Partners from the 15 European Member States plus 4 Associated Countries are pooling their local knowledge as National Contact Points and are already active in promoting the ESPRIT programme in their own countries.
The European Community is growing steadily. It is becoming more difficult to disseminate information about the 4th and the 5th Framework Programme to all of Europe from Brussels only. Experience shows that the delivery time for call documentation is often too long and companies do not have enough time afterwards to write their proposal. In the case of the Programme programme, another difficulty arises from the high complexity of the programme: more than 30 different types of actions are described in separate papers. Those who want to participate in the programme, e.g. SMEs and newcomers, need fast and reliable access to, and interpretation of, the necessary information in order to prepare a proposal. If they do not have it they will cancel their participation in the ESPRIT programme, which is not for the benefit of the European IT-industry.