Connecting and Coordinating European Research and Technology Development with Japan

Informazioni relative al progetto

CONCERT-JAPAN

ID dell’accordo di sovvenzione: 266604

Progetto chiuso

Data di avvio 1 Gennaio 2011

Data di completamento 31 Dicembre 2014

Finanziato da

• Specific Programme "Capacities": International co-operation

Costo totale € 2 578 272,20

Contributo UE € 2 072 494,07

Coordinato da

TURKIYE BILIMSEL VE TEKNOLOJIK ARASTIRMA KURUMU
Türkiye

Final Report Summary - CONCERT-JAPAN (Connecting and Coordinating European Research and Technology Development with Japan)

Executive Summary:
CONCERT-Japan is a European Union (EU) funded project in the International Cooperation Activities under the Capacities Programme of the EU 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technology Development (FP7). CONCERT-Japan project has started on 1 January 2011 and lasted for four years until 31 December 2014.

The aim of this project is to promote an effective and coordinated science and technology cooperation between European countries and Japan with a view to further expanding and harmonizing already existing cooperation between them. The core project consortium included 13 ministries and research funding organisations from Japan, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey.The Coordinator of the project is The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK).
As an International Cooperation ERA-NET project, CONCERT-Japan is designed to coordinate, structure and eventually enhance the science and technology cooperation between European countries and Japan.
In this regard, first of all, the scientific commonalities between Europe and Japan are identified. Then a joint strategy for coordinating STI programs of European countries with Japan was developed. It was followed by a joint call for joint research funding, mobility and networking. A Funding Organizations Forum (FOF) and a Joint Call Secretariat was formed to coordinate the joint call activities. The expected outcome at the end would be lessons learnt from the joint activities and ensuring the sustainability of the joint activities. A strategy for future joint activities was developed in this respect.
Through the CONCERT-Japan project, 2 Europe-Japan joint calls have been launched. In 2012, a pilot joint call was launched in the thematic fields of efficient energy storage and distribution, and resilience against disasters. 9 research projects involving 41 research teams/partners from Europe and Japan with a total budget of 2,776,451€ were selected for funding. In February 2014, a second joint call was launched in the field of photonic manufacturing, resulting in 4 collaborative research projects with 15 research teams/partners with a total budget of 990.000 €.

Two joint workshops were also organized by CONCERT-Japan to bring together those funded projects in order to discuss and disseminate their progress, results and future prospects, as well as offering an opportunity for further networking and collaboration-building among participants. The first joint workshop on “Efficient Energy storage and distribution” took place in Jülich/Germany on 16-17 October 2014. The joint workshop on “Resilience against disasters” took place in Tokyo/Japan on 25 November 2014. 52 participants from Europe and Japan, including the funded researchers, CONCERT-Japan partners as well as observers, participated in the Resilience workshop.

It is expected to ensure the sustainability of the project. Therefore at the end of the project a Strategy for a Durable STI Cooperation Programme was developed and a Conference for Facilitating STI Cooperation Programme was organized back-to-back to the Final Conference of the CONCERT-Japan project on 2nd December 2014 in İzmir, Turkey.

Project Context and Objectives:
CONCERT-Japan aims to promote an effective and coordinated science and technology cooperation between European countries and Japan with a view to further expanding and harmonizing already existing cooperation between them. The STI cooperation between European countries and Japan is being pursued in various bilateral and multilateral platforms. An agreement between the EC and Japan for scientific and technological cooperation was signed in 2009 namely, “Agreement between the European Community and the Government of Japan on Cooperation in Science and Technology”. In line with this process, the Japanese participation to the EU Framework Programmes has been rising since then. As the EU and Japan are two major scientifically advanced actors, they concurrently join efforts and share the costs with regard to large scale, risk prone, coordinated research projects addressing common problems or global scientific issues. In the meanwhile, the bilateral science and technology cooperation between many European countries and Japan is also developing and expanding. In this framework, the CONCERT-Japan project aims at consolidating the networking among the bilateral programmes between European countries and Japan into a multilateral context, which are expected to result in pilot joint activities. The rationale behind such networking and pilot joint activities lies in the need to learn from each other’s experiences and activities, decrease duplications in research funding in cooperation with Japan to a minimum and create and enhance synergies in such cooperation programmes. With this rationale, the interested research funding organizations from European countries and Japan have come together to identify areas of joint interest and tools for implementing such cooperation.

CONCERT-Japan Key Objectives
• To enhance the understanding of the European organizations about the Japanese science and technology support system with a particular focus on international cooperation programmes to better communicate and better define targets in their science and technology cooperation with Japan,
• To share, spread and promote the application of good practices; to harness synergies, strengths and opportunities; while reducing duplications, and addressing weaknesses and threats with regard to the bilateral science and technology cooperation of EU MS/AC with Japan,
• To determine common future preferences, priorities and areas of mutual interest in EU MS/AC science and technology cooperation with Japan,
• To develop a sound joint science and technology cooperation strategy at EU level with Japan based on identified common elements,
• To perform a coordinated pilot joint call for joint funding between EU MS/AC and Japan based on the strategy developed,
• To use commonly developed IPR arrangements in the pilot joint call,
• To learn lessons from the implemented pilot joint call and to establish a common fully-fledged programmatic ground for a mid-term cooperation strategy,
• To promote ownership among the programme owners/managers of the joint strategy in order to ensure the durability of the programmatic ground.

Project Coordinator

Mrs. Elif ÖZKARAGÖZ DOĞAN
E-mail: [e-mail]
Tel. [phone] (Ext. 2760)
Fax. [phone]
TÜBİTAK - The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey
Atatürk Bulvarı No. 221 06100 Kavaklıdere Ankara Turkey

Project Results:
WP1 Data Gathering and Information Exchange on STI Cooperation
Work package 1 was aimed at preparing the ground for a durable cooperation strategy between Europe and Japan and at the same time providing a base of knowledge on the Japanese Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) system and its key actors for the European stakeholders.

Task 1.1 Japanese National STI Funding Policy, System and Actors
The consortium prepared as a first deliverable an inventory of Japanese international STI cooperation programme owners and managers. For preparation of the deliverable the involved consortium members also connected with other EU-Japan projects such as J-BILAT and EURAXESS Links Japan. The document gives an overview of the Japanese STI funding system; it describes the key policy makers and the flows of funding through different ministries to individual independent institutions. A comprehensive table lists all involved actors and indicates their key activities. The core of the document consists of an inventory describing Japanese institutions managing international STI cooperation programmes. The document shows that despite the high amount of ministries involved in STI funding and their numerous independent administrative agencies attached, only few of them operate international STI programs. Most funding programs are concentrated with the two large funding agencies attached to MEXT, JST and JSPS, and with NEDO attached to METI. In addition, several research institutions operate smaller mobility programs in their own science and technology sector. This observation is consistent with the fact that MEXT’s STI budget accounts for the largest part of Japan’s overall STI expenditure. Due to the large interest from various non-consortium stakeholders and on the suggestion by the EC project officer, the inventory was made available as a public document on the CONCERT-Japan project website in consent with the CONCERT-Japan Steering Committee.
To familiarize the European consortium members and external stakeholders with Japanese STI policy an extensive report giving an explanatory overview of the system, its actors, their interrelations, the legal background, and the Science and Technology (S&T) basic plans and their implementations was prepared as a second deliverable. . The report describes the budget distribution, gives a picture about the main key research indicators of the country and also refers to the recent documents and decisions available shaping the Japanese STI policy. It thus served as an essential basis for identifying the basic actors and mechanisms in the Japanese S&T funding policy system for the implementation of the CONCERT-Japan project and for European program owners and managers, who wish to establish cooperation with Japanese partners. The report highlights the particularities of the Japanese system in comparison to other countries. It shows the higher degree of concentration of resources in a smaller number of S&T facilities and the close cooperation between S&T actors facilitating effective research activities. It also points to the distinctive and precise approach to research evaluation in Japan that helps to create excellent R&D results, exploit them and pass on the results to the Japanese society. The analysis shows that the future prosperity of Japan highly depends on the development of an outstanding S&T system. The report was presented to a wider audience of stakeholders from Europe at the first CONCERT-Japan stakeholder conference held in Budapest in July 2011.

Task 1.2 Data Gathering on STI Cooperation Programmes
While the first task was focusing predominantly on Japan, the second task aimed at compiling information on S&T cooperation programmes managed by European funding organizations. Regional and national as well as governmental and non-governmental programme owners were identified through desktop research and contacted to inquire about cooperation programmes with Japan. The list was combined with the inventory of Japanese programme owners generated in task 1.1 in order to gain a complete overview of cooperation. 44 different programmes spread over more than 10 European countries were identified in total and further analyzed with a detailed questionnaire collecting information on countries involved, scientific focus fields, funding instruments and eligible applicants. The details on the programmes were collected in an electronic comprehensive and searchable database that was made publicly available through the CONCERT-Japan web page. The database serves on one hand as a repository for the scientific community to facilitate the search for funding opportunities in collaboration with Japan, and on the other hand for analytical purposes for the CONCERT-Japan project itself. The database served as a major input for the mapping of programmes, analysis of their strengths and weaknesses and the development of recommendations for future cooperation further along the project.
In addition an analysis was undertaken by the Japanese partners arising from the need to understand the patterns of cooperation at the level of researchers between European countries and Japan. The work is called “Analysis on the Number of Joint Publications by Fields and Countries from 1995 to2011 / between Japan and 8 CONCERT-Japan partner countries plus UK”. The work was finalized in October 2011 and submitted to the EC. This was not a contractual deliverable nor was it originally foreseen in the project proposal. The work was undertaken as a result of the need to understand the patterns of the cooperation at the researchers’ level.

Task 1.3 Mapping of STI Cooperation Programmes

In order to map ongoing STI cooperation with Japan and provide recommendations towards the design and implementation of a joint call, interactions were analyzed at three different levels:
1. Assessment of Japanese participation in FP7 programmes
2. Participation of European researchers in Japanese unilateral STI programmes
3. Impact analysis of the existing bi- and multilateral cooperation programmes as gathered in the database in task 1.2.
The analysis of Japanese participation in the Seventh Framework Programme revealed that most Japanese institutions submit proposals to the thematic priority information and communication technologies (ICT) and the Japanese act as project partners rather than coordinators. Participants come mostly from universities and choose collaborative projects or coordination and support actions (CSA). The participation in CSA also appeared to influence the success with research project proposals.
The participation of European researchers in Japanese unilateral programmes was analyzed based on data provided by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) from 5 of their instruments available to international applicants. It was concluded that the majority of European applicants comes from Germany, France and the UK, followed by Italy, Sweden, Poland and Spain, and is working in the fields of engineering, mathematical and physical sciences. The applicants are predominantly young scientists opting for a short-term stay in Japan.
Analysing the existing EU-Japan cooperation programmes from the CONCERT-Japan database revealed that most of them are not restricted to a particular thematic field, but if they are, they concentrate on the topics health, food and ICT. The programmes operate with rather small budgets aimed at basic research, mobility and networking activities in universities and public research institutions. Only few programmes are open to industry participation, applied research or innovation. The impact of the programmes was not dependent on their budget.
Based on the mapping of ongoing cooperation on the three different levels and a SWOT analysis a recommendatory report towards the design and implementation of a CONCERT-Japan joint call was written. The report introduced three generic strategy options with regards to themes, target groups, activities and regional extension of a future joint call. The funding organizations were given the options to choose between

1. Formulating a call which will accentuate topics, target groups and activities which were identified in already existing STI programmes (synergy creation)
2. Seeking to complement the funding conditions of established programmes
3. Following a mixed strategy with both synergetic and complementary elements. The report gives a brief evaluation of the three options and makes it clear that the decision will have to be taken by the funding agencies also on a political level.
Task 1.4 Defining Common Preferences and Priorities
In perspective of a future CONCERT-Japan joint call the project aimed at gathering the preferences and priorities of potential funding organizations and other possible stakeholders with regard to their future STI cooperation with Japan/European countries right from the beginning. A separate set of questions in the questionnaire designed for collecting information on ongoing programmes in task 1.2 was thus devoted to preferences and priorities. The questions reached a total of 30 funding/managing organizations from Europe and Japan including CONCERT-Japan Consortium members and non-members. The questionnaire focussed on questions such as type/ duration of future joint cooperation; scientific area, target sector, etc.
The analysed data from the questionnaire showed that the most preferred type of cooperation would be mobility schemes, research and development programmes or networking. In case of mobility programmes, the most favourable duration was less than 2 years, with host or sending organisations from public research or higher-education institutions. Regarding R&D programmes, the thematic priorities to be covered were: Health, Nanotechnology, and Energy as the most preferred ones followed by Environment, Biotechnology and ICT. Most of the respondents would choose basic or applied research, with a typical duration of 3 years. As for the target sector of the programmes, academia is most preferred, but with significant support for the involvement of industry.
The data was summarized in the Report on Future Preferences and Priorities on STI Cooperation between European Countries and Japan and its first version was made available to the CONCERT-Japan consortium in a web meeting. The report was presented together with the other deliverables of work package 1 at a later stage to a wider audience including also non-consortium funding organizations in the first CONCERT-Japan Stakeholder Conference on Europe-Japan STI Cooperation in Budapest on 26 July, 2011. The Conference also included presentations on good practices of cooperation between European countries and Japan by many European and Japanese programme owners (from or outside of the consortium) enhancing the awareness of the stakeholders about the current cooperation. As a result of the conference the report was updated and its final version was elaborated.
The work from Task 1.4 provided crucial input for the work packages 2 and 3 dealing with the strategy (Strategy for Future Joint STI Cooperation Activities between European countries and Japan) and implementation of the Pilot Joint Call. The completion of work package 1 and the delivery of the “Report on Future Preferences and Priorities on STI Cooperation” was also a milestone of CONCERT-Japan and reached at the time foreseen.

WP2: Joint Strategy for Coordinating STI Cooperation Programmes of European Countries with Japan

The main objectives of WP2 according to the DoW were the following:
- Defining common elements in the STI cooperation programmes and future preferences of countries.
- Elaborating a Joint Strategy to coordinate STI programmes of the European countries with Japan in order to design the main features of future joint activities. This Strategy will generate those conditions that will support a coordinated vision for the future joint activities and it will be implemented in a pilot joint call.
- Ensuring that the Joint Strategy includes the opinions of the widest circle of stakeholders as possible and it reaches to the broadest target community as possible when finalized.
- Introducing a coordinated approach on Intellectual Property Rights issues.

WP2 has been broken down to 3 tasks.
Task 2.1: Developing a Strategy for Future Joint Activities
The main objectives relating to this task was defining the common elements on STI cooperation programmes and future preferences of countries, and elaborating a Joint Strategy to coordinate the STI programmes in order to design the main features of future joint activities.
Based on two reports elaborated under WP1 (Recommendatory Report on the Results of the Mapping of STI cooperation programmes and Future Preferences and Priorities Report), an Input paper for the Strategy for Joint Activities (Common elements) was drafted. This document defines the common objectives and common priorities of the European Union and Japan as well as the common funding instruments, common target community and potential participating countries/funding organisations of the planned EU-Japan pilot joint call. As common priorities the following areas were identified: Energy Management for Low Carbone Society - Efficiency, Low Emission, Storage and Smart in Supply and Use; Resilient Social Infrastructure against Climate Change and Large Scale Natural Disaster - disaster mitigation measures for built environment; Healthy Ageing (focusing on Brain System) and Fusion of ICT and Medicine. Research and innovation projects, networking (workshops, seminar series) and exchange of researchers (funding of mobility) were listed as funding instruments of joint interests. Public research and higher education institutions were defined as the main target groups of future cooperation. The input paper was discussed with the members of the consortium and with potential joint call funders at the CONCERT-Japan Pilot Joint Call Planning Meeting in Muelheim, Germany (5-6 December, 2011) which was organized in the framework of Task 2.2 (instead of meeting of outside programme owners). The final version of the input paper was made available to the Consortium on 21 December 2011.
As the Strategy for Future Joint STI Cooperation Activities between European Countries and Japan was to be based on this Input paper (Common Elements), the elaboration of the Strategy could be started only after the Pilot Joint Call Planning Meeting. Thus, a draft Strategy was prepared in January-beginning of February 2012 and discussed at the CONCERT-Japan Strategy Verification Workshop organized on 6 February 2012, in Paris, France (Task 2.1) After the meeting, discussions went on about the joint call and other possible joint activities and the outcomes were integrated into the strategy. As these discussions on the strategy took more time than expected, the CONCERT-Japan Future Joint Activities Strategy was finalised in May and submitted to the EC on 4 June, 2012. The strategy describes the objectives (such as to generate synergies in research funding with common interest and mutual benefits; to foster excellent research partnerships involving both academia and industry; to achieve a critical mass to jointly address common challenges and to define common priorities for cooperation and to create a spillover effect to enhance cooperation in the frame of Horizon 2020), background and rationale, main principles of future joint activities (incl. high quality of joint activities; equitable and balanced partnerships; added value to ongoing bilateral programs; flexibility, room for variety and inclusiveness of joint programmes, etc.), common challenges and common priorities (healthy ageing, resilience against disasters, energy management for low carbon society), as well as definition of future joint activities including pilot joint call but also other possible future joint activities (open access to use other’s research facilities, advanced training courses, workshops and seminars).
The only deliverable resulted from this task is “Strategy for Future Joint STI Cooperation Activities between European countries and Japan”.

Significant Results
• The deliverable “Strategy for Future Joint STI Cooperation Activities between European countries and Japan” was prepared, validated, finalized and submitted to the Participant Portal.
• CONCERT-Japan Joint Call Strategy Verification Workshop was organized 6 February 2012, in Paris, France and the strategy was validated.
• The “Strategy for Future Joint STI Cooperation Activities between European countries and Japan” was made publicly available on the CONCERT-Japan website.
• The themes of the strategy for future joint activities were identified as healthy ageing, resilience against disasters and energy management for low carbon society.

Task 2.2: Special Measures for Attracting Additional Programme Owners
The main objectives relating to this task was ensuring that the joint strategy includes the opinions of the widest circle of stakeholders as possible and it reaches the broadest target community so that more and more programme owners/managers are attracted to the joint call.
The communication with the outside programme owners and managers has already started around March - April 2011 with the questionnaire sent to them in the framework of Task 1.2. From then on, regular contacts with the outside programme owners and managers have been kept in various occasions. All the outside programme owners that has a cooperation with Japan or interested in developing such a cooperation has been invited to the CONCERT-Japan Stakeholders Conference on Europe-Japan STI Cooperation (26 July 2011, Budapest, Hungary). In total 14 outside programme owners (non-CONCERT-Japan beneficiaries) attended the event from various European countries and Japan. The event helped to raise the awareness at these organizations about the CONCERT-Japan project as well as the planned joint call. At the occasion of the Stakeholders Conference both the issues of the joint pilot call as well as questions concerning the broader strategy of the European countries and Japan S&T cooperation were discussed.
Originally a meeting was planned in order to inform outside programme owners about the strategy and the pilot joint call. But as communication lines with the outside programme owners were already sufficiently established since the first quarter of CONCERT-Japan and because all the interested outside programme owners were already present at the Stakeholders Conference, the dedicated meeting of outside programme owners was cancelled. Instead, a Pilot Joint Call Planning Meeting was organized in the framework of this task, with the participation of CONCERT-Japan partners and outside programme owners which were dedicated to participate in the call. This Pilot Joint Call Planning Meeting constituted the first occasion where the details and practicalities of the planned joint call was discussed. Interested outside programme owners were also invited and participated in the first Funding Organizations Forum meeting which took place on 28-29 March 2012 in Oslo, Norway.
One of the special measures of this task was a road-show to attract additional programme owners. During the Pilot Joint Call Planning Meeting in Muelheim, it was discussed to limit this activity to a limited number of actors as the project team already addressed possible interested programme owners several times.
During the period of January-June 2012, a limited number of outside programme owners were contacted to raise awareness about the joint call. These were among others: RCUK (UK), AKA (Finland), DASTI (Denmark), VINNOVA (Sweden), NCBIR (Poland), MSCT (Czech Republic), FWO (Belgium), SAS (Slovakia), ANCS (Romania), NAUKA (Serbia), OTKA (Hungary), organisations of the West-Balkan Countries Steering Platform (such as Ministries from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR of Macedonia, Montenegro or Serbia), KNAW (NL), FWF (AT), Province of Trento (Italy), FNP and PARP (Poland). In order to approach the outside programme owners, a document summarising the main elements of the joint call was prepared.
As a result of this task, additional outside programme owners such as ANCS (Romania), OTKA (Hungary), FWO (Belgium) and SAS (Slovakia), Province of Trento (Italy) committed to participate in the joint call by the end of July 2012. The total amount of commitment from these outside organizations to the pilot joint call was 1,050,000 Euro. Eventually, the “Report on the results of the Measures Implemented for Attracting Additional Programme owners” was submitted to the coordinator in April, 2013 for quality assessment check. The quality assessment was finalised in May, 2013 and the report was consequently submitted to the EC.
Additional activities: As the EC approved the prolongation of the project until December 31, 2014, it has been decided to launch a second joint call. Apart from the funding organisations having participated in the first joint call, additional programme owners were contacted by project partners to encourage them to participate in the second joint call. In the period of September 2013-January 2014, 15 programme owners were contacted. Finally altogether 3 outside programme owners joined the Photonic Manufacturing Call: SAS (Slovakia), SNSF (Switzerland) and OTKA (Hungary).
The only deliverable expected to result from this task was D2.2 “Report on the Results of the Measures Implemented for Attracting Additional Programme Owners”.

Significant Results
• As a result of this task, additional outside programme owners such as ANCS (Romania), OTKA (Hungary), FWO (Belgium) and SAS (Slovakia), Province of Trento (Italy) committed to participate in the first joint call and SAS (Slovakia), SNSF (Switzerland) and OTKA (Hungary) in the second joint call.
• The target was to ensure at least two programme owners/managers outside of the consortium to the pilot joint call. This target has been achieved and even much more programme owners/managers committed to participate in the call.
• The results of this task enhanced the impact of the joint calsl by increasing the number of programme owners participating in them, thereby reinforcing the achievement of critical mass, as well as increasing the total amount of calls budgets.

Task 2.3 Examining Practices and Proposing Arrangements on IPR Issues
The main objective relating to this task was introducing a coordinated approach on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues.
First, an IPR questionnaire was prepared where the current IPR arrangements and future IPR preferences of funding organizations that manage a bilateral programme with Japan were surveyed as an integral part of the “Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Cooperation Survey” of the CONCERT-Japan project conducted during April/May 2011. The responses given to the IPR questionnaire were analyzed: in total, the IPR questionnaire was filled in by 32 different bilateral cooperation programmes. The analysis report gives detailed information on the responses given to this IPR part of the survey and demonstrates the analysis and the resulting recommendations for the CONCERT-Japan joint call. Resulting from the assessment of the analysis by the CONCERT-Japan consortium, it was decided that special IPR arrangements are not required for CONCERT-Japan Pilot Joint Call. Most of the respondents of the survey mentioned that they would not require or oblige specific IPR arrangements for the CONCERT-Japan pilot joint call but prefer only to recommend such arrangements to the applicant researchers and research organizations. Therefore, it was concluded that the funding organizations in the CONCERT-Japan Pilot Joint Call would only recommend and encourage the applicants to conclude consortium agreements addressing IPR issues among the partners of a funded project. Proposed recommendations on the necessity of a specific IPR arrangement for the joint call were collected, the analysis report was developed also to include these recommendations. The report was presented at the Pilot Joint Call Planning Meeting (Muelheim, 5-6 December, 2011) and validated with the programme owners. The final deliverable “Recommendations for Coordinated IPR Arrangements in Pilot Joint Call” was finalized on 12 April 2012 and submitted to the EC.
The only deliverable expected to result from this task was “Recommendations for Coordinated IPR Arrangements in Pilot Joint Call”.

Significant Results
• The deliverable Recommendations for Coordinated IPR Arrangements in Pilot Joint Call was prepared and submitted to the EC.
• It was revealed that for any joint call between European and Japanese funding organizations, there is no need to develop specific arrangements among the funding organizations (protocols, MoU etc.) regarding the IPR issues.

WP3 Preparing, Implementing and Assessing a Pilot Joint Call
Objectives
CONCERT-Japan WP3’s main objective was to launch a Joint Call involving funding agencies from Europe and Japan. WP3 was leaded by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and co-leaded by DLR. All CONCERT-Japan partners contributed to its activities.
WP3 activities included:
- Delivering the guidelines for the implementation of a pilot joint call on the basis of the Joint Strategy developed in WP2
- Establishing a Funding Organizations Forum representing programme owners from MS/AC and Japan which confirm to participate in the pilot joint call
- Implementing a pilot joint call (PJC)
- Organizing events to promote the pilot joint call and disseminate information about it
- Gaining experience and learning lessons from implementing the Pilot Joint Call in order to generate a durable joint programmatic approach for the future

Achievements
The CONCERT-Japan Pilot Joint Call was launched in September 2012. 15 organisations representing 12 different countries participated in this joint call. The total committed budget was 5,290,000 € of which 2,776,451 € were actually allocated to the 9 funded projects.
Country/Funding institution Amount initially committed in € Amount granted to the projects in €
Japan (JST) 800 000 € 789 970 €
Germany (BMBF) 800 000 € 573 692 €
Turkey (TUBITAK) 800 000 € 203 620 €
Norway (RCN) 660 000 € 362 800 €
Italy (Region of Lombardy) 400 000 € 91 000 €
Italy (Province of Trento) 300 000 € 122 960 €
Romania (ANCS) 300 000 € 97 705 €
Spain (MINECO) 250 000 € 99 776 €
Switzerland (ETH) 250 000 € 197 000 €
Belgium (FWO) 200 000 € 0 €
France (MESR/MAE) 180 000 € 100 094 €
Hungary (OTKA) 150 000 € 49 800 €
Germany (North-Rhine-Westphalia Region) 100 000 € 42 834 €
Slovakia (SAS) 100 000 € 45 200 €
Overall buget 5 290 000 € 2 776 451 €

The aim of this Pilot Joint Call was to fund Europe-Japan R&D collaborative projects of two-year duration in the field of:
- Resilience against disasters
- Efficient energy storage and distribution
These topics were selected as the topics of major common interest between the funding agencies interested in participating in the call.
The necessary documents for the implementation of the Call were drafted in June 2012, by DLR, CNRS and TUBITAK, and they were sent to the FOF members in order to discuss them during the
FOF and National and Regional Contact Persons (NRCP) meetings in Berlin in July 2-4th 2012. The Call documents were the following:
- Call Text and Regulations
- Guidelines for Applicants
- Guidelines for Online Evaluators
- Guidelines for Scientific Committees
The Pilot Joint Call was launched on the 3rd of September 2012, with a deadline for submission on the 15th of November 2012.

Two brokerage events took place in September 2012 to promote the Pilot Joint Call. The first one was in Tokyo/Japan, on the 10-11th September 2012, on the thematic area of “Resilience against Disasters”, co-organised by JST, JSPS and MEXT. The second one took place in Milan/Italy, on the 27-28th September, on the thematic area of “Efficient Energy Storage and Distribution”, organised by Finlombarda. The scope of the two Conferences was to promote the launch of the Pilot Joint Call, more specifically the two-day events' objectives were:
- Inform researchers about CONCERT-Japan as well as the conditions and requirements to apply for the CONCERT-Japan Pilot Joint Call on Research and Innovation, and to provide details on proposal submission and project implementation
- Offer researchers from Europe and Japan, the opportunity to present their research interests and project ideas to an international and qualified audience of researchers working in the same field, and to express their interest in research collaboration
- Exchange information on European and Japanese research and innovation cooperation agendas and policies
- Offer the opportunity to have one-to one meetings among researchers to facilitate the setting up of project consortia

The events helped the scientists to present their ideas and find partners in order to form a consortium and submit a project to the Joint Call. A call for proposals for participation was launched on June 13th 2012, with the deadline for application on 9th of July 2012. The event in Tokyo was attended by more than 100 researchers and policy makers over the course of the two days, with roughly 30 researchers attending from Europe. The event in Milan was attended by around 130 researchers and policy makers, with roughly 60 researchers. The feedback received after both conferences was overall very positive.

Participants in the CONCERT-Japan brokerage events


96 projects were submitted in total, 43 in the thematic area of Efficient Energy Storage and Distribution (170 researchers involved from Europe and Japan), 53 in the thematic area of Resilience against Disasters (with 256 researchers involved from Europe and Japan). The very high response rate for both thematic areas highlights the immense interest from the scientific community and demand for these kinds of multilateral funding schemes.

Graph 1 – PJC, Resilience against disasters: Number of proposals submitted per country

Graph 2 – PJC, Efficient energy storage and distribution: Number of proposals submitted per country

These proposals went through the evaluation and selection process:
- 1st step: eligibility check of the proposals by the Joint Call Secretariat and the National/regional contact points
- 2nd step: online evaluation process, each proposal was evaluated by at least two independent evaluators
- 3rd step: meeting of the Scientific Committees. The members of the Scientific Committees were nominated by each funding agency participating in the call. Their role was to give a score to each proposal (A,B,C) and establish the ranking list.
- 4th and last step: selection by the Funding Organisation Forum of the projects to be funded on the basis of the ranking list established by the Scientific Committees and the budget available.
As a result of CONCERT-Japan evaluation and selection process, 4 projects in the field of Efficient energy storage and distribution and 5 projects in the field of Resilience against disasters were selected for funding, for a total budget of 2 776 451 €. The projects began between 1st of April and 1st of July 2013.

Between February and August 2014, the Joint Call Secretariat collected the intermediary reports due by the funded projects after one year of funding. The publishable summaries of these intermediary reports are available below:

• Resilience against Disasters
ROADERS - Road Networks for Earthquake Resilient Societies

Partners:
Germany - Universität Kassel, Department of Civil- and Environmental Engineering; Japan - Kyoto University, Department of Urban Management; Romania - Technical University Gheorghe Asachi of Iasi; Japan - Hokkaido University, Faculty of Engineering; Australia - Monash University, Institute of Transport Studies; Japan - Hanshin Expressway Co. LtD, Planning Department, Traffic Research Group; Romania - Regional Roads and Bridges Division of Iasi
Summary of achievements after one year of activities:
The resilience of road networks under multiple events triggered by an extreme earthquake is a major concern in Europe and Japan. This project has identified two such scenarios in its 1st research action (RA1): one in a rural setting in the vicinity of Iasi, Romania and the other for the Osaka region. The Iasi scenario affects single important roads and bridges with additional hazards from landslides and flash floods, whereas the Osaka scenario affects a road network with elevated roads in an urban setting with additional hazards from tsunami, liquefaction and fire. Both scenarios were discussed during a split Iasi-Kyoto workshop and the results published online in proceedings. Methods to assess this resilience have been explored in research actions RA2 (network damage estimation considering accumulated hazard) and RA3 (post-disaster transportation needs) in collaboration with road network operators, and possible improvements will be studied as planned in RA4 (structural robustness of critical network components) and RA5 (resilience based network optimization) with a critical appraisal of the methods and concepts under consideration during a final workshop at the end of the project (RA6). Work in RA2 has led to a first concept of hazard sequencing for single bridges, which are most critical to a networks’ operation. Studying typical damages on bridges due to earthquakes, tsunami and fire, a definition for robustness was developed that differentiates between acceptable and un-acceptable damage based on a required residual functionality of a particular bridge. This local functionality can be defined from a study of the whole network in view of the required post-disaster functionality and recovery, in its early/immediate post-event stages using agent modelling (residents, emergency personnel etc., but also more realistic “demons” that cause damage) during and after such an event sequence. This was the focus in RA3 where the project benefitted from a close cooperation between the teams from Univ. Kyoto and Univ. Iasi and additional contributions from the self-financing partners, especially Univ. Melbourne, but also Imperial College, London. The studies in RA2 and RA3 were discussed during a recent workshop in Kyoto, with the participation of Osaka Inst. of Technology (OIT, which has a unique testing facility for bridges under fire). The online publication of the proceedings is expected for early August. With the successful completion of RA1, RA2 and RA3, the basis is provided for the work planned in RA4, RA5 and RA6.
INFILTIE - An Innovative Tie System for Improving the Monolithic Behavior of Masonry In-filled Reinforced Concrete Frames

Partners:
Turkey - Cankaya University, Department of Civil Engineering; Japan - Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo; Germany - University Kassel, Faculty of Civil and environmental Engineeering; Turkey - Middle East Technical University, Civil Engineering Department
Summary of achievements after one year of activities:
Images of buildings with walls that have collapsed outward, exposing the destroyed inside and the failed structural components are synonymous with major earthquakes. INFILTIE aims to provide robustness to infill walls in reinforced concrete frame systems by embedding ties in the mortar joints so that this type of damage will be prevented from occurring. While joint ties are not uncommon, the types that are used today are not connected to the enclosing horizontal or vertical structural components. The novelty for INFILTIE is that the metal connectors will be positively anchored to the columns in a way that will not significantly increase labour or cost.
The consortium of partners from Turkey, Japan and Germany will do complementary work to investigate the feasibility of the idea. Mock-up scale (1:3) specimens will be tested under incrementally applied horizontal cyclic loads in the Turkish program. Smaller scale (1:4) specimens will then be built and tested under simulated earthquake motions in Japan. The German effort will focus on building computational tools that will interpret the experiments so that generalizations in the form of design requirements can be formulated. These studies will demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed tie system in maintaining the in- and out-of-plane stability of infill walls during earthquakes and collectively will pave the way to the development of corresponding analysis and design procedures.
Project activities to date have progressed with justified minor revisions and without significant delays. Literature survey has verified the lack of similar solutions and the potential impact of the proposed system. Design of the scaled test frame was based on a realistic frame system and the loading setup included vertical loads applied prior to lateral cyclic loading. Testing of bare and infilled frames (without ties) are completed as well as the design and manufacturing of the tie system. Testing of frame specimens with ties are to be completed in September-October 2014, and will be followed by the shaking table tests of 1:4 scale frames in Japan in November-December 2014. Modelling studies in Germany have commenced to calibrate and compare results with those obtained from experimental studies in Turkey and Japan.
RAPSODI - Risk Assessment and design of Prevention Structures fOr enhanced tsunami DIsaster resilience

Partners:
Norway - Norwegian Geotechnical Institute; Germany - TU Braunschweig, Leichtweiß Institute for Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources; Japan - Port and Airport Research Institute; Turkey - METU Department of Civil Engineering, Ocean Engineering Research Center
Summary of achievements after one year of activities:
The main objective of the EU CONCERT-Japan RAPSODI project is networking between European and Japanese institutions. A strong focus is put on cooperation between the four partners NGI (Norway), PARI (Japan), TU Braunschweig (Germany) and METU (Turkey), networking and exchange of knowledge by small-scale scientific events, dissemination of scientific results and utilization of complementary expertise between the partners.
The scientific goals are to develop a framework for quantitative tsunami risk analysis and to design mitigation structures to improve tsunami resilience. METU has prepared three deliverables on existing numerical and vulnerability models, tsunami loads on structures, and failure modes of structures through extensive literature survey, as well as on the comparison of coastal structures and mitigation strategies against tsunamis in Europe and Japan. A matrix representing different failure mechanisms of coastal protection structures and buildings exposed to tsunamis (in terms of water level difference and wave force) is also prepared to achieve one objective of the project. The deliverables are completed with numerical model NAMI-DANCE and the STOC-CADMAS system has provided preliminary results on current velocities and fluxes around structures and in complex topographies/urban areas for the study area of Haydarpasa Port Istanbul.
TU-BS has planned the model tests on failure coastal defence structures/buildings under given tsunami load to be performed this summer with assistance from METU. The experimental results will be used to assess structure resilience against tsunami impact and to establish guidelines for tsunami-safe structures. Finally, tsunami bore properties are analysed in the TU-BS wave flume. The bore profile, the current velocity under the bore and the bore front velocity determine the limitations of the experimental set-up/programme.
NGI manages the project and has contributed to METU’s deliverables with input on the state of the art of vulnerability assessment methodologies, the description of coastal protection structures in Europe, and a final quality control. NGI has also worked on initial steps for validation of the quantitative risk analysis model. To this end, a research on available published material on the 2011 Tohoku tsunami has been carried out. The identified data were screened to judge their suitability for the GIS-based quantitative risk analysis modelling and some initial test runs were carried out. Potential locations for the validation of the tsunami risk analysis model were identified and final site selection is underway.
For the dissemination of the project, a RAPSODI website is produced: http://www.ngi.no/en/Project-pages/RAPSODI/. Moreover, the RAPSODI project has been presented at international symposiums and assemblies of other projects. Six meetings to settle the administrative and scientific issues of the project have been arranged: two in Norway, two in Turkey (the first during the 2013 International Tsunami Symposium), one during the 2014 EGU General Assembly, and the last one during the June 2014 ICCE in South Korea. Effort has also been devoted to planning the final joint workshop for the five CONCERT-Japan Disaster Resilience projects, tentatively in Japan in November 2014.
RAPIDMAP - Resilience against Disasters using Remote Sensing and Geoinformation Technologies for Rapid Mapping and Information Dissemination

Partners:
Japan - Tokai University; Switzerland - ETH Zurich, Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry; Italy/Provincia di Trento - Bruno Kessler Foundation, 3D Optical Metrology unit; Germany - Leibniz Universität Hannover; Japan - Nihon University
Summary of achievements after one year of activities:
Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) are powerful technologies for collecting useful information on the damages of disasters in short period of time. However, since many different types of RS data are available, imagery co-registration, information integration and extraction need reliable and advanced methodologies. In the RAPIDMAP project, the partners will develop practical ways to integrate RS data tools in near real time and allow users to use those data soon after the disasters by means of WebGIS tools. This will help not only decision makers but also end-users in the disaster area.

The key components of the RAPIDMAP project are:
(1) Near real time monitoring: the procedure of near real time monitoring with satellites as well as UAV will be set up and demonstrated by using the facilities of the partners.
(2) Multiple image co-registration: in disaster, various images as well as maps come from different sources. The co- registration of multiple images is a key technology for information integration. In this project, a system to co-register multiple images in near real time will be developed.
(3) Data fusion and change detection: one of the advantages of RS is to collect information with multiple sensors. Various methods for fusing optical sensor data with active microwave sensor SAR data for information extraction and change detection will be developed in this project.
(4) WebGIS: the collected and integrated information have to be easily accessible and visible from decision makers and end-users in near real time and worldwide. By using WebGIS technologies, all the information will be easily accessible on PCs, portable laptops and tablet terminals in very short time, after data collection and processing.

All the aforementioned research topics are under investigation by the consortium partners. Regarding co-registration of very different images (e.g. optical and radar), ETHZ used and compared various methods. A special focus has been the automated detection and elimination of errors, when finding automatically the same point in these very different images. First results are promising, and further more extensive tests will be made with various test images, including some from the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami area.
Oblique aerial images are under processing and evaluation at FBK for change detection analyses. TUD processed the SAR images of the Tohoku scene in order to derive various products which are relevant for change detection. TU succeeded in receiving Landsat-8 data since May 2013 and under the cooperation with PASCO, a tablet system which allows users to compare the historical images of the area with current images is under development.
NU has performed few test flights with a UAV platform over some damaged area in Tohoku in order to evaluate the utility of such platform in case of natural disaster. Two papers and respective presentations have been made in international conferences of ISPRS (International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing) and AARS (Asian Association on Remote Sensing) in 2013.
URBIPROOF- Increasing resilience of urban planning

Partners:
Germany - TU Dortmund University, Institute of Spatial Planning; Japan - Tohoku University, Department of Architecture and Building Science; Slovakia - Agency for the Support of Regional Development Kosice
Summary of achievements after one year of activities:
Cities in Europe and Japan will be facing various challenges in the future. Some of them being societal (e.g. demographic change) others being hazards and risks. To prepare cities for the future, policies and strategies that are able to enhance their resilience must be established today. In this project, existing strategies in Germany, Slovakia and Japan are being evaluated considering the countries' different risk cultures. Throughout this process, the participating partners are sharing their knowledge and explore transfer options as well as possibilities for improvement. The project’s aim is to develop a handbook on disaster resilient urban planning that combines the previous experiences of all three countries with the newly created knowledge and offers assistance for practitioners. Thus, the handbook will be published in all relevant languages (English, Japanese, German, and Slovakian). In addition, a scientific book on “Spatial Planning Following Disasters” based on the results from the first URBIPROOF workshop in Japan is in preparation and will be published by Policy Press.
To assure an understanding of the risk management practices and identify possibly transferable elements short-term research stays in Germany (Dortmund), Slovakia (Kosice) and Japan (Sanriku region) take place. The involvement of local professionals from different sectors thereby ensures a realistic view on the current situation.
The establishment of the project’s research network offers the opportunity for further research projects regarding strategies and instruments to improve the resilience of European and Japanese cities.
• Efficient Energy Storage and Distribution Theme
iTHEUS- Fundamental investigations on Improved Materials and Storage Concepts for a Hydrogen based Integrated Total Energy Utilisation System

Partners:
Norway - Institute for Energy Technology, Physics Department; Japan – AIST; Japan - Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University; Germany - Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht Zentrum für Material- und Küstenforschung GmbH, Institute of Materials; Switzerland – EMPA; Denmark - Department of Chemistry and Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Aarhus University
Summary of achievements after one year of activities:
The aim of the iTHEUS project is the development and design optimization of a next-generation hydrogen-based stationary energy system, based on the Totalized Hydrogen Energy Utilization System (THEUS) concept promoted by AIST. The project is a multilateral cooperation with an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together expertise from different research fields, with focus on: (i) development and characterization of hydrogen storage materials; (ii) investigation of hydrogen storage tank properties; and (iii) modelling of integrated hydrogen storage systems (i.e. THEUS). The partners are: Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), Norway, AIST Tsukuba, Japan, Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University (IMR-TU), Sendai, Japan, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG), Germany, EMPA, Switzerland, and Aarhus University (AU), Denmark (external partner).
Two synergetic strategies will be pursued: 1) Optimize the existing THEUS system, and 2) Explore the possibility of using novel hydrogen storage materials with high desorption/absorption temperatures and/or pressures and study their system integration with intermediate temperature fuel cells and electrolyser: the next-generation i(ntegrated)THEUS.
During the first year of the project there have been two project meetings: (i) kick-off meeting in Il Ciocco in Italy in July 2013 (linked to the Gordon Research Conference Hydrogen-Metal Systems), and (ii) workshop at AIST in Tsukuba, Japan in February 2014. There has already been a significant exchange of young and senior researchers between Europe and Japan and vice versa. The specifications for material that could contribute to improve the current THEUS have been developed and possible compounds have been proposed. A high-pressure cell for X-ray diffraction has been developed by EMPA and installed at IMR-TU. Together HZG, IMR-TU and IFE have joint activities on development and characterization of novel complex hydrides that could be candidates for the next-generation iTHEUS. IFE and AIST are collaborating with modelling and experimental work in order to optimize the THEUS system.
During the first year, AIST, IMR-TU, HZG and IFE had presentations in the Academic Forum and posters at the FC EXPO in Tokyo in February 2014.
SolarFuel - Solar photocatalysis for generation of fuel

Partners:
Germany - Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Ulm University; Japan - Catalysis Research Center, Hokkaido University; France - Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, University Paris-sud
Summary of achievements after one year of activities:
SOLARFUEL partners are proposing novel hybrid photocatalysts, composed of plasmonic titania and ruthenium complexes, for generation of fuels under solar radiation. Noble metals proved to be excellent titania modifiers accelerating the transfer of photoexcited electrons to substrate and absorbing visible light irradiation either by metal complexes fixed on semiconductor or by photoexcitation of localized surface plasmon resonance of nanoparticles (NPs) of noble metal. Here we are proposing to compare and combine homogeneous and heterogeneous photocatalysis using ruthenium complexes and bare or modified titania with plasmonic NPs. We will prepare photocatalysts with various structural properties by different methods, e.g. advanced inorganic synthesis, radiolysis, photo-reduction, microemulsion, soft template. Obtained photocatalysts will be characterized by various techniques to establish a correlation between their performance and properties, and to draw a conclusion which properties are crucial for high photocatalytic activity. SOLARFUEL will generate solar fuel in the form of hydrogen or reduced forms of carbon dioxide, e.g. alcohols, which can be easily transported as liquid fuels. Young researchers will carry out proposed research in their home laboratories as well as in partner laboratories to learn new techniques and working environment. Planned scientific meetings with invited guest will allow better collaboration and the future development route in the field. It is expected that invented photocatalyst will be commercially used for solar fuel generation in nearest future.
UMBLA - Understanding Mesoscopic Behaviour of Li ion in All-solid-battery

Partners:
Japan - Toyota Motor Corp.; Spain - Universidad Politécnica de Madrid; Germany - the Helmholtz Institute for Electrochemical Energy Storage, Ulm; Germany - IEK-1 Forschungszentrum Jülich

Summary of achievements after one year of activities:
The main object of this project is to develop in-situ diagnostics and simulation for all solid batteries; in working batteries, we still have discrepancy between the physical properties of composing materials and the battery performance. In other words, it is difficult to predict a battery performance from physical and chemical properties of materials. The possible reasons of this discrepancy are 1) less understanding of microscopic phenomena, such as charge transfer process at electrolyte/active material interfaces, and 2) lack of knowledge about reaction and Li ion transport in mesoscopic scale (10 nm ~ several μm) for working batteries. In this project, we propose a new experiment and computer simulation method to understand the phenomena in mesoscopic scale. The final goals of the project are 1) to establish in-situ diagnostic technique for imaging Li ion distribution, 2) to investigate the Li ion dynamics by combining the diagnostics and the mathematical modeling for describing Li ion movement in a working battery, and 3) to establish predicting method of the battery performance for all solid battery.
NASEMS - Nanoradiator-Equipped Adsorbents for Safe and Energy Saving Methane Storage
Partners:
Japan - Research Center for Exotic Nanocarbons, Shinshu University; Italy/Lombardia - Department of Chemistry, University of Milan; Hungary - Dep. of Physical Chemistry and Materials Sci., Budapest University of Technology and Economics; France - Chemistry at Université Pierre et Marie Curie ; Spain - Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Alicante University
Summary of achievements after one year of activities:
NASEMS’ partners had a preliminary meeting at the international Conference on the 11-th International Conference on Fundamentals of Adsorption at Baltimore in USA on May 2013 instead of the planned skype meeting on May; four members other than Prof. Carlucci confirmed the research guideline. Prof. Carlucci organized the first two days-project workshop: NASEMS-1 at the University of Milano on September to promote the deep understanding of target subject and materials, and to clarify the role of each group. As the considerably large amount of porous graphene was prepared by Shinshu University mainly (the first collaborated paper on “Activation routes for high surface-area graphene monoliths from graphene oxide colloids” was accepted by Carbon), the graphene samples and the detailed preparation method were distributed to other universities We chose the PCN-14 as a promising applicant MOF for the preparation of MOF-graphene hybrids as Milano group proposed. On NASEMS-1, two young researchers of Budapest and Shinshu stayed for about 1 week to exchange experimental know-hows on graphene preparation at the University of Milano. Also we agreed on the consortium agreement on this project. After the NASEMS-1, Milano group succeeded to prepare the organic ligand for the MOF PCN-14 to share the samples at the NASEMS-2 in Paris. We had the NASEMS-2 in Paris on March 6 and 7 in 2014, which was organized by Prof. A. Fuchs, University of Paris. Milano-group showed the synthetic route of PCN-14 and Alicante-group reported methane adsorption on preliminary synthesized hybrid samples. We discussed target subjects which should be studied with theoretical methods. We added HKUST-1 as another target of promising MOF. Then, the Alicante, Budapest, and Milano groups synthesized the preliminary hybrid materials after the NASEMS-2.

Two joint workshops were organized by CONCERT-Japan to bring together those funded projects in order to discuss and disseminate the progress, results and future prospects of their work, as well as offering an opportunity for further networking and collaboration-building among participants. The first joint workshop on “Efficient Energy storage and distribution” took place in Jülich/Germany in October 2014. The joint workshop on “Resilience against disasters” took place in Tokyo/Japan in November 2014.
Against the success of this first CONCERT-Japan Joint Call, CONCERT-Japan partners decided to launch a second Joint Call. CNRS, supported by the DLR, has been confirmed as Joint Call Secretariat.
The preparation of the Second Joint Call started at the end of September 2013 with discussion among CONCERT-Japan consortium and external funding organisations on potential Call topics. JST launched a survey among potential Funding Organisations to build a consensus and support as broad as possible on a thematic for the Joint Call. In the end, “Photonic Manufacturing” has been identified as the topic of major interest between European funding agencies and Japan.
In December 2013, the following agencies confirmed their interest in participating in the Photonic Manufacturing Joint Call:
Country/Funding institution Amount initially committed in € Amount granted to the projects in €
Japan (JST) 300,000 € 300,000 €
Hungary (OTKA) 100,000 € 125,000 €
Italy/Region of Lombardy 300,000 € 390,346 €
Slovakia (SAS) 160,000 € 0 €
Switzerland (SNSF) 200,000 € 100,000 €
Turkey (TUBITAK) 500,000 € 81,322 €
Overall call budget 1,560,000 € 996,668 €

CONCERT-Japan Second Joint Call was launched on the 10 February 2014, with a deadline for submission on the 30 April 2014. 15 proposals were submitted and went through the evaluation process.


Graph 3 – Second Joint Call: Number of proposals submitted per country

Out of these 15 proposals, 4 projects (two-year projects) were selected for funding and started their activities in October 2014.

Photonic Manufacturing Joint Call – Summaries of the funded projects
FEMTOTERA - Plasmon-enhanced Tera-Hertz emission by Femtosecond laser pulses of nanostructured semiconductor/metal surfaces

Partners:
Italy - University of Milano-Bicocca, Japan - NIMS: National Institute for Materials Science; Hungary - Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Research Institute for Technical Physics and Materials Science; Italy - CNR- Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies

Summary:
FemtoTera project addresses the fundamental technological field of ultrashort pulsed Terahertz (THz) radiation generation for time domain spectroscopy. This is an ever growing field, due to the important properties of THz radiation and its significant applications such as: information and communications technology; biology and medical sciences; non-destructive detection; homeland security; quality control of food and agricultural products; global environmental monitoring; and ultrafast computing.
One of the more effective ways to generate short THz radiation pulses is via femtosecond near-infrared laser irradiated on semiconductor/metal surfaces. FemtoTera project targets the study of such THz generation process at surfaces by stimulating with ultrashort laser pulses a semiconductor surface nano-engineered with self-assembled quantum dots - metal nanoparticle systems. The surface will be nanostructured via bottom-up processes, using innovative fabrication methods developed by the consortium participants. The interaction effects between ultrashort laser pulses and the nanostructures will be investigated, in view of THz generation, both theoretically and experimentally using the complementary expertise of the EU and Japan groups.
The FemtoTera research final goal is to increase our understanding of the complex, multi time scale physical interactions between light and matter and their related photo-responsive processes, thus leading to the development of next generation materials for time domain spectroscopy THz sources.
FEASIBLE - FEmtosecond laser Advanced manufacturing for Ship-In-a-Bottle Lab-on-chips Enrichment

Partners:
Italy - CNR-Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies; Japan - RIKEN-SIOM Joint Research Unit; Hungary - Institute of Biophysics, Biological Research Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Summary:
The project FEASIBLE aims at advancing the field of photonic manufacturing by introducing a novel hybrid process based on femtosecond laser micromachining. This hybrid approach will solve the difficulties in realizing lab-on-a-chip (LOC) that combine 3D glass microfluidic networks with 3D polymer micro-components. This technology will enable the direct fabrication of polymeric components in the microfluidic networks for the on-chip integration of functionalities such as sensing and manipulation of bio and chemical materials. The devices developed in the project will find applications in many different fields of biotechnology, such as medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, agriculture and food quality, and protection against hazardous agents.
The main objectives of the project will be:
o Demonstration of the possible combination of subtractive and additive photonic manufacturing on the same device and with the same laser-system;
o Engineering of the laser beam by a Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) to improve the quality of the manufacturing process, and to overcome the serial nature of the technique by parallelizing the manufacturing process;
o Demonstration of the technology disruptive potential by the production of innovative LOCs with 3D layouts and integrated optical and fluidic functionalities.
DIAMONDFAB - Femtosecond laser microfabrication of diamond photonic circuits for quantum information

Partners:
Italy - Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies, CNR; Japan - Kyoto University; Turkey - Koç University

Summary:
Diamond’s nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect has remarkable properties which make it suitable for quantum information: the spin of its electron can be located, initialized, toggled and read out, all using optical techniques. However, a method able to able to boost the collection efficiency of light emitted from NV centers and connect the defects together optically to enable long-range entanglement is lacking. We propose the use of focused femtosecond laser pulse to write diamond photonic circuits to help realize a practical quantum computer. As a secondary application in sensing, we will integrate near surface diamond waveguides with microspheres.
In glasses, a positive refractive index change is induced by focused femtosecond laser pulses, but in crystals, the opposite occurs. In diamond, we will attempt to form waveguides by writing two modification tracks close together, resulting in a compressive stress and increased refractive index between the lines. We will employ adaptive optics to cancel the aberrations introduced by the air-diamond interface to achieve waveguides with symmetric cross sections for low-loss coupling to optical fibers.
To gain further insight into the laser-material interaction physics, we will apply ultrafast pump-probe polarization spectroscopy, giving important feedback for producing waveguides in bulk diamond.
FF-PHOTON - Functional Thin-Film Ferroelectric Materials for CMOS compatible Photonics
Partners:
Switzerland - ETH Zurich; Japan - Tokyo Institute of Technology; Japan - Shizuoka University; Italy - Politecnico di Milano, Department of Electronics, Information and BioEngineering; Japan - Nagoya University

Summary:
Ferroelectric materials have been extensively explored for various practical applications such as non-volatile memories and capacitors. Of particular interest is the strong electro-optic effect in many ferroelectrics that is absent in silicon. Recently, thin-film ferroelectric materials have attracted increasing attention as advanced functional photonic materials in CMOS compatible silicon photonics. While proof-of-concept demonstrations of functional ferroelectric layers have already been given, neither the manufacturing nor characterization can cope with the challenges posed by a future chip-scale photonic fabrication.
In this interdisciplinary project, we will investigate the light-matter interaction of epi-grown thin-film ferroelectric materials and develop the related manufacturing and characterization technologies. As an outcome of the project we envision a deep and comprehensive understanding of the photo-responsive process of ferroelectric thin-films and the establishment of a platform for CMOS compatible ferroelectric thin-films and enabled innovative optical devices. Swiss, Japanese and Italian project partners will work on the device design and fabrication, film integration, material and device characterization, respectively, with mutual collaborations.


WP4 Developing a Durable Programmatic Approach for Coordinated STI Cooperation
Introduction
One of the key objectives of the horizontal ERA-Net CONCERT Japan was the implementation of a multilateral funding scheme between European partners and Japan. In preparation of the Pilot Joint Call, strategic activities were undertaken under work packages 1 and 2. These activities include the mapping of the European and Japanese research landscapes, the scoping of the type of joint cooperation activities preferred by the partners and the identification of possible topics of interest for the Pilot Joint Call.
The Pilot Joint Call published in September 2012 on the topics of Resilience against disasters and Energy storage and distribution was a huge success. It prompted the consortium of CONCERT-Japan to apply for an extension of CONCERT-Japan of 10 months until December 2014, thus creating room for the publication of a second joint call on Photonic manufacturing in February 2014.
The work package 4 of the ERA-Net CONCERT-Japan set out to develop a Strategy for a durable STI cooperation programme between the EU and Japan, taking into account the findings under the previous work packages as well as the experiences and recommendations resulting from the Pilot Joint Call. The Strategy for a durable STI cooperation Programme was discussed with the programme owners, the European Commission and presented to the researchers funded through CONCERT-Japan.
The final conference of CONCERT-Japan held in Izmir on December 1st and 2nd was an important event for the dissemination and implementation of the strategy. While an information note and a brochure were prepared for the dissemination of the strategy at a public level, a follow-up plan of action summarizes the future steps agreed on for the implementation of strategy. The deliverables produced under work package 4 are represented schematically in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Overview of the Deliverables produced under work package 4 of the ERA-Net CONCERT Japan. A number of key deliverables and actions carried out in the lead up to work package 4 are shown in blue shapes. The components of work package 4 are represented in red-colored shapes. This Figure is based on the Description of Work (DoW) of the ERA-Net CONCERT Japan.

Task 4.1 Developing Approaches for an STI Cooperation Programme
Based on the experiences collected from the implementation of the Pilot Joint Call a Recommendatory Report on programmatic Approaches was drafted. The report combines the lessons learnt from the pilot joint call by the consortium members, the feedback given by the researchers as well as the findings reported through an independent evaluation conducted in the Pilot Joint Call Monitoring Assessment Report.
According to the evaluation, the pilot joint call addressed two major barriers in the Europe-Japan research cooperation, namely the lack of information and the lack of funding opportunities. The high number of applications and the efficient implementation of the pilot joint call strongly justified the continuation and exploration of possible paths to enhance the multilateral cooperation further between the two partners Europe and Japan. Overall, the budget limitations were identified as rate-determining step, thus limiting the percentage of funded projects within CONCERT-Japan to 8 % of the total number of eligible applications submitted. One recommendation is to increase the number of Japanese funding organizations as partners in future calls.
The thematic focus is clearly relevant for the funding organizations in order to commit to multilateral funding schemes. Overlapping key priorities for both the EU and Japan can be found in the different strategic documents available for both regions. At the workshop held in July 2013 in Zürich, the five challenges to be addressed in Japan were listed as clean and economical energy system, a healthy and active ageing society, next generation infrastructure, regional revitalization and rapid recovery, revitalization from the great earthquake.
Recommendations on a general level include:
- increase in the information dissemination activities related to multilateral calls,
- aim for a balance in the financial contributions of the programme owner, in particular the two partners, EU and JPN
- integrate participants from industry as consortium members

Regarding the implementation procedures, a two-step submission procedure has proven more efficient if the number of applications is high and should be considered. Moreover, efforts designed to harmonize certain procedures among the funding institutions, such as the eligibility check or the timeline for the implementation of the call should be considered. On a practical note, online application system with PT-outline as the core software worked well.
The Recommendatory report envisions different levels to continue the research cooperation between the EU and Japan. On the one hand, the participation of Japan in multilateral activities with a European dimension is proposed. On the other hand, a level of cooperation outside the framework of an EU project should be considered for the mid-term time frame. In addition to these two different options, minor activities have been suggested such as networking events or the participation in joint infrastructures, thematic workshops or scientific prizes (in cooperation with industry) were brought forward.
Task 4.2 Strategy for a Durable STI Cooperation Programme
Based on the Recommendatory report, the following key principles were identified for any future strategy for a durable cooperation programme with the EU and Japan: The scheme should be flexible, have room for variety and inclusiveness, promote high excellence and contribute to the joint partnership building of both regions. The strategy developed under Task 4.2 in work package 4 of the ERA-Net CONCERT-Japan is primarily targeted at programme owners, funding organizations in the EU and Japan as well as policy actors from both regions.
It sets out by providing a short summary of the background and the present state of Japan-EU STI Cooperation. Participation data from Japanese project partners in FP7 programmes are shown and an overview over the existing programmes from the European Commission with Japan is provided. The strategic recommendations made within CONCERT-Japan are analyzed and the added value of multilateral cooperation schemes for both partners is explored. Not only has international collaboration in general been shown to have a positive effect on the impact of the research conducted. Multilateral cooperation efforts are occasionally the only way to achieve a critical mass in some fields of research that may otherwise difficult to conduct on a national level. It has been shown that the benefits gained from multilateral calls outweigh the added administrative burden by far. In the case of the cooperation between European member states and Japan multilateral cooperation schemes do provide an avenue for Japan to cooperate with European countries without the need to set up a bilateral scheme each time. Similarly, researchers from countries that have no exclusive funding dedicated to the bilateral cooperation with Japan may use the multilateral schemes for setting up cooperation projects with Japanese researchers. The thematic priorities listed in a range of strategies from both regions are compiled and compared in the Strategy document.
The strategy paper takes up the three different levels for future cooperation between the EU and Japan:
1. Commission-based programmes
Thematic ERA-Nets are open to international participation meaning that organisms from third countries can participate in the joint calls as funders. Similarly, there are examples of Joint Programming Initiatives that support international cooperation. In addition, European Technology Platforms and Joint Technology Initiatives, as industry-led organizations and because of their role in the structuration of the European research and innovation agenda, might offer the platform for dialogue between the EU MS/AC and Japan.

2. European Interest Group for Japan
The term European Interest Group defines a European MS-driven initiative to coordinate and synchronize efforts aiming at the development of sustainable, multilateral research collaboration with a third country. The EIG for Japan shall provide a joint discussion platform for European and Japanese funding organizations. It will build on the experience and structures acquired through the projects funded by the European Commission.

3. R&D investment from companies
Although one of the projects funded in the Pilot Joint Call through CONCERT-Japan was coordinated by a partner from industry, there are still some obstacles hampering the participation of industry at a larger scale, e.g.: access to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) from joint initiatives, high administrative input for small scale of funding.

Overall, the political setting for a durable STI programme between the EU and JPN is highly favorable. Not only are the major S&T programs from both regions aware of the importance of international collaboration, but there is also a clear overlap in the thematic priorities identified in Europe and Japan. In particular, possible ways to facilitate the participation of industry as a partner for R&D cooperation should be considered in the future.
Task 4.3 Conference for Facilitating the STI Cooperation Programme
The Kick-off Meeting of the European Interest Group (EIG) for Japan was organized on 2nd December 2014 in İzmir/Turkey by TÜBİTAK and DLR back-to-back to the Final Conference of the CONCERT-Japan Meeting. At the final conference a summary of the Strategy for a Durable STI Cooperation Programme was presented. As an outcome of this strategy the European Interest Group Japan was proposed. The EIG for Japan shall provide a joint discussion platform for European and Japanese funding organisations. It will build on the experience and structures acquired through the projects funded by the European Commission. The aim of this EIG meeting was to continue the successful synchronization of efforts between Europe and Japan initiated under CONCERT-Japan.12 countries were represented in this meeting (Japan, Germany, Spain, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland, Turkey, France) which showed the great interest of European and Japanese organizations for this initiative.
The EIG builds on considerable experience from FP7 INCO projects:
- CONCERT-Japan developed a series of analysis as well as a durable strategy for European-Japan cooperation. CONCERT-Japan partners also gained strong experience in multilateral cooperation and built trust relationship thanks to their participation in joint calls.
- The main aim of the BILAT project JEUPISTE is to foster the inclusion of Japan in Horizon 2020. To reach this goal, JEUPISTE provides analysis as well as dissemination activities. Its Description of Work also mentions that JEUPISTE should support the development of the EIG. JEUPISTE will end in 2016.

The EIG Japan is to continue these two collaboration schemes as one common road. The users of this EIG would be funding bodies, including the one who were already involved in CONCERT-Japan but also additional organizations.
Task 4.4 Promoting the Durability of the STI Cooperation Programme
A plan of Actions and a brochure have been developed in order to promote the Strategy for a Durable STI cooperation programme between the European partners and Japan of the ERA-Net CONCERT-Japan. The idea of the European Interest Group for Japan is introduced as one MS/AC-driven mechanism for a continuous cooperation between the two partners.
The plan of action describes:
. the aims of the European Interest Group:
- Information exchange; platform for direct communication
- Explore the added value of multilateral cooperation in building partnerships
- Keep and use the momentum generated by the ERA-Net for the implementation of future joint calls

. the main thematic priorities for future cooperation between European funding organizations and Japan
- Renewable Energies: storage, distribution, energy efficiency
- Ageing Society
- Health, Biotechnology, Life Sciences
- Nanotechnologies, Nanomaterials
- Agriculture, Robotics

. and possible joint coordinated cooperation activities
- Thematic workshops for researchers; seminars for funding organisations and policy makers
- Joint calls
- Activities supporting researcher mobility: lab visits, expert visits
- Innovation fairs
As a next concrete joint coordinated activity a joint call will be established in 2015.
The Brochure on the Strategy for a Durable STI cooperation programm was written to summarize the Strategy for a Durable STI Cooperation Programme, the results of the Conference for Facilitating the STI Cooperation and the Plan of Action. It contains the following chapters:

Objectives
Added value of multilateral cooperation schemes
Common objectives and challenges
Recommendations

Conclusions
The Brochure will be disseminated throughout interested European and Japanese institutions, funding organizations as well as policy makers.


D4.5 Brochure on the Strategy for a Durable STI cooperation programme

WP5 Communication, Dissemination, Public Relations and Dialogue
Task 5.1 Planning and Implementing Intra-project Communication
The main objective relating to this task was ensuring smooth flow of information among the project partners in general among interlinked tasks and work packages in particular.
Significant Results
• Deliverable D5.1 Intra-project Communication Plan was prepared and submitted to the EC. The deliverable passed successfully through the quality assessment process. It was implemented throughout the project.
• The plan provided detailed information about the interlinkages among tasks and work packages in the project structure and describes the communication tools (e.g. intranet) and standards which provided guidance to the project consortium.
• Six issues of CONCERT-Japan e-newsletters were prepared and published within the project.
• D5.2 Report on the Performance of Intra-project Communication was completed and submitted.
• All the published E-Newsletters were compiled and integrated into D5.4 External Dissemination Report for the Project at the end of the project.

Task 5.2 External Dissemination and Public Relations
The main objective relating to this task was disseminating project outcomes in the target community and performing public relations for the pilot joint call.
Significant Results
• Deliverable D5.3 External Dissemination Plan for the Project was prepared and submitted to European Commission.
• The external dissemination plan was implemented by the partners, the developments in the project has been communicated to outside stakeholders where necessary.
• In total, six semi-annual dissemination reports and one annual final dissemination report have been collected from all the project partners.
• The dissemination activities of CONCERT-Japan partners have been submitted to SESAM as part of CONCERT-Japan reporting.
• The project leaflet has been printed and disseminated in all the activities of the CONCERT-Japan project as well as in other activities where CONCERT-Japan project was represented.
• The deliverable D5.5 PR Plan for the Pilot Joint Call was prepared and finalized by September 2012, and submitted to the European Commission. It successfully passed through the quality assessment procedure.
• The deliverable D5.6 PR Plan Implementation Report for the Pilot Joint Call, D5.4 External Dissemination Report for the Project and D5.8 Regular Press Releases and Other Media Outputs were delivered during the third reporting period.

Task 5.3 Setting-up and Continuously Updating an Interactive Project Website and Web-tools
The main objective relating to this task was enhancing outreach through an interactive project website. The only deliverable expected to result from this task within this reporting period was deliverable D5.9 Project Website.
The CONCERT-Japan project website was constructed by TUBITAK and went online in March 2011 with the domain name www.concertjapan.eu. The main menu toolbar of the website includes the following links:
- About CONCERT-Japan
- Project Partners
- News and Events
- Documents
- Pilot Joint Call
- Important Links
- Cooperation Opportunities
- E-newsletter
- Contact Information

Significant Results
TUBITAK ensured the maintenance and update of the website until the end of the project. There is no deliverable due this reporting period or next reporting period about this task. The most significant results during this reporting period are as follows:
• 43 news items have been published on the project website.
• A dedicated page on the Pilot Joint Call on Efficient Energy Storage and Distribution and Resilience against Disasters was constructed on the website.
• A “Partner Find” was constructed integral to the website and was dedicated to facilitating matchmaking between researchers for the Pilot Joint Call on Efficient Energy Storage and Distribution and Resilience against Disasters. In total approximately 225 profiles of researchers were published on this dedicated Partner Find page.
• A dedicated page on the Joint Call on Photonic Manufacturing was constructed on the website.
• Six news items have been published on the project website.
• The information sheets have been published on the CONCERT-Japan website regarding the projects which were funded through the CONCERT-Japan Joint Call on Photonic Manufacturing.

Task 5.4 Dialogue with Related Projects and Platforms
The main objective relating to this task was establishing and maintaining dialogue with relevant platforms, fora, initiatives, projects, programmes and organizations in order to follow relevant external developments on the one hand and to chase other channels for dissemination of project outcomes on the other hand.
Significant Results
• Dialogue ongoing with J-BILAT, KORANET, ERA-NET RUS, EURAXESS Links Japan, EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation, NETWATCH Platform, European Commission, Coordinators of INCO projects targeting industrialized countries etc.
• CONCERT-Japan coordinator or partners participated and presented the project in two ILN Meetings and one J-BILAT meeting.
• Recommendations derived from the implementation of other ERA-NETs were presented to CONCERT-Japan consortium at the WP2-WP3 preparation meeting of the consortium which took place on 25 July 2011, back-to-back with CONCERT-Japan Stakeholders Conference, in Budapest, Hungary.
• Developments at the policy dialogue platforms between EU and Japan has been followed and the consortium has been informed of significant developments as such.
• News relating to CONCERT-Japan project published in J-BILAT and EURAXESS Links Japan Newsletters.
• Policy dialogue developments between EU and Japan have been followed and the consortium as well as the general public was informed about such developments.
• First contact established with EUJO-LIMMS project and the project representatives contributed to the recommendations resulting from the CONCERT-Japan Workshop on Future Perspectives for Europe-Japan Research and Innovation Cooperation, on 18 July 2013 in Zurich, Switzerland.


WP6 Project Management
Task 6.1 Standardization of Project Outputs
Achievements:
A Project Handbook was prepared by TUBITAK. The project handbook included information about management structure, management bodies and procedures; activity procedures and documentation standards; project reporting details and master plan timelines as well as templates for project deliverables, project reporting, project presentations, project meeting agendas and minutes. All activities of the project were subject the standards established with this Handbook. The Handbook constitutes deliverable D6.1 “Set of standardized templates and sheets and project handbook on working procedures and principles”.
A specific financial reporting tool was developed for CONCERT-Japan project by TUBITAK. The tool is constituted by an excel file that allows following the expenditures made by each partner at the Work Package and Task levels. Together with the excel tool, a Financial Tool Guideline was also prepared for tutoring the partners on the new CONCERT-Japan financial reporting tool.

Task 6.2 Project Kick-off
Achievements:
Project Kick-off Meeting was held at 17-18 January 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey, organized by the Coordinator, TUBITAK. Related platforms, projects and EC representatives were invited in addition to the project partners and observers. Some press agencies attended the beginning of the meeting. A press release was prepared and disseminated after the Kick-off Meeting. Meeting Minutes were circulated within the consortium and finalized with the feedback received. The first year time plan was established after the kick-off meeting. The deliverable D6.2 Project Kick-off Press Release and Kick-off Meeting Minutes was finalized and submitted. The news of the Kick-off meeting was published on CONCERT-Japan website after the event, together with the press release http://www.concertjapan.eu/node/82.

CONCERT-Japan Kick-off Meeting, 17-18 January 2011, İstanbul, Turkey
Task 6.3 Coordination and Management of Consortium Structure
Achievements:
The Consortium Agreement was drafted by TUBITAK, sent to the consortium for feedback, it was then revised and finalized by TUBITAK and signed by the all partners. Thereby, the deliverable D6.3 Consortium Agreement signed by the consortium members was delivered.
The first Steering Committee Meeting was held in Paris/France on 6-8 February 2012. All project partners, commission representatives and observers were invited to the meeting. Meeting minutes for the first Steering Committee was prepared and finalized with the feedback from all participants.
Internal communication of the project is successfully maintained both in task and work package levels. Observers of the project were informed on the project progress periodically via e-newsletter and were invited to the relevant project meetings.
The 2nd Project Steering Committee has been held on 28 February 2013 in Tokyo, Japan, back to back with the third meeting of the CONCERT-Japan Funding Organizations Forum. The meeting has been organized by the CONCERT-Japan partner Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) at the premises of JST in Tokyo. As members of the Steering Committee, representatives from CONCERT-Japan partner and observer organizations and from the Delegation of the EU to Japan have been present at the meeting. The aim of the Steering Committee meeting was to review the project activities implemented in the past year of the project (2012) and to plan the forthcoming activities for the next year (2013) in line with the objectives of the CONCERT-Japan project. The CONCERT-Japan Pilot Joint Call on Research and Innovation which was launched in 2012 on the themes of Resilience against Disasters and Efficient Energy Storage and Distribution has constituted the main focus of the CONCERT-Japan in 2012, and thereby the focus of the Steering Committee meeting.
Additionally, effective communication among the consortium partners have continued and coordination among their activities have been ensured by the Coordinator. Ad-hoc questions and concerns of the consortium partners have been dealt with by the Coordinator – sometimes in communication with the European Commission – and important issues that require a Steering Committee and/or European Commission consultation were shared with the whole consortium through e-mails and duly discussed and decided.
The CONCERT-Japan Consortium decided to request from the European Commission an amendment of the Grant Agreement in order to extend the duration of CONCERT-Japan project for 1 year, so that the project duration becomes 48 months. The request was made by the Coordinator and accepted by the European Commission. The amendment came into force on 9 December 2013 with the same dated letter of the European Commission. Accordingly, the CONCERT-Japan project ended on 31 December 2014.
The last Project Steering Committee has been held on 2nd December 2014 in İzmir, Turkey, back to back with the Final Conference Meeting of the CONCERT-Japan project. The meeting has been organized by the CONCERT-Japan coordinator the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) at the Swissotel in İzmir. As members of the Steering Committee, representatives from CONCERT-Japan partner and observer organizations have been present at the meeting. The aim of the last Steering Committee meeting was to review and wrap-up the project activities implemented in the past year of the project (2014) in line with the objectives of the CONCERT-Japan project.


CONCERT-Japan Final Conference, 1-2 December 2014, İzmir, Turkey

Task 6.4 Project Monitoring
Achievements:
The deliverable D6.5 Quality Management Plan was prepared by TUBITAK together with a quality assessment checklist. TUBITAK has been responsible with the implementation of the Quality Management Plan. All the deliverables prepared and submitted within the project have been assessed against the criteria set out in the quality management plan and quality assessment checklist. Insufficient deliverables were returned to the lead beneficiary for improvement and revision.
The Coordinator organization, TUBITAK, has been guiding all project partners with respect to the FP7 financial and legal rules, the CONCERT-Japan Grant Agreement and Annex 1 (Description of Work) and other project materials (such as project handbook, communication plan, dissemination plan, etc.) for the smooth implementation of the project activities. TUBITAK has also been involved in the development stage of most of the deliverables in order to ensure that the tasks and deliverables are working towards the objectives of the project. In this process, the contractual obligations of consortium members were continuously supervised and controlled. The ad-hoc consultations of the consortium partners with regard to various issues, both content wise and administrative, were dealt with. In cases of crisis management, the lead was taken by the Coordinator in order to ensure the smooth progress of project activities.

Task 6.5 Administrative and Financial Management and Reporting
Achievements:
The pre-payment transferred from the European Commission to the Coordinator was distributed to the project partners in line with their budget projections as described in Annex 1. An information sheet was prepared by the Coordinator for each beneficiary providing detailed information about their project budgets.
The activity reporting template and financial reporting template were prepared by TUBITAK and the related data were collected from the consortium members every six months. The Work Package leaders have been leading the preparation of activity progress reports of each Work Package every six months. The ad-hoc questions of partners were clarified on the financial matters, budget allocations and legal issues.
Synthetic periodic activity reports were delivered by the Coordinator to the European Commission every six months.
Every six months, the Coordinator updated the financial reporting excel files of each partner and circulated the files to all partners for their six-monthly financial reporting. The six-monthly financial reports were reviewed by the Coordinator and feedback was sent to partners where necessary. The ad-hoc questions of partners were clarified on the financial matters, budget allocations and legal issues. Work Package activity reports were collected from the Work Package leaders every six months and were duly reviewed.
The second report of the CONCERT-Japan project was successfully accepted by the European Commission (EC).

Task 6.6 Dialogue with the EC
Achievements:
The project coordinator has liaised between the European Commission and CONCERT-Japan consortium on legal, financial as well as scientific issues and developments of the project. After the finalization of the each deliverable, the Project Coordinator has uploaded the deliverables to SESAM.
The issues relating to the change of authorized representatives, change of LEARs, change of legal status of CONCERT-Japan partners have duly been communicated to the EC and the related partners have been informed about their duties. The ad-hoc inquiries of the European Commission were duly responded and related meetings were participated (e.g. web-meeting of the INCO-NETs targeting industrialized countries).
For publication in the European Commission Newsletter “International Research Update”, three articles have been submitted to European Commission.


Potential Impact:
Please kindly see the attached report.

List of Websites:

Project Coordinator

Mrs. Elif ÖZKARAGÖZ DOĞAN
E-mail: [e-mail]
Web: www.concertjapan.eu
Tel. [phone] (Ext. 2760)
Fax. [phone]
TÜBİTAK - The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey
Atatürk Bulvarı No. 221 06100 Kavaklıdere Ankara Turkey