Polish coordinator compares experiences of two EU projects
Pawel Bartoszek from Poznan Science and Technology Park in Poland has much experience in EU projects, having coordinated two Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) projects. Comparing his experiences in relation to the two different projects, Mr Bartoszek had a tip for current project coordinators - having an efficient website is the 'decisive factor' in the success of a project. Speaking to CORDIS NEWS, Mr Bartoszek explained that simply providing a website with the profiles of participants had ensured the success of a brokerage event organised for the FOODLINK project. On the other hand, the partner meetings for the POLFOOD project had to be organised by hand and failed to deliver the desired results. 'As part of the FOODLINK project, all the profiles of the participants were put on the website a few weeks before the brokerage event,' explained Mr Bartoszek. 'This ensured that each participant had the opportunity to choose who they wanted to meet and talk to. Some participants chose up to 12 people. In total one hundred meetings were arranged. It was a great success,' he added. The FOODLINK project, funded as a specific support action (SSA) under FP6, brings together 11 partners from Eastern Europe, Turkey, Spain and the Netherlands. Its aim is to increase the participation of new Member States in the food thematic priority of FP6; establish cooperation between them; increase the contacts between new and old Member States and give increased visibility to researchers from the new Member States in the European Research Area. The main deliverable of the project, explained Mr Bartoszek, was the brokerage event which took place during the International Trade Fair for the Food Industry in Poznan in September 2004. The Poznan fair is the biggest food fair in Eastern Europe. Some 40 scientists from the Netherlands, Norway and the UK attended this event. 'This great turn out was a measure of the success of the event,' explained Mr Bartoszek. In contrast, POLFOOD, which aimed to raise awareness of framework programmes among Polish researchers and enterprises, disseminate the results of FP5 projects in this field and stimulate the participation of Polish entities in FP6, was, according to the project coordinator, 'disappointing'. 'I had to organise partner meetings but it was not very successful, people did not want to meet each other. Perhaps because of the language barrier or perhaps because Polish researchers are not as interested in international collaboration as I though they would be before the event,' lamented Mr Bartoszek. According to Mr Bartoszek, however, the main reason behind the success of one brokerage event and not the other is simply the different methodology. With FOODLINK people had time to check the profile of other participants. 'An interactive and well-documented website was the clinching factor,' concluded Mr Bartoszek.
Countries
Poland