problems of IPR-NAS and outline the ways of their solving in order to: i) increase the R&D excellence of IPR-NAS; ii) contribute to further sustainable socio-economic development; iii) contribute further in ERA - for a range of future scenarios. The Strategy Concept reveals the problems on each particular aspect of the Institute activity and outlines possible ways to solve them. The following 16 aspects of IPR-NAS activities have been addressed:
- Research Priorities;
- Structure of the Institute;
- Funding;
- Staff Management;
- Research Support, Information and Communication Service;
- Publications;
- Seminars, Conference Organization and Participation;
- Participation on International Scientific Committees;
- Links with Higher Education;
- International Collaboration;
- Equipment, Facilities and Infrastructure;
- Intellectual Property;
- Innovation, Links with Industry;
- Website;
- Mass and Social Media;
- Social Issues and Labour Safety.
The Strategy Concept presented in Deliverable D5.2 was prepared by the IPR-NAS IPERA team, and was discussed with IPERA consortium and subcontracted experts. It was also presented to the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia and State Committee of Science, MES of Armenia. Finally, it was discussed and accepted by the Scientific Council of IPR-NAS on 9 December 2013 (protocol No. 836). The Strategy Concept is followed by a Strategic Plan for 2014-2020, which defines detailed measures and timeline for each particular problem.
• Strategic Plan for 2014-2020, an action plan which is destined to specify practical measures for implementation of Conceptual Strategic Statements. It was prepared by the IPR-NAS IPERA team, and was discussed with IPERA consortium and subcontracted experts. Finally, the Strategic Plan for 2014-2020 has been discussed and accepted by the Scientific Council of IPR-NAS on 24 July 2014 (protocol No. 845).
The Strategic Plan for 2014-2020 consists of interconnected Targets linked with sixteen Conceptual Strategic Statements, which figured out the major problems of IPR-NAS and outlined the ways of their solving in order to: i) increase the R&D excellence of IPR-NAS; ii) contribute to further sustainable socio-economic development; iii) contribute further in ERA - for a range of future scenarios.
The plan is presented in Deliverable D5.3 separately for each of 16 aspects of the Institute’s activity defined by the “Development Strategy”.
The following scheme is elaborated and filled in:
• Target - Objective as outlined in Strategic Statements (e.g. modernization of equipment and infrastructure)
• Current state - Initial conditions and discussion/explanation for the needed action(s)
• Goal to be achieved - What is expected that will result in improved performance of the Institute? The goal can be formulated as a close-ended “milestone” (e.g. to develop and implement labour safety regulations) or as an open-ended “striving” (e.g. to widen and deepen international collaboration)
• Tactics/Measures - Practical and realistic ways to solve the problem: particular itemized action(s) to be undertaken in order to reach the defined goal
• Key Performance Indicators (KPI) - A set of measurable parameters used to characterize and evaluate the success of the undertaken actions (e.g. number of recently employed graduates, publication record, etc.)
• Action timetable (Title of the measure; Objective/result; Executor; Term)
Task 5.3: Monitoring of IPR-NAS (Task leader: IPR-NAS; Support: All)
The work programme for Work Package 5 of IPERA has been amended for reasons presented and justified in the 1st Periodic Report (mainly caused by involvement of IncoNet EECA in evaluation of IPR-NAS), which caused an overall delay in strategy development. According to amended work plan, it was expected that the IPR-NAS’ performance monitoring will be performed based on key performance indicators set in Strategic Plan, which has been accepted only in M32 of IPERA.
For this reason the monitoring of IPR-NAS’ performance was mainly focussed on 5-year progress (2010-2014) reflected through Evaluation Performance Indicators, which were outlined in Task 5.1 of the IPERA Description of Work. The category of these indicators comprises:
• Scientific/academic position (- Overall publication record; - Articles in international peer-reviewed journals)
• International position (- Joint publications; - International conferences and events; - International projects)
• Education (- PhD students; - Bachelor and master students)
• Governance, organisation, finance and efficiency (- Governance and organization; - Funding streams; - Functioning efficiency; - Knowledge and technology transfer)
• Market orientation and (inter)national relevance to industry (- Industrial partners; - Contribution of industry to R&D budget; - Patents; - Researchers finding employment elsewhere in the field)
On each of listed directions, quantitative data have been presented (typically diagrams and tables) showing dynamics of annual progress, followed by qualitative analysis of the obtained results, and proposed actions for improvement of performance.
The monitoring demonstrates significant year-to-year progress of IPR-NAS, particularly on: - quality of published articles; - joint publications with foreign research groups; - percentage of self-earned funding; - technology transfer management.
Activities of subcontracted experts
Subcontracting in the frame of IPERA Project is regulated by Section B 2.3.1 – “Subcontracting” of the Description of Work: “Minor sub-contracting is envisaged for involvement of experts from subcontracting organizations in evaluation of IPR-NAS and further development of IPERA Strategy report. A team of independent international experts from TU Kaiserslautern (Michael Fleischhauer), University of Latvia (Marcis Auzinsh), and CERN (Paul Lecoq) will be involved in implementation of WP5 Strategy Development, in particular to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the current research quality and capability of IPR-NAS. They will also participate in IPR-NAS SWOT analysis, strategy development and monitoring. All the experts selected for subcontracting are worldwide-known specialists in the three topics of the project (M. Fleischhauer- Topic A, M. Auzinsh- Topic B, P. Lecoq- Topic B), who have adequate research, organization, and international cooperation skills, as well as long-term experience of collaboration with IPR-NAS.”
Contracts to provide an expert evaluation of IPR-NAS and further development of FP7 IPERA project strategy report have been signed with Michael Fleischhauer, Marcis Auzinsh, and Paul Lecoq on March 1st, 2012. According to contracts, the Experts undertake to support IPR-NAS in implementing the FP7 IPERA Work Package 5 – Strategy Development, in particular: Evaluation of IPR-NAS (Task 5.1) Strategy development for IPR-NAS (Task 5.2) and Monitoring of IPR-NAS (Task 5.3) in accordance with mission prescribed by the Annex I of IPERA Grant Agreement, and under the instructions of IPR-NAS. Each of 3 Experts had to present to IPR-NAS two concise reports on his activities, findings and recommendations, indicating the dates of the days worked for IPERA. According to signed contracts, the first reports have been presented within one month after submission of IPERA Deliverable D5.2 to the EC (January 2014), and the second reports have been prepared by the end of the IPERA project (November 2014).
All the subcontracted Experts had big contribution to evaluation of IPR-NAS (Deliverable D5.1) development of IPR-NAS’ strategy (Deliverables D5.2 D5.3) and evaluation performance indicators and progress towards IPERA Strategy goals (Deliverables D5.3 D5.4). Besides, the Experts significantly contributed to defining IPR-NAS’ perspective scientific directions and setting up new collaboration on Research Topics A, B, C.
Michael Fleischhauer, Marcis Auzinsh, and Paul Lecoq visited Dijon on 9-10 January 2014 to participate at the Steering Committee Meeting synchronized with Project Review Meeting (RV3) held at CNRS-1. Michael Fleischhauer and Paul Lecoq participated at the IPERA Conference and Workshop “QuantArm 2014” combined with IPERA Final Project Meeting held in Tsaghkadzor, Armenia on 22-26 September 2014, and Marcis Auzinsh visited Ashtarak, Armenia on 5-8 November 2014 to evaluate the course of strategy implementation at IPR-NAS.
Significant results
• Comprehensive assessment of IPR-NAS by the team of IPERA and external experts. The evaluation of the IPR-NAS’ performance was done against all the following key functioning criteria: - Mission; - Strategy and Planning; - Staff and Staff Management; - Buildings and Facilities; - Communication (including - Publications, book chapters and reviews; - Conference organization and participation; - Website; - Mass media and social media; - Active participation on international scientific committees, journals; - Links with industry); - Health and Safety; - Intellectual Property; - Funding and Funding Opportunities; - Overall SWOT Analysis. Practical recommendations are developed for increasing IPR-NAS’ excellence in R&D, its further contribution to sustainable socio-economic development, and further contribution in ERA. The follow up action implies internal discussion and development of road map for implementation of these recommendations by IPR-NAS management team.
• Development and implementation of IPR-NAS’ Development Strategy, assisted by European experts, as a 3-level document comprising (i) Mission Statement, (ii) Conceptual Strategic Statements, and (iii) Strategic Plan for 2014-2020. The Development Strategy is destined to: increase the R&D excellence of IPR-NAS; contribute to further sustainable socio-economic development; and contribute further in ERA - for a range of future scenarios.
• Setting up quantitative Key Performance Indicators, which will allow to continuously monitor performance of IPR-NAS on 16 aspects of its functioning, and to undertake corrective feedback actions when needed to improve the situation.
Potential Impact:
• Impact and added value
- Increased European collaboration capacity
Academic position
Collaboration capacity of R&D organizations requires good publication record, which indicates the level of recognition, competence and expertise, and makes it attractive for partnership. Following the IPR-NAS’ strategy developed in the frame of IPERA, practical actions have been developed and implemented concerning research priorities and quality, which resulted in drastic increase of the average impact factor of journals where scientific articles of IPR-NAS are published (from 0.65 to 1.50 for the period of 2011-2014).
The number of scientific articles published with international co-authorship is among the key parameters indicating the efficiency of international collaboration. The share of such articles for IPR-NAS has increased from 35% in 2011 to 65% in 2014. Obviously, this growth is mainly linked with increased involvement of IPR-NAS in international collaboration programmes. Similar dynamics is observed also for the number of joint reports at international conferences and workshops.
Collaboration strengthening
Increase of number of international (notably, European) projects running at IPR-NAS is among the most tangible outcomes of IPERA project. Five more FP7 projects started to run at IPR-NAS during IPERA lifetime and one H2020 project will start shortly. Perspectives for new projects are expected based on new links built in the course of the IPERA twinning implementation, as well as increased scientific expertise of the IPR-NAS’ research personnel and its awareness on European research collaboration instruments acquired in the course of IPERA training activities. The new international collaboration was also promoted by IPERA QuantArm 2014 Conference and Workshop and 6 other international conferences, symposia and workshops (co)organized by IPR-NAS in Armenia during IPERA lifetime.
On the other hand, IPR-NAS consistently increased its involvement in international professional societies by initiating creation of Armenian Territorial Committee for Optics associated to the International Commission for Optics, supporting Armenian student chapters of SPIE and OSA, Crystal Clear Collaboration at CERN, co-organizing conferences with ICTP, etc. The IPR-NAS’ funding through international projects in the last 5-year period has grown by a factor of 2.5.
- Increased sustainability
The IPR-NAS’ strategy sets up priority of diversification of funding streams, which is important for sustainable development of the Institute. Along with Armenian national (State) funding through ‘base’ and ‘thematic’ programs, the vital necessity of ‘self-earned’ funding has been prioritized, including funding through international programmes, innovation and commercialization of research products (both via technology licensing and self production), contractual service activities, involvement in paid higher education, etc.
Special attention is paid to market-oriented activities (technology development and commercialization of research results). In spite of significant potential and big share of ongoing applied research at IPR-NAS, this option remained practically unexploited. In order to boost market-oriented activities, as well as to free researchers from pushing their developments towards market themselves, the IPR-NAS has established a Technology Transfer Office (TTO), as well as Institute’s internal technology transfer regulations in 2013. The IPR-NAS’ innovation management and technology transfer activities have been addressed in the “Innovation Performance Review of Armenia”, an evaluation review document prepared by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in 2014.
Implementation of IPR-NAS’ strategic action plan dedicated to diversification of funding streams and exploiting new funding sources resulted in increase of ‘self-earned’ funding percentage from 25% in 2010-2011 to 40% in 2014.
- Building links with industry
Realizing importance of strengthening the IPR-NAS’ capability in market-oriented activities, which can yield a socio-economic impact, as well as to facilitate linkage of IPR-NAS with European SMEs, the Institute management team and researchers have established, extended and deepened linkage with 7 key Armenian companies (SMEs) working in the fields of ICT and NMP. Particular ways of collaboration of mutual interest have been outlined and partly implemented, including: research for industry and contractual services by IPR-NAS; joint development of market products; identification of new market niches; marketing support to IPR-NAS and bypassing legal difficulties in creation of spin-offs; joint organization and participation at conferences and exhibitions, etc. Direct and diverse daily work with industrial companies helps acquiring knowledge, experience and skills for market-oriented activity.
- Societal impact
Ageing of research staff and lowered attractiveness of science for young people are among the main challenges of scientific policy in Armenia. The IPR-NAS’ strategy developed in the frame of IPERA sets staff management, and notably rejuvenation of research staff as an utmost priority. The practical action plan in this direction includes wide involvement of students and young researchers in international collaboration projects, development of carrier promotion tools (trainings, questionnaire-based feedback actions, appraisal and senior staff management policy, etc.), support in organization of summer schools and young researchers workshops, organization of ‘open door’ events, popularization of ongoing research, etc.
Among the most efficient instruments, which attracts Armenian students is preparation of PhD thesis under joint international co-supervision, when the student spends equal shares of time in Armenia and in Europe, receiving complementary knowledge and training from both supervisors. 5 students benefited from this instrument during IPERA lifetime, bridging IPR-NAS and CNRS-1. 3 of them have successfully defended their theses and 2 more continue their studies. Besides obvious scientific advantage, joint PhD gives an opportunity to get acquainted with way of life and culture of Europe. This experience has been extended involving Gent University in Belgium. Collaboration within IPERA has also lead to admission of 3 Armenian students to the International Master II of Physics in the Université de Bourgogne (September 2014, all granted by UB or by the French Embassy).
All these measures helped to avoid brain drain from IPR-NAS while preserving international mobility of students and young researchers.
• Main dissemination activities
- Better visibility of IPR-NAS
Several promotion materials have been prepared and posted at internet during IPERA lifetime, including IPERA webpage, Project leaflet, Powerpoint presentation providing overview of the project, Project poster, Promotion guide about IPR-NAS, three Project newsletters, IPERA Facebook page. Thousands of pageviews recorded so far indicate an interest towards IPERA in general and IPR-NAS in particular. The IPR-NAS has already received several feedbacks from European research teams, which may trigger new collaboration.
The significant scientific results on joint theoretical and experimental studies on 3 Research Topics of IPERA: Quantum Information, Atomic and Matter Wave Physics, and Scintillating Materials obtained in the course of IPERA implementation have been published in peer reviewed journals (overall 36 published articles + 4 submitted/accepted). The results of joint studies with CNRS-1 and CNRS-2 teams have been also reported at 34 international conferences and workshops (overall 75 oral and poster presentations).
Besides, realizing importance of awareness and understanding of practical impact of ongoing research by society IPERA team members prepared two articles in Armenian scientific-popular journal “Gitutyan Ashkharhum” on recent achievements of the IPERA Research Topics A and B (quantum information and atomic physics in nanocells).
- QuantArm 2014 Conference and Workshop
Organization of IPERA scientific conference in Armenia in 2014 was planned according to IPERA DoW with primary goal of integration of IPR-NAS into ERA, in particular through:
- extention and deepening existing collaboration and setting up new links;
- active involvement in Horizon 2020 programme;
- promotion of innovative research and building research-industry linkage;
- involvement of students and young researchers in European collaboration.
In order to fully meet these objectives, it was decided at the IPERA Steering Committee Meeting in Dijon (January 2014) to combine scientific conference with a workshop. QuantArm has been held on 22-26 September 2014 in Tsaghkadzor, Armenia, attended by 34 participants from 5 Armenian organizations and 43 foreign guests from Australia, Belarus, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and USA.
Conference
The 12 plenary talks have been delivered by worldwide recognized scientists (listed in alphabetical order):
- Klaas Bergmann (Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany),
- Edith Bourret-Courchesne (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA),
- Martial Ducloy (University Paris-Nord, France),
- Michael Fleischhauer (Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany),
- Ron Folman (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel),
- Nicolas Gisin (University of Geneva, Switzerland),
- Philippe Grangier (Institut d’Optique, France),
- Ifan Hughes (Durham University, United Kingdom),
- Paul Lecoq (CERN, Geneva, Switzerland),
- Dieter Meschede (Institute of Applied Physics, University of Bonn, Germany),
- Eugene Polzik (Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark),
- Anna Vedda (University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy).
The 35 Regular oral talks have been presented in four parallel sections: “Quantum Information” (7 talks), “Atomic and Matter Wave Physics” (16 talks), “Scintillating Materials” (6 talks), and “Advanced Photonics” (6 talks). Among the foreign participants having oral talks were many prominent scientists: D. Budker (Germany), I. Novikova (USA), H. Nakamura (Japan), D. Bloch (France), E. Mariotti (Italy), V. Krainov (Russia), L. Pruvost (France), T. Vartanyan (Russia), T. Martin (France), G. Bizarri (USA), R. Young (UK), B. Kryzhanovsky (Russia), and others.
In total 15 posters (“Quantum Information”- 3, “Atomic and Matter Wave Physics”- 9, “Scintillating Materials”- 2) were set from the start of the Conference, allowing the participants to get acquainted with them during the whole week.
Workshop
Two work meetings have been held aiming at discussion of possible proposals and forming possible consortiums for Horizon 2020 open and forthcoming calls. The possible open calls, the eligibility criteria, as well as funding schemes have been presented and discussed during the first meeting. As a result of discussions, a “shortlist” selection of open and forthcoming H2020 calls was formed and distributed among the QuantArm 2014 participants in advance, which was discussed in detail during the second meeting. Ideas on new consortiums have been formed, and some calls, notably “FET Open – Novel ideas for radically new technologies”, “Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE)” have been chosen to be considered for writing joint proposals.
Training on proposal writing has been presented by Prof. Dr. Klaas Bergmann, from the Department of Physics and OPTIMAS Research Center, Technical University Kaiserslautern, Germany. The first part of the training was aimed at choosing appropriate calls, understanding mission of funding agency and evaluation criteria, showing tips for good proposal writing. In the second part of the training the EU-MSC-ITN proposals were specifically addressed.
Four summer school introductory lectures for students on hot topics of modern science have been delivered by K. Bergmann (Germany), D. Bloch (France), A. Vedda (Italy), and T. Vartanyan (Russia) at the Armenian-Russian University in Yerevan, on September 25th. Students from physics departments of Yerevan State University, State Engineering University of Armenia, Armenian-Russian University, and Armenian State Pedagogical University, as well as students participating at QuantArm 2014 were notified about the Summer School in advance. The lectures were attended by around 50 students.
A meeting of French-Armenian LIA-IRMAS members and other French participants with the two representatives of the French Embassy in Armenia during QuantArm 2014 was initiated by the Embassy. Mr. Jean-Michel Kasbarian, the Conseiller de Coopération et d’Action Culturelle, has discussed with participants the perspectives of scientific cooperation between Armenia and France. In particular, the problems concerning support of jointly supervised PhD theses (cotutelle) and international master programs, as well as facilitation of visa for scientists have been addressed.
The IPR-NAS used a Conference/Workshop occasion to advertise the Institute’s products (large variety of laser, photonic and luminescent single crystals developed and grown at the Institute; opto-mechanical components produced at the Institute’s mechanical workshop, etc.). There was an interest from QuantArm 2014 participants presenting experimental research laboratories in acquiring some of presented products for their studies.
• Exploitation of project results
- Exploitation of academic results
Though nearly 70% of IPR-NAS’ research work (mainly experimental) relates to applied science, technology development and commercialization of the results of research work are not yet exploited, because of the following two reasons. First, the IPR-NAS’ Technology Transfer Office has been established only in 2013, and thus it had not enough time to develop full-scale market-oriented activity: the main task of TTO so far was elaboration of the Institute’s IP portfolio in close collaboration with Institute’s laboratories. Second, the innovation policy and legislative basis for commercialization of scientific results in Armenia is not efficient, which makes it difficult to exploit the existing high potential. This issue has been addressed in the findings of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe reflected in 2014 in the evaluation report “Innovation Performance Review of Armenia”. We hope practical steps will be taken soon by Armenian authorities.
Anyway, ‘research for industry’ format is set as IPR-NAS’ strategic priority; the Institute has already established links with FNG Invest and other companies, and will do its best to get tangible results soon, beyond IPERA lifetime.
- Dissemination of Strategy Development experience in Armenian R&D organizations
IPR-NAS’ strategy development based on comprehensive evaluation of the Institute and comprising three-level set of documents: (i) the Mission Statement; (ii) the Conceptual Strategic Statements; (iii) the Strategic Plan for 2014-2020 is of high interest for other Armenian R&D organizations. The set of IPR-NAS’s strategy documents have been presented to the State Committee of Science of the Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia and to the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia.
It is planned that during 2015 the reprt on IPR-NAS’s strategy will be delivered at the Meeting of Presidium of National Academy of Sciences of Armenia for discussion and dissemination among other academic institutes and centres.
List of Websites:
Project website: http://www.ip-era.eu/
Project coordinator: Aram Papoyan
E-mail: aram.papoyan@gmail.com
IPR-NAS: The Institute for Physical Research of the
National Academy of Sciences of Armenia
Address: 2, Gitavan, Ashtarak, 0203 Armenia
Represented by: Prof. Aram Papoyan, Director
E-mail: ifi@ipr.sci.am
Phone: +374 10 288150
Fax: +347 232 31172
Website: http://www.ipr.sci.am
