Final Report Summary - ICRC-ERA-HUMANBRIDGE (Human Bridge for Strengthening Integration of ICRC into European Research Area)
Executive Summary:
OBJECTIVES - The main aims of the ICRC-ERA-HUMANBRIDGE project were
- To establish or further strengthen ties and partnerships of ICRC with other institution in the ERA
- To attract professional, skilled researchers and to buy new and top quality equipment – thus enable ICRC to perform the highest possible quality of research
- To further develop industrial partnerships of ICRC with various institutions and business partners
- To submit new joint EU-funding proposals of ICRC with its partner institutions
Funds provided by the project enabled ICRC to significantly enhance its research capability and to become a well-known research institution both in Europe and world-wide
RESULTS - In total, the project performed much better that it was planned so it met 158% of planned activities. Details of each activities are in the next chapter “main results achieved so far” or in an attached document.
BUDGET SPENDING – Spending of the total budget was in the period 1 very low (24% in 50% of time). The value was mostly given by delays in recruitment (WP2). All solutions partly presented in the 1st periodic report and upgraded and approved by PO of the EC resulted very successfully so after the report 2 (M36) there was spent 85% of budget in 90% of time. Finally the budget spending reached 97%.
CHANGES - The project implementation has required 3 amendments – 2 changes of coordinator person (internal reasons) and 1 extension of implementation period for 4 additional months (for better impact of the project).
KEY ACTIVITIES performed
- Enormously large-scale Recruitment - 18 new researchers initially planned, 64 hired in total (356% DONE),
- Intensive Mobility - secondments to/from 60+ EU partners and results presentations in international conferences (145% DONE)
- Broad Scientific Publicity - international conferences and workshops (281% DONE)
- Very promising cooperation results - 10 joint grant proposals planned, 44 submitted, 11 successful (H2020)
- Additional Support to ordinary processes and infrastructure - equipment procurements (100% DONE), dissemination (100% DONE), technology transfer (100% DONE)
OVERALL STATUS of the project in numbers:
- All activities planned were fulfilled by 158 %
- 51 pcs of Deliverables submitted – 100% - IN TIME (96%) or with APPROVED delays (4%)
- 49 pcs of Milestones fulfilled – 100% - IN TIME (82%) or with APPROVED delays (18%)
CONCLUSIONS - The project was executed in excellent way and it was confirmed by independent evaluators and by policy officer – Dionysia Lagiou (EC) during the final project meeting.
The EC policy officer concluded the final project meeting and supported the evaluation findings that the project fulfilled and partly overcame all project aims and expectations.
The conclusion was that the FNUSA-ICRC is a great example of a synergy between structural funds and framework programmes (FP7 and H2020).
Project Context and Objectives:
The project partial results are documented via conclusions of particular work-packages (percentage by each headline represents fulfilment of planned activities for reported period):
WP1 - Twining with research institutions in the ERA – 172 %
The WP1 focuses on strengthening of cooperation with foreign scientific institutions via bidirectional mobility actions. Main goals are to: Create platform for multi-centre research protocols and studies; Knowledge transfer; HR development; Sharing technologies; Fundraising.
This WP is performing well and brings the most valuable results which are NEW JOINT PROJECTS. There were submitted 44 joint proposals with the project (mostly H2020) and 11 of them were successful.
WP2 – Recruitment - 356 %
The aim is to supply skills that are missing in ICRC to establish proper research environment and facilitate achievements of research.
Proposed plan was to hire 18 researchers mostly for the whole project duration, but there were many obstacles (legal, institutional, international). This WP deals with budget of 2,2 million EUR, every delay results into a considerable budget reserve. We have agreed with the PO to use this reserve via creating new positions and accelerate the budget spending. Final number of recruited researchers was 64.
WP3 - Equipment and tools - 100 %
The objective of this WP was to obtain funding to acquire two laboratory and one diagnostic devices and one software.
All procurements has been done properly. Additionally, PO of EC approved usage of savings from effective open tenders for additional minor upgrades (so overall budget of this WP remains same).
WP4 - Research meetings and conferences organized by the ICRC – 112 %
The goal of this WP was to organize 10 international conferences + 15 Mendel Lectures. Beyond the plan there were organized 12 conferences and 16 Mendel Lectures yet.
At those events delivered a message about the ICRC-ERA-HumanBridge project for wide professional audience of various backgrounds.
WP5 - Presentation of research results – 281%
Research results are presented at national and international conferences. The goal was to share research results with other researchers, obtain feedback and aid networking. Research results were presented on brokerages to promote our research and to draw attention of potential partners.
This WP is performing much better than planned - plan was to provide 100 presentations, but the reality is 281 yet.
WP6 - Project PR and Results Dissemination – 100%
Objective of this WP was creation of positive and true image of the FNUSA-ICRC. Activities are according to the initial plans. WP6 activities contributed to the fact that the project is well-known among the FUSA-ICRC research and administrative staff and top management.
WP7 - Strengthening IP development plan and industrial partnerships – 100%
The aims were to improve the internal capacity and know-how for managing the relations with end users and to increase the portfolio of partners and potential clients.
There were realized 3 practical trainings and also there were created strategical document (strategic intellectual property development plan for 2015-2020).
WP8 - Evaluation – 100%
The evaluation was completely performed within this 3rd project period. It included self-evaluation report by the FNUSA-ICRC, 3 visits with interviews and presentation of findings and reports. The evaluation conclusion is that the REGPOT project was performed in an excellent way and the project impact on the FNUSA-ICRC is remarkable.
WP9 - Management of the project – 100%
The project management is still successful in the key role – to keep smooth implementation of the project.
Because of all ICRC research teams involved, “side effects” of this effort are very positive for the whole ICRC. Examples of this are
- Positive PR of the ICRC
- Internal processes – based on project task, many internal methodologies (HR, mobility, consumables procurements etc.), and process workflows were updated and become more effective.
Project Results:
The ICRC-ERA-HUMANBRIDGE project is not a research project so there are not direct research outputs. Project support provided for the research environment initiated only recruited researchers by project to produce 181 research publications with average IF 4,5 and so the cumulative IF reached value of 815.
Real impact is even wider considering some delays of peer reviewed publications (mentioned value was recorded at the end of the project) and also influence on other “customers” of the project in the labs where new excellent project researchers has been working.
Potential Impact:
IMPACT
Because the project is not a research type but the coordination and support action type of project, its impact was initially expected very high but only in general aspects with limited measurable outcomes. The overall project aim was to strengthen integration of the FNUSA-ICRC into the European Research Area. The project not only reached the aim, but it also visibly impacted the institution, the city and the region even before the end of its implementation.
The impact on the FNUSA-ICRC is clearly stated by the following comparison of important institutional measurable outcomes before and after the project:
- International grant proposals – before 2 -> after 44
- Successful international grant projects – before 0 -> after 11
- International cooperation – before – orientation only on US (Mayo Clinic), in EU nearly 0 -> after in EU more than 60 connections, continuation of US cooperation (added 3 more institutes),
- Management + team leaders – before 100 % Czech -> after International Chair, 5 PIs
- Researchers – before 5 % International -> after 30 % International
Further immediate results that strongly impacted the FNUSA-ICRC are:
- 1st ERC proposal by researcher recruited by the project
- 1st international conferences in Czech Republic - TT medical conference, Simulation medicine conference
- Recruited researchers within the project duration published 181 publications (average IF = 4,5; total cumulative IF = 815)
- Project Evaluation – recommendations of the independent evaluation helped further development of the FNUSA-ICRC
Such results were initially expected only few years after the end of the project and so future impact of the project will be even stronger, because research performed in second half of the implementation is not still published. Same situation is for cooperative mobility performed by the end of the project and new joint collaborative projects are now being prepared.
Following impacts are not so clearly measurable, but spending of 4,36 mil of EUR in the region economically impacted the local environment.
For the society, more important is the secondary impact of the project which support of the medical research in the FNUSA-ICRC and so from results of the research will benefit patients not only in Brno, in South Moravia and in Czech republic, but these effects will be world-wide. Strategy of the FNUSA-ICRC (and so it was same for ICRC-ERA-HUMANBRIDGE project) is not to spread research interests to all kind of diseases, but strongly focus on the recent most dangerous threads.
The current developments in society demonstrate that subjects in the field of advanced medical research with the special respect to the cardiovascular and neurological diseases are justified for social and societal reasons as well as for purely economic reasons. Within the ICRC-ERA-HUMANBRIDGE project there were supported mostly research teams focused on cardiovascular and neurological diseases (including platforms for basic research, which also supports these).
The statistical data clearly show that diseases of the circulatory system, whether cardiovascular or cerebrovascular, have the highest share of total mortality. They account for 51% of total mortality in the European Region. Malignant neoplasms (cancer) are the second most common cause but when compared to diseases of the circulatory system they “only” account for 20% of all deaths. Globally, the most frequent current causes of death are ischemic heart disease (7.2 million deaths), strokes (5.5 million deaths) and lower air passages diseases (3.9 million deaths). In advanced countries, the most frequent causes of death are cardiovascular (13% of deaths), cerebrovascular (10% of deaths) and cancer of the trachea, bronchi and lungs (5% of deaths). According to the WHO, in 2030, the most common causes of death will be cardiovascular diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, AIDS and chronic obstructive bronchopulmonary disease.
When analyzing the regional variation in Europe, it has to be kept in mind that mortality from both IHD and CVD has continuously been decreasing in most Western European countries over the last decades. In some Western European countries such as Finland, efforts in reducing the risk factors with public health interventions on a population level have been enormous.
In most Central and Eastern European countries, on the other hand, cardiovascular mortality increased during the 1970s and 1980s and started to decline in the early to mid-1990s. Despite the recent decrease, mortality rates are still considerable higher in most Central and Eastern European countries compared with Westernones. Some countries such as Ukraine reach almost top levels in a worldwide comparison. Although most Central and Eastern European countries appear to have reached their peak in cardiovascular mortality, the majority of them can clearly still be classified as high-risk countries. A number of risk factors can be responsible for the variation on both the national and the regional level. Risk factors include socioeconomic variables such as income or employment status, psychosocial factors such as stress or the prevalence of depression, the ‘classic’ cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, and overweight, lifestyle variables such as physical activity, nutritional pattern, and smoking, environmental factors, or medical care.
DISSEMINATION
The project followed a dissemination strategy which was reported in early stage f the project. Detailed dissemination report is enclosed “Main dissemination activities and the exploitation of results.pdf”
List of Websites:
http://www.icrc-era-humanbridge.eu/
OBJECTIVES - The main aims of the ICRC-ERA-HUMANBRIDGE project were
- To establish or further strengthen ties and partnerships of ICRC with other institution in the ERA
- To attract professional, skilled researchers and to buy new and top quality equipment – thus enable ICRC to perform the highest possible quality of research
- To further develop industrial partnerships of ICRC with various institutions and business partners
- To submit new joint EU-funding proposals of ICRC with its partner institutions
Funds provided by the project enabled ICRC to significantly enhance its research capability and to become a well-known research institution both in Europe and world-wide
RESULTS - In total, the project performed much better that it was planned so it met 158% of planned activities. Details of each activities are in the next chapter “main results achieved so far” or in an attached document.
BUDGET SPENDING – Spending of the total budget was in the period 1 very low (24% in 50% of time). The value was mostly given by delays in recruitment (WP2). All solutions partly presented in the 1st periodic report and upgraded and approved by PO of the EC resulted very successfully so after the report 2 (M36) there was spent 85% of budget in 90% of time. Finally the budget spending reached 97%.
CHANGES - The project implementation has required 3 amendments – 2 changes of coordinator person (internal reasons) and 1 extension of implementation period for 4 additional months (for better impact of the project).
KEY ACTIVITIES performed
- Enormously large-scale Recruitment - 18 new researchers initially planned, 64 hired in total (356% DONE),
- Intensive Mobility - secondments to/from 60+ EU partners and results presentations in international conferences (145% DONE)
- Broad Scientific Publicity - international conferences and workshops (281% DONE)
- Very promising cooperation results - 10 joint grant proposals planned, 44 submitted, 11 successful (H2020)
- Additional Support to ordinary processes and infrastructure - equipment procurements (100% DONE), dissemination (100% DONE), technology transfer (100% DONE)
OVERALL STATUS of the project in numbers:
- All activities planned were fulfilled by 158 %
- 51 pcs of Deliverables submitted – 100% - IN TIME (96%) or with APPROVED delays (4%)
- 49 pcs of Milestones fulfilled – 100% - IN TIME (82%) or with APPROVED delays (18%)
CONCLUSIONS - The project was executed in excellent way and it was confirmed by independent evaluators and by policy officer – Dionysia Lagiou (EC) during the final project meeting.
The EC policy officer concluded the final project meeting and supported the evaluation findings that the project fulfilled and partly overcame all project aims and expectations.
The conclusion was that the FNUSA-ICRC is a great example of a synergy between structural funds and framework programmes (FP7 and H2020).
Project Context and Objectives:
The project partial results are documented via conclusions of particular work-packages (percentage by each headline represents fulfilment of planned activities for reported period):
WP1 - Twining with research institutions in the ERA – 172 %
The WP1 focuses on strengthening of cooperation with foreign scientific institutions via bidirectional mobility actions. Main goals are to: Create platform for multi-centre research protocols and studies; Knowledge transfer; HR development; Sharing technologies; Fundraising.
This WP is performing well and brings the most valuable results which are NEW JOINT PROJECTS. There were submitted 44 joint proposals with the project (mostly H2020) and 11 of them were successful.
WP2 – Recruitment - 356 %
The aim is to supply skills that are missing in ICRC to establish proper research environment and facilitate achievements of research.
Proposed plan was to hire 18 researchers mostly for the whole project duration, but there were many obstacles (legal, institutional, international). This WP deals with budget of 2,2 million EUR, every delay results into a considerable budget reserve. We have agreed with the PO to use this reserve via creating new positions and accelerate the budget spending. Final number of recruited researchers was 64.
WP3 - Equipment and tools - 100 %
The objective of this WP was to obtain funding to acquire two laboratory and one diagnostic devices and one software.
All procurements has been done properly. Additionally, PO of EC approved usage of savings from effective open tenders for additional minor upgrades (so overall budget of this WP remains same).
WP4 - Research meetings and conferences organized by the ICRC – 112 %
The goal of this WP was to organize 10 international conferences + 15 Mendel Lectures. Beyond the plan there were organized 12 conferences and 16 Mendel Lectures yet.
At those events delivered a message about the ICRC-ERA-HumanBridge project for wide professional audience of various backgrounds.
WP5 - Presentation of research results – 281%
Research results are presented at national and international conferences. The goal was to share research results with other researchers, obtain feedback and aid networking. Research results were presented on brokerages to promote our research and to draw attention of potential partners.
This WP is performing much better than planned - plan was to provide 100 presentations, but the reality is 281 yet.
WP6 - Project PR and Results Dissemination – 100%
Objective of this WP was creation of positive and true image of the FNUSA-ICRC. Activities are according to the initial plans. WP6 activities contributed to the fact that the project is well-known among the FUSA-ICRC research and administrative staff and top management.
WP7 - Strengthening IP development plan and industrial partnerships – 100%
The aims were to improve the internal capacity and know-how for managing the relations with end users and to increase the portfolio of partners and potential clients.
There were realized 3 practical trainings and also there were created strategical document (strategic intellectual property development plan for 2015-2020).
WP8 - Evaluation – 100%
The evaluation was completely performed within this 3rd project period. It included self-evaluation report by the FNUSA-ICRC, 3 visits with interviews and presentation of findings and reports. The evaluation conclusion is that the REGPOT project was performed in an excellent way and the project impact on the FNUSA-ICRC is remarkable.
WP9 - Management of the project – 100%
The project management is still successful in the key role – to keep smooth implementation of the project.
Because of all ICRC research teams involved, “side effects” of this effort are very positive for the whole ICRC. Examples of this are
- Positive PR of the ICRC
- Internal processes – based on project task, many internal methodologies (HR, mobility, consumables procurements etc.), and process workflows were updated and become more effective.
Project Results:
The ICRC-ERA-HUMANBRIDGE project is not a research project so there are not direct research outputs. Project support provided for the research environment initiated only recruited researchers by project to produce 181 research publications with average IF 4,5 and so the cumulative IF reached value of 815.
Real impact is even wider considering some delays of peer reviewed publications (mentioned value was recorded at the end of the project) and also influence on other “customers” of the project in the labs where new excellent project researchers has been working.
Potential Impact:
IMPACT
Because the project is not a research type but the coordination and support action type of project, its impact was initially expected very high but only in general aspects with limited measurable outcomes. The overall project aim was to strengthen integration of the FNUSA-ICRC into the European Research Area. The project not only reached the aim, but it also visibly impacted the institution, the city and the region even before the end of its implementation.
The impact on the FNUSA-ICRC is clearly stated by the following comparison of important institutional measurable outcomes before and after the project:
- International grant proposals – before 2 -> after 44
- Successful international grant projects – before 0 -> after 11
- International cooperation – before – orientation only on US (Mayo Clinic), in EU nearly 0 -> after in EU more than 60 connections, continuation of US cooperation (added 3 more institutes),
- Management + team leaders – before 100 % Czech -> after International Chair, 5 PIs
- Researchers – before 5 % International -> after 30 % International
Further immediate results that strongly impacted the FNUSA-ICRC are:
- 1st ERC proposal by researcher recruited by the project
- 1st international conferences in Czech Republic - TT medical conference, Simulation medicine conference
- Recruited researchers within the project duration published 181 publications (average IF = 4,5; total cumulative IF = 815)
- Project Evaluation – recommendations of the independent evaluation helped further development of the FNUSA-ICRC
Such results were initially expected only few years after the end of the project and so future impact of the project will be even stronger, because research performed in second half of the implementation is not still published. Same situation is for cooperative mobility performed by the end of the project and new joint collaborative projects are now being prepared.
Following impacts are not so clearly measurable, but spending of 4,36 mil of EUR in the region economically impacted the local environment.
For the society, more important is the secondary impact of the project which support of the medical research in the FNUSA-ICRC and so from results of the research will benefit patients not only in Brno, in South Moravia and in Czech republic, but these effects will be world-wide. Strategy of the FNUSA-ICRC (and so it was same for ICRC-ERA-HUMANBRIDGE project) is not to spread research interests to all kind of diseases, but strongly focus on the recent most dangerous threads.
The current developments in society demonstrate that subjects in the field of advanced medical research with the special respect to the cardiovascular and neurological diseases are justified for social and societal reasons as well as for purely economic reasons. Within the ICRC-ERA-HUMANBRIDGE project there were supported mostly research teams focused on cardiovascular and neurological diseases (including platforms for basic research, which also supports these).
The statistical data clearly show that diseases of the circulatory system, whether cardiovascular or cerebrovascular, have the highest share of total mortality. They account for 51% of total mortality in the European Region. Malignant neoplasms (cancer) are the second most common cause but when compared to diseases of the circulatory system they “only” account for 20% of all deaths. Globally, the most frequent current causes of death are ischemic heart disease (7.2 million deaths), strokes (5.5 million deaths) and lower air passages diseases (3.9 million deaths). In advanced countries, the most frequent causes of death are cardiovascular (13% of deaths), cerebrovascular (10% of deaths) and cancer of the trachea, bronchi and lungs (5% of deaths). According to the WHO, in 2030, the most common causes of death will be cardiovascular diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, AIDS and chronic obstructive bronchopulmonary disease.
When analyzing the regional variation in Europe, it has to be kept in mind that mortality from both IHD and CVD has continuously been decreasing in most Western European countries over the last decades. In some Western European countries such as Finland, efforts in reducing the risk factors with public health interventions on a population level have been enormous.
In most Central and Eastern European countries, on the other hand, cardiovascular mortality increased during the 1970s and 1980s and started to decline in the early to mid-1990s. Despite the recent decrease, mortality rates are still considerable higher in most Central and Eastern European countries compared with Westernones. Some countries such as Ukraine reach almost top levels in a worldwide comparison. Although most Central and Eastern European countries appear to have reached their peak in cardiovascular mortality, the majority of them can clearly still be classified as high-risk countries. A number of risk factors can be responsible for the variation on both the national and the regional level. Risk factors include socioeconomic variables such as income or employment status, psychosocial factors such as stress or the prevalence of depression, the ‘classic’ cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, and overweight, lifestyle variables such as physical activity, nutritional pattern, and smoking, environmental factors, or medical care.
DISSEMINATION
The project followed a dissemination strategy which was reported in early stage f the project. Detailed dissemination report is enclosed “Main dissemination activities and the exploitation of results.pdf”
List of Websites:
http://www.icrc-era-humanbridge.eu/
